Listen up. It is very important that you start watching TV and movies in Spanish if you are not doing it already.

I can tell you right now that it took me a long time before I was able to understand (almost) everything when watching movies and Tv shows in English.

A. Long. Time.

And that was even after I got an official piece of paper from the University of Cambridge and the British Council stating my proficiency in English.

You might be killing it with your knowledge of grammar. Maybe you are the next foreign born Cervantes. Maybe you even understand every word that comes out of your teacher’s mouth. That does not prepare you to understand all the other people out there. For that, you have to listen, and listen and listen. Yes. Even if you don’t understand ANY freaking thing at the beginning. Suck it up. Don’t give up. Keep going.

Some students tell me they don’t watch tv in Spanish because they don’t understand it. I tell them they don’t understand it because they don’t watch enough TV in Spanish.

You can ignore this truth but this truth is not going away.

Start watching TV in Spanish today. Today.

Your strategy and your expectations are going to be different as you grow as a speaker.

If you are a beginner make sure you stick to videos with subtitles in English. Stay away from Youtube or live TV where subtitles are not always available. Even if you don’t understand a thing your audio skills will start developing slowly and you will collect the fruits over time.
If you are an intermediate you can start watching an episode twice (once with English and once in Spanish subtitles). I would stay away from live TV. Again. Don’t worry if sometimes it is too hard. Maybe you can try to find a different tv show. But just keep going.
If you are an advanced student you will be able to watch an episode with only Spanish subtitles or no subtitles at all. You can start watching live TV (which will not allow you to replay) or whatever the heck you want.

I will be giving you recommendations about good TV shows and movies in future Newsletters. But your homework today is to start investigating (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, etc) and let me know about your findings. What kind of TV shows are helping you if you are already watching? What are the biggest challenges for you?

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