Spanish TV/Webshows?
I am learning Spanish, and I really want to expose myself to some real Spanish stuff besides the things in my textbook. So I thought it would be cool to watch TV shows or web-shows in Spanish to get a bit of the culture but also to improve my ability to understand Spanish when it is spoken. I'm not very good at Spanish, so I'm really looking for easier shows (ones that would probably be geared for younger kids who are native Spanish speakers, kind of like the shows on PBS or nick Jr but in Spanish). Can anyone tell me where I can find a show/ shows like this?
3 Answers
I think it is an excellent idea to start watching Spanish TV. Watching shows geared to children is a great idea, By all means, watch them and learn because they are slower paced and geared for beginners. But you should also expose yourself to the news in Spanish, along with movies, telenovelas, etc.
Here is a list of some of the children's shows in my area. I have found them to be helpful. I think most of these are on PBS. You will have to check for times and channels in your area:
Jim de la Luna
Cinco Minutos Más
Pororo
Tres Mellizas Bebés
Loopdidoo
Plaza Sésamo (Sesame Street)
Pies Mágucis de Franny
Megaminimals
Disfraces de Dougie
Las Aventuras de Eebee
Many of these shows are only five to ten minutes in length. I have them set to automatically record on my DVR. If I have a few spare minutes, I watch one or two. I am always surprised by how often I learn some very practical phrases, commands, etc. They are very helpful. These are also great if you have small children. You can watch and learn together! 
Hi there, if you search Spanish shows on this site you will find some options. There are some good ones listed! 
Many programs on TV are transmitted in Spanish as well as English. You need to enable this on your TV. Under Audio options in your TV (something like that.. that's where I've seen most, but on my TV I can only enable it by pressing the MTS button on the remote) you can usually choose between Mono, Stereo, and SAP (maybe newer TVs have Surround or DTS... mine does not). What you want is SAP! In order to help, maybe, you can search around other options and turn on Closed Captioning (CC). Usually the first option will be English subtitles. There are sometimes mistakes and are sometimes delayed a few seconds, but a native speaker would have no problem understanding.
On my on campus cable (Charter, which I've found to be the worst in spanish transmission, compared to DirectTV or Comcast), about a third of the channels remain in English, a quarter do not play audio at all, and the other ~40% are transmitted in Spanish.
