Watching Spanish Television
I know their are many different ways and paths to go by in learning Spanish. Some say watching Spanish TV is a great way to learn. What is the best advice you can give a student of Spanish to get the most out of that type of resource? What are some of the things that you should do while watching Latin American television. They speak too fast.
11 Answers
From the point of view of learning Spanish, what you want are programs that approximate ordinary conversation. That is the substance of my disagreement with Joyce's suggestion. On the other hand, any subject that passionately interests you can be good, if only because you will be more motivated to continue with it.
I agree with the intent of Kevin's suggestion in that it is helpful to have a rough idea of what's going on/being said, so that you can concentrate on how things are said. On the other hand, even in similar circumstances, Spanish speakers may react differently from Anglos to a given situation. When you watch real Spanish/|Latin American programs you have more exposure to their culture, as opposed to their translation of/take on our culture. From the purely language competence point of view, it doesn't make much difference but part of learning a language is learning about the culture that shapes that language (the two cannot be divorced).To some extent, to think in Spanish requires that one think as a Spanish speaker.
By the time that Spanish language programs became widely available in New York, I no longer had need of that kind of practice. I did, however, force myself to watch several telenovelas (some three years ago) as a "refresher course". I say "force" because I find these programs really stupid (as I find American "soap operas"). However, content aside, the language employed is typical of everyday speech.
When I faced similar problems in my efforts to learn Japanese (insufficient opportunities to practice conversation), I resorted to taping Japanese TV programs (which were only available for a few hours on two day/week). Once recorded, I listened to/watched them four/five or mmore times. Each time I had a slightly better understanding of what they were saying and could, therefor, concentrate on how they were expressing themselves.
Watch "Destinos"
It is a show specifically made for learning Spanish, a good story line, interesting and is very very good and is free.
Here is the link where you can watch every episode made for free. http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html?pop=yes&pid=374#
Did i mention it was free? 
Try watching U S television shows dubbed into Spanish. They have to more or less match the lips, so they tend to speak more slowly. It also helps if it's a rerun of a show you've already seen in English.
Keep a dictionary and a notepad/pencil close by. You may not understand every word, but you can probably pick out words. If you run across one you can hear but don't know, yet, write it down and look it up.
Relax when you're listening. Don't try to translate into English in your head. Try to get the gist of what they're saying without translating. It will be very difficult at first, but it's the only way to be able to hold a full speed conversation. It's a Zen thing. Use the Force.
Well, Happy new year, 
I'd recommend you to watch a tv series from the beginning, I once did it when my spanish level was really low, I think I didn't understand the first season, ( hey I'm being honest 
) then I started understanding it as if it were a Turkish show, just be patient, and keep trying the every way you can find... But watching TV is a good practice for listening and talking, because although you don't speak, you really memorize a lot of phrase structures, at least that's the way I learned both English and Spanish... Good luck!
On the television, you can watch Spanish telenovelas (soap operas). The actors and actresses show a lot of expression when they act. If your not understanding completely or not following along you can see the actors face and kind of know what is going on. Also on the television you can turn on captions, which are in Spanish, and then if you see a word you don't know or understand you can look t up.
I friend of mine who teaches Spanish suggests starting by watching children's TV shows. The language is simpler.
A very usefull resource are songs! Maybe you can select a few songs in spanish, and listen to them, read the lyrics, look for the meaning of the words you don´t undarstand, singing them.... It has helped me with english =) I´m from Argentina. The only problem with songs, is the vocabulary, may contain "localismos" or "lunfardo", words that means something specific in the context they are said.
Los Tres Chiflados (The Threee Stooges) I've seen every episode. And some of them I've seen hundreds of times :D I makes for great fun and learning watching them on youtube dubbed in Spanish
Personally, the one's that I liked best when starting off were the children's shows (like Plaza Sésamo) because I stood a better chance of following it. Also don't forget to turn on your TV's closed captioning to help with a lot of the words you loose in the pronunciation.
I've seen a couple episodes of "destines" and really like it. There is another show done by the same people called "Sol y Viento". You can find it on YouTube.
Watch fútbol! Soccer!
There are only so many verbs they use, so you can start to pick them out. Once you learn the players' names, you will have that part of the sentence understood. Plus, the game is easy to follow, even if you don't really know the rules.
The rest of the vocabulary is aquipo, entrenador, palota, jugador. Plus, it will give you something to talk to with all men in the Spanish-speaking world once you develop your conversational confidence.
Most sports announcers speak really fast, but it is good for you to listen at this speed.
There is one commentator from Madrid, that I totally love, Axel, on Gol TV, because he speaks slowly, annunciates clearly and has very expressive eyebrows.
Plus, he loves the superlative. Buenisimo, Axel!
Here is a link to one of his shows on YouTube. I love the way this guy speaks!
And, here is a flashcard set I just made on soccer vocabulary.
