Telemundo! Univision! What to watch?
August 18, 2017 8:37 PM Subscribe
I've been working on improving my high school Spanish, largely by reading YA Spanish novels (slowly and with my kindle to click on words I don't know, which is a depressing percentage of nouns) and by skimming the local daily news in Spanish online. I previously lived in a market with NO Spanish media, and now I live in a market (Chicago) with Telemundo and Univision and Spanish-language radio and Spanish periodicals, and I intend to take advantage! What ought I watch?
I now get Univision, Telemundo, and Telemundo substation TeleXitos (American sitcoms of the last 50 years dubbed in Spanish). I'm watching everything with subtitles on to keep up with the speed of speech, and trying to watch the local nightly news in Spanish. I'd love to get hooked on a couple of shows, like maybe some kind of telenovela for me and some cartoon or kids' show for the kids. I like character-driven dramas, and I do not care if they are soapy and unrealistic, so telenovelas are right up my alley as long as I can loosely follow the plot while missing key nouns.
(My kids speak a little Spanish and spend a great deal of time with some close friends who are fluent and who speak Spanish exclusively with their child, who talks with my kids in a mix of Spanish and English. They could probably follow the high points of a Daniel Tiger sort of show in Spanish.)
I now get Univision, Telemundo, and Telemundo substation TeleXitos (American sitcoms of the last 50 years dubbed in Spanish). I'm watching everything with subtitles on to keep up with the speed of speech, and trying to watch the local nightly news in Spanish. I'd love to get hooked on a couple of shows, like maybe some kind of telenovela for me and some cartoon or kids' show for the kids. I like character-driven dramas, and I do not care if they are soapy and unrealistic, so telenovelas are right up my alley as long as I can loosely follow the plot while missing key nouns.
(My kids speak a little Spanish and spend a great deal of time with some close friends who are fluent and who speak Spanish exclusively with their child, who talks with my kids in a mix of Spanish and English. They could probably follow the high points of a Daniel Tiger sort of show in Spanish.)
I've been watching youtube vloggers in Spanish, and it's helped me a lot lately -- listening to/watching the same person talking to me directly week after week that gets my ear used to their accent, common turns of phrase, etc. The downside is it takes some trial and error to find ones with good sound quality, clear enough enunciation, and not completely boring or offensive topics.
posted by xris at 10:24 AM on August 19, 2017
posted by xris at 10:24 AM on August 19, 2017
My wife gets deep into telenovelas from time to time. I usually wind up absorbing some by osmosis, though I've sat down for a few to work on my Spanish from time to time.
Pasion de Gavilanes is ALL OF THE SOAP. Hot cowgirls, because of course, but also hot cowboys. Occasional musical interludes leaning towards norteño music. Extended family plots (three or four generations of family, depending on where they are in the story). Very very watchable. Also, it's on Netflix, so you can binge at your leisure.
Yo Soy Betty La Fea: If you remember "Ugly Betty" on ABC a few years ago, this is the original. Lots of ugly duckling comedy. Easy as heck to follow. As a bonus, I think everyone I've met from South America has seen some of this, so it's nice for common culture. There are spin-offs, too, though they are inevitably lesser.
El Zorro, la espada y la rosa: Zorro! As a soap opera. Liberally borrows from Allende's take, but also Disney, but also the Antonio Banderas films. It's all over the map, but it's not sci-fi so you're not there for fidelity to a version of the legend.
Pedro, el Escamoso: SO CHEESY. Country bumpkin comes to the city to make it in the big time. Featuring the lead in a truly spectacular mullet. Somewhat of a dude-oriented Yo Soy Betty La Fea. My in-laws screamed in laughter, but I could never really get into it.
Enjoy!
posted by aureliobuendia at 6:15 AM on September 6, 2017
Pasion de Gavilanes is ALL OF THE SOAP. Hot cowgirls, because of course, but also hot cowboys. Occasional musical interludes leaning towards norteño music. Extended family plots (three or four generations of family, depending on where they are in the story). Very very watchable. Also, it's on Netflix, so you can binge at your leisure.
Yo Soy Betty La Fea: If you remember "Ugly Betty" on ABC a few years ago, this is the original. Lots of ugly duckling comedy. Easy as heck to follow. As a bonus, I think everyone I've met from South America has seen some of this, so it's nice for common culture. There are spin-offs, too, though they are inevitably lesser.
El Zorro, la espada y la rosa: Zorro! As a soap opera. Liberally borrows from Allende's take, but also Disney, but also the Antonio Banderas films. It's all over the map, but it's not sci-fi so you're not there for fidelity to a version of the legend.
Pedro, el Escamoso: SO CHEESY. Country bumpkin comes to the city to make it in the big time. Featuring the lead in a truly spectacular mullet. Somewhat of a dude-oriented Yo Soy Betty La Fea. My in-laws screamed in laughter, but I could never really get into it.
Enjoy!
posted by aureliobuendia at 6:15 AM on September 6, 2017
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You can come to my part or (any part if the city that speaks perdominately Spanish (Pilsen, Little Village,Humbolt Park to name a few though it will be different dialects), and there will be all kinds of activities for adults and children too! From city council meetings library events,church services, volunteer run events like food pantry services, health fairs etc . Phunnieme does girl scout event volunteering in Spanish.
Many of the restruants will have telemundo on and there is just so many opportunities to practice with others.
Also there are city newsletters, and many of the city services websites have full Spanish versons. If you are looking for a resource here , I challenge you to try and find it in Spanish first.
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:13 AM on August 19, 2017