Learning Spanish through telenovelas: it's not wrong

When we gave up our TiVo, my husband had to pull the machine out of my clutches as I was trying to get in my final recorded episodes of my favorite telenovela, Soñar no cuesta nada. I stand by the theory that watching telenovelas is a great way to learn Spanish.

Why you should find a Telenovela

To start with, the Spanish is generally slow and easy to understand, as the actors are trying to be as dramatic as possible. If you're an intermediate Spanish speaker and you turn on a soccer game with Spanish commentary, the news in Spanish, or Spanish talk radio, you will probably get frustrated because of how quickly people are talking. Not in a novela...

Once you start watching, you'll get interested in the storyline and what's happening to the characters, and will no longer feel like you're working to understand the language. For learners of Spanish, listening to the language can feel like a chore, so having an enjoyable and understandable way to the listen to language will help improve listening comprehension. Many Spanish learners have trouble understanding Spanish when they are in an authentic conversation, partially because they get nervous that they won't understand. Practicing listening is clearly an essential component to a successful conversation in Spanish, so why not make it fun?

Currently in Argentina, my telenovela of choice is Lalola.