In lesson 46 Mark and Kara look at the difference between ser and estar, the two verbs which mean ‘to be’ in Spanish, and a grammar point learners often find difficult.

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In lesson 45 Mark and Kara look further at making arrangements using the tricky Spanish verb quedar.

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In lesson 44 Mark and Kara look at making arrangements and introduce the idea of irregular verbs, using ir (to go) and hacer (to do/make) as examples.

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Lesson 43 introduces the concept of reflexive verbs and completes our teaching on talking about your daily routine.

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Lesson 42 continues where we left off last time and looks further at conjugating verbs within the context of daily routine and making arrangements.

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Lesson 41 introduces level 2 of Coffee Break Spanish. In level 1 we concentrated on learning useful words and phrases for a whole range of situations you’re likely to encounter on a trip to a Spanish-speaking part of the world. However, to a certain extent we’ve been concentrating on set phrases. In level 2 it’s now time to look more deeply at how the language is constructed, and you’ll learn to create the language yourself.

Episode 41 introduces the idea of verbs and you’ll learn to conjugate a verb in its six forms. You’ll be talking about what you do at the weekend, and answering the question ¿qué haces durante el fin de semana?

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Level 1 of Coffee Break Spanish draws to a close with this episode which looks at the languages of Spain through two conversations with native speakers.

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In this week’s lesson Mark and Kara talk to Bea, a student they met while recording in Spain. The conversation is the first of two dialogues focusing on language-learning.

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2009 has been a fantastic year for Radio Lingua and we’d like to thank all our listeners for your support and enthusiasm over the past twelve months. To celebrate the end of 2009 and a new year of language-learning just around the corner, we’re delighted to announce our Holidays sale and give you some exciting advance notice of our plans for 2010. Read on!

No festive period is complete without a sale, and we’re offering you 25% off all our courses right through until 31 December, midnight GMT. If you’ve been thinking about taking your language-learning more seriously next year, perhaps now is the time to jump on board and purchase one of our Season Passes. We’re delighted to be able to offer free language-learning materials to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world, but you can take your learning to a new level with our premium materials which include lesson guides, extra listening materials and exericses for each of our courses.

To receive your 25% discount, simply use the coupon code holidays09 (lower case) at checkout when you’re buying one of our courses. If you’ve not purchased an item from us before, you can view our full range of products here, or visit the appropriate store front for Coffee Break French, Coffee Break Spanish, Show Time Spanish, One Minute Languages, or School Run French. When you complete the form, make sure you enter holidays09 in the coupon code area at the bottom of the signup page.

Please note that the 25% reduction will be applied at checkout. EU customers should be aware that the prices quoted on our signup pages do not include VAT. If you use the coupon code then the 25% discount will be applied and then 15% VAT will be added to the total cost. It’s worth also pointing out that as of 1st January 2010, the VAT charges will have to increase to 17.5% in line with the Inland Revenue arrangements in the UK.

Please remember to use the coupon code as you’re purchasing: no refunds will be given on any materials purchased at full price if the coupon codes have not been used.

Would you like to purchase a gift membership? If so, please contact us at support@radiolingua.com and we’ll get things set up for you. Let us know what product you wish to buy and the email address of the recipient. We’ll process your payment and send the gift membership invitation in time for Christmas. Please note that the deadline for any Christmas gifts is 17 December.

New for 2010: the Radio Lingua Club. We’ve been listening to comments from our existing premium customers and one of the most common requests is for more help and advice for learning languages. We’ve decided therefore to create a ‘club’ around this. Membership to the club will last 12 months and during this time members will receive the following benefits:

1. Weekly podcasts in a brand new “how to learn a language” series featuring tips, tricks and advice on learning language. We’ll also be including interviews with language learners from all walks of life who will share their learning tips. The course will feature tips for beginners and for experienced learners and we’re sure that everyone will be able to benefit from this course, regardless of the language they are learning.
2. Reduced prices on all our content. Members will have access to a special discount rate for any purchases made within the membership period. At certain times we’ll also offer special discounts on certain products.
3. Refer-a-friend refunds. Members of the Radio Lingua club will be able to introduce a friend to Radio Lingua courses at a discounted rate, and receive an affiliate payment. So if you’re a Coffee Break Spanish Season Pass holder and you introduce your friend to the show and they purchase the show, you’ll receive a special payment from us to say thanks.

The Radio Lingua Club will involve a monthly payment of just £4.00 GBP. Alternatively you can purchase a twelve-month subscription for £36. The club will launch on January 1st 2010 with our first weekly language-learning tips podcast. We’re offering a special early-bird purchase offer where you can get 25% off the twelve-month subscription: for just £27 you will get access to a full year’s worth of podcasts, you’ll access the reduced prices throughout 2010, and you will be able to use the refer-a-friend refund too.

To take advantage of this special early-bird offer which will only be available until 31st December, please click here, or log into your Control Panel and add Club Membership (Early-bird) to your account. Please note that the monthly subscription option will only be available after January 1st 2010.

If 2009 has been a big year for Radio Lingua, we’re really excited about what’s coming in 2010! Our Coffee Break French listeners will be aware that we’re moving into lessons 71-80 of Coffee Break French, and we’re often asked about “what happens when Coffee Break French finishes?” Well, we’re busy planning new content for intermediate learners at the moment, and we’re sure that everyone will enjoy what will come after our existing course content.

This year we introduced our first experimental video show – Walk, Talk and Learn French. We were overwhelmed at the response to Walk, Talk and Learn, but as a small company we’ve been limited in terms of the time required to produce more shows. Fans of the show will be delighted to know that we’ve filmed a second series and are working on the content at the moment, ready for launch early in 2010.

We’re a couple of days away from releasing the last ever episode of Show Time Spanish, which has developed into one of our most popular shows. As we’ve explained to listeners, Show Time took an enormous amount of work to produce each episode and we feel that we can’t continue the show in its current format. However, we are sure that Show Time Spanish listeners won’t be disappointed with what we have planned for release in the new year. We’re working on new content which will continue to feature native-speaker conversations and in-depth study of the language. We can’t say too much now, but we’ll be making some announcements early in the New Year.

If you’re interested in languages other than French and Spanish then we’re very pleased to announce that 2010 will bring more content for Italian and German learners and that we’ll continue to increase our range of One Minute Languages.

Last, but by no means least, since September we’ve been working in conjunction with schools in the UK through Radio Lingua Schools, and we’ve been involved in several projects involving languages and creative technologies. In 2010 we’re going to be looking more at the resources side of Radio Lingua Schools and have started work on a major new course for children, due to be launched in August 2010.

Of course, as we’ve said many times, we’re still a small company and we’re doing our best to continue to produce high quality, engaging materials. We hope that 2010 will bring further opportunities for new projects, collaboration and new ideas!

Of course we have lots of ideas as to our new developments, but we’re really interested to hear about your ideas. To this end, we’re asking for 10 minutes of your time and we hope that you’ll be willing to share some of your thoughts about language-learning and your next steps as a learner.

We’ve devised a survey and would be very grateful if you would tell us a little about your language-learning and your experience using Radio Lingua materials. You can give as much or as little detail as you wish, but obviously it’s extremely useful to us if you can provide as much information as possible. There are different sections of the survey, depending on which language(s) you learn with Radio Lingua, and on whether you listen to the free content or use our premium materials. You’ll be guided through the survey and we’ll try to explain why we’re asking what we’re asking.

If you complete the survey you’ll be invited to enter a prize draw – there’s an iPod Touch up for grabs along with five platinum season passes to a language course of your choice!

To start taking the survey now, click here.

All that remains for us to do is to wish each and every one of our listeners and friends a very happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

In lesson 38 Kara’s not feeling too well, so she and Mark visit a farmacia. Have a listen to the conversation which takes place in the chemist’s.

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In lesson 37 Mark is in the hotel reception asking for directions to a local shopping centre. The conversation will help you practise the language required in this situation.

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On 18th October 2006, episode one of a new language-learning podcast called Coffee Break Spanish was released to the world. This show was a bit different from the other Spanish learning shows out there: it was a gradual introduction to basic Spanish presented by teacher Mark, teaching student Kara. At this stage no-one really knew if the idea would work, but Coffee Break Spanish grew to become one of the most popular ways to learn Spanish online. The show quickly climbed the charts on iTunes UK and US, and began to feature in the top podcasts at Podcast Alley and on Libsyn.

Three years down the line and the Radio Lingua Network now produces twenty-seven language courses in eighteen languages and this week saw the sixty millionth download of our language lessons! That means – on average – around 55,000 downloads per day, every day for the last three years.

It’s time to celebrate!

To celebrate this milestone in our company’s development, we’re reducing everything to 60% of the normal prices, ie. 40% off, for one week only, from noon GMT on 18th October through to midnight GMT on 25th October. There has never been a better time to purchase our lesson guides, enhanced podcasts and extra listening materials. Simply use coupon code sixty when you sign up for any of our shows. You can choose between Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French and Show Time Spanish, or indeed one of our shorter One Minute or TwitterLearn courses. By purchasing a membership you can access a range of materials including pdf lesson guides featuring the words and phrases included in each lesson, enhanced podcasts which are perfect for listening on the iPod Touch or iPhone where you can see the flashcards synchronised to the audio, and bonus listening materials to help you improve your language skills even more.

Please note that the coupon code can’t be used in conjunction with any other offer and is limited to one purchase per member. Please note too that in order to qualify for the discount, the coupon code must be used at checkout time. We can’t offer retrospective discounts if the coupon code was not used.

Announcing a new development

We’ve been reading your comments regarding discussion boards and building a community around our lessons. Our previous discussion boards were created before we developed our membership system, so were unfortunately not linked to the system. Today we’re launching our new Community area where listeners can interact with each other, share their language-learning experiences and benefit from collaborative learning with fellow listeners. Accessing the Community is free, but you’ll need to sign up for an account in our system, so we’ll hopefully avoid the spam problems we’ve had in the past.

If you’re already a member of our system then you’ll be able to access My Courses in the community, where we’ll lead activities and generate discussions in which you can practise what you’ve learned in each lesson. My Courses is restricted to our premium members, so if you’ve purchased a Season Pass to Coffee Break French Level 2, you’ll see this course in My Courses, allowing you to interact with your fellow learners in the activities and discussions there. And if you’re not yet a premium member, you can join this week at a hugely discounted price! We’re looking forward to interacting with all our learners in My Courses.

Any questions? Get in touch with us, or post your question in our Community area.

Here’s to many more years of language learning with Radio Lingua!

After a few weeks of server problems, we’re back with another episode of Coffee Break Spanish recorded in Santiago de la Ribera in eastern Spain. This week Mark and Kara go shopping for postcards and shoes.

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In lesson 35, Mark and Kara are at the tourist information office asking about what there is to do in Santiago de la Ribera.

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It’s a beautiful morning and Mark and Kara are joined by Kara’s mother and another tourist on the balcony of the hotel for breakfast. Topics covered include forming plural and singular verbs in the formal form.

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In lesson 33 we revisit the language learned in earlier lessons for booking into a hotel. Having arrived in Santiago de la Ribera, Kara takes on the role of “Jane Johnston” who needs to check into the hotel.

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Mark and Kara have arrived in San Javier airport near Murcia in the east of Spain. In this lesson you’ll listen to a conversation between Mark and the employee at the help desk at San Javier airport as Mark asks for directions to get to the hotel.

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Lessons 31-40 were recorded in Spain and feature conversations with native speakers. These lessons will give listeners the opportunity to put the language they’ve been learning to use. In lesson 31 Mark and Kara are in the plane on the way to Spain, and they’re taking the opportunity to review some of the language learned in the course to date.

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In Lesson 30, Mark and Kara bring you a cultural lesson. You will have the chance to hear some conversations with Spanish football supporters.

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Welcome to Radio Lingua News – in this podcast we’ll be updating listeners on the latest developments from Radio Lingua. Coming up on today’s show:

• Learning languages 140 characters at a time with TwitterLearn
• Introducing our Community Managers
• New features for Radio Lingua premium members
• Announcing our Summer Sale
• Updates on the latest shows

TwitterLearn It seems that in the past few months the entire world has started twittering, helped by the huge number of celebrities using the microblogging service. Some write it off as another banal social media fad, but here at Radio Lingua we’ve been using Twitter for many months to update listeners on the latest podcast episodes and other news from Radio Lingua. This summer, we’ve decided to take our twittering a stage further and we’ve designed a course in French, Italian and Spanish for beginners, delivered in daily tweets of 140 characters, and podcasts of 1 minute 40 seconds. You can join Twitter at  http://twitter.com and follow @learnspanish, @learnfrench or @learnitalian to start your micro language-learning course.

Community Managers This summer we’re joined by three new members of the Radio Lingua team. Ellie, Katie and Marylou are going to be working over the summer on developing our learning communities on the website and they’re also working on the TwitterLearn courses. Initially they’ll be helping to develop the conversations on our Facebook pages. We really hope that Ellie, Katie and Marylou enjoy working with Radio Lingua over the summer months. If you’re a Facebook user, head over to the Facebook pages for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, Show Time Spanish and Radio Lingua where the conversations are increasing daily. Make sure you become a ‘fan’ of the shows and tell your friends that you’re learning with us. We’re also looking at the longer term plans for the Discussion Forum on our website. Have your say about how this should develop and contribute to the discussion on our blog.

New developments for members Until now our premium members have been downloading the bonus materials from our members’ pages, but we’ve been working on developing premium feeds for all of our podcasts. You can now use our one-click method to download all of the premium materials through iTunes. Find out more on our members’ pages. Another new development has been the introduction of automatic upgrades. A number of members who have purchased premium memberships have requested upgrades. Until now this has been a manual process, but we’ve just introduced new automatic upgrades for Coffee Break Spanish and Coffee Break French. By simply paying the difference between, for example, the silver and gold memberships, members will be able to upgrade automatically to the higher level. Find out more here.

Summer Sale Until 16 August 2009 we’re offering a 20% discount on all of our premium materials. Now’s the time to purchase our bronze, silver, gold or platinum memberships for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, Show Time Spanish or any of our other courses. Simply use coupon code SUMMER2009 at signup, or log into your Control Panel and add the relevant membership to your account.

Podcast update Let’s start with Coffee Break Spanish: episode 30 is due out in the next few days, and this episode concentrates of el fútbol. It was actually originally recorded on the streets of Glasgow on the occasion of the UEFA Cup Final a couple of years ago when hundreds of thousands of Spaniards arrived in the city for the match at Hampden Park. Listen in to hear interviews with fans of Español and Sevilla. Sticking with Spanish, we’ve just launched a special episode of Show Time Spanish recorded as Alba and I made a tortilla española, live in the kitchen. We explained to listeners exactly how to make the tortilla and we’re looking forward to seeing your photos of your tortillas. Episode 29 was Alba’s final episode with us as she’s returned to Barcelona. We’d like to wish her all the very best for the future. Show Time will continue, nonetheless and episode 30, due out in the middle of next week, will be the sixth instalment of our Spanish soap opera Verano Español. To French, now, and Coffee Break French. Episode 60 of our flagship French course will be published in the next couple of days and we’re just about to launch season 2B with episode 61. CBF subscribers should keep their eyes on the podcast feeds for all the information about the show. Our One Minute Languages courses have now finished, and we’re introducing the premium version of the courses gradually. One Minute French, Mandarin, Japanese and Greek are available already in the store, and we’ve just launched the premium version of One Minute Italian. The premium versions include a printable lesson guide, enhanced versions of the podcast with synchronised flashcards which work perfectly on iPods and iPhones, and bonus listening materials in the form of the quick quiz podcast and our popular Take-Off Time, a summary of all the language contained in the course presented in one fifteen to twenty minute show, perfect for packing onto your iPod as you head off on your summer vacation.

In Lesson 29, Mark and Kara talk more about aches and pains and cover more useful language for a visit to a Spanish pharmacy, including symptoms and remedies. They also take a look at demonstrative adjectives as well as antes de and después de + infinitive. 

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In this week’s edition of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara continue the shopping theme, this time buying food in the market.

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In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara head to the shops and Kara learns the language required to try on clothes and buy souvenirs.

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In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara introduce the necessary language for staying on a campsite in a Spanish-speaking country, from tent hire to shower blocks! They also cover the alphabet and the variations in certain letters in different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.

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In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara continue the topic of hotels. Listeners will learn how to ask for different kinds of rooms, and deal with problems associated with hotel rooms.

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In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara talk about booking into hotels and asking for specific types of rooms.

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In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara return after a few weeks off. The topic for discussion is the weather, and listeners will learn not only some useful phrases for talking about the weather, but Mark will explain the constructions behind these phrases so that listeners can build on these in the future.

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In Lesson 20 we visit a Spanish restaurant and order some food. 

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In Lesson 19 we review Lessons 11-18. 

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In lesson 18 you’ll learn more useful words and phrases for a visit to a restaurant.

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In this week’s lesson you’ll learn useful words and phrases for a visit to a restaurant.

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 In lesson 16 you’ll learn more useful language for ordering drinks and snacks in the café or bar.

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In lesson 15 you’ll visit a café and learn how to order some drinks.

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 In lesson 14 you’ll continue to look at places in the town and learn a song which will help you talk about what there is in your own town.

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Lesson 13 introduces some places in the town and helps you to understand and give basic directions.

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 Lesson 12 introduces numbers, days, months and seasons.

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Lesson 11 concentrates on dealing with problems associated with languages. You’ll learn how to say which languages you speak and ask for help understanding what is being said to you in Spanish.

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 In lesson 10 join Mark and Kara for a seasonal special including greetings from our listeners from around the world and a Christmas song in Spanish. 

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In lesson 09 you’ll review all the language you’ve learned so far in this course.

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 In lesson 08 you’ll learn to talk about your likes and dislikes.

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 In lesson 07 you’ll learn to talk about your job and whether or not you like it.

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In lesson 06 you’ll learn to talk about your family and to count from one to ten.

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In this week’s lesson you’ll learn how to introduce members of your family.

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In lesson 04 you’ll learn how to talk about where you live.

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 In lesson 03 you’ll learn how to talk about where you come from.

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In lesson 02 you’ll learn how to greet people at different times of the day, and build on what you learned in lesson 1.

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In lesson 01 you’ll learn to say “hello” and ask people how they’re feeling using simple, easy-to-learn phrases.

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