Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Después, escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento poco a poco. - Afterwards, I listen to the recording and correct my accent little by little.

In escucho la grabación, the idea is that the person is actively listening to the recording in order to study and correct their accent. Using oigo la grabación would sound more like “I hear the recording” (it’s audible), not “I’m listening to it carefully.”

So here escuchar is the natural verb because it implies deliberate, focused listening—exactly what a learner does with a recording.

Why is the present tense (escucho, corrijo) used instead of a past tense like escuché or corregí?

The present tense in Spanish is used for:

Habits and routines
- Después, escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento poco a poco.
  = Afterwards, I (usually) listen to the recording and correct my accent little by little.
Describing steps in a process, as if you are giving instructions or narrating what you normally do.

If you wanted to talk about a specific time in the past, you’d switch to the preterite:

Después, escuché la grabación y corregí mi acento poco a poco.
Afterwards, I listened to the recording and corrected my accent little by little.

But the original sounds like a regular strategy or routine, so the present tense is appropriate.

Why is there a comma after Después? Can I move or remove después?

In this sentence, Después is an adverb meaning “afterwards / then”. It’s placed at the beginning to organize the sequence of actions.

Después, escucho la grabación…
The comma marks a small pause, similar to English: “Afterwards, I listen…”

You have options:

Después escucho la grabación… (without comma) – also acceptable in everyday writing, especially if the pause is light.
Escucho la grabación después. – moves después to the end: “I listen to the recording afterward.”

All are grammatically correct; the original version emphasizes the sequence by putting Después at the start, like a step-by-step description.

What’s the difference between después and después de?

después (by itself) works as an adverb, usually not followed directly by a noun:
- Después, escucho la grabación.
  Afterwards, I listen to the recording.
después de is a preposition + de, and is followed by:
- a noun:
  - Después de la clase, escucho la grabación.
    After class, I listen to the recording.
- or an infinitive:
  - Después de escuchar la grabación, corrijo mi acento.
    After listening to the recording, I correct my accent.

So:
Use después alone when it stands as “afterwards/then.”
Use después de before a noun or an infinitive.

Why is it la grabación and not una grabación?

la grabación uses the definite article (the recording), which suggests that both the speaker and listener know which recording is being talked about, typically:

the specific recording they just made
a particular exercise or audio they use regularly

If you say una grabación (a recording), it sounds like any random recording, not a specific known one:

Escucho una grabación y corrijo mi acento.
I listen to a recording and correct my accent. (not clear which)

In learning contexts, it’s natural to talk about “the recording” of yourself or of the exercise, so la grabación fits well.

Why is corregir written as corrijo in the first person? How does this verb conjugate?

Corregir is an -ir verb with two changes in the present tense:

Spelling change g → j before -o in yo:
- corregir → corrijo
  This is to keep the soft “h” sound (like in “José”). If it were corrego, the g before o would be pronounced like a hard “g.”
Stem change e → i in most forms:
- yo corrijo
- tú corriges
- él/ella/usted corrige
- nosotros/nosotras corregimos (no stem change here)
- vosotros/vosotras corregís (in Spain)
- ellos/ellas/ustedes corrigen

So corrijo is the regular, correct yo form of corregir in the present indicative.

Could you say corrijo el acento instead of corrijo mi acento?

Grammatically, corrijo el acento is possible, but the nuance is a bit different.

corrijo mi acento
Emphasizes that it’s my own accent I’m working on—very natural in the context of language learning.
corrijo el acento
Could sound like:
- you’re talking about someone else’s accent (“I correct the accent [of others]”), or
- you’re speaking more generally/abstractly about “the accent.”

Spanish often uses definite articles with body parts and personal attributes when a reflexive pronoun is present:

Me corrijo el acento. (possible, but uncommon / a bit odd)
Much more natural: Corrijo mi acento.

So in your original sentence, mi acento is the clearest and most idiomatic way to express “my accent.”

What does poco a poco literally mean, and can it go elsewhere in the sentence?

poco a poco literally means “little by little” and is used just like in English: to show gradual progress.

Después, escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento poco a poco.
Afterwards, I listen to the recording and little by little I correct my accent.

You can move it around somewhat:

Después, poco a poco corrijo mi acento.
Después, escucho la grabación y, poco a poco, corrijo mi acento.

It normally stays close to the verb it modifies (corrijo here), but word order is fairly flexible. Putting it at the end, as in the original sentence, is very common and sounds natural.

Why is the subject pronoun yo omitted in escucho and corrijo? Can I say yo escucho?

In Spanish, the verb ending usually makes the subject clear, so subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) are often dropped:

Escucho la grabación. = I listen to the recording.
Corrijo mi acento. = I correct my accent.

Here -o on escucho and corrijo already tells you the subject is yo.

You can say:

Yo escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento…

…but adding yo usually:

adds emphasis (“I” specifically do this, as opposed to someone else),
or is used in contexts where the subject might otherwise be ambiguous.

In a neutral description of your own routine, leaving out yo is more natural.

Why is there no a before la grabación? In English we say “listen to the recording.”

This is a common interference from English. In Spanish:

escuchar already includes the idea “to listen to” in the verb itself.

So:

Escucho la grabación.
not Escucho a la grabación.

You only add a after escuchar when the direct object is a person or personified being, which triggers the personal a:

Escucho a mi profesor.
I listen to my teacher.
Escucho a mis padres.
I listen to my parents.

But for things (recordings, music, the radio, etc.), no a:

Escucho música.
Escucho la radio.
Escucho la grabación.

Could I replace la grabación with a pronoun, like la escucho?

Yes. If the context already makes “the recording” clear, you can use a direct object pronoun:

Después, la escucho y corrijo mi acento poco a poco.
Here la = la grabación.

Placement rules:

Before a conjugated verb:
- La escucho.
Attached to an infinitive:
- Voy a escucharla. (I’m going to listen to it.)
Attached to a gerund:
- Estoy escuchándola. (I’m listening to it.)

In your original sentence, either Escucho la grabación or La escucho is fine, depending on whether you want to mention “la grabación” explicitly at that point.

How would I say this in the past or future? For example, “Afterwards, I listened to the recording” or “I will listen to the recording.”

Using the same structure, you can change the tense of the verbs:

Past (completed action, preterite):

Después, escuché la grabación y corregí mi acento poco a poco.
Afterwards, I listened to the recording and corrected my accent little by little.

Future:

You can use the ir + a + infinitive construction (very common in Latin America):

Después, voy a escuchar la grabación y voy a corregir mi acento poco a poco.
Afterwards, I’m going to listen to the recording and I’m going to correct my accent little by little.

Or the simple future:

Después, escucharé la grabación y corregiré mi acento poco a poco.

All of these keep the same basic structure as your original sentence.

Is luego interchangeable with después here?

In this context, luego and después can both mean “then / afterwards”, and they’re largely interchangeable:

Luego, escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento poco a poco.
Después, escucho la grabación y corrijo mi acento poco a poco.

In many parts of Latin America:

después is extremely common for “afterwards.”
luego is also used and understood, sometimes with a slightly more “next in the sequence” feel, like “then.”

For your sentence, both are natural; después might be just a bit more neutral and slightly more common in learning-material style Spanish.