3 Netflix Series to Improve Your Spanish
A resolution of yours is to improve the amount of Spanish that you’ve already learned. A fun way to do this is by watching TV shows created for a Spanish speaking audience. I’m here to share with you 3 Netflix series that I’ve watched that significantly improved my listening comprehension and increased my vocabulary. If you are using Google Chrome to stream episodes, I recommend adding the Chrome extension Language Reactor from the Chrome Web Store. This is an amazing tool that translates text from your target language into your native language while displaying both on the screen for you. There is an option where you can hover your cursor over the text you’re interested in, and the episode pauses for you to read, write down, or speak out loud. Play around with the extension and see which settings work for you!
1. The House of Flowers
La Casa de Las Flores is a telenovela about an upper-class Mexican family that owns a flower shop and a cabaret called, you guessed it, La Casa de Las Flores. The series stars Verónica Castro and Cecilia Suárez who are prominent, critically acclaimed actresses in Mexico. The story itself involves LGBTQ+ characters that act as main characters and plots that explore homophobia and transphobia. It is interesting to see a portrayal of Mexican society and their interactions with other sociological themes such as race, ethnicity, class, feminism, sexuality, and morality. I think that these themes are important in any society and that this series will expand your ideas about them in Spanish.
2. Monarca
Monarca is another telenovela about another upper-class Mexican family that owns a Tequila producing company with a corrupt backstory. This series stars Irene Azuela who, in 2008, won best actress in the Ariel Awards for the film Quemar las Naves. The themes explored here are more familial and are more dramatic than anything. The two seasons contain Spanish at a decent pace where it is fast enough for you to be challenged and not too fast where you might get discouraged. There is a lot of conflict resolution which you don't get a lot of when you're learning traditionally in a classroom. I know that connecting emotions with ideas will help make language more concrete in your mind.
3. Money Heist
La Casa de Papel is an amazing crime-drama series about executing the grandest heists in the history of Spain. The characters are named after cities around the world where the series stars Álvaro Morte as El Professor, Úrsula Corberó as Tokio, Itziar Ituño as Lisboa, and many more. It is currently on its 5th and final season which is exciting and disappointing at the same time because it ends very well, and you just want to see more. Now, this is in español castellano, or Castilian Spanish, where they speak very fast. I recommend having English subtitles at first because they have monologues that can just go over your head. Oddly enough, I found myself understanding this accent a little better than a Mexican one even though I’ve grown up in Texas. For beginners, I think learning the commands are very helpful if you ever find yourself as a hostage during a bank heist. Intermediate students will catch more complete sentences when listening, and as you advance in your studies, challenge yourself to switch the subtitles to Spanish. The best thing about Money Heist is that it grabs and keeps your attention. Even if you don’t completely understand what’s going on, the show makes you wonder how and why things are happening. The last recommendation I would make is not to translate every single sentence. As you continue watching you will notice common words or phrases, and at that point, take note of them.
Hopefully, you can find some understanding of cultural aspects of the Spanish language through the fantastic art of television. If these genres are not too big of an interest to you, just google “Spanish shows in [insert genre here],” and I’m sure something will pop up once you start looking into it. Take your time and enjoy it because at the end of the day, this is all for your entertainment!