- Spanish shows are useful once you can follow most of the words you hear.
- Begin in your own language with a few Spanish words, then switch the audio.
- Rewatching a scene you know beats starting a new episode you cannot follow.
What to watch in Spanish
To learn Spanish with Netflix, start with shows made in Spain and Latin America. Good examples are La casa de papel, Élite and Club de Cuervos. Availability depends on your country, so search by audio language.
For a first show, pick one you have already seen in your own language. You know who is who, and you can listen for words instead of the story.
Match the setup to your level
A meta-analysis of captioned video studies found that it helps both listening and vocabulary. Subtitles are not cheating at any level.
Spanish words inside your subtitles
NativeLingo swaps a few words of each subtitle line into Spanish, in the right gender, number and tense. “I have nightmares” becomes “I have pesadillas”, and hovering the word shows the original.
Turn on “Subtitles on Netflix (beta)” in the extension popup. Subtitles in Spanish are left alone, because there is nothing to swap.
Spain or Latin America
Start with whichever accent you will hear most in real life. Switching later costs little, since the core vocabulary is shared.
Make it a habit, not a project
One episode a day you enjoy is better than a weekend binge you dread. Ten minutes of review a day keeps the words you met from fading.
Questions
With a few swapped words you can start at A1. Spanish audio with Spanish subtitles usually works from B2.
Use your own language below B1 and Spanish from B2. In between, keep your language and switch the audio.
Click “I know this” and the word stops appearing. The next words come from your level.