👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What do the fastest-improving Spanish students have in common? Colombian teacher Pilar has watched plenty of them, and her answer isn't more class time. Rob admits to a competitive streak he now calls a bobada, and explains why two years in Spain weren't the real secret. Then he opens his notebook at two phrases from a Colombian Netflix series, including the one that earned him a baffled look from Lis.

Do you know what these mean?
dizque · a lo bien · lo embarré · es una bobada

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/successful-learners

Just after "no se puede decir que...", Rob catches himself and swaps one verb form for another. Can you spot the change?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

When Rob tells people in Bogotá he's from London, they often ask: why have you come here? He and Pilar dig into why so many Colombians dream of leaving, from Rob's friends who swapped a comfortable life for a relative's sofa far outside London to perfect Instagram photos that don't tell the whole story. Then Rob pulls out his Simón Bolívar notebook and names the part of Spanish he'll struggle with all his life.

Do you know what these mean?
echar raíces · golpe de realidad · hechos boronas · ¿Qué más? ¿Qué cuentas?

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/leaving-colombia

Rob wants to end the chat on a positive note and goes looking for "una final" positiva. Can you spot his mistake? (He also slips up on the Spanish for "vicious circle".)

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Why does a Mexican waiter's question break the grammar Rob learned in his third Spanish class? Pilar, a teacher from Bogotá, reveals the irregular verb Mexicans conjugate their own way, and why people in Mexico told her she didn't sound Colombian. And Rob confesses the past-tense slip he repeated for six or seven years before a teacher finally cut him off mid-story.

Do you know what these mean?
¿Qué más pues? · regálame una cerveza · huerco · donde gusten

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/pilar-mexico

For years Rob told people "vivía en España dos años", until a teacher stopped him mid-sentence. Can you spot what he should have said, and why?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Why does Rob almost never hear olvidé in Colombia? In the first Preguntas con Pilar, he puts the puzzle to Pilar, a Bogotá teacher who studied how her own city pronounces Spanish. Along the way: the homework excuse every teacher knows, a phrase about a pigeon that trips Rob up, and the theory he likes to put to Spaniards about where Colombian accents come from.

Quick test: What's the difference between olvidé las llaves and se me olvidaron las llaves?

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/se-me-olvido

Can you spot Rob's grammar slip when he talks about forgetting his keys?

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Lis's sister Judith has a confession: what she used to do with Lis's homework, and the look she got for it. Then, drawing on her thesis on global cities, she tells Rob what share of the world will live in cities by 2050, and who cities are really built for. Plus London neighbourhoods where nobody lives, and why Rob felt so safe in Bogotá's La Candelaria. A chance to tune in to Bogotá Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
me da pereza · la más juiciosa · se ponía brava conmigo · fácil de decir, difícil de accionar

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/global-cities

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Were you popular at school? Lis wasn't, though people knew her through her popular sister, who shared her classroom and sometimes her desk, because their mum bought one book for both. Rob wonders why friends get harder to keep with age, and grumbles that his Facebook feed is now all baby photos. And Lis describes the phone call that turned a sad day around, a call Rob admits he's never made.

Do you know what these mean?
pasar desapercibido · las más ñoñas · ponerse al tanto · tomar unas pintas

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/keeping-friends

Rob checks whether "impopular" works in Spanish, and Lis suggests a more natural expression. When Rob tries to use it about himself, the word escapes him halfway through. Which word does Lis have to say again for him?

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Lis had just one relaxed job interview back in Colombia, and Rob has his suspicions about how she got the job. In England she faced a panel of three, and one of them seemed to be waiting for her to trip up. Rob remembers a phone interview where his mind went totally blank, and the trick he tried to buy time. And what can a seventh interview tell anyone?

Do you know what these mean?
me quedé totalmente en blanco · el voz a voz · me fui soltando · un tanteo, un sondeo

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/job-interviews

Rob suggests paid "internados" as a way to try out job candidates. Why does Lis stop him?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

In 2002, Colombian oil union leader Gilberto Torres was pulled from his car at gunpoint and held for 42 days. Talking to Lis in rich, formal Colombian Spanish, he tells what finally got him out alive, and how exile left him choosing between Canada, Chile and Spain. Listen for his wry joke about his English, and why, if he ever goes home, Bogotá is not his first choice.

Do you know what these mean?
la piedra en el zapato · o te vas o te vas · una juventud acumulada · los ojos me sudan

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/gilberto-kidnapping

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Rob sits down with Javi from Valladolid, a good chance to tune your ear to Castilian Spanish from central Spain. Javi has lived in London for six years and thinks English food doesn't deserve its bad name, and he says what's really missing. He shares a four-ingredient soup from hard times and a rice dish he insists is not a paella. And Rob has one complaint about restaurants in Spain.

Do you know what these mean?
arma de doble filo · rehogar · me da mucha pereza · darle la vuelta

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/javi-spanish-food

Rob says a real paella has to be cooked in a "sartén paella". Can you catch the proper name Javi gives the pan?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Javi from Valladolid came to London just to learn English, went home to Spain, and found he missed life abroad. Now he teaches Spanish at a London secondary school, and he's clear about which classes he enjoys and which feel like hard work. Tune your ear to Spanish from Castile as he tells Lis what happened to his Italian, and gives the answer about moving home that Rob didn't expect.

Do you know what these mean?
me da pereza · te enganchan · chaval · echaba de menos

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/javi-valladolid

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

It took Spanish Obsessed a surprisingly long time to interview someone from Spain. Nuria, from Alicante, finally puts that right, and her accent from Spain's Mediterranean coast is a good one to tune your ear to. She tells Rob why she swapped a house by the sea for London with her teenage son, what she finds hardest about the city (not the weather), and why learning a language is about more than translating words.

Do you know what these mean?
quieras que no · no son pocos · un sueldecito normal · pille el idioma

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/nuria-alicante

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Vanessa, from Córdoba in the heart of Argentina, tells Rob how working with Italians in London showed her where Argentines really get their character from. Rob tries to get his head round vos and admits he's getting confused. Then Vanessa reveals what went wrong with an asado on a recent trip to Spain. It's a good chance to tune your ear to the Argentine "sh" and that sing-song accent.

Do you know what these mean?
jetón · lo tengo que retar · ¿Vos, qué decís? · se nota un montón

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/vanessa-argentina

Rob thinks he knows who the porteños are. What did he have in mind, and how does Vanessa set him straight?

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Lis sits down with Mexican guest Mariana, whose surname suits her perfectly, for the kind of chat saved for drinks with the girls: Latin men versus European men. Colombia and Mexico each have their own way of saying a man is making a move, Mariana compares a relationship to a plant, and she sums up what European men lack in three words. A chance to tune your ear to Mexican and Colombian Spanish side by side.

Do you know what these mean?
caerle a una chica · le está llegando · aventados · les falta picante

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/latin-romance

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Rob has never been to Mexico, so he lays his stereotypes on the table for Mariana from Veracruz to put right. Is mezcal just bad tequila, and did salt and lime really start in Mexico? Mariana describes the beer drink some people compare to seafood soup, and teaches Rob a Mexican expression even she can't quite explain. A chance to tune your ear to Mexican Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
¡Qué padre! · ¡Qué chido! · ¡Está de poca madre! · ¿A poco?

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/mexico-stereotypes

Rob thinks only one country in South America produces wine. Which one does he forget, and who puts him right?

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In the neighbourhood where Lis's family lives, a guard whistles every minute, all night, while Rob tries to sleep, and there's a reason for it. Next comes a traditional breakfast served with chocolate and cheese, a restaurant where horses 'dance' past as you eat, and a boozy family welcome cut short by a 4am start, all because of the last digit on a number plate. A good workout for your ear with Lis's Colombian Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
si das papaya · darle trago · le llaman la nevera · muy chévere

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/bogota-trip

When Lis explains Bogotá's number-plate rule, Rob calls the plates "los platos". What word does Lis use instead?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

After three years away, Lis flies home to Bogotá in secret, and her first plan is to post herself to her mum in a box. Instead she turns up at the door in a 1960s-style afro wig, asking about a room to rent. Her older sister gets the box, and kicks it before opening it. Then Rob lands, and a five-year-old nephew's first words to him start a debate Rob refuses to lose.

Do you know what these mean?
se juagaron de la risa · ¡Ay china! · con pinta de mesera · muy chévere

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/bogota-surprise

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Rob asks Lis which country has the most Spanish speakers, and her answer isn't the one he's looking for. Then come the surprises: a Spanish-language TV network that outdrew Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC for a month, and a friend of Lis's who went to the US to practise English and found there was no need. Plus, the TV drama that opened Rob's eyes.

Do you know what these mean?
¿Qué más? · muy al tanto · ganarse la vida · era una lotería

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/spanish-usa

Lis corrects Rob's pronunciation of one everyday word in the first minute. Can you hear what he gets wrong?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Colombia beat Greece 3-0 in its first World Cup game, and Lis saw on Facebook how people poured into the streets and partied until dawn, with the presidential run-off the very next day. What happens when a nation votes with a hangover, and what cheeky wish earns Rob the label "envidioso"? Plus, tune your ear to Colombian Spanish as Rob and Lis sort out the rolos, paisas, costeños and pastusos.

Do you know what these mean?
se emparrandó · amanecieron · votar con guayabo · estamos en la punta

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombia-weekend

Can you spot Rob's slip when he compares how much football matters in the US with other countries? One tiny word gives it away.

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Clarissa was born in Venezuela with Italian roots and spent 17 years in Italy, so which side wins when she has to choose? In London, she's struck by an English lunchtime habit that the English treat like a day at the beach. She shares the Venezuelan expression for how she learned her English, plus a frank personal view of life back home. A chance to tune your ear to Venezuelan Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
a los trancazos · sanduche · es lo máximo · ahorita

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/clarissa-venezuela

Rob asks Clarissa "Tú no le gusta mucho entonces". Can you spot his mistake? The answer's in the notes.

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Lis has a Colombian driving licence, but she calls it "muy ficticia". Rob remembers what happened in Italy when she had to reverse. He explains why the English driving test is so easy to fail, and how you can fail in the first minute and still have to keep driving. Then Lis reveals her dream road trip, and a colour choice that makes Rob cry "¡Ay por Dios!"

Do you know what these mean?
dar reversa · me queda muy difícil · toca pagar · ¡Ay por Dios!

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/driving-test

Describing the English driving test, Rob slips up twice and Lis corrects him both times. Can you spot the two words he gets wrong?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What did gold mean to the Muisca, if not money? After a family trip to the British Museum's El Dorado exhibition, Lis explains what really went on at Lake Guatavita, and why the legend the conquistadors chased wasn't quite a legend. Rob knows where much of that gold ended up, and Lis recalls a very odd old test for spotting real gold, all in Bogotá Spanish at natural speed.

Do you know what these mean?
guacas · volviendo al tema · se me ocurrió esa idea · a lo mejor

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/el-dorado

Can you spot the word Rob invents when he says they're all very "cultured", and what Lis corrects it to?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

How many votes does a Colombian actually cast? Lis walks Rob through her country's political system, from the old "reds and blues" to a party that began as a religious congregation, and soon Rob is laughing "¡Ay, qué complicado!" Why would someone in Bogotá vote for a senator who mainly represents Cartagena? And what do Colombia's political families have to do with two British party leaders?

Do you know what these mean?
me tienen como loca · mover todas sus fichas · politiqueros · entre comillas

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombian-politics

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Maria, from Piura on Peru's northern coast, landed at Heathrow alone, with no plan and not a word of English. Nobody was waiting for her, so how did her first ride end up costing £117? She talks about 3am starts at the bus stop, the job she was determined not to do, and the soldier's motto that kept her going. A chance to tune your ear to northern Peruvian Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
a la deriva · sobre la marcha · nunca hago marcha atrás · pa' lante

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/maria-peru

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Lis's cousin Margarita, visiting from Colombia, has travelled all over South America, and here she picks her top three places. Find out which traditional tea she swears by before Machu Picchu, and the unusual souvenir you can collect in your passport at the entrance. Then there's a "sea" in Bolivia you shouldn't enter without a guide, and a hotel where even the chairs are made of salt.

Do you know what these mean?
el soroche · sin lugar a dudas · tener presente · a lo lejos

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/south-america

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What do Mexicans say instead of "cool", and when does "padre" stop meaning father? Lis sits down with Bárbara from Guadalajara for a crash course in the slang Mexicans use among friends, including the word Bárbara calls the most Mexican of all (parental guidance advised). Then Bárbara reveals the "drowned" breakfast you have to try, and what gets served alongside a shot of mezcal. A great chance to tune your ear to Mexican Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
chido · muy padre · qué onda guey · no manches

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/mexican-slang

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Is Colombia really as dangerous as its reputation? Rob asks Lis, and the only trouble she can remember involves a Discman. A London news story leads to a mix-up: fourteen seconds or fourteen minutes? Then Rob recalls a swarm of motorbikes racing through Santa Marta, and asks what happens if they catch the thief. A natural-speed chat in Colombian Spanish, recorded while the peace talks were under way.

Do you know what these mean?
te lo van a rapar · no da abasto · de la noche a la mañana · siempre y cuando

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombia-safe

Rob trips over the same word twice while asking about visitors to Colombia. Can you spot it before Lis corrects him?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Why do people ask Lis if she's from Cali when they see her dance? She grew up in Bogotá watching her older sisters rehearse salsa steps in the living room, and never took a single class. Lis also gives her verdict on how the English dance salsa, explains the question you might still ask a woman's partner before dancing with her, and reveals the catchphrase that may have given salsa its name.

Do you know what these mean?
¡Échale salsita! · está mal visto · dejar la pena · se los quedo debiendo

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/salsa

Can you spot the two times Rob gets a noun's gender wrong, and gets put right?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Where do you go on holiday when your own country already has it all? Recording on an Easter break in Bath, Lis reveals the town two hours from Bogotá where it hits nearly 40 degrees, why the Pacific coast is for the more adventurous, and the long weekends that make Bogotá's roads impossible. Plus Rob's 200-kilometre journey that should have taken two or three hours and took fifteen.

Do you know what these mean?
un derrumbe · los puentes · plan mochilero · como venga la marea

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombian-holidays

Rob sums up his marathon journey from Valle de Cocora to Bogotá with "éramos 15 horas". How does Lis rephrase it?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Tune your ear to Colombian Spanish as Rob sits down with Alberto, his "adopted father-in-law", who has lived in London for 19 years. How did an invitation to eat buñuelos end with a new lodger? Why did Alberto go so long without worrying much about English? And what does he mean when he says Latin America, "having everything, has nothing"?

Do you know what these mean?
eso tiene un trasfondo · tatatata · piso cultural · teniéndolo todo no tenemos nada

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/alberto-london

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

What does a night of "rumbear" look like in Bogotá? Stefy, a young Colombian living in London, talks Rob through it, from a 7pm dinner to a two-for-one cocktail stop, and explains why the lights suddenly come on at three in the morning. She also reveals what strikes her as strange about English pubs, and the music no Colombian rumba can do without. A great chance to tune your ear to Bogotá Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
rumbear · la marcha · el trago · reúnes plata

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/bogota-rumba

Rob tries to say that some Colombian bars "turn a blind eye" to under-18s, but gets the idiom tangled. Can you spot what he says wrong?

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Sonia moved from Cuba to Spain, spent twelve years there, then landed in London, and she has plenty to say about all three. Her very first answer leaves the hosts lost for words. Then she unpacks a Cuban saying about cabbage and lettuce, names the Spanish accent Cubans love most, and remembers the neighbourly question about rice she misses from home. A lively workout for tuning your ear to Cuban Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
entre col y col, lechuga · dicharachero · la juerga · son amores

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/cuban-sonia

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Lis shares her four golden rules for winning someone over on a first meeting, and one of them comes down to a glass of water Rob doesn't find very generous. Rob's take on how relationships start in England earns him a teasing "la voz de la experiencia". Plus a colleague with four or five dates a week, and the Colombian expression for people who met online but won't admit it.

Do you know what these mean?
no seas tan lanzado · media naranja · te va a tomar el pelo · no han salido del closet

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/golden-rules

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What do you miss most when you move abroad? Lis left Colombia for the first time to live in London, putting law on hold to learn English, and reveals the breakfast fruit that means as much to her as tea does to Rob. Rob looks back on Russia, Valencia and the Amazon jungle, and credits his Spanish to two years and one girlfriend. Lis has a question about that.

Do you know what these mean?
como uña y mugre · tinto · dos años y pico · echar de menos

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/living-abroad

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

It's Lis's first ever episode, and she's taking you home to Colombia, with a Bogotá accent to tune your ear to. It's a country with no seasons but every climate, and there's one region she insists Rob still has to visit. Rob recalls a night bus from the Ecuadorian border that was stopped every half hour, and Lis has a correction. Then: three words for Colombia, all with something in common.

Do you know what these mean?
supremamente · la colombianita · cruzas y ya · haya creado la inquietud

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/lis-colombia