Destinos Resources

ANNOUNCEMENT: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING OR IMPROVING YOUR SPANISH, CONSIDER JOINING OUR GROUP OF ONGOING SPANISH LEARNERS. MOST OF US PARTICIPATE IN THE CLASSES FOR FUN. THERE ARE BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, AND ADVANCED GROUPS. THE GROUP LEADERS/INSTRUCTORS ARE MOSTLY NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKERS. 

SWFLORIDASPANISH.COM — WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

ENJOY THE FOLLOWING DESTINOS AND OTHER RESOURCES. Tomás
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Hi. This site provides resources for Spanish students who are interested in learning Spanish using the Annenberg Learner Telenovela named Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish.

If you would like to review a general description of Destinos, visit this page, which has been deleted from Wikipedia.    Wikipedia Description of Destinos

One of the most valuable resources available here are transcripts that I developed for each Destinos episode. Scroll down to the Tom’s Destinos Dropbox link to access the transcripts and other resources.

The videos for each episode are available in the same location as the transcripts. You can also access the videos with all associated features by going directly to the Annenberg website and accessing the videos there. Here is the link to Annenberg site:

Annenberg Videos
Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish

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OTHER USEFUL DESTINOS RESOURCES

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Follow the link(s) provided below to access a variety of useful resources related to Destinos and other resources useful to those learning Spanish. Some published resources which are out of print are included, such as the Destinos textbook, associated audio files, the Workbook/Study Guide resources and audio files for each episode, and other useful resources.

As of today …. Saturday, September 8, 2023, the following resources are available:

1. Spanish-language typed transcripts in both MS Word and PDF format for:
   • All episodes (1 through 52)
     • (Note: It took me many months to transcribe all of the videos. It was a labor of “love” and I learned a lot in doing this. I hope you enjoy the transcripts and that they make watching the episodes more fulfilling and help you do the exercises.)
2. Workbook/Study Guide resources for:
   • All episodes 1 through 51 (Ep. 52 does not have associated resources)
   • Destinos audio files, referenced in workbook/study guide, for all episodes
   • Table of Contents and Appendices for all lessons/episodes
     • Answers to episode questions and self-test
     • Index
3. Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish Text Book (1992 Version)
   — All chapters of the text book are available at the locations indicated below
   — All associated textbook audio files for all episodes/chapters are available
   • Note 1: Vocabulary & Cast of Characters is located in folder for episodes 1 & 2 and also in the Org-by-artifact area
   • Note 2: Answers are included at end of each chapter/episode. Complete list of answers is located in Org-by-artifact area as well.
4. Vocabulary and questions for each episode – a useful teaching resource
5. Abbreviated versions of episode questions and activities for all episodes
6. An original and annotated (by hand) family tree (useful for figuring out who is whom)
7. Brief summary of each episode (in English)
8. Destinos Wikipedia description

Updates will be posted as additional resources are completed and added.

Access the resources listed above at this location:

Location of Tom’s Destinos Files (Dropbox)

If you have problems please send me an e-mail. Gracias! Tom Kessler (kesslertg@gmail.com)

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Other Destinos Resources

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1. DESTINOS Flash Card Sets

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Other Info About Destinos

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1. DESTINOS WIKIPEDIA REVIEW: If you are interested in a high-level overview of the plot and characters (which makes it easier to understand the Spanish learning elements), check out the Wikipedia posting for Destinos:

Destinos 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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2. ANOTHER DESTINOS REVIEW: Here is an interesting review written by someone who uses Destinos for learning Spanish. She clearly noticed a great deal more about the actors’ early 1990s hair and clothing style than I did, lol, likely because of that “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” thing. But from an overall perspective, this review is interesting:

Destinos Review: How I’m Learning Spanish
With Cheesy Dialogue, Big Hair and Shoulder Pads

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Other Spanish
Learning Resources

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Para la clase del “Cultural Center of Port Charlotte” solamente ….

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New as of June 10, 2017: How Diplomats Trained for Spanish-Speaking Assignments

(cortesía de Priscilla L. Galey – muchas gracias Priscilla!)

The US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute has trained diplomats and employees for overseas assignments for many years. This material was created by the US government from the 1960’s to the 1980’s, and it’s all out of copyright
now. Baron’s actually sells it, but it’s all free on the internet. The
purpose is to teach diplomatic personnel to speak like a native as
quickly as possible, and they know how to get it done efficiently with
no frills. This is mostly audio content as they drill/brainwash you into it
so that you’ll probably never forget it. Here is a link to the resources:

Foreign Service Institute Spanish

Spanish Basic is full blown and in depth and time-consuming. Recommend the Head Start series, because it gets you going right away with
necessary useful conversation. Resources are oriented to
different areas–Puerto Rico, Spain, and Panama (Latin America).

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NEW … NEW … NEW … SPANISH AUDIO FILES … LISTEN AND LEARN 

Check out this link for a fantastic series of MP3 immersion audio files. For each dialog there is a fast/slow/fast sequence. Be sure to listen to the dialogs before reviewing the included PDF transcript document … you will learn more that way! Enjoy.

Immersion Plus Spanish

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NEW: A useful PDF verb table … see example below the link ….

        Other Spanish Resources

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Title: Notes in Spanish Audios

Overview: Husband and wife team discuss many topics dealing with life in Spain. Husband (Ben) is British and wife (Marina) is from Madrid. Even with the “Castellano” accent, Marina is actually easier to understand than Ben!

Most topics are about everyday life in Spain with some great historical background about how the Franco dictatorship continues to affect Spanish life of today. Typical topics are:

Spain’s immigration policy
The tapas tradition of Spain
Tourism in Spain
How Spaniards celebrate Christmas, New Year’s and the 6th of January (Día de Reyes)
The Spanish cinema
Weather in Madrid
The Madrid traffic
Plus much more.

This is a great way to learn much about the culture and daily life in Madrid. There are 4 formats of the conversations: Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced and Gold. Beginner level has more English and covers some grammar (por vs para, ser vs estar, etc.). Intermediate and Advanced files are about 100% en español with the same vocabulary level. The speed of the conversation is the real difference in these 2 levels. Gold format is 10 minutes in Spanish and 10 minutes analyzing Spanish vocabulary in the conversation.

All audio files are all free and are available in podcast and .mp3 format. All pod casts are also available FREE from the iTunes Store. Search for Notes in Spanish. Each of the levels has an album icon at the top of the iTunes page as Notes in Spanish Beginner, Notes in Spanish Intermediate, Notes in Spanish Advanced and Notes in Spanish Gold. Clicking each album icon will provide all free podcasts for that level.

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Title: Notes in Spanish Videos

If you like the Notes in Spanish audios above you might want to watch their Notes in Spanish free videos. Ben and Marina provide videos with a vocabulary guide after each one. Some of the video were filmed on location throughout Madrid.

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Title: Spanish Audio Gazette

Overview: The University of Toronto has offered this collection of free audios and transcripts on a variety of Hispanic cultural topics. The audios are grouped according to the speaker’s Spanish.

Click on a topic to open the window to the transcript. Double click on the links for the audio either in the wav or mp3 format. Audios can only be downloaded from the website. Right click on the wav or mp3 format link and select download.

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Title: Weekly News in Slow Spanish

There is a separate tab for Latin American and España.

Overview: Audio files for students that want to begin listening to audio files at a slower than normal rate. The news topics are directed to listeners with a basic vocabulary and grammar. The Latin America tab is the sister site of the original España site and the format is the same for both. The Latin America tab contains news articles exclusively from the Americas.

The free weekly podcasts are about 8 minutes. These free audio files are also available at the iTunes Store for free download. Search with News in Slow Spanish.

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Title: Coffee Break Spanish

Website: https://radiolingua.com/coffeebreakspanish

Overview: This site is produced by Radio Lingua, which provides audio files in many languages.

The Coffee Break Spanish is designed for Beginners/Intermediate students. At the top of the page is a link for “Free Lessons”. From the drop down menu select Coffee Break Spanish. There will be links for Section 1, 2 or 3. Click on the Lesson number and title to change to the audio page. The download link is under the audio player. All podcasts are also available FREE from the iTunes Store. Search with Coffee Break Spanish.

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Title: Radio Lingua Coffee Break (English Q&A)

Overview: This site is produced by Radio Lingua. This is mostly in English answering questions about Spanish from listeners. Typical questions involve grammar, numbers, directions, etc. There are many conceptual ideas presented on how to learn Spanish.

The link to the 5 files is indexed on the right of the web page. To listen to the audio, click the Download mp3 file link. All podcasts are also available FREE from the iTunes Store. Search with Café Cortado.

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Title: Radio Lingua Show Time Spanish

Overview: Produced by Radio Lingua. The 2 commentators are Mark (from Scotland) and Alma (from Barcelona, Spain) and Carolina (from Bogatá, Columbia after episodes #31). Mark’s English with a Scottish accent is harder to understand than his Spanish!

To listen to any of the 40 lessons, click on the mp3 link in the Basic Main Podcast column. Each episode is divided in 3 parts. The first part is 100% en español. The second part is a quick lesson in 2 or 3 phrases that are commonly used and can make a person sound more…”Spanish”! The third part is a review or a discussion of some part of grammar. Every 5th episode there is a “telenovela” to an ongoing story called Verano Español. All podcasts are also available FREE from the iTunes Store. Search with Show Time Spanish.

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Title: Basic Spanish: SPN101, SPN102, SPN103

Overview: These iTunes podcasts are produced by the De Paul University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to support their basic Spanish courses. These are directed to beginners and provide excellent listening comprehension. Most of the podcasts have very little English as an introduction. The majority of the podcasts are in Spanish.

To listen to the podcast place the mouse over the title and click on the play icon that  appears the left of the title. These free podcasts are available from the iTunes Store. Search with Basic Spanish: SPN101,

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Title: Destinos: An introduction to Spanish

Overview: This is a collection of video files that are played from streaming video from the web site.

The program was originally broadcast on Public Broadcast Stations (PBS) as a teaching tool for The format is a telenovela (Spanish soap opera) providing dialogue to increase vocabulary and listening comprehension. There are 52 episodes and each is 30 minutes.

There is no capability to download these videos, and the free videos must be played on a computer. Each video has a gold box labeled “VoD”. Double click on the VOD link to open a new video window, which begins the episode. The Spanish spoken will include accents from throughout Latin America and Spain.

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Title: Nuevo Destinos

Overview: This is a follow-on series of the original Destinos above. The plot retraces the events of the original series many years later upon the notice a letter that Pedro has died.

There is no capability to download these videos, and the free videos must be played on a computer. Each video has a gold box labeled “VoD”. Double click on the VOD link to open a new video window, which begins the episode.

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Title: Cadena Hoy por hoy

Overview: Cadena SER is one of Spain’s major radio stations and has been broadcasting since 1926 and has 4+ million listeners. All the latest podcasts are available to listen via streaming audio on the websites below. To download any audio, right click the play icon and select the download option. These free podcasts are available from the iTunes Store. Search with the name of each program below.

These audios are interviews with prominent people who are subject matter experts. The speed is real time Spanish from Spain. All of Spanish language accents are represented with many guests from Latin America.

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Title: Ser Historia

This is a talk-radio history program that explores many historical topics in the 55 minute program. To download any podcast right click the play icon and select download. These free podcasts are available from iTunes Store.

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Title: Pretérito Imperfecto

This is a talk-radio history program produced for Cadena Ser radio. Podcasts are about 15 minutes and cover a variety of subjects. Free audios may be played via streaming audio on a computer or downloaded via the iTunes Store.

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Title: Nomadas

Overview: This is a talk-radio travel program produced by Radio Nacional de España (RNE).

To listen to the podcast click on the title. Click the play button labeled “Reproducir”. To manually download, right click the link titled “Llévatelo en mp3” and select the download option. These free podcasts are available from the iTunes Store. Search with Nómadas.

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Title: ¿Eres Tú, María?

Overview: This is a series of videos produced by Prentice Hall Publishers for the textbook Realidades. These videos are used for Spanish I classes to develop listening comprehension. The story line is used to connect the 10 videos.

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Title: Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)

Overview: This is a free series of 21 interactive videos filmed in Spain to teach “survival Spanish”.

There is a story line and this is a great way for beginners to get started or people who are re-connecting with Spanish to see how much they remember. The website offers links to the videos, the entire transcript, lists of grammar notes and vocabulary lists sorted by episode. All text material can be printed for free if the person wants a copy to make notes.

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Title: Madrileños por El Mundo

This is a regular series produced by TeleMadrid. The format is to interview people who live in other parts of the world who that were originally from Madrid. Double click on the title to play the video.

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Title: Españoles en el Mundo

Overview: This is the same format that became popular in with other stations in Spain. There are interviews of Spaniards who live in different countries. This series is produced by Radio y Televisión Española or RTVE.

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Title: Andaluces por el Mundo

Overview: Canal Sur Andalucía has used the same popular format of interviewing people from Andalucía who live in outside of Spain. If you were ever curious about the Andalucían accent this is the place to listen to it.

Title: 14 Realistic Resources for Medical Professionals Learning Spanish

By MEREDITHKREISA

14 Realistic Resources for Medical Professionals Learning Spanish

A patient is in pain and needs your help, but you cannot understand what they are saying.What do you do?

It is a stressful situation, one that you hope you never find yourself in.

The fact of the matter is that the Spanish-speaking population is on the rise. As a medical professional, you might find yourself struggling to understand someone who desperately needs assistance.

Fetching a translator takes precious time. And what if there isn’t one available where you work?

Having at least a basic understanding of medical Spanish can help you better help others.

The good news is that there are plenty of top-notch Spanish learning resources created with medical professionals in mind.

These resources will teach you essential medical vocabulary and phrases, bedside manner and other Spanish you will find useful in your field of work.

Let’s explore how to learn basic medical Spanish with 14 excellent courses, apps, websites and other tools.

Online Courses

1. medicalspanish.com

The well-curated site medicalspanish.com offers specialized courses for various medical professionals including physicians and practitioners, hospital nurses, office nurses, medical assistants, emergency responders, physical therapists, occupational therapists and medical receptionists.

Choose the course that is most relevant to what you need on a daily basis. This way, you will learn the types of vocabulary and phrases necessary for your specific career field.

Courses are entirely online and self-paced, so you can easily fit them into your busy schedule. They feature key words and phrases—no grammar learning necessary. Each section comes with its own notes that you can print out for further practice.

Prices for the courses start at $69 for six months of access and include a certificate of completion. Six months should be enough, as the course is estimated to take about 25 hours.

If you do not want to commit to a course, you might still want to check out some of their free learning resources.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

2. Spanish for Medical Professionals I

This course on ed2go course requires a total of 24 hours of coursework over six weeks. There is a new start date every month, so you will have plenty of opportunities to jump on board.

It is designed for students with no previous Spanish experience and focuses on “survival” Spanish for the medical profession—common phrases you will need in order to ask about symptoms, insurance, etc. You will also learn some basic Spanish, like colors, directions, numbers, verb conjugation and more.

The first course costs $149 by itself. Those who are more serious about medical Spanish can take the full Medical Spanish Series, which includes both the first and second course.

If your Spanish is already pretty good, you may want to consider jumping right to the second course, which gets into specialist categories like mental health, oncology, dentistry and more.

3. Medical Spanish (Lengalia)

Lengalia’s Medical Spanish is a course everyone related to the medical field can take.

However, bear in mind the course has been designed for students who have at least a B1 level of Spanish, so if your level is lower, this course will be very challenging for you.

With five lessons and one final test, this course will teach you lots of vocabulary and expressions that are used specifically in medical and hospital environments.

Each lesson is divided into several sections. First, there is a series of dialogues with native (Castilian) audio that let learners get familiar with the topic and have a look at the lesson’s vocabulary.

After that, there is a specialized reading (called “supplement”), dialogue/reading-comprehension exercises, listening comprehension activities, videos with exercises and a vocabulary list.

The different vocabulary lists can be studied and reviewed in the form of flashcards, which can be downloaded for free when you purchase the course.

4. Spanish for Medical Professionals (University of New Hampshire)

This course offered by the University of New Hampshire is perfect for any person with no prior knowledge of Spanish.

It starts with simple topics such as Spanish pronunciation, the colors and the family, and it teaches you Spanish vocabulary and grammar while slowly introducing medical terminology on topics that range from the body to medical tests to pregnancy.

The course tackles the topic of Latin American families (lesson 2), which will be helpful to understand the cultural component of your patients.

There are two versions of this course, both at $139.

One version has specific start dates and includes the help of an instructor. The other version does not have an instructor, but the course can be done whenever you want.

5. Spanish Medical Terminology for Health Care Professionals (ANIA)

The American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) offers this 12-hour course on Spanish medical terminology divided into three modules.

The first module is an introduction to the Spanish language. It includes topics such as pronunciation, listening comprehension, sentence structure and word order.

The second module teaches the terminology related to the medical office and the third one covers the vocabulary necessary in the examination room.

The course includes a printable book on human anatomy and medical terminology in Spanish.

Despite being a little bit on the pricey side at $249, you will get from 12 to 14.4 CE credits after you complete it.

6. Spanish for Successful Communication in Healthcare Settings (Rice University)

With over 60 videos (or, as they call them, virtual classes), 96 readings, a ton of exercises and interactive practice and five quizzes, this course, offered by the Rice University on Coursera, is possibly one of the most comprehensive free courses on the topic you will ever find.

It is divided into four modules with four lessons each.

Each module covers a step in the doctor-patient journey, from the preliminary interview to the physical examination to the final diagnosis and treatment.

The last module is focused on communication difficulties that may arise between a doctor and their patient.

The course is completely in Spanish, so it is recommended for intermediate or advanced students.

You can buy a certificate of completion after you pass all the quizzes and finish the course, but the course is otherwise completely free.

Apps

Technology is getting better and better, and nowadays we are able to learn practically anything on the go thanks to smartphones and, specifically, apps.

Learning languages with apps has become very popular, but are healthcare and medical Spanish included in them?

There are some very popular language learning apps that include some lessons on health in general, the parts of the body and diseases, though there is little more to be found on popular apps pertaining to the medical field.

Duolingo, for example, includes some health and hospital lessons, but they are so short and so far down the lesson tree that they are not really worth it as a medical resource.

The same happens with Rosetta Stone. This is not an app designed to teach you medical Spanish, so apart from the odd body part or common illness, you will not find much there (although Rosetta Stone Enterprise includes a healthcare course in Spanish, this is not a course intended for individuals).

To learn medical Spanish with an app, the best option is to go for one that has been specifically designed for that purpose.

These apps might be difficult to find, but some of them are real masterpieces.

To help you get started, I have selected three I personally know and enjoy.

Have fun!

7. Canopy Medical Spanish

Available: Browser | iOS | Android

Canopy primarily targets doctors and nurses through its apps and website, although anyone can use it to learn medical Spanish. The program is available online and offers a certificate of completion.

Even though this is a serious learning tool for medical professionals, it still knows how to have fun with its learning: Each lesson in Canopy is presented alongside a medical telenovela.

To get started, Canopy is $225 for the first level.

If you are looking for a more entry-level option, Canopy also has two apps that are completely free.

The main app, Canopy Speak (linked above) offers phrases in 15 languages, including Spanish. The app teaches over 4,500 medical phrases across nine specialties, like dentistry, pediatrics and general surgery.

While you might also use Canopy Speak to study seriously, this program is intended more for quick and easy translation without having to know the language.

The second app, Canopy Quest, is only available for iOS users. It is also designed to help you learn medical Spanish in a game-like manner. The app has you role-play through real scenarios in order to practice your Spanish speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

8. FluentU

Available: Browser | iOS | Android

If you are looking for a way to learn Spanish through authentic scenarios, you will want to give FluentU a try.

FluentU offers numerous benefits for medical professionals. You will find lots of great videos focused on interactions between doctors and patients in hospitals, general physical health and more relevant topics.

FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

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 topics, as you can see here: