A Simple Guide to Guatemalan Spanish

An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Guatemala

By: Carol Gamboa

Narrated by: Tiffany Yi

This guide provides an overview of the the Guatemalan language and culture. The audio course covers key vocabulary for use in Guatemala including commonly used words and phrases such as greetings, questions, numbers, and colors as well as many other topics. In addition, the sessions include an overview of Guatemalan expressions, slang and cultural terms that differ from more broadly used Spanish. Courses are arranged across 10 sessions, starting with basic material and then introducing more complex vocabulary and reviews of prior material later in the course. This is an ideal way to prepare to communicate and understand the culture for an upcoming trip to Guatemala or spending time with Guatemalan relatives.

©2022 Carol Gamboa (P)2022 Historical Audiobooks

waste of a credit and my time

This is a very basic Spanish course and not a very good one. The speakers will repeat things so fast that an absolute beginner would have a tough time following but it's too basic for intermediate learners. Also there is a lot of repetition, which is important in learning, but that can be done by listening more than once. Repeating information in an audio book just means you're getting less content. Parts of it sound like it came from a video where the speaker will say "what is this?" This is an audio book; am I supposed to be looking at something? Very unhelpful! There are a lot musical bumpers that pad the time so you're also being ripped off that way. Most importantly, if you want to specifically learn Guatemalan Spanish, very little of the content is devoted to that. A few of the cultural notes are interesting but there isn't much of that. Some of the speakers are definitely not from Guatemala (possibly Argentina and Spain).