Let's watch movies in Spanish
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¡Hola Estudiantes!
¿Cómo van vuestras lecciones de Español con Living Language?
How are your Spanish Living Language sessions going?
Hoy os quiero recomendar una lista de películas en Español para que podais practicar "listening" y comprensión.
Today I want to recommend you a list of movies in Spanish to practice listening and comprehension.
Si vuestro nivel es avanzado os recomiendo ver las películas con subtítulos en Español y si os resulta demasiado difícil con subtítulos en Inglés.
If your level is advanced I would recommend to watch the movies with Spanish Subtitles, and if that is too dificult try English Subtitles.
Os animo a comentar en el Foro cualquiera de las películas ya que yo también las he visto! Podemos practicar un poco de "writing" en Español.
I encourage you all to post in the Forum any comment about the movies, I have already watch all of them, so we can discuss them and practise some writting in Spanish.
Todas las películas en la lista son muy diferentes entre si, asi que hay para todos los gustos.
All the movies listed are very different between them, so one for everyone.
Disfrutad!
Enjoy!
EL HIJO DE LA NOVIA - THE BRIDE'S SON (Argentina)
When turning 40, Rafael Belvedere is having a crisis. He feels guilty about rarely visiting his aging mother, his ex-wife says he doesn't spend enough time with their daughter and he has yet to make a commitment to his girlfriend. At his lowest point, a minor heart attack reunites him with a childhood friend, who helps Rafael to reconstruct his past and look at the present in new ways.
BIUTIFUL - (PRETEND TO BE A MISPELLING BEAUTIFUL)
This is the story of Uxbal, a man living in this world, but able to see his death, which guides his every move.
TODO SOBRE MI MADRE - ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela. The tittle is an homenage to the classic movie All About Eve.
EL ORFANATO - THE ORPHANAGE
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Y TÚ MAMA TAMBIÉN - AND YOUR MOM TOO
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.
AMORES PERROS - DOG LOVE
A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.
PAN NEGRO - BLACK BREAD
In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Andreu, a child that belongs to the losing side, finds the corpses of a man and his son in the forest. The authorities want his father to be made responsible of the deaths, but Andreu tries to help his father by finding out who truly killed them.
EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO - PAN'S LABYRINTH
In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
LOS LUNES AL SOL - MONDAYS IN THE SUN (Spain)
This is the story of those who live in a constant Sunday, those who spend mondays under the Sun. The story of people who worked in a dockyard in the north west of Spain but now are unemployed and live a slow, depressing and obscure life.
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I loved Y tu Mama Tambien. Wasn't the woman from Spain? I think she had a different accent from the two teenagers, who were Mexican, right?
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Yes that's right! She is from Spain.Her name is Maribel Verdú.She has played a lot of movies and one of my favorites is also Mexican, El Laberinto del Fauno. She won an important award for that one.
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I've watched several of these movies and especially love those by Almodovar.However, the dialog is always too fast for me to hear more than a few words.Does anyone know of some movies or television shows that might have slower speech? I was thinking I might try watching children's television, cartoons or Sesame Street. Not all language teachers think it's appropriate for adults to learn from children's materials, but I would like to try it.
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I just heard that Will Ferrell learned Spanish to be in a movie with Diego Luna and Gabriel Garcia Bernal. It's supposed to be like a telenovela, or a Latin American soap opera. Looks really funny! It's called Casa de Mi Padre which I think means My father's house?
Also, I like Plaza Sésamo personally. It's cute and easy to follow. Think you can find it on youtube.
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I think that subtitles in Spanish would be useful also. Not to read them continuously but to follow the plot.
Almodóvar movies are always very dramatic and full of histrionic scenes, haha.. I understand they are not easy to follow. Such as when someone talks while crying or raises his/her voice in an argument, etc.
I would recommend the TV show about nature called "El hombre y la Tierra" (1974) - (The man and the Earth). I t was a huge success when I was a kid and it is old but really good.
I would also recommend the sit com 7 vidas
(1999) where David, the main character awakes after being 18 years in a comma only to find his world completely changed...
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I have a particular way of watching movies that seems to work, for me at least. First, I divide them into small (3-5 minute chunks). I watch those through without subtitles, to see if I can catch any words and meanings from context. Then i go back and watch a second time, with subtitles. (It's kind of funny to see just how wrong you were, actually! But hey, it gets better.) Then, after the subtitles, I turn them off and watch it one more time and see if I can actually follow.Warning: Do not try this with someone who just wants to enjoy the damn film. And do not try it if you want to watch a film in less than like eight hours. But it really is a good way to use films for language practice.
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Thanks for the technique/tip.
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I have noticed that if a movie has been dubbed in Spanish and also has subtitles, the two don't always match! I'm guessing two different companies do this and so complete consistency isn't double checked. The differences are small - like the voice will say "carro" but the words will say "coche" - but I have noticed them!
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That is true. Subtitles are not always very well made, they are meant to translate the meaning and general sense and sometimes it doesn't work to transcript word by word.
Movie titles translated into Spanish are sometimes a complete non-sese!
See the following:
Original title: "Some like it hot"
Spanish title: "Con faldas y a lo loco"
Translation: "With skirts and going crazy"
Original Title: "Die hard"
Spanish Translation: "Jungla de cristal"
Translation: "Glass Jungle"
Original Title: "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind"
Spanish title: "¡Olvidate de mí!"
Translation: Forget me!
I think they are too funny to be real, but this are the real Spanish translations.
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Lost In Translation: Funny English to Spanish Movie Title Translations
http://livinglanguage.com/blog/2012/04/25/funny-english-to-spanish-movie-title-translations/
