How Watching TV Can Improve Your Language Skills

One of the joys of being a translator is that there is always more to learn when it comes to language. Since my work primarily involves formal Spanish in business contexts, it doesn’t expose me to much slang or new linguistic quirks. I don’t translate much audio either, so I rarely get the opportunity to use my listening skills while working. To remedy that, I like to watch television shows in Spanish in my free time, which lets me improve my language skills while having fun.

I’ve learned so much from Spanish-language television shows over the years. When I lived in Spain before becoming a translator, my friends and I used to watch a mystery series named El Barco together every week, which resulted in me learning a bunch of nautical vocabulary since it was set on a ship. It’s always a thrill on the rare occasion that I come across zarpar or other terms I learned from the show.

More recently, I’ve seen how Spanish is adapting in terms of gender-inclusive language, with new terms like the pronoun elles showing up in shows. By watching shows from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain, I’ve learned about cultural and linguistic differences between some of the many Spanish-speaking countries in the world.

I’ve also learned tons of new vocabulary, often pausing to look up a word in the dictionary. My favorite recent example is the word tiquismiquis. The second I heard it, I paused the show and was delighted to discover that it means “fussy” or “picky”. I may never come across the term again, but throughout my career I’ve been surprised countless times to find that something I learned while watching TV has been applicable to my work. You never know what you’ll encounter as a translator, so it’s always helpful to keep learning!