The 11 Best CDs to Learn Spanish
Using CDs to learn Spanish is less outdated than you might think. For example, many cars still have CD players, and since the average American spends roughly 293 hours driving each year, that’s a huge amount of time you could utilize to learn Spanish.
You can bring listening comprehension, grammar studies, pronunciation practice and more to those endless miles with these Spanish CD resources.
Contents
- 1. Behind the Wheel Spanish
- 2. On Target: Spanish for Healthcare Providers
- 3. Barron’s AP Spanish with Audio CDs and CD-ROM
- 4. SmartSpanish
- 5. Rock ‘N Learn Spanish
- 6. Spanish Audio Course
- 7. The Michel Thomas Method’s Total Spanish Foundation Course
- 8. AudioNovo Spanish I to III
- 9. Mexican Spanish Accelerated
- 10. Spanish Conversation Demystified
- 11. Spanish for Children
- And One More Thing…
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
1. Behind the Wheel Spanish
Behind the Wheel Spanish offers three levels of CD options including Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and Spanish 3. These levels go from beginning to intermediate Spanish.
The Behind the Wheel series focuses on helping you learn Spanish during your drive time. It uses brief, information-dense lessons to help you learn key information. Each level builds on previous levels, so it’s easy to follow the whole course in order.
The main focus of Behind the Wheel Spanish is to provide you with the common vocabulary and skills needed to build sentences rather than memorizing phrases. If you’re looking to continue learning Spanish, this is an ideal choice since it provides you with foundational skills you can build upon in the future.
The CDs use an English speaker for instruction and a native Spanish speaker for examples. Each set has eight CDs and hours of content. Each set also comes with a companion book that includes transcripts of the CDs and related exercises.
2. On Target: Spanish for Healthcare Providers
On Target: Spanish for Healthcare Providers provides targeted education to prepare doctors, nurses and other health professionals to communicate effectively with Spanish-speaking patients.
This CD set teaches helpful medical terms like body parts, diseases, procedures and more.
- Thousands of learner friendly videos (especially beginners)
- Handpicked, organized, and annotated by FluentU's experts
- Integrated into courses for beginners
It also comes with a mini phrasebook to help you continue your practice with or without the audio.
The CDs do move along quite quickly, so this is a strong option for anyone who’s already at an intermediate level or higher who needs to learn medical Spanish. Beginning students are likely to be overwhelmed.
3. Barron’s AP Spanish with Audio CDs and CD-ROM
If you’re preparing for the AP Spanish test, Barron’s AP Spanish with Audio CDs and CD-ROM is an invaluable tool. However, you don’t have to be preparing for the AP test to benefit from this set.
The set comes with four CDs, a CD-ROM and a book. It’s designed to help students excel on the AP Spanish test by providing them listening, reading, writing and speaking practice. While it targets the exam specifically, any Spanish student needs these skills, so the set remains a strong choice.
The CDs contain audio examples as well as transcripts of the audio—just be sure you aren’t trying to read along if you’re listening while driving! Additionally, the practice exams are a helpful way to test your learning.
4. SmartSpanish
SmartSpanish is a set of CDs designed for beginning Spanish students.
It aims to prepare you to speak Spanish and understand spoken Spanish, with the ultimate goal of being able to hold real conversations in Spanish.
Material is spoken slowly and then you repeat after the speaker. This lets you practice both speaking and listening. Additionally, tips and explanations are given in English to help you understand the Spanish language in more depth.
The CD set also comes with a brief booklet that contains transcriptions of the audio so that you can read along or study independently.
- Interactive subtitles: click any word to see detailed examples and explanations
- Slow down or loop the tricky parts
- Show or hide subtitles
- Review words with our powerful learning engine
5. Rock ‘N Learn Spanish
Rock ‘N Learn Spanish is an unconventional Spanish learning CD. Rather than focusing on speaking and repetition, Rock ‘N Learn Spanish focuses on teaching you basic Spanish words and phrases through catchy songs. You’ll learn common vocabulary related to things like telling time, the seasons and more. While the program is aimed at children, it’s great for anyone who would rather learn Spanish with a little musical accompaniment.
The CD comes with a short learning book with activities. The set also includes a cassette if you’re of that persuasion.
6. Spanish Audio Course
Spanish Audio Course is by Collins Dictionaries, which produces a wide array of different language dictionaries.
This audio course is designed as a quick, easy option for travelers. It doesn’t cover grammar like some other CDs, so it’s great if you just need some quick, functional communication skills but aren’t looking to become fully proficient.
The format is simple: the CD plays a phrase and you repeat it. This helps prepare you to make basic requests, ask basic questions and understand common phrases.
7. The Michel Thomas Method’s Total Spanish Foundation Course
“What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don’t forget.”
That’s how Michel Thomas put it. A polyglot who spoke 10 languages, Thomas was a brilliant linguist who introduced his accelerated method of language learning to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars as well as the general public.
He taught languages for over 50 years—and more than a decade after his death, his methodology is still relevant.
So how do his courses work? He based the method on principles of instructional psychology, enabling the brain to retain information without repetition, memorization or homework. Spanish language components are broken down into brain-sized bites that’ll be easily recalled.
- Learn words in the context of sentences
- Swipe left or right to see more examples from other videos
- Go beyond just a superficial understanding
With this CD set, eight hours of audio material put the learner into a simulated classroom with two other “students” and an instructor, all of whom are already present in the audio classroom. Learners “interact” with the teacher and other students as material is presented, discussed and absorbed.
To build on the virtual classroom environment, there are interactive activities included in this package so you can apply your new skills. Confidence is a priority with this course so you’ll build your own sentences, reply to questions and rely on what you’re learning to carry you to the next level.
8. AudioNovo Spanish I to III
Got a long commute to work? This program is recommended for use in cars. Structured for 30 minutes of study per day, it leaves you lots of time to either repeat a lesson or move forward at your own pace.
Conversational teaching techniques provide even absolute beginners with a foundation for basic discussions in Spanish. Words are given detailed descriptions and explanations as they’re introduced so everything is very clear. The program uses native speakers so learners can repeat words and phrases with confidence that they’re getting them “right” the first time!
There are three audio CDs with 44 hours of material. The creators of this course assert that it can take someone from beginner to advanced in three months.
Now, that’s something to ponder as the miles slide by, isn’t it?
9. Mexican Spanish Accelerated
Did you know Mexico has more Spanish speakers than any other country?
This course delivers authentic Mexican Spanish taught by an American instructor who’s helped out by Mexican assistants. Accurate pronunciation and cultural references are key elements.
It features eight one-hour audio lessons, making this a crash course in Spanish. It might not be for everyone but, hey, if you need to get your Spanish groove on ¡pronto! (soon) this could be perfect!
Start building sentences.
- FluentU builds you up, so you can build sentences on your own
- Start with multiple-choice questions and advance through sentence building to producing your own output
- Go from understanding to speaking in a natural progression.
10. Spanish Conversation Demystified
Some learners don’t want to take the fast lane to absolute fluency. They want to get hooked up with essential conversation skills, important grammar issues and just complete a basic course to teach them enough Spanish to get by.
This is the course for doing just that.
The two CDs are accompanied by a book that reviews skills covered by the audio dialogues. The basics—like meeting new people or talking on the phone—are covered in enough depth that a learner will feel comfortable using the vocabulary soon after listening.
It’s a very good trial course to take before deciding whether continuing on a Spanish learning journey.
11. Spanish for Children
Well, those highway miles aren’t always driven alone, are they? Lots of us have small passengers in our cars and occupying them while driving can be a challenge.
Or, it used to be.
Spanish for Children is a course designed to teach Spanish language and culture to young learners. It’s a great teaching resource—and an excellent diversion on long trips as well as short, around-town hops.
This is a three-CD course that comes with a guidebook as well as an activity book. It’s a complete beginner program that shows even young children can grasp a new language using only a CD course.
Children will learn how to describe places and things, talk about family, zoo animals and other simple conversational topics. And so will you!
- Images, examples, video examples, and tips
- Covering all the tricky edge cases, eg.: phrases, idioms, collocations, and separable verbs
- No reliance on volunteers or open source dictionaries
- 100,000+ hours spent by FluentU's team to create and maintain
This program makes learning Spanish fun—and make no mistake, this course is an effective learning tool for both driver and passenger! Adults will enjoy participating with their young ones, and the fun will make learning seem almost effortless.
So as you learn Spanish, go easy on yourself and give these 11 convenient CDs a try!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
