Two days before our trip to Minneapolis, the Madison Public Library came through with the audio book we’d eagerly awaited; Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. Over the past few years, my husband read aloud this first book to us twice in English. Our child’s interest in the series remains high, so I chose the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone in Spanish as our venture into audio books.
On our drive to the Twin Cities last weekend, we listened to one disc which equated to the first set of chapters. We laughed at our favorite parts, like the letters bursting out of the Dursley’s chimney when they hid the invitation to Hogwart’s from Harry. We listened for an hour, then our child read a book in English and observed the snowy farmers’ fields and barns. I only pushed to continue the audio book once, to help focus my attention on the road.
Driving home, our child was even more engaged in the story. We listened to discs two through four, as the plot got more exciting and we adjusted to fluctuations in volume from the dramatic reading. Once we got to Madison, our child repeatedly requested to play the audio book from the moment we arrived. Our simple boom box, and listening without the road noise, worked better for us. I looked up words as we listened. I forgot the word bisagra, which I found out (again) means hinge. We laughed a lot together.
I highly recommend audio books! My child said to me, “Habla en español, Mamá” to me yesterday, “Speak Spanish to me, Mom” for the first time in ages, after we turned off the CD player.
7 Reasons to Try Audio Books in Spanish
- Model Spanish grammar.
- Increase Spanish vocabulary.
- Reward and improve use of listening skills in the target language.
- Reinforce the reason for bilingual language acquisition.
- Promote the use of imagination, increasing the understanding of the target language.
- Create positive feelings about the target language from the enjoyable experience.
- Enjoy silly scenes in the audio book that will make you laugh.
Find a funny one and dive in. The more immersion you dare the more you’ll learn!
Gracias for reading Fake Flamenco! ¡Olé! –Rebecca
Fake Flamenco 
Great post! Harry Potter books have always been my favourite resources to learn languages. I own HP books in five languages (my native is Russian), and have learnt to read through them in Italian, Spanish and French. The most amazing thing about the book one in particular is that fans know it inside out – as a frequent reader of HP and the Philosopher’s Stone in my teens I can pick up a foreign equivalent and without a dictionary make out a meaning on each page since I know virtually ever sentence of it in English. Whether audio or paper, I agree that it is the best material to learn languages.
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Thank you, Diana. What a testament to the entertainment and educational value of the series. I love hearing your story about you knowing them so well that it made the successive languages easy to understand in the books. Book one was like your Rosetta Stone tablet! In Spanish there is a phrase “ensayar deleitando” you may know, to make learning enjoyable. That is the true philosopher’s stone. Gracias!
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Indeed great post! Couldn’t agree more! 🙂
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Gracias, amiga! : ) Thanks for your comments.
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I quite agree…it is a great way to learn and to better your knowledge. Songs are also good…great post!
All the best,
FBC
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Thanks! We like learning songs too, because we can carry them around and sing them any time. Feliz año nuevo!
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Lo propio Rebecca, un abrazo
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What a good way to improve fluency in another language! Like listening to popular songs in another language.
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Yes, we’re enjoying hearing the story again in Spanish. I find I’m hearing new details I hadn’t remembered. Now we have new inside jokes, like about sending letters by lechuza (owl).
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I love audiobooks! I’m totally addicted to them! I always have at least 2 on the go!
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They are wonderful, especially when good speakers or actors read them.
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