Who can recommend Spanish-language music and PC games?

August 22, 2012 4:25 PM

I like PC games and metal music. I also need to learn Spanish. I'd like to use Spanish-language media. Can anyone recommend any good Spanish-language PC games? Or bands similar to Bad Religion in Spanish?

Or are there popular English-language games with Spanish-language dubbing? Does, say, Half-Life 2 have a Spanish version?

I also like the band Bad Religion, mainly because many of their songs raise interesting philosophical questions. Also songs like "For Free" by Joni Mitchell and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot and Meaning of Life by the Offspring, for the same reason.

Are there any good atheist or philosophy-themed Spanish-language bands?

posted by Sleeper to Education (9 answers total)

This is an awesome question. Piggybacking on it: when folks answer, could they specify Latin American, Castilain, etc.? In my experience, at least, it makes a difference in my ability to learn correctly and quickly.
posted by davejay at 4:45 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

I like some of the Mexican band Molotov. The song Frijolero gets into border politics. Theyve done covers of english songs like bohemian rhapsody and the beastie boys girls (called chavas). A lot of their songs will mix in some ingles.

Control Machete also has some fun songs.

If anything they'll teach you some cool slang.
posted by birdherder at 5:23 PM on August 22, 2012

Grim Fandango is available in Spanish... Castilian I believe.
posted by BobsterLobster at 5:25 PM on August 22, 2012

Sin Orden is a really great Chicano hardcore band from Chicago. You also might want to check out Los Crudos.
posted by bibliogrrl at 5:37 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

A few rock nacional bands from Argentina you might like:
La Renga
Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota (aka Los Redondos)
Virus
Also, some new tango that, at the end of the day, is pretty metal:
Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro
Astillero

Tango lyrics are also a great place to start for philosophical takes on a world where, if there is a God, He is either negligent or an asshole. See Troilo & Castillo's "Desencuentro" for example.
posted by dr. boludo at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

World of Warcraft is available in Spanish, and you can play on Latin American servers, practicing your colloquial Spanish with native speakers.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 8:35 PM on August 22, 2012

Half Life 2 definitely has a Castilian Spanish translation. Many other AAA games do too, and I agree with you that watching films and playing games in a foreign language with the subtitles in that language is a great way to progress in learning.

For Valve games, the language is set by the Steam client. For non-Valve games, you may have to rummage around in the settings or, in some cases, buy cheap CDs/DVDs off Spanish-speaking countries eBay stores.
posted by kandinski at 11:09 PM on August 22, 2012

What kind of metal do you like? Brujeria are ridiculous but if you want to learn a bunch of off-color phrases and swear words, they might be of interest.
posted by cazoo at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers, everybody. I'm still following the rabbit holes you've provided.

I've also found it helpful to use Spanish-language jokes. For example: http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/jokes.html

Like a song, a joke has a structure that's easy to remember and gives a context that lets you know what it means.

?Has oido el caso de ese fugitivo que secuestro un autobus de turistas japonesas?

La policia tiene cinqo mil fotos suyas.

posted by Sleeper at 1:14 PM on August 27, 2012