Learning Spanish with TV show
If I want to learn Spanish by watching TV shows, what are the best TV shows to start with?
I'm not proficient enough for daily conversation yet. So I'm looking for shows with (a) slow and clear dialogue; (b) mostly easy vocabularies; (c) fun to watch 
Please give me some suggestions.
¡Mucho gracias!
4 Answers
Hi I assume from your user name that you live somewhere much warmer than I do [I live in the UK] The links NKM has posted are good. The easy ones are Destinos referred to in the link and extras. Here is a link to Channel 4 which will give you some idea but I think they are available on Youtube. Extras Channel 4
The BBC did an interactive video called Mi vida Loca but I don't know how easy it is to access from outside the UK as they have changed things.
I have watched lots of short videos - about 10 minutes. Ticele and Amara have a lot, but I can recommend some. Ver Taal a Dutch site has lots of short videos with comprehension exercises and this site has a learner course with videos.
When I first started watching foreign TV I chose factual programmes as they did not talk over each other nor did they use lots of slang. When you improve you should try and watch with Spanish subtitles [or none at all] However, many programmes are available on Youtube with subtitles. For example I cannot access Atena 3 but Doctor Mateo and Sospecho bajo are on youtube.
I like Página 2 on rtve which is about books but is in short segments and un país para comerselo which is part travel [in Spain] music and cooking. The latest rtve programmes have subtitles and a transcript which is really helpful.
Once you have tried Destinos etc here are more suggestions
Laura a teacher from Bilbao has an excellent blog and suggests various programmes here
El blog para aprender espanol also has suggestions
and here are two videos by someone from Alicante who teaches Spanish and suggests some programmes to watch SFS Spanish from Spain tv series
Do keep listening it will get easier.
Hello!
Here are two links from this page that was previously discussed before.
Hope this helps.
Regards!
Hi there yookoala,
The telenovela series "Destinos" started a learning journey for me that is still ongoing. It's free and it's designed for teaching Spanish. The episodes are 30 minutes each. What I did was watch an episode, then the next day I would watch that same episode again and then a new one, so I saw each one twice. There are about 50 episodes. By the end of it I was brave enough to try a regular telenovela with Spanish subtitles.
If you can stand watching beautiful people behaving badly, I've found that telenovelas in general are particularly effective for learning how to parse spoken Spanish and for learning the vocabulary that people use in every day speaking. They consist of mostly close ups (so you can see peoples' mouths forming the words) and they talk about the same stuff over and over so you get plenty of repetition.
Another poster's suggestion of watching kids' shows and films in Spanish, especially ones you've already seen in English, is also a good one. All the Netflix produced ones have Spanish language audio and subtitles. I recently watched Trolls and Moana in Spanish and they were terrific.
Start with Destinos though. And don't be afraid to rewind it, stop it, look up any words or phrasing you don't understand here. In fact trying to figure out Destinos is how I discovered this site.
Good luck and happy learning!
Best,
Acercacielo
I'm not sure what language options you'll have on Netflix in your country but something that worked for me was watching popular children's animation tv shows and films in spanish. Watching dubbed animation is a lot less painful than regular dubbed movies/tv. My daughter watches Daniel Tiger and Sarah & Duck in spanish and I still find it good practice.
Another good option for practice... There's a number of decent Mexican made films and TV shows that are in spanish(obviously) and have correct* spanish subtitles. You'll find that most dubbed spanish is different than the subtitles.
