Best Telenovelas To Learn Spanish

Learning how to speak Spanish is such a wonderful thing that can open up a whole new world of possibilities, but it can be a very daunting task as well as just plain dull.

A way to combat this is by making learning fun, and one way to do that is to combine it with one of your favorite pass times: watching television.

That’s right, you can use telenovelas (Spanish television shows) to learn how to speak Spanish.

The benefits of learning Spanish from watching telenovelas is the constant exposure to the most common conversational words, learning how to understand a rapid conversation, learning key Spanish slang, and of course, the entertainment aspect. Below are some of the best telenovelas to learn Spanish from.

Destinos (specifically for beginner Spanish learners)

Destinos is a great place to start because it is fifty-two episodes designed for the sole purpose of teaching new learners Spanish.

The script focuses on core words and phrases that you need to know to become fluent in the language, and entertainingly presents them to help them stick.

While it may not be a show for telenovela addicts, it is perfect for Spanish learners.

Extra

Another show designed to appeal to beginner Spanish learners, this is a great show for any Friends fans out there as it is very similar.

The show follows the journey of a guy who moves to Barcelona to learn Spanish. Everyone in this show speaks relatively slowly (not very common for telenovelas), which can be helpful to new learners.

Beginners will probably enjoy the pace of this show, but more advanced learners may get bored quickly with the pace of the show. This is a great place to lay your foundation, but will not challenge you later on in your studies. 

 

Lacking enough vocabulary to follow the telenovelas? The Spanish frequency dictionaries list the most common words in Spanish, with phonetic spelling and Spanish English example sentences. The word frequency list is based on subtitle analysis. This makes it a perfect fit, if you combine learning Spanish from tv-shows while learning a few new Spanish words a day.

A Corazón Abierto

This is a medical-drama telenovela, perfect for any fans of Grey’s Anatomy, as it is based on the show.

With two seasons and 169 episodes, this show will give you plenty of Spanish drama to help you learn Spanish.

Keep in mind this is a Colombian show so you will be picking up that dialect of the Spanish language, while it is all Spanish there may be some differences in things such as pronunciations and slang.

Just like the British and Americans both speak English, but there are some critical differences between the two dialects, the same is true for Spanish.

Una Familia con Suerte

This show follows a family taken in by a much wealthier businesswoman and is based on the Argentinian telenovela Los Roldán.

Una Familia con Suerte is full of Spanish slang, which can be quite enjoyable for more advanced learners, but a struggle for newer speakers to adjust to. It is excellent to learn the conversational style used by Spanish speakers.

Overall this is a great telenovela to use to learn from, you may just want to go in with some understanding of the language and Spanish slang, but bold learners can absorb it straight from the show.

Por Ella Soy Eva

Following typical telenovela style, this show is comically all over the place; following your classic playboy as he falls in love, messes it up, and then has his business competition try to murder him.

Finding the obvious solution, he turns himself into a female and works for his ex-girlfriend, leading to more chaos and comical drama.

This telenovela will not only help you learn Spanish but keep you highly entertained whether you are brand new to the language or are a seasoned speaker.

La Reina Del Sur

This telenovela is based on a true story, so it is less farfetched than some of the other options out there.

It follows a girl on the run who leaves her native country of Mexico and ends up in Spain, working in a bar.

Eventually, she is known as a drug lord across several different continents, so do not mistake this show as boring just because it is based around the truth.

You can find free episodes of this show, with English subtitles, on youtube, so this can be a great place to start your telenovela based education.

Isabel

This is an excellent Spanish television show that is packed with drama as it follows the Spanish Queen Isabela.

People find the storyline to be very enjoyable, but it is spoken in an older dialect with can be challenging to beginner students.

This can be a great way to challenge yourself as a more advanced learner, but not a great way to begin.

Though still packed with drama, some may find this show less cheesy than other telenovelas, which could be a good thing, or bad, depending on who you are.

Gran Hotel

This is a reasonably high budget Spanish television show spoken in a Spain dialect, so it can be hard to understand if you are focused on Latin-American Spanish.

But if you are learning the Spain based dialect of Spanish, this can be a great telenovela to use, packed full of romance and drama to keep you entertained through all three seasons.

You may want to have some knowledge of the Spanish language before going into this show, as it was not written for the sole purpose of aiding learners, but still, a great one to use.

Conclusion

I hope this list of eight best telenovelas to learn Spanish with in an entertaining and engaging way. If you are looking for more methods of Spanish education, check out our Spanish frequency dictionaries.

Going hand in hand with watching telenovelas to learn Spanish, the frequency dictionaries can help you learn Spanish by focusing on words used most often in conversations and books. The frequency list is actually established by analyzing subtitles, so it’s a perfect fit.

These dictionaries can be used in combination with telenovelas, or on their own, if drama-filled Spanish television just isn’t for you.

There is no reason to put off the rewards of learning Spanish any longer. Pick any of the telenovelas above, or any one of the countless other options hit play, and begin to learn Spanish in a smart and entertaining way. And the best thing; you do not even have to get off of your couch.