Learning Spanish Through Audio

TL;DR: Over the last ~2 years, I’ve gone from listening to Harry Potter at 65–70% speed to The Stormlight Archive at normal speed. This is a roadmap of the audio I used along the way.

Map of the Spanish audio I listened to from October 2024 to September 2026, from introductory podcasts and videos to audiobooks.

A few things this map does not show:

I already knew some Spanish at the start of this timeline. I had tried twice earlier in life to learn Spanish — on each occasion I made decent progress until giving up after a few months. About 10 years had passed since my last effort to learn Spanish, and I had been using Duolingo for ~20 minutes a day for about three months before the start of this timeline (starting in July 2024).
For some of this content, I read along or used subtitles on my phone, but I listened to most of it without text. For the Bible, I often read along with the audio.
With the exception of the Bible and Harry Potter (which I read ~20 years ago), I had not read these books in English beforehand.
Watching videos in Spanish may be more effective, but I have little spare time most days — listening is something I can do while making food, doing dishes, driving, exercising, etc.
I don’t speak any other languages besides English and Spanish, although I’ve learned bits of Mandarin and French.
I listened to the first Harry Potter book at 65–70% speed, and I gradually increased the playback speed to 100% over time while working through the other books and book series. I now do most of my listening at normal speed, though sometimes I’ll go faster if the narrator is slow and deliberate.
This map shows my active listening, but not my passive listening or the reading I’ve done. I write to ChatGPT and other LLMs almost exclusively in Spanish, and I have many web pages auto-translated into Spanish. I’ve read some of the Mistborn books in Spanish. Perhaps eventually I’ll write a more comprehensive guide to all the content and learning techniques I’ve used.
The Bible is a great resource for listening and reading — there are free Bible apps, and if you don’t understand something in a particular Spanish translation, you can try switching to another Spanish translation. It’s much more satisfying to understand something in a second (or third) Spanish translation than to resort to an English translation.
I listen to other things from time to time (e.g., Veritasium en español), but not extensively or regularly.
I listened to some of these books 2–3 times, but not necessarily actively. For example, I used to have a hard time understanding anything while driving, so I’d turn on a book I had already listened to at least once.
I still don’t understand everything. I need time to process some words and expressions, and sometimes I translate them into English. When I’m listening to The Way of Kings, I can often understand almost everything word for word if I’m rested and free of distractions. If my mind is occupied with things going on at work (for example), my listening comprehension drops significantly — but I suppose the same is true for me when listening to books in English.
I wish I had invested in better headphones earlier in the process. Every bit helps.
Understanding particular Spanish speakers or regional accents can be difficult. Listening to a series of books with the same narrator helps you become familiar with their voice. This makes it easier to pick up new words.
Red Rising was one of my favorites on this list. It’s one I’ll probably listen to again when more audiobooks from this series are released in Spanish. The Stormlight Archive is hard to get into, but once you do, it’s excellent.

Listening to these books in Spanish has often been challenging and frustrating. Some days, I felt like I wasn’t progressing, and I wondered if I was wasting my time. I sometimes wondered whether I was too old to truly grasp a new language. And although I still have a lot to learn, I’m very happy with how far I’ve come. I still miss words and meanings, but I rarely feel completely lost when listening. I suppose my progress will eventually slow down or plateau near my asymptotic limit, but even when that happens, I can already say that the journey has been well worth it.

As always, thanks for reading.

Books and resources

Here are links to the resources and Spanish editions of the books mentioned above.

Listening resources

Harry Potter (books 1–6)

Skyward / Escuadrón (books 1–4)

The Reckoners (books 1–3)

The 5th Wave / La quinta ola (books 1–3)

Red Rising / Amanecer rojo (books 1–5)

The Expanse (books 1–6)

The Stormlight Archive / El Archivo de las Tormentas (books 1–2)

Other resources

Duolingo
Mistborn / Nacidos de la Bruma: the publisher’s guide to the series and other Cosmere books.

Published on 23 September 2026

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