Postby Spoonary » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:37 pm
Hello there. I just wanted to let you know that I am enjoying reading about your enthusiasm and the progress you are making with Spanish. Also, I have my own experience to share, with regards to understanding TV shows (I hope you don't mind).
I started watching the Spanish sitcom Aquí no hay quien viva when I hardly understood a thing. Ok, I think I had a fair understanding of most Spanish grammar at the time but my vocabulary was lacking and my general understanding was at a pretty low level. In the first few episodes, I had to use what I was seeing on the screen to tell me what was going on, as I couldn't pick out more than a few words or phrases from the dialogue. Put it this way, I had next to no chance of understanding any of the jokes that weren't physical/slapstick-style. The thing is, I was enjoying watching the series all the same, and I kept watching it (an average of one episode a night, as I recall) all the way through its 5 seasons, looking up the odd word that I felt was stopping me from understanding some sentence or other. As time went on, I understood more and more of the series, until I found myself laughing along with even the most wordplay-based jokes towards the end. Trust me, it really works.
Aquí no hay quien viva is full of Iberian Spanish slang, by the way. It wouldn't hurt you to watch it and learn such language if you are more accustomed to Latin American varieties, but it might not be what you are looking for.
P.S. Thank you for reminding me about the Vocabulary Builder on Kindle. I look up words all the time but I have never used that feature!
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