Watching videos is fun.
Regardless of who you are or where you come from, that’s a fact.
But videos can be so much more than an easy method to put off doing more important things.
Videos can actually help you learn Spanish.
They can help you ace hairy grammar rules, improve your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary and become an all-around better Spanish speaker.
So in this post, we’re going to get you fine-tuning your language skills while you’re relaxing on the couch.
And these great resources for learning Spanish with videos will offer you a seemingly endless supply of terrific viewing material to send your Spanish skills soaring!
Contents
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Beginner Spanish YouTube Channels
1. Speak Spanish Faster
Best for: Conversational fluency
Led by the charismatic Rocky, this channel aims to help Spanish learners become confident speakers while they learn the language quickly.
Videos are brief and to the point, with each focusing on a distinct topic. Whether you want to know how to order food in Spanish, master Caribbean Spanish or learn without becoming discouraged, there’s an engaging video to address your need!
A sweet change of pace, the videos are informative and focus on stress-free speaking with less emphasis on grammar rules—just speak and, in time, you’ll pick up skills.
2. Real World Spanish Lessons
Best for: Learning in your sleep
Real World Spanish Lessons has different kinds of videos available but is currently mostly focusing on sleep learning. While learning Spanish in your sleep won’t get you fluent or teach new grammar points, research shows that it’s possible to learn or reinforce vocabulary in your sleep.
These videos last over six hours and feature a vocabulary word in English, followed by its translation in Spanish repeated three times. Everything is spoken in a soft, soothing tone.
In addition to sleep learning, other videos cover common speaking mistakes, how to get a handle on verbs and verb conjugation and even learning Spanish while driving.
3. Spanish and Go
Best for: Travel and survival phrases
Spanish and Go is a very useful channel for anyone who intends to travel to a Spanish-speaking location. Jim and May take learners on their adventures, sharing interesting sights and sounds while teaching Spanish learners the essentials.
Some of their travel blogs focus on culture, so if you’re wondering about the must-see spots in Puerto Rico or how holidays are celebrated in Mexico, you’ve got to tune in to this likable globe-trotting duo!
Scattered among these vlogs are Spanish learning tips, essential vocabulary and more.
4. BabyFirst Español
Best for: Colorful, child-like learning
BabyFirst Español (Spanish) is a massive YouTube channel with hundreds of videos for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, which works well for family learning or adults who want to learn in a fun, colorful way.
There are videos devoted to colors, shapes, musical instruments, fruits, letters, clothes and a whole lot of other super fun topics. There are also videos about Halloween, Christmas and Easter, as well as hundreds of songs that are catchy and easy to memorize.
I especially like the playlist called “VocabuLarry-O,“ in which Larry and his friends teach kids Spanish sounds, letters and words.
5. Bogo Mundo Spanish for Kids
Best for: Learning with the family
Bogo Mundo (World) Spanish for Kids can be considered a YouTube channel for kids, but also a YouTube channel for parents who are homeschooling or raising bilingual kids.
The parents teach their kids Spanish in a natural and practical way, speaking both in English and Spanish throughout the day. They introduce as many Spanish words and expressions as possible in their conversations while they learn about food, the colors, the numbers, daily routines and more.
Don’t miss the “Pretend Play” playlist, which includes videos of the family spending the day at the beach, learning about morning and night routines or doing a house tour, among others.
6. The Language Tutor
Best for: Clear grammar explanations
Dr. Danny Evans is the creator of this amazing YouTube channel in which you can learn Spanish, from basics like the alphabet to more advanced topics like the past perfect subjunctive. No matter the topic, his videos come with crystal-clear explanations in English and lots of examples.
His main playlist contains 130+ videos that cover Spanish grammar and vocabulary for beginners. There are also playlists on vocabulary words, important verbs and countries.
For a bit of challenge, there’s the video series “Aprender Inglés para Hispanohablantes” (Learn English for Spanish Speakers) mostly in Latin American Spanish, hosted by Robin. She only uses English to translate new words or concepts, so you can use this place to practice your Spanish listening comprehension skills.
7. Butterfly Spanish
Best for: Detailed, whiteboard learning
If you’ve ever looked for resources to learn Spanish before, you’ve probably heard about Butterfly Spanish already. Hosted by the linguist Ana, the channel covers Spanish grammar and vocabulary in detail in an accessible and easy-to-digest way.
The playlists devoted to Spanish verbs & tenses and Spanish grammar are simply superb and will come in handy if you’re learning Spanish for an exam.
The videos on vocabulary are especially useful because Ana explains usage differences between the Mexican, Castilian and Latin American varieties.
8. Basho & Friends
Best for: Learning through song
Basho & Friends is a YouTube channel created for kids of all ages where the words “fun” and “music” go hand in hand in every single second of footage.
With the goal of teaching Spanish to children in an immersive way, Basho and his friends sing songs only in Spanish and use the repetition technique to help kids memorize the lyrics.
The songs teach about everyday topics such as introductions, food, transport, animals and the alphabet, among others.
9. Spanish Academy TV
Best for: Vocabulary and basic conversation with lively teachers
Spanish Academy TV is an academy dedicated to teaching Spanish to children as a second language with the help of Spanish native teachers.
The videos are great for learning basic vocabulary with a lively teacher. They go a step or two further and show sentence examples or real conversations about the different topics.
There are also occasional livestream classes. The classes are colorful, engaging and will keep you excited to improve your Spanish.
10. Spanish Made Easy | Sugar Astronaut
Best for: Livestream lessons
If you learn better through actual classes and teacher-student interaction, Sugar Astronaut might be the channel for you.
With hundreds of videos available, Sugar Astronaut will make sure you learn everything about the Spanish language with the help of live podcast recordings or livestream classes, which she then uploads to her channel.
There are also Word of the Day or crossword videos to help you expand your vocabulary. She focuses on one topic per class and explains everything in English, so you won’t have any trouble following along.
11. Señor Jordan
Best for: Sesame Street-like Spanish songs and animated grammar lessons
Simply put, Señor Jordan is the man. He makes Spanish learning fun with all the awkward quirk of a professional educator who loves his job a little too much.
When he’s not teaching his own Spanish classes, he takes his free time and turns it into Spanish video production time.
Check out his YouTube channel for tips, tricks, humor, educational songs, interactive stories, quick grammar how-to’s, full-on lessons and more.
12. VideoEle
Best for: Introduction to beginner grammar topics
This YouTube channel is a great way to learn Spanish for free, especially for those that want to learn based on levels A1 to B2.
These videos include grammar topics (like verb conjugation), vocabulary (like the numbers and food), cultural tidbits (like bullfighting), pronunciation, songs with lyrics, learning tips and more.
Next, both the Castilian and the Latin American accents are included in the channel.
The videos also have a corresponding page on the VideoEle website that include transcriptions, a downloadable teaching guide and several interactive activities.
13. Spanish with Paul
Best for: Easy sentence building
If you just started learning Spanish, Spanish with Paul is a great place to get your dose of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, tips and resources.
With the use of simple presentations, Paul teaches about tenses, sentence formation, prepositions, pronouns and a whole lot of other topics in a clear, easy-to-grasp way.
His videos are divided into different playlists. I especially recommend the “Mini Courses” so you can start speaking and building sentences in Spanish fast.
14. The Spanish Dude
Best for: Comedic takes on Spanish language learning
This is a comedic channel that features videos about subjects such as cognates—words that sound the same in English and Spanish (think banco — bank)—and other linguistic topics like infinitives and verb conjugation. He also focuses on learning techniques like flashcards.
The Spanish Dude, who brags that he received an F in high school Spanish, uses a mix of English and Spanish in his videos.
15. The Flama
Best for: Learning culture and laughing at the same time
This channel gives learners some insight into the cultural and social aspects of native Spanish speakers, and it does so with a comedic slant.
Host Joanna does videos in both English and Spanish that feature funny topics such as “Spanish Words ‘White’ People Can’t Say” and “Types of Spanish Accents,” all with a funny, irreverent attitude. But don’t worry—it’s all done in good fun!
16. Polyglot Pablo
Best for: Getting down the basics
Polyglot Pablo gives quick crash courses in basic Spanish—down and dirty lessons that will give you a pretty good sense of basic grammar concepts, phrases, and other beginner need-to-know subjects, all with subtitles in both English and Spanish.
Like in the basic conversation video above, Pablo takes the time to say each phrase multiple times at different speeds, which will help you really dissect the phrases and get your mouth to move the right way. By repeating everything slowly, you’ll learn the sounds and syllables you need to build up your Spanish speaking skills.
Intermediate Spanish YouTube Channels
17. Spanish Like a Pro!
Best for: Intermediate listening practice
Spanish Like a Pro! is a channel that combines solid Spanish language learning with a touch of silliness through native-speaking puppets.
The channel was created by Julio Foppoli, a teacher from Argentina. You’ll find many mini-dialogues under 10 minutes long, as well as discussions of offbeat news stories to hone your listening skill.
Spanish Like a Pro! also has a Patreon where for a tiered monthly donation, you can get everything from exercises to accompany the videos to weekly one-hour Zoom room meetings.
18. FluentU Spanish
Best for: Tips for learning with Spanish media
The FluentU YouTube channel is loaded with practical study tips, breakdowns of movie scenes, vocabulary lists and language learning tool recommendations and more. You’ll see plenty of authentic and dubbed content (like “Squid Game”), as well as explorations of well-known Spanish-language songs, Ted talks and more.
For example, in the “La Casa de Papel” video linked above, you can see a clip from the well-known show, then learn the definitions of key words and phrases. Other videos take it a step further and show examples of the words and terms in use in other situations and video clips, for even more context to your learning.
The videos are quick and approachable, and always packed with useful information like grammar and vocab details. The aim of this channel isn’t to just introduce you to the language, but to help you understand the context so you can actually use it in your own conversations.
19. Why Not Spanish?
Best for: Immersive learning with slow, clear explanations
This channel mostly has intermediate-level lessons which feature Cody, a Spanish language learner, and Maria, his Spanish teacher.
Cody and Maria interact in entirely Spanish, correcting his errors and teaching specific language points. Maria explains everything clearly and slowly, with plenty of examples, so it’s easy to learn along with Cody.
The channel has other formats of videos, including travel vlogs, shorts that pack mini-language lessons in under a minute and casual chats from Cody.
20. María Español
Best for: Learning like a native
María Español is a learning channel that’s best suited for intermediate to advanced learners. Every lesson is held completely in Spanish with only Spanish subtitles available (although English is available in auto-translate).
Videos on this channel range from 10 to 30 minutes and cover topics like pronunciation, vocabulary (at different levels) and proper use of tenses. She also has some fun videos on jokes and read-along activities.
María often takes suggestions from viewers about what topics to cover, so if there’s something you want to see that she doesn’t have yet, you can try suggesting it!
21. Rock ‘N Learn
Best for: Conversational practice for false beginners and intermediates
Rock ‘N Learn may look like a YouTube channel for kids, but it’s mainly catered toward teens and adults who already know the basics of the language.
The videos tell a story centered on relationships, much like a mini telenovela or soap opera, so make sure you watch them in order. The videos are in both English and Latin American Spanish, with the Spanish portion read slowly to help you perfect your pronunciation.
Each clip covers small talk and polite expressions that center on a specific topic, like introductions, hobbies, asking someone out on a date, ordering food, numbers and family members.
22. Spanish Playground
Best for: Learning through slow speech and body language
Spanish Playground was developed to bring Spanish immersion to your home, so all the videos are completely in Spanish. Hosts Juan and Pamela speak slowly, use body language and interact with real objects to get their message across.
There’s a playlist for intermediate students in which they speak a little bit faster, but they still don’t reach normal native speed.
Don’t miss any of the seasons of their series Buena Gente (Good People), and check out the playlists on Spanish verbs and Spanish tenses if you’re in need of some grammar help.
23. Easy Spanish
Best for: Spanish in everyday contexts
Carla, Sara, Juan and some other friends travel through different Spanish-speaking countries and cities to ask locals about holidays, New Year’s resolutions, museums, happiness, love, food and a wide array of other interesting topics. The interviews are completely in Spanish, but every learner can enjoy them because all of them include both English and Spanish subtitles.
Apart from the street interviews, there are playlists on Mexican culture and slang, Argentinian Spanish and everyday life topics, among others.
There’s also a travel vlog and a playlist with all the episodes that have taken place in Spain so far in case you’re interested in the Castilian accent.
24. Notes in Spanish
Best for: Learning Castilian Spanish
Ben and Marina have been teaching Spanish through casual conversation for many years. Their YouTube channel doesn’t have as much content as their website, but you can check out their dozens of downloadable podcast episodes for all levels of mastery.
I particularly enjoy their playlist on Spanish words and phrases, where they teach Spanish expressions and give examples of how to use them naturally in conversation.
I recommend that you also pay special attention to Marina’s accent. She’s a native Spaniard, so she uses the Castilian variety.
25. Bilingüe Blogs
Best for: Practicing Latin American accents
Bilingüe (Bilingual) Blogs covers Spanish accents and speaking styles from across the globe. Ricky takes viewers on a journey as he hits the streets of Puerto Rico, Paraguay and more. He also covers many different types of Latin American Spanish, including introductions to the Dominican, Mexican and Cuban accents.
The videos are cool and slightly unorthodox (no boring classroom lessons here!), and the conversational lessons are so casual you might feel as if you’re chatting with a friend on the street.
In some videos, Ricky talks to various people to get multiple perspectives on the language. In others, he shares his tips and advice for learning Spanish.
26. Recetas de Cocina
Best for: Recipes and cooking instructions in clearly spoken Spanish
Want a taste of Hispanic cooking? You got it.
Whether you’re an ambitious chef seeking recipes or you’re just curious about the preparation of various traditional and modern foods from the Spanish-speaking world, Recetas de Cocina (Kitchen Recipes) videos are great for learning kitchen, food and restaurant vocabulary.
Not to mention, the host speaks slowly and clearly so their viewers can follow along step-by-step—and so that there’s ample time for them to actually cook the food.
Advanced Spanish YouTube Channels
27. Casi Creativo
Best for: Picking up slang
Fred Lammie is an animator and creative director based in Barcelona. He also happens to be the creator of Casi Creativo (Almost Creative).
He creates hilarious animated shorts that are extremely relatable, with comical interpretations of what happens in your stomach during Christmas dinner, types of bosses and your relationship with money. There are also songs about Instagram and the dread of vacations ending!
Just be aware that some clips don’t actually feature a lot of speaking, but there are plenty of educational videos for those interested in learning about Spanish humor, slang and expressions. Start off with the “Tipos de…” (Types of…) videos and go from there.
28. CuriosaMente
Best for: Learning through science, history and culture
Do you enjoy watching TED-Ed videos? Then you’ll definitely love the clips on CuriosaMente (Curiously).
It’s a channel that breaks down complex topics into terms that can be understood by the general Spanish-speaking populace. Whether you want a simple explanation of capitalism versus socialism or wonder if speech or thought came first, your curiosities will be satisfied on this channel. You’ll also gain plenty of talking points so your conversations can move beyond small talk and surface-level topics.
The narrator of the videos speaks quite fast, but he does enunciate which is very helpful for advanced listening practice.
29. Xpress TV
Best for: Learning about pop culture and random trivia
If you’re the type of person that loves to share fun facts with the group, Xpress TV is the channel you need in your life.
Xpress TV is a very popular Mexican channel that aims to answer your burning questions, share knowledge and discuss peculiar and curious things.
So not only can you learn how to share fun facts in Spanish, but you can also ask your friends the same questions as some of these videos or personally use them for exercises. For example, the video asking how long you could survive trapped in a supermarket would be an excellent writing prompt.
30. Enchufe TV
Best for: Learning through humor and comedy sketches
Enchufe TV is an Ecuadorian channel full of comedy sketches, similar to what you’d see on Saturday Night Live or CollegeHumor. You’ll find videos on pop culture, expectations vs. reality, differences between men and women and much more, all with a Latin American twist.
With over 25 million subscribers, it’s clearly a popular channel with plenty of content to improve your Spanish humor and keep you entertained.
Since this channel is targeted at native speakers, dialogues tend to be speedy. Spanish subtitles are available, but if you’re an advanced learner who needs a challenge, leave the subtitles off.
31. Magic Markers
Best for: Learning about current events, global affairs and social issues
Magic Markers is pretty similar to CuriosaMente in terms of content, but Magic Markers videos feel a lot more like interactive lessons in the way that that information is presented. The demonstrations feature a combination of handcrafted and digital animation, which is quite engaging especially if you’re a visual learner.
Although the topics may seem a little too heavy, Magic Markers does a good job of explaining subjects like Bitcoin and the political left and right. This channel is also way more interesting to watch than Spanish news segments.
32. Consigue tu Trabajo
Best for: Job seekers in Spanish
Built by a native Spanish speaker for Spanish speakers, this is a solid resource for learning authentic vocabulary related to careers, the job search, the workplace and your personal skills and achievements.
Ariel Diaz Rios of Consigue tu Trabajo (Get Your Job) gives you a hand. Advice from an actual headhunter? Check. A great sense of humor that’ll keep you binge-watching? Check. Sincere advice on what you should and shouldn’t do, paired with movie references and drawings? Check.
Ariel keeps it simple and relevant and can help you get that job of your dreams in Spanish.
33. Cinexceso
Best for: Movie and pop culture lovers
Mefe, a Peruvian film enthusiast, walks you through the latest news in the movie industry, movie explanations and the craziest theories behind your favorite movies.
The name of this channel is playful: the word “cinexceso” sounds like the Spanish expression “sin exceso,” meaning “without excess.” However, because of the way it’s written, it alludes to the word cine, the Spanish word for “cinema.”
He covers all movie genres and will even give you access to deleted scenes. The best part? It all happens in Spanish.
34. Yuya
Best for: Fashion and makeup tutorials
An extrovert makeup YouTuber, Yuya’s trademarks are her high-pitched voice, speaking loudly, laughing loudly, gesturing expansively and conveying every idea with a different facial expression.
From basic makeup tips for beginners to advice on how to shop during sales, Yuya has become a worldwide phenomenon for her way of communicating.
Get ready for one of the stars of YouTube’s makeup and lifestyle community. Let’s give your Spanish a makeover!
35. Antonio García Villarán
Best for: Art lovers
If you’re interested in the cultures and artistic adventures of the Spanish-speaking world, you might need a little help to navigate it.
Antonio’s videos are just as extravagant and creative as his image—with eccentric introductions, an informal feel and dozens of art history topics to choose from.
You’ll learn more about female artists, the truth about the art market, what Salvador Dalí is hiding and how to price your paintings if you’re into creating art yourself!
36. Dare to DIY
Best for: Crafts and DIY
If you’re the type of person who creates their own Christmas ornaments, their own ice cream and their own room decor, you’re certain to love Sylvia’s DIY hacks.
Feeling like you could use a wardrobe makeover? Create your own summer dress. Want to customize your technology? Create your own smartphone cover or laptop cover.
A lot of the videos are made in vlog style while Sylvia takes you along through her creation process. And, of course, learn Spanish while you’re at it!
37. HolaSoyGerman
Best for: Lightning-speed Spanish listening practice
If you love Spanish YouTube, you might have come across HolaSoyGerman at some point. Germán Garmendia Aranis, from Chile, is one of the biggest YouTubers, with over 40 million subscribers.
Germán is famous for his lightning-fast talking speed and comedic skits about everyday situations. It’s great to test how good your Spanish listening skills really are! Some of his videos have English subtitles in case you get lost with him talking a mile a minute.
He doesn’t post to this channel any longer, but he remains popular over at his other channel where he uploads mostly gaming videos.
38. PULSO Pop News
Best for: Celebrity interviews and entertainment news
PULSO Pop News has plenty of fun content that follows the latest trends and entertainment news for Latin Americans, especially the Gen Z demographic.
Its YouTube channel is filled with short report clips and interviews with celebrities. You can get to know the huge world that is the Spanish-speaking entertainment industry.
Of course, since this is entertainment news, you can expect a lot of casual conversation, self-promotions and the occasional lighthearted tread into personal territory.
39. BuzzFeed LATAM
Best for: Pop culture content
BuzzFeed LATAM is one of the easiest ways to learn Spanish, and for good reason: the content on the site is the perfect blend of funny, topical and informative.
There are cultural tidbits, celebrity interviews, and videos that explore the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world’s regional dialects and cultures.
A lot of the recent content is originally from the English BuzzFeed channels, but it’s a good chance for you to practice reading the Spanish subtitles if it’s a video you’ve seen before.
Spanish YouTube Channels for All Levels
40. Use Your Spanish
Best for: Story learning
Salo is a Colombian native speaker with videos on various topics that feature both his and the Castilian accent. He also has playlists with stories and dialogues for different levels.
If you’re a beginner student, you’re going to love his stories and dialogues for beginners that are read in slow Spanish and include English explanations. Intermediate and advanced learners also have a playlist with stories, with explanations solely in Spanish
There’s also a playlist for advanced students devoted to learning Spanish through conversation.
41. Dreaming Spanish
Best for: Experienced-based learning
This is one of those rare channels that expertly caters to every level of learner. There are simple stories for “superbeginners” all the way up to deep discussions about racism and differences in the justice system between the US and Spain.
Most importantly, though, every single word in each video is spoken in Spanish. Yes, even the complete beginner videos! The hosts do an amazing job of speaking very clearly and making it easy to understand what they’re saying even if you don’t know every single word.
The lighthearted nature of these videos will appeal to even experienced Spanish speakers.
42. SpanishPod101
Best for: Structured, interactive learning
SpanishPod101 video lessons cover every topic imaginable. You can watch language lessons about Spanish holidays and fiestas (parties), hobbies, staying fit and relaxing. You can learn tips for the best ways to study, watch a three-hour-long compilation of common words, see an example of how to make a phone call in Spanish and so much more.
Videos usually consist of an instructor teaching the material in front of the camera, accompanied by on-screen examples and writing so you can easily keep up or take notes.
Love the videos on their YouTube page? Then you should definitely explore the rest of what SpanishPod101 has to offer with their complete Spanish program. Here’s our complete review of the program.
43. Light Speed Spanish
Best for: Reviewing grammar
Light Speed Spanish is led by two very charismatic hosts, who take learners through everything from everyday life through to grammar and vocab explanations.
Most videos are done in a podcast-style format, with the hosts sitting in front of a microphone and explaining a topic half in Spanish and half in English. Other videos show little bits of their life, or simply talk about issues that are important or interesting to them.
If you’re looking to power up your conversational skills, this is an ideal choice for any level learner. There are tons of basic to advanced Spanish information that’ll help you improve your overall Spanish skills.
44. Learn Spanish
Best for: Detailed, straightforward lessons
Martin is a Spanish language teacher with an exquisite Spanish accent and a ton of knowledge.
His passion for teaching Spanish can be felt in his detailed videos on grammar and vocabulary, his excellent explanations and the work he puts into creating presentations to help you understand all he says.
Learn Spanish is a Spanish course focused on teaching you how to be conversational in Spanish. Divided into leveled playlists, Martin will take you on a journey through the grammar of conversation and teach you how to use what you know to produce even more Spanish for yourself.
45. Mexitalki
Best for: Learning Mexican Spanish
Mexitalki is designed to help Spanish learners improve their skills while focusing on Mexican Spanish.
With videos appropriate for a range of Spanish proficiency levels, including several that are focused on regional Spanish variations and slang, Mexitalki offers some great material.
Some videos focus on grammar and vocabulary, while other focus primarily on providing listening activities. Many of these videos offer Spanish and English subtitles.
46. Aprender Idiomas y Cultura General con Rodrigo
Best for: Classroom learners
Aprender Idiomas y Cultura General con Rodrigo (Learn Languages and General Culture with Rodrigo) gives you a 162-lesson Spanish course in 20 videos where you’ll learn everything from the alphabet to the most advanced Spanish tenses and everything in between.
Many of these lessons are devoted to grammar, but there are also lessons on vocabulary, false friends, verb conjugation… you name it!
Rodrigo uses a whiteboard to deliver his lessons, so you’ll feel like you’re in a real classroom or attending a Spanish course online.
Non-YouTube Spanish Video Resources
47. LingusTV
TKTKTKTKTK RESUME EDITING HERE TKTKTK
LingusTV offers free videos to help you improve your Spanish. First things first, this website is intended for adults and uses some “adult” language and scenarios, so if you’re offended by these things, this might not be the best resource for you.
Each video is brief and focuses on a humorous scenario to teach you valuable vocabulary and grammar rules. Since the videos focus on conversations, you’ll also learn important conversational skills.
Just click a video title to load the video. Below the video is a description of what lessons you’ll learn from it.
Additionally, there are extra learning materials for each video. These include a full transcript, translations and notes to clarify certain phrases and grammar rules.
Videos are grouped by level (beginner, intermediate and advanced). In the beginner and intermediate levels, the videos are captioned in Spanish to help you along.
While LingusTV is based out of Spain, the speakers’ accents are fairly neutral. The rate of speech is sometimes relatively rapid, but this will help prepare you for understanding native speakers.
Beginners will enjoy videos like “Mi rutina” (“My routine”), which teaches you vocabulary about daily routines.
Intermediate learners will benefit from selections such as “Planes futuros” (“Future plans”), which features lessons on the future tense, describing hobbies and more.
For advanced learners, LingusTV offers videos like “¿Qué ves?” (“What do you see?”), which shows how to express displeasure and how to use sarcasm in Spanish. And who doesn’t want to be sarcastic in a foreign language?
48. FluentU
FluentU is an innovative learning resource that allows you to use real-world videos from YouTube for their maximum learning potential. It differs from the learning channels we were just talking about above as well as others on this list for a very special reason:
Each video is captioned, and the captions are interactive. You can see each word’s definition, multiple example sentences and an associated image. To help ensure you never forget that word, you can even click it to see how it’s used in other videos.
But FluentU isn’t just about watching videos. It offers quizzes that include exercises and flashcards from video clips, pictures and example sentences—this way, you can actually “learn” all the language in a given video! It also keeps track of all your progress for you.
Since you select the videos and your pace, FluentU offers a fully personalized learning experience and caters to any learner at any level.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Play Store for iOS and Android devices.
49. “Mi Vida Loca”
Brought to you by the BBC, “Mi Vida Loca” is a mystery series featuring 22 10-minute interactive episodes designed to help beginning learners improve their Spanish.
You take on the role of a character in this series, and throughout each video, you’ll have to use what you’re learning to answer questions and participate. The series will help you practice your listening, reading and speaking.
Additionally, each video comes with an episode guide that includes a transcript and translations. This will help you study the text more in-depth.
The videos also offer optional Spanish and/or English captioning. Turn on one, both or neither to best suit your needs.
The videos do use Castilian Spanish, so this will vary some from the Latin American Spanish taught in most American schools. However, the speech is clear and slow, so no Spanish speaker would have trouble following it.
50. SpanishListening.org
SpanishListening.org offers videos from native Spanish speakers.
The videos tend to be less “produced” than many, so this Spanish is more natural. Each video also has a transcript to help you along.
SpanishListening.org’s convenient search feature allows you to select videos based on level or topic. You can also select based on speaker—each speaker is a native Spanish speaker, and their native countries are clearly listed, allowing you to learn regional accents. With hundreds of videos, it’s easy to find videos at any level on virtually any topic.
For instance, beginning-level learners might try “¿Qué idioma te gustaría aprender?” (“What language would you like to learn?”) in which Sorie from Honduras discusses what language she’d like to learn. It illustrates basic conversational Spanish that uses simple terms.
More advanced learners will benefit from “Cuéntanos cosas acerca del shamisen” (“Tell us things about the shamisen”) in which Jesús from Peru describes a Japanese musical instrument. Since this is a topic many listeners will be unfamiliar with, this is a great way for advanced Spanish learners to test their skills.
51. Practical Spanish
Practical Spanish offers 15 free learning videos and 5 music videos to help you improve your Spanish.
Videos cover useful topics like introductions in the video “Introductions & Greetings.”
While the videos skew heavily towards beginning Spanish, Practical Spanish offers a decent free selection of videos to help you get down the basics.
YouTube is good for much more than mindless entertainment and quick tutorials.
It’s also an amazing platform for learning Spanish, whether you’ve got zero background in the language or are near fluent.
Let’s not forget that YouTube is a free platform, and who doesn’t love to learn for free?
So if you’re ready to watch and learn Spanish, let me share the top picks of 2022 that will blast your Spanish skills out of this world.
52.Ted Talks
https://www.ted.com/talks?sort=newest&language=es
Have you ever watched TEDx Talks? TEDx Talks are presentations about various topics, given by experts from around the world with innovative ideas. You can find videos with presenters discussing advanced technology, culture, archaeology and self-esteem. This particular TEDx Talk is about learning languages.
This speaker, Sid, has learned more than five languages fluently (wow!) and he gives his listeners some real gems about how to learn new languages well.
Sid has great energy and is incredibly motivating. If you want to learn Spanish to fluency but you’re scared to take the plunge, listen to this TEDx Talk and get motivated! Sid is encouraging and he’ll be your personal cheerleader.
TEDx Talks are incredible resources to help you improve your Spanish. Check out “How to Learn Any Language in 6 Months,” “Breaking the Language Barrier” and “Hacking Language Learning.”
Why Learn Spanish With Videos?
You might already have books or structured lessons in a classroom, but it’s always a good idea to diversify your language learning diet with multiple sources, like YouTube.
As notorious as YouTube is for being an incredible time-waster, it’s also an excellent study resource for planning your Spanish lessons for many reasons:
- You can watch in your own time and pause and rewind whenever you need to. YouTube lets you learn at your own pace and according to your schedule.
- Many Spanish learning videos allow for close-up study of lip and mouth movements of Spanish speakers. This allows you to mimic those movements to help improve pronunciation and accent.
- There’s a lot of content out there catering to every level and learning style. You can look up how to use a certain verb or learn advanced conversational Spanish. You can also check out various teaching styles, whether you want a classroom-like lesson or to feel like a friend is chatting with you. You’ll never run out of videos!
- Finally, learning Spanish with videos is engaging. Since videos engage your senses of sight and sound, they’re more likely to capture your attention fully. This will make it easier to study (and learn) for longer stretches of time without getting distracted.
How to Learn Spanish on YouTube
Here are some concrete steps you can take to learn Spanish using various specific resources available on YouTube, so you can start making progress immediately, even if you’re just starting out!
- Set clear aims or goals. Being clear about what you want to get out of the YouTube videos will help you focus your learning and your attention. With that specific goal, you’d be making measurable progress every single day. The more concrete your goals are, the better.
- Choose videos according to those goals and your level. Do a search to find videos that are interesting to you and won’t either overwhelm you or bore you. Even better, bookmark some channels that engage you, create playlists, and keep an eye on YouTube’s recommended videos for more clips you might be into.
- Use a channel that provides authentic content. For beginning students, this is a great way to familiarize yourself with the sound of Spanish. However, as you advance in your education, it’s also a good way to test out your skills and prepare yourself for conversations with native Spanish speakers.
- Use channels that come from different regions to master regional variations. Spanish varies between regions. YouTube channels can help you master these regional variations, which is important if you want to travel to a Spanish-speaking country.
- Try different channels to see what you like best. While looking through the above channels, keep in mind that there’s something out there for everyone, but not everything works for every learner. Trying different channels to see what you like best will ensure you find your perfect match.
- Watch often. Watching your favorite Spanish-language YouTube channels often will increase your learning exponentially. Even if it’s just for a few minutes each day, watching YouTube videos often will help you keep your skills up.
- Actively participate in the video, and combine it with other types of learning. Take notes, or to pause, listen and repeat what you hear out loud. You’ll take it to a whole new level if, after you watch the video, you use your new vocabulary in your own sentences or try out pronunciations on a friend.
- Engage with other Spanish speakers in the comments section. The comments sections of learning videos are a great place to ask content-specific questions. If you’re learning Spanish independently, this additional support from other learners can be just what you need to drive you towards greater fluency.
How to Use Subtitles for Spanish Learning on YouTube
Another useful tip is to use a channel that provides subtitles. Different types of subtitled videos, like subtitled dubs of your favorite cartoons, can help you practice your Spanish.
-
How subtitles can help you learn with YouTube: Subtitled videos allow you to practice listening and reading comprehension simultaneously. Videos subtitled in Spanish, English or both can be particularly helpful for beginning students, since you can refer to the subtitles if you can’t understand a word. You’ll be absorbing both written and spoken Spanish and encountering any new vocabulary or phrases in both contexts.
-
How to know which channels offer subtitles: Once you search for what you want on YouTube, you can click on “Filters” right beneath the search box. Under the list of “Features” you should be able to see the “Subtitles/CC” button. All the videos with added subtitles will immediately be shown to you. Another option would be to search directly for the term “subtitles” along with whatever it is you’re looking for. For example, you can search for “Spanish travel vlog subtitles.”
-
How to enable subtitles on YouTube: When you click on a video, you can click on the “CC” button right beneath it to turn on the subtitles. If you want to change the language or see if they have both Spanish and English subtitles, you can click on the “Settings” icon right next to it. Here you could also change the playback speed in case you want to watch and listen to the video a bit slower or faster.
Of course, YouTube isn’t without its faults: Subtitles can sometimes be inaccurate, content isn’t organized by difficulty (after all, why would it?) and there’s no guide to why that vlogger used a random word in a way you’ve never seen before.
With these out-of-this-world resources for awesome Spanish learning videos, you’ll never lack for the right tool to help you learn Spanish the fun and easy way.
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
