Spanish Conversation Podcast
In our “Hola Culture” podcast series, you’ll listen to Kwiziq teachers Inma and Silvia‘s light-hearted chats in Spanish about fun and interesting topics. To help you practice your listening skills, these podcasts will often be accompanied by some useful vocab, grammar lessons and interesting links to go further! We encourage you to try our related exercises to have the whole experience.
Don’t forget to comment and share your thoughts. We love to hear those!
🎧 Today’s podcast: Costumbres de Nochevieja 🎧
In today’s podcast, Inma, Silvia and also Daniela from Mexico will tell you their favorite traditions around New Year’s Eve. You’ll be surprised by some odd but sweet customs. Stay until the end, it’ll be super interesting!
📕 Some useful vocabulary
Here are some of the key words from the podcast to help you get confident in this topic:
- la Nochevieja = New Year’s Eve
- lo que más te gusta = what you like the most
- sin lugar a dudas = undoubtedly
- las campanadas = the chimes (at midnight on New Year’s Eve)
- el cotillón = organized New Year’s Eve party (Spain)
- una consumición = a drink (formal)
- el matasuegras = party horn
- pasar tiempo con la familia = to spend time with the family
- poner la tele = to switch on the TV
- la cuenta regresiva / el conteo = countdown
- las doce uvas = the twelve grapes (eaten at midnight on New Year’s Eve)
- atragantarse = to choke
- toser = to cough
- de que se terminan, se terminan = they will be finished, no question
- la lencería = lingerie
- pedir un deseo = to make a wish
- un propósito de Año Nuevo = a New Year resolution
- brindar = to make a toast
- salir con una maleta vacía = to go out with an empty suitcase
- darle la vuelta a la manzana = to go around the block
- meterse debajo de la mesa = to go under the table
- aventar lentejas= to toss / sprinkle lentils [over yourself for good luck, in Mexico]
🧠 Interesting grammar from our podcast
We have highlighted some interesting grammar points from our podcast and added them to a shared notebook. You can click “Test your knowledge” to quiz the selected grammar topics: Grammar: Costumbres de Nochevieja podcast.
– ¿A ti qué es lo que más te gusta de las celebraciones de Nochevieja? – Sin lugar a dudas, lo mejor para mí son las fiestas después de las campanadas.
– Se trata de una fiesta privada en la que pagas una cierta cantidad de dinero y en la que recibes un número de consumiciones.
– ¿Tú has ido a muchos cotillones? – Pues, yo personalmente no, pero estuve en uno hace dos años y me encantó, estuve bailando toda la noche.
– La roja simboliza el amor, la amarilla simboliza el dinero o la abundancia y la verde simboliza la salud.
✏️ Practice More!
Try these awesome Kwiziq activities to practice more on Christmas celebrations:
Fill-in-the-Gaps:
● La cena de Nochevieja (A1 Modal verbs in El Presente)
Reading and Listening activities:
● Preparando la Nochevieja (C1)
Dictation: (Premium subscribers only):
● Pozole (B1)
Want to listen to more of our podcasts? Check out all our episodes!
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Author info
After working in the travel industry for ten years in Seville, Inma moved to the UK to give a little twist to her life. Since then she's been teaching Spanish as a foreign language to adults for over 15 years in different settings, private lessons, secondary schools and online. Inma is a coffee lover and also loves exploring new places with her family in beautiful Warwickshire, where she lives.
Silvia is a multilingual educator with expertise in English, French, and Spanish, and a passion for helping students excel in language learning. After gaining extensive international teaching experience in the UK and other countries, Silvia returned to her hometown of Vitoria in 2019. Since then, she has been sharing her knowledge and love for languages with learners of all levels. With over a decade of experience, Silvia’s creative and dynamic teaching methods make language acquisition both fun and accessible.
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Originally from Mexico, I’m a bilingual marketer with a passion for digital growth, technology, and all things coffee. As Head of Growth at Kwiziq, I focus on expanding our reach and helping more learners discover the benefits of language learning with powerful tools. EdTech inspires me for its potential to transform education and create opportunities across borders.