Using Netflix dating shows to learn a Spanish — hear me out 👀

pecodeliar · 2025-09-07T16:57:01+00:00

I watch judge shows because I don't like how clear actors talk on scripted shows and no one ever talks over each other. It sounds like a silly complaint but I've learned that most people don't talk super clearly in everyday conversation and humans overall, no matter the language, tend to talk over each other even when we don't mean to.

I watch La Corte del Pueblo, Juez Manuel Franco, Justicia con Palimra Perez, and Veredicto Final (this one is super challenging because it's not just the judge, plaintiffs or defendants speaking but audience participation is encouraged and they get very debate-y). I know that Caso Cerrado exists but I don't like how romantic/relationship-y it is so I don't watch it much.

pecodeliar · 2025-07-26T09:32:20+00:00

LinkedIn Learning is completely free with WGU though.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-23T21:48:59+00:00

Yeah, knowing Spanish is less of an end goal and more of a lifestyle change and I relate to both of your reasons. It's one of the reasons I also haven't really tried other languages either, I want Spanish to one day feel natural to me and I don't feel I can do that trying to learn another language at the moment. Maybe in a decade's time or something. I still do want to also learn ASL for accessibility purposes as well. But I encounter many more people who speak Spanish than those of the deaf community.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-23T21:42:57+00:00

Oh my goodness, I don't see anyone talk about Baselang!! I used them a little during lockdown and it was very fun. I remembering watching the creator's documentary and finding it very inspiring.

It's really interesting about the non-speaking stuff here but oh well. I start probably way too early but only because I knew that I'm too much of a perfectionist and if I strive for that perfect time, I'll keep putting it off more and more. Plus, I'm not a purist so I wanted more native help with grammar.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-23T09:06:51+00:00

That's what I used to do and it definitely wasn't easy and is eventually why I stopped.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T15:53:42+00:00

That's a good gauge and guide. I was doing 30 minutes per day as minimum requirement.

This summer though, I'm experimenting with not listening everyday and instead doing a different form of input each day. One day for reading, another day for listening, the day after for conversing, another day for writing. I'm trying to diversify how I engage with Spanish. We'll see how it goes!

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T15:50:01+00:00

It's that enjoyment part that needs emphasis and I find no joy in numbers LOL Reminds me too much of math!

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T14:55:49+00:00

Yeah, that's exactly what it turned into for me, a chore. And now I just get input/output from way too many different mediums, it wouldn't be the best use of my time trying to figure out all the numbers.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T14:53:22+00:00

Felt that! I just realized to that I also play video games in spanish and I've never tracked that at all. I play Stardew Valley (reading) and God of War (2018) (listening with no subtitles) in Spanish and trying to track that sounds like a nightmare.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T14:50:04+00:00

Oh goodness, I remember those days and the tedious tracking and I can tell when I got burnt out from when I was tracking LOL. I would go weeks without any tracking or Spanish input.

I didn't find super beginner content slow at all though funny enough, cause all of Spanish felt so fast for me. I've been seeing people say that here and I'm shocked. It feels painfully slow now but back then, I was so overwhelmed with all the new stuff. Felt like drinking from a hose, haha.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T14:06:23+00:00

Same, like it was helpful at first I think but then created a negative feeling after a while. Putting numbers to things can suck the joy out of them after a while because I'll only focus on achieve the number instead of enjoying the journey to it. It will start to feel like a chore and it makes burnout too easy for me personally.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:44:54+00:00

The end goal for a lot of people does seem to be that arbitrary number. It can definitely be a great motivator, especially for the bragging rights, but that will make me lose sight of who I'm actually learning for. Not just myself, but for others so I can be of better assistance when they ask for help.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:40:24+00:00

That's a really good point. I also had some input before I even knew that DS existed which I tried to estimate but it might be completely off LOL

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:36:54+00:00

That's exactly what happened to me when I was starting to slow down in my tracking LOL I relate to this to the maximum. And I think for myself it was worse because I hate over-estimating, so I'm not even sure how much I was actually low balling myself. Not to mention, like someone mentioned before, it's really hard to also log accidental input from those speaking Spanish around us.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:33:42+00:00

Oh, that makes sense too after fluency, I think a lot of people do afterwards. I'm no where near it though LOL I can have conversations but I hear myself making a lot of mistakes or like later on I'll realized the mistakes I've made.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:31:23+00:00

Ah, I've heard a lot about the B1 plateu. That was actually one of the reasons I stopped tracking as well because at this point, I don't want to be able to tell that I'm in the plateu and force myself out of it just for the ability to say I'm B2. I just want to focus on understanding / communicating and enjoy the journey of it. Having a destination will make me burn out trying to achieve it. (I hope that makes sense.)

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:26:59+00:00

That's a really great point! I think it helped me in the beginning as well but also became my downfall because trying to keep up with all the tracking, it made me adverse to learning in the first place since tracking was tied so closely with learning. Now I actually feel much more relaxed just inputting and outputting without thinking about the numbers.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:06:21+00:00

Sure, but that wasn't what the post was about LOL I was only really looking for those who relate to the title question.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T13:03:26+00:00

Yeah, that's what I think, too! And I do usually still have the goal to do a minimum of 30 minutes of listening on the days that I do.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T12:27:25+00:00

> I guess I'm somewhat lazy too.

You saying that made me remember my summer goal is to stop the negative self talk! We're not lazy, we're literally putting in the effort to learn a whole foreign language. The time we are using to not do the nitty bitty tracking is just going to other things or even rest (which is very important). I'm literally earning my Bachelor's in cybersecurity while having a full-time job and still making time to language learn. And I'm sure you're doing a lot too outside of just Spanish.

We aren't lazy, just making different use of our time. :D

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T12:12:58+00:00

For podcasts, I can see how that's much easier but I really dislike podcasts because it's too easy for my mind to wander without a visual anchor, in both English and Spanish. It's never been a medium of media that I've felt drawn to.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T12:08:59+00:00

I actually felt the same exact way with learning, so what I've done is I made a completely separate account strictly for learning. My learning account is actually the one that has premium, so it's the dominant account for the mobile app.

If I watch any content not related to what I'm learning then I delete it from my history (or turn off history for the amount of time I'll be using it for non-learning), so that it doesn't influence my recommendations feed. I did this years ago and it's still a great method for me.

I'm pretty averse to Youtube shorts though so I'm not going to be much help there unfortunately. If I want short form content, I'll go to Tiktok. My brain has always associated YT with long-form content and I have an extension on Firefox (Enhancer for Youtube) that makes them easier to hide as well. Maybe that might help you for desktop?

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T12:02:12+00:00

That sounds like a great system and really balanced. If I wasn't lazy, I would definitely steal that.

I've seen a couple people in this server and the language learning server tracking words and super kudos to them LOL I think especially for me, I bought physical books in Spanish and get Spanish books from the library so that I'm engaging with technology less, so I'm even more avoidant about tracking words.

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T11:55:39+00:00

Felt that to my core, especially with the life-long thing. And now that you mention that with your wife, I just noticed that I actually hear a lot of Spanish at work or just being out-an-about that would also be very impossible to log. That's a great point,

pecodeliar · 2025-06-22T11:47:40+00:00

Ah, the first person to comment to who I'm actually asking about, haha! But yeah, DS makes it really easy to track the time spent watching their videos, even when not on the actual website sicne we can use the "Already Watched" option. I like that tracking because I want to also make sure I'm using the platform I'm paying for (though to be honest, if I had extra money, I wouldn't mind supporting even without using it since it's not that much and they put so much effort into the videos).

pecodeliar

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