We have all heard that we can practice listening comprehension in a new language by watching movies and listening to songs in the target language. Fortunately, streaming of movies and series has made it easier to get access. Below is a list of my recommendations of  TV series to practice Spanish. Each of the recommendations covers a different country so you can familiarize yourself with the different pronunciations and vocabulary.

Photo taken by Burak found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-SA 2.0

La Casa de las Flores (México)

La Casa de las Flores is a Netflix series by Manolo Caro. This comedia tells the life of the affluent family de la Mora who own a prestigious flower shop. The mother, Virginia de la Mora, is obsessed with the image the family portrays and rejects anything that can cause algún escandalo including her son’s homosexuality, her daughter’s relationship with an American, as well as her husband’s infidelity.

https://youtu.be/I-z8-ZEiVw0

The series has some of the top actores mexicanos and is a nice blend of a modern TV series and a telenovela or soap opera.  All the drama is there without it being too overboard (like most Mexican telenovelas). One of the shows funniest language bits is Paulina de la Mora’s way of talking. She likes to take extra long pauses in between her words. While this characteristic was not in the script, it has made the show even more popular with so many memes. Her way of talking eases the tension of some of the very controversial topics in this comedy. Cecilia Suaréz, the actress that plays Paulina, published the video below after all the reactions to her way of speaking.

https://youtu.be/eDB_ESrfA5Q

La casa de papel (Spain)

La casa de papel or Money Heist as it is called in English is another great series to watch! This one aired in 2017 and was created for a Spanish TV network before Netflix aired it internationally. This show tells the story of a group of delincuentes who plan an assault on the Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, however, this isn’t an “in and out” type of robbery. They keep the rehenes for several days while they are printing new money. The leader of the group, known as el Profesor, recruits a group who all go by city names instead of their real names. El profesor’s plan is to play with the approval of the people by not hurting any of the hostages. They see themselves as part of a resistance movement even using the famous Italian resistance song Bella Ciao. 

Cuatro estaciones en La Habana (Cuba)

This police series is based on the four novels by Leonardo Padura titled “Four Seasons” and tell the story of teniente Mario Conde. The TV script was written by Padura himself and the production not only stayed true to the novels but also made sure to show the complexities of Cuban society in the 1990s. Teniente Mario Conde is investigating the murder of a teacher, and, as he delves into the investigation, he uncovers the messy layers of corrupción and bureaucracy of the Cuban government.

Padura wrote the four novels between 1991 and 1998 and had been trying for years to take them to the big screen. He is one of Cuba’s most famous writers and has won a number of prestigious awards for his work.

Which other TV series in Spanish would you recommend?