Getting Started 1: Television

Television. It is through the television that we obtain the greatest amount of information about our society and environment, and it is through this same television that we broaden our vocabulary. Most major television companies, such as HBO, offer television programs in Spanish to their Hispanic viewers. Subscribe to these channels, and enjoy watching your favorite movies and TV shows in a different language. The fact that you are already familiar with the action and the character development means that you will be able to pick up on what the characters are saying much more quickly.

Watch the nightly news in Spanish. The accompanying headlines and action in the background will help you to begin to place words to images, associating the two in your head until you are able to recognize them in any environment. Do not worry if at first you do not understand a single word coming from the broadcaster’s lips; you will in time.

In addition to the nightly news, try and make it a practice to watch daytime television in Spanish as well. Sitcoms and soap operas are particularly effective at expressing precisely what it is that they are attempting to convey with images rather than words, and consequently will also be a great help in aiding you with the association of words and images. These types of shows also use the day to day speech that you will engage in once you are confident enough to enter into conversations with Spanish speaking natives, and you will be surprised at how quickly sentences and phrases begin to fall into place in your head.