10 Spanish Movies and Shows to Train Your Ear

Hi, I'm Poly, and today I'm bringing you a couch-and-popcorn plan.

Have you noticed how real Spanish is fast, full of slang, and spoken in dozens of accents? And that variety is part of the fun!

Movies and series bring all of it to you: they let you hear natural speech for hours while you genuinely enjoy yourself. Honestly, they're one of the best tools for your listening.

Ten to start with

Here are ten great places to begin:

1. La casa de papel (Spain): a heist thriller with clear, fast Castilian Spanish.
2. Élite (Spain): a teen drama full of informal, current slang.
3. Volver (Spain): Pedro Almodóvar's film, great for everyday family conversation.
4. Cuéntame cómo pasó (Spain): a long-running family series set in recent Spanish history.
5. Roma (Mexico): Alfonso Cuarón's film, slow-paced and easy to follow.
6. Y tu mamá también (Mexico): road trip, loads of Mexican slang.
7. Club de Cuervos (Mexico): a comedy about a football club, very colloquial.
8. El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina): an Oscar-winning thriller with rioplatense Spanish and vos.
9. Relatos salvajes (Argentina): short, darkly funny stories, perfect for one-episode-a-night viewing.
10. Café con aroma de mujer (Colombia): a Netflix telenovela with a clear, easy-to-follow Colombian accent.

How to watch so it sticks

Here's the thing: how you watch matters as much as what you watch. Start with Spanish subtitles, so you connect sound and spelling.

Loved a scene? Rewind it and say the line out loud, with the same face the character made. Write down one expression per episode and try to use it that week.

From the screen to a conversation

Then bring the show to class. Pick a scene and talk it through with your tutor: what did that character really mean, why did everyone laugh, how would you say the same thing?

Watching trains your ear, and talking it over with someone who corrects you on the spot is what gets you speaking. That's how you lose the fear of answering back.

Browse Holapoly's Spanish tutors and pick one from the country of your favorite show. Book a 55-minute trial class at 50% off from their profile, and come ready to talk about what you watched!

I'm heading back to my perch, the next episode's about to start. Parrot tip: if a line made you laugh, repeat it until it's yours.

Poly