This Spanish audiobook is by popular polyglot and language teacher Olly Richards. You even have the option of downloading the PDF to help you with your listening.
This is a comprehensive audiobook containing over 22 hours of material. As the title suggests, this book prioritizes speaking skills and practical application above all else.
This is also the “Adult Only” version so you can even learn some spicy language—in other words, Spanish as it’s used by native speakers, curse words and all! If you want to forget the dry and boring learning approach, try this one out.
The author of this one, Patrick Jackson, is a prolific writer for Spanish learners and there are tons of audiobooks available by him so make sure you check out his other books.
Spanish Audiobooks for Beginners
Once you’ve gotten a grasp of the language you can move on to these audiobooks in Spanish for native speakers. Choose according to your level to make the most of it!
“La edad de oro,” (“The Golden Age”) is a collection of short children’s stories by José Martí, a Cuban national hero.
Since these stories are written for children, the vocabulary isn’t too advanced. Plus, the lengths vary from one minute to just over an hour, so there’s a story to fit into any schedule.
This collection of well-known children’s stories includes “The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and Many More Stories.”
Since the stories are for children, the vocabulary isn’t too advanced. Beginning students will be able to follow the stories and deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words via context clues.
“El Principito,” (“The Little Prince”) is the Spanish version of the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry classic about a young boy who has fallen to Earth from an asteroid.
While it’s sometimes classified as a children’s book, its depth makes it more appropriate for adults.
“El principito” is a good option for intermediate Spanish students because it’s novella length—not as long as a full novel, but longer than most children’s stories. Additionally, it uses fairly common words.
“El Maravilloso Mago de Oz,” is the Spanish version of the L. Frank Baum classic “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
If you aren’t familiar with the tale, it’s about a girl who travels via tornado to a magical land. You’ll also get a ready supply of some fairly magical words, which everyone needs.
This is a good choice for intermediate Spanish learners because it’s a full novel with some less common vocabulary, but the familiarity of the tale will make it easy to follow.
This Spanish version of an Arthur Conan Doyle classic follows Sherlock Holmes as he investigates a blackmail case.
This Sherlock Holmes tale is good for intermediate learners. It’s a short story, so it isn’t too intimidating.
Additionally, while the story traditionally has some old-timey words, this version is adapted for children, so it won’t be too challenging for intermediate Spanish students.
“La Lección de August: Wonder” (“Wonder”) is a popular 2012 children’s book by R. J. Palacio.
It follows a boy with a facial deformity who had previously been home-schooled as he enters a mainstream school.
Since it’s written for children, it won’t be too difficult for intermediate Spanish students. Plus, it uses standard vocabulary, which will help reinforce words that you’ll hear often.
The classic novel by George Orwell has recently had a resurgence in popularity.
The dystopian novel follows Winston Smith, a lowly government worker, as he independently rebels against a tyrannical government.
The novel uses some words that are exclusively for the story, but other than that, it leans on fairly common vocabulary, so it shouldn’t overwhelm Spanish students.
“Platero y Yo” (“Platero and I”) was written by acclaimed, Nobel Prize winner Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez.
This prose poem follows a loveable donkey (Platero) in whom the speaker confides.
The language is poetic, so it might be a bit trickier to understand. However, the work is relatively brief and is broken down into shorter chunks, so it should still be approachable for intermediate Spanish students.
“Cuentos de Amor, de Locura y de Muerte” (“Tales of Love, Madness and Death”) is a collection of short stories by Uruguayan playwright Quiroga, whose work influenced the Latin American magic realism movement.
The short stories contained in this volume cover all sorts of dark topics like drug addiction, greed, insanity, death and more.
The fact that they are short stories makes this book very approachable for Spanish learners as the content isn’t too overwhelming.
This novel by Puerto Rican author Esmeralda Santiago is about several women and their family ties in Puerto Rico and the Bronx.
The language is not overly difficult, but the story is complex and covers themes of family secrets, race, disability, sex and more, with the backdrop of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
The great thing about this one is that there’s an English version available as well or you can get the print version instead to read along.
If you know anything about modern Spanish-language literature, you will have heard about Isabel Allende. The prolific Chilean writer is now in her 80s and she doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon!
This is her most recent work, the title of which translates to “The Wind Knows My Name.” It’s a historical fiction novel with two intertwining storylines, one from World War II and one in the present day.
This classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes follows an often bumbling knight as he strives to be a hero.
“Don Quijote” is an ideal choice for advanced Spanish students as it’s a true class that will enhance your cultural knowledge.
Since it’s from the 1600s, some of the terminology isn’t particularly common anymore, so you’ll need context clues (or a dictionary) to figure out what they mean.
“Lazarillo de Tormes” is an anonymous story from the 1500s that tells the life story of the title character as he interacts with members of various groups in society.
This book is notable for its introduction to the picaresque novel and portrayal of society in the 1500s. It was banned during the Spanish Inquisition, so it clearly draws attention to some topics that were taboo at the time it was written.
However, due to its historical nature, much of the vocabulary is more challenging than other books so it’s most appropriate for advanced speakers.
You’re probably familiar with the Herman Melville classic about a sailor’s obsession with revenge against a whale. Due to its relatively complex sentence structures, the work is certainly advanced.
However, advanced Spanish students will be able to handle it, particularly if they’re already somewhat familiar with the work.
This is a good way for Spanish students to test their skills to see if they hold up to a more challenging work.
Laura Esquivel’s “Como Agua para Chocolate” (“Like Water for Chocolate”) follows a girl who wishes to marry but instead must care for her mother. It also weaves in magical elements and recipes.
While “Como agua para chocolate” uses relatively general, common words, it contains complex sentences, so it’s a great way for advanced students to perfect their grammar skills.
“Los Siete Hábitos de la Gente Altamente Efectiva” (“The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”) by Stephen R. Covey is extremely popular in the self-help genre.
If you’re on a huge self-improvement kick, why not multitask by perfecting your Spanish while listening to this classic self-help book that aims to help you achieve your goals?
The language isn’t too advanced, but the concepts require some thinking, so this is a good option to improve your ability to listen and think in Spanish.
“Orgullo y Prejuicio” (“Pride and Prejudice”) is the Jane Austen classic that follows Elizabeth Bennet, a spirited young woman, who has hastily judged a potential suitor.
Over time, their relationship grows in spite of the initial tension. “Orgullo y prejuicio” is a good choice for Spanish students since the plot will already be familiar to many.
This makes it easier to follow the story even if you miss a few words.
“Los Borgia: Crimen y Pasión” (“The Borgias: Crime and Passion”) tells the story of the Italian Renaissance noble family with Spanish roots.
They were suspected of many crimes, engaged in power struggles, made enemies with the famed Medici family and so much more.
“Los Borgia: Crimen y Pasión” is a good choice for intermediate to advanced Spanish students. It uses some historical vocabulary that you probably haven’t encountered, but it’s also a nice way to improve your Spanish while learning about history.
Where to Find More Spanish Audiobooks
While we’ve given you some places to start, you can also search for Spanish audiobooks that you would like on your own. Here are some great audiobook resources that will help you find more practice material.
Audible, one of the most popular sources for audiobooks, offers a nice selection in Spanish. This includes works that are currently popular as well as older texts.
Audible allows you to purchase individual audiobooks or access their collection with a monthly subscription. However, if you’re not sure this is something you want long term, they also offer a free trial.
You can also download the Audible app through iTunes or Google Play.
Audiobooks offers over 100,000 audiobooks, including hundreds of Spanish-language options.
Subscriptions cost $14.95 per month, but they do offer a 30-day free trial. The $14.95 gets you one book a month, but you can purchase additional titles if one isn’t enough.
The Audiobooks app is available for download on iTunes or Google Play.
Libro Móvil (Mobile Book) is a website dedicated entirely to Spanish-language books and audiobooks. Each book or audiobook requires a one-time purchase.
Since the website is entirely in Spanish, this is a better option for intermediate and advanced students—the purchasing process could be challenging for beginning students.
They will improve your pronunciation. Audio is clearer than many other sources, making audiobooks a great option for Spanish listening practice.
Audiobooks will help you improve your listening comprehension. Practicing listening often and with a wide variety of resources will improve your listening skills overall. Since the speech in audiobooks is often slower than a conversational pace, listening to audiobooks is a great build-up.
They are convenient and easily accessible. You can really listen to an audiobook anywhere and anytime.
Audiobooks are enjoyable. You can listen to novels, poems, self-help books or virtually any other type of book you can think of, so you can easily find something you’ll enjoy.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Spanish Audiobooks
Try jotting down notes. Jot down notes on unfamiliar words, plot points or even interesting quotations. This will help you get some writing practice, but you can also use your notes as study material. Look up unfamiliar words or memorize interesting quotes to help expand your vocabulary.
Think about the work in Spanish. Summarizing and analyzing what happened in the audiobook in Spanish will help you improve your skills by using Spanish for complex thinking.
Consider starting a book club with Spanish-speaking friends. Not only will this help push you to continue learning, this will also give you the opportunity to discuss your favorite audiobooks in Spanish. Put up flyers at the local library or coffee shop, or use social media to get the word out.
When you stop enjoying yourself, stop listening. If you’re no longer enjoying yourself, you’ll no longer associate listening with fun and you’ll quit using this tool. That’s why it’s important to seek texts that keep your interest—spice up the type of books you choose and be sure to take breaks!
When you can, try using video as well. Watching native speakers use Spanish in authentic videos will help you pick up on the subtleties of native pronunciation and get a better sense of what contexts certain words and phrases appear in. FluentU is a great option for this as it provides a whole wealth of Spanish videos along with learning tools.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
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, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
