I think that Duolingo is the best application for learning the basics of Spanish, but my favorite learning tool now that I've finished those lessons is watching TV. I like to mix up watching more adult-vocabulary shows with kids shows, as it helps in what I imagine is something similar to muscle confusion for the language centers of my brain. I'll often watch Spanish television in the background while I work on Software for GainingSteem.Com and Booleancoin.Com. I watch these 3 shows a lot:
- El Chapulin Colorado
- Hijos De Las Estrellas
- The Octonauts
For Native Mexican Spanish Speakers and those who grew up in the culture, they may think of the old sitcom-type El Chapulin Colorado when they think of it, but I've been watching the single season of the cartoon version that they have on Netflix (although I like the episodes of the old one that I watched on YouTube), which is just as funny.
vs.
So, the premise is that El Chapulin Colorado, The Red Grasshopper, is a bumbling superhero who saves the day every time even though he is very clumsy and oftentimes very thick-headed. It is absolutely hilarious and is perfect to have on with the subtitles for me, as I understand about 65-70% of it without subtitles.
Hijos De Las Estrellas, Children of the Stars, is another awesome show, my adult selection, which is a documentary series about different space phenomena and stories about Space and culture. It is a great show and I find that the the similar themes in each episode make it easy to pick up the vocabulary. I probably understand about 40-50% without subtitles.
The Octonauts is a show for young kids about a team of animals that go around the ocean underwater saving different wildlife. They are a sort of rescue team and the vocabulary is perfect for me, as I can understand about 80-85% without subtitles, so it is my sweet spot for vocabulary retention exercises and it is pretty good honestly. It grows on you, as hilarious as that sounds. I think that it is important to not take yourself to seriously as a language learner. After all, at the beginning, kindergartners speak better than you. haha I like to think of my current level as that of a 2nd grader or so. Through my heavy TV consumption, I hope to be fully fluent by Spring.
