Android App for *audio* learning?
 

hola!

New here. Learning Spanish for the first time (but I can speak French passably (to the point where I start to think in French)).

I've downloaded and am using DuoLingo & Memrise (I prefer the latter, notwithstanding its undue emphasis on 'guapo/guapa').

That said, my daily commute includes walking 3-5 miles, and I'd like to find an app that will help me learn strictly by ear (i.e. - no looking at the screen, so that I don't walk into a tree).

Similarly, any .mp3 courses which I could put on my phone would work. Free or cheap is preferred, tho' I'll consider all options -- less is more.

Any recommendations?

Muchas gracias.

- Richard

If you are look for mp3 audio files to help you learn Spanish, you can create the mp3 files by yourself using speech synthesis software panopreter, but it is not an Android app, it's a Windows application. you also need to install a Spanish voice on your Windows operating system, for example, Cereproc Spanish voice, thus the software can convert any Spanish text into wave or mp3 file, later you can import the mp3 files into you phone. By default, there is only English voice on Windows.

I love SpanishPod (which has now turned into OpenLanguage). To get access to all of their features and lessons, you have to pay. However, I believe you can still get some of their lessons in any Podcast app. The lessons are grouped in five levels, and the hosts introduce a sample dialog, then you get to listen to the dialog a few times, then the hosts return, explaining each line of dialog.

Another one I liked was called "Spanish Audiobooks". It looks like it didn't really take off, as there are only 6 episodes, but they were fairly easy to understand. You can also look for "Notes in Spanish". It, also, is grouped into several skill levels, and it was produced by a British gentleman living with his Spanish wife in Madrid, I believe. Try the "Inspired Beginners" level, first.

Lastly, I don't know if they have it for Android, but I also love "News in Slow Spanish (Latino)". It was exactly what I was looking for when I found it. It's slowed down and it deals with current news (so my brain is primed for the subject matter they're going to talk about). If you pay for their premium content, you also get access to flash cards with that episode's vocab and also you get to follow the dialogue on a transcript wherein you can tap on the words you don't know and it'll pop up the translation. What I really like about this one is that they use a lot of (what I assume are) native grammatical constructions. Whereas most "Spanish for learners" seems to be written so that it translates almost word-for-word, News in Slow Spanish uses grammar which, if you translate it directly to English, doesn't make much sense. So, you feel like you're learning "real" Spanish. Hope this helps!