Spanish Immersion 101: Watching TV in Spanish

Posted by Garner McCloud on January 23, 2017

Learning Spanish is a long journey. It takes multiple methods to get to fluency and not all of us want it to be a chore to study Spanish.

One thought kept creeping into my mind: there has to be a way to do the things I normally enjoy like watching TV while learning Spanish at the same time. I love watching TV and being captured in a story. But finding TV with Spanish audio was difficult, much more than it should have been.

There are some youtube videos here and there, and there is also Univision and Telemundo for live news and telenovelas. While the news is okay, I’m not really into telenovelas. I’m not going to force myself to do something I don’t enjoy when I’m supposed to be relaxing. That’s one of the reasons I burned out before.

So I searched for something more, something closer to what I enjoy like suspenseful, fun, and serial shows that keep me coming back. Same thing with movies, it needs to be something I’d watch in English, except that now it's in Spanish!

There’s a splattering of dated articles and random reddit comments all across the internet giving some good (and some bad) information on this topic. I’m going to share with you what resources worked for me and where you can find them.

Paid resources are flat-out better

I’m a frugal person, but I get borderline ridiculously cheap when it comes to online content. After exhausting myself and wasting time, I’ve come to the realization that paid TV content like Netflix is just plain better.

And by that I mean paid content is easier to access and use, and provides a ton more Spanish content. Trust me, its worth getting Netflix. I’m sure you have a family member or friend that has Netflix so you could share their account. Or just pony up the money and get a subscription. It’s 10 dollars a month, which is less than 34 cents a day. If that’s expensive for you, go check your couch cushions for the extra change!

In all seriousness, don’t waste your time using free resources; they are boring and often too short. But if you must, I’ve collected a list of free content at the end of this post that I find to be the best.

Netflix is huge

Post Sample Image Netflix content with Spanish audio sorted by best rated.

All Netflix produced shows have a Spanish audio option as well. Their Spanish subtitles can be different than the spoken Spanish, but for me that can be a good thing as I can see how two different Spanish phrases can mean the same thing.

Netflix has a ton of movies as well with Spanish audio. It also has a great assortment of native Spanish content like telenovelas and movies.

If you already have Netflix, this link will show you all of the shows and movies that have Spanish audio available:
https://www.netflix.com/browse/audio/es

When you do choose your show, make sure you click the dialogue icon and change the audio to Spanish. Here is how it looks currently:

Post Sample Image Netflix audio and subtitle options.

There's a lot to choose from in Netflix. My suggestion is to check out the catalog and pick out some of your favorites. Then divide them by degree of difficulty for various situations.

For instance, if I don't have much of an attention span, like when I'm really tired or I'm trying to get ready for work in the morning, I'll throw on an easy-watching show in the background. These shows are usually kids shows from my childhood that I already know the plot and can understand easily.

My favorite easy-watching shows:

When I have a couple hours to kill after work and really want to practice my Spanish comprehension while being entertained, I'll put on a serial, plot driven show. It'll grab my full attention and expose me to more complex, adult Spanish.

My favorite serial shows:

Sometimes I'll want to explore Spanish and latin culture a bit more, so I have several shows just for that occassion. These shows can be quite challenging, but feel especially rewarding if I can follow along.

My favorite original Spanish language shows:

All in all, Netflix is my number one resource, but a great Spanish TV portfolio needs to be diversified.

Hulu for your telenovela fix

Hulu Latino shows sorted by popularity.

With Hulu, you can watch for free with commercials or upgrade to the paid version with no commercials and more shows. I currently have the paid version and I like it a lot.

Hulu has a ton of Telenovela content. And one great thing that separates it from Netflix is that new episodes are released the day after they air live. You have to wait for the whole season to be over before it shows up on Netflix.

The Hulu Latino section is what you'll want, and you can check it out here: https://www.hulu.com/latino

Free Content

Sometimes you are on a budget and just need some free resources. So here are the best ones I've found:

Spanish can be fun!

You can only study for so long before you need to relax and do something fun. Give yourself a break from the studying and watch some TV in Spanish. It’ll help cement some of the concepts you learned during your lesson and it’ll also help with your listening comprehension.

The more Spanish you can immerse yourself in, the easier the language will come. It’s working for me, so I think it’ll work for you. Definitely use all of these resources to your advantage and don’t make Spanish harder than it needs to be.

Immersion is one of the best techniques for learning Spanish, so I wholeheartedly recommend this and other actions that get you immersed in Spanish.

If you are curious of what else you can do, check out my guide on getting yourself completely immersed in Spanish without leaving your home.

Care to share?

What’s your favorite TV show to watch in Spanish, and where did you find it? Share it with your fellow Spanish learners in comments section below.


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