Learning Spanish with a magazine may never have crossed your mind.
While Spanish magazines don’t seem to be in plain sight, it turns out that it’s pretty easy to track down high-quality Spanish language magazines for free.
And even better, these magazines provide great Spanish reading material to improve your vocabulary, learn new grammatical structures and immerse yourself in culture at the same time.
Talk about learning Spanish efficiently!
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Our Top Spanish Magazine Recommendations
1. Artishock
Interested in learning about culture in the Spanish-speaking world through art?
Explore the minimalistic but ever-so-chic Artishock to explore contemporary art throughout Spain and Latin America. Read about recent exhibitions and drink in vibrant colors by perusing artist features.
2. Gadgets
If you’re addicted to reading about the latest technology, you’ll enjoy this one. Gadgets magazine covers technology news and updates on an extraordinarily international scale.
Read about everything from awesome new accessories, gaming goodies and anything that’s hot in tech right now.
3. Emprendedores
This is the hot place for news and resources relating to entrepreneurs and business-people of all shapes and sizes.
If you’re looking to create an internet startup or an actual brick-and-mortar business, you’ll find tons of information that’s relevant to your experiences, problems, challenges and burning questions.
Their main goal is to provide troubleshooting guides to get you through tough times and successful case studies to give you hope and inspiration.
They also regularly shine the spotlight on certain types of people in businesses and their unique challenges, like pressing issues for disabled entrepreneurs and female startup owners.
4. National Geographic en Español
You already probably know and love National Geographic. That means I don’t have to rave too much about their well-researched topics, gorgeous photography and highly personal, sentimental written features about the world we live in.
The online version provides some cool extras like downloadable wallpapers and video content, but there are free Android and iPhone apps for on the go reading.
The general National Geographic magazine dabbles here and there in culture, history, current events, nature and travel destinations, but you can focus on specific sections or editions depending on your preferences.
5. El Cultural
Want to stay attuned to the international art community?
Just looking to learn about events related to the arts on a more global scale?
Enjoy head-scratching photos of wacky modern art exhibitions and the boldest of bold live performances?
This magazine has nailed down the holy trinity: arts, culture and literature.
It’s the best place for modern book recommendations, summaries and analyses. The main features include incisive interviews with well-known and respected modern authors, directors and artists.
The expanse of topics is wide-ranging, and this magazine will allow you to explore extensive selections of articles on popular and niche topics. The website will also allow you access to premium video content and arts-related current events coverage.
6. Cocina Fácil
Pinterest lovers and aspiring chefs rejoice. Cocina Fácil will provide you with traditional cooking from around the Spanish-speaking world, modern spins on timeless Hispanic recipes and new innovations in flavor combinations.
Many recipes are devoted to all-natural, healthy cooking using only basic ingredients.
You’ll also get a great introduction to Hispanic culture through food, cooking methods and ingredients. Often recipes are rooted in their origins, or are mashed up with recipes from other cultures to produce something more uniquely delicious—but the recipe writers keep you informed along the way.
You’ll soon learn about everything from traditional Mexican cuisine to modern experiments in high-quality Andean restaurants. Plus, you’ll be learning by reading and doing.
7. Vanidades
You’ll find loads of celebrity gossip, entertainment industry news, fashion and beauty, lifestyle and another horoscope section in this online magazine.
But not all the topics are so vain: You’ll also find plenty of content in Vandidades‘ health and wellness, family and home sections.
The horoscope section updates daily, giving you insight into what the universe has to say about your sign on any given day. But it also features other topics, like “Orgullo y soberbia: estos son los signos más vanidosos del zodiaco” (“Pride and arrogance: these are the most vain signs of the zodiac”).
The health and wellness section also has interesting topics like how to increase confidence and travel tips.
8. Revista Barcelona
This satire magazine is Argentina’s answer to “the Onion.” It’s not only dryly hilarious—it’s also packed with golden opportunities to learn about social, political and cultural events throughout the Spanish-speaking world, predominantly in South America.
This magazine requires a paid subscription, but it offers some free copies with sign-up on its website.
This magazine is especially useful for advanced learners, Spanish students living abroad and those approaching fluency.
Just think about how many jokes and comments you’ll hear referring to political gaffes, major news stories, entertainment and celebrities while in an English-speaking country.
9. Tú!
Tú is a staple of Latino supermarkets worldwide. You may even recognize the sugary, colorful and glitzy magazine covers yourself.
This magazine focuses on the who’s who of younger modern celebrities—with a special emphasis on the hottest couples.
This is ideal for those of us who never truly grew out of our Hilary Duff phase, and still want to keep up with Disney stars, pop music, tween movies, Selena Gomez’s latest hairstyle and so on.
As you can imagine, this Spanish magazine is geared towards a younger audience and the language is hip, modern and easy to read. You’ll probably pick up loads of text message slang, chatspeak and Latin American social media trends.
10. Vogue México
This magazine is the Mexican edition of the world-renowned fashion, gossip and lifestyle magazine, “Vogue.”
You can expect to find the same topics that you would in the English version of Vogue. The beauty category is a popular choice, containing beauty trends, skincare routines, wellness advice and haircare.
The lifestyle section is perfect for travel lovers, culture explorers and event fanatics. What’s even better, you’ll find loads of travel guides for Mexico and other Latin American countries—perfect for Spanish learners.
11. Fama
Fama has everything “flossy flossy” (just to rip a line from Fergie.)
If you aspire to be first-class, up in the sky or on movie screens, magazines and bougie things, then this is the magazine for you.
It captures snippets from the glamorous lives of the rich and famous and delivers them in a sleek, minimalist-cool format. Everything from red carpet fashions to FLOTUS news.
This magazine is also excellent if you’re interested in the fastest and finest automobiles worldwide, beauty advice and dream getaway locations.
Plus, you’ll get a crash course in hot Hispanic celebrities.
Can you name any aside from Enrique Iglesias or J. Lo?
Hint: They’re mostly dreamy telenovela stars.
12. ¡Hola!
¡Hola! is a Spanish magazine about celebrity gossip, fashion, beauty, society and other lifestyle topics.
It also has a U.S. edition, Mexico edition and Spain edition—so you can stay in the loop with your country of choice and practice reading in your preferred dialect.
They also have an ¡Hola!+ section for exclusive content for subscribers who have the basic or premium plan.
A banner at the top of the website homepage displays trending topics in a category called Es actualidad (meaning “is current”). Think of it like the pop culture version of “breaking news.”
13. GQ España
GQ España covers fashion topics like most other magazines, but it also has dedicated sections for news, shoes, la buena vida (the good life), cuidados (self-care) recommendations and “GQ men of the year.”
What’s unique about this magazine is that its primary target audience is men.
For example, the cuidados section gives men masculine beauty and fashion advice, featuring roundups of the new and best colognes.
There’s also a GQTV section that features videos about very similar topics, organized into series.
Benefits of Learning Spanish with Magazines
So now you know how to find magazines, you might still wonder what makes them so special as language learning tools.
I mean, why grab a magazine instead of an e-book, newspaper or audiobook?
Diverse content and format. There’s a magazine out there for any topic that interests you, and there are magazines geared toward all ages and Spanish skill levels. They can dive right into a topic and give their opinions unabashedly! This is great for those of us who love straight talk.
The gang’s all here. Most major magazines are translated or have Spanish editions targeted to specific regions. For example, you’ll find People en Español, Cosmopolitanand more. For many translated magazines, you can even choose versions targeted to specific countries—there’s usually a Mexican Spanish option used through Latin America and a Castilian Spanish one for Europe.
Made for modern readers. The language and content are modern, and the format appeals to our mile-a-minute lifestyles. Stories are either bite-sized or accompanied by pictures to break down and illustrate the text. That means you can easily read a story quickly while traveling or on the go.
Striking imagery provides context for language. Magazines are all about visual appeal. They won’t just lure you in with big, catchy headers—they’ll keep your eyes glued to the page with brilliant, full-color imagery. The images will illustrate key points in the text. Other images, such as in sidebars, advertisements and photo essays, all come accompanied by descriptive captions. All of this makes for an extremely well-supported Spanish learning experience.
Tips To Learn Spanish with Magazines
To start learning with magazines, here are a few quick tips for study time.
Just read. Get your brain more familiar with Spanish by keeping magazines handy, either on your phone, your kitchen table or your bathroom counter, to glance at whenever you have a spare minute. You can also enjoy unwinding with them casually during free time.
Mark them up. If you’ve opted for print magazines, keep a pen tucked between the pages to mark new words, phrases and grammar patterns you encounter. You can either look up words as you go, copy them down in a notebook or refer back to your markings later.
Use magazines as a jumping-off point for resources. Magazines love to review and feature other resources. Whether you discover a fashion line you adore or a hot new title in Spanish literature, highlight the cool external resources you discover in magazines and hunt them down later.
Do activities with print magazines. Go kindergarten on those magazines. Chop them up with scissors and create posters or scrapbooks with your favorite texts and images. Tape them up on your bedroom wall or keep them on your office desk.
Interact with magazines. Print magazines sometimes have little quizzes and games, but online magazines offer the most opportunities for interaction. Either way, learn actively by engaging with your magazines. Share outstanding articles on social media, tweet at the magazine’s staff, take virtual quizzes and comment in the forums.
Turn magazines into lessons. An inevitable hurdle when learning with magazines is feeling daunted by large amounts of unfamiliar vocabulary. Download a dictionary app for on-the-go translations. Then get a flashcards app to add your new vocabulary for later study. You can also get FluentU (for browser, iOS or Android) and add your new words to flashcard lists. The language learning program lets you learn new vocabulary in context through authentic videos, like movie clips and music videos. As you watch, you can click on unfamiliar words in the subtitles for definitions or add them to your flashcards.
No matter your interests or Spanish level, magazines bring a diverse selection to the table. They’re a fun way to ease yourself into reading Spanish—while soaking up the culture, too.
Head to the virtual magazine stands today, check out the latest to hit the shelves and learn Spanish with magazines for native-level immersion!
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
