Naturally, common Spanish phrases for travel include those around transportation, landing at the airport, and finding your way around the city. But, what are the best ways to learn Spanish as a traveler? It’s certainly not learning the grammar.

We found it’s easiest if you can picture a situation in your head and associate the words with the situation. So, we’ll try to guide you through these common situations and help you picture the words while you go through them.

So, let’s start with some essential Spanish for travel – finding your way to, from, and around the airport.

Landing at the airport

The airport will probably be the first place that you’ll set foot in Spain. You might come by car, train, or bus, but since Spain has so many airports, and the air connection is the best and most reliable one, most tourists and travelers will be coming by plane.

Even though you would expect everybody to speak English in international airports, that might not be the case in Spain, especially in smaller cities, or in the south like in Andalucia. Having that in mind, it’s very useful to learn basic Spanish for traveling and have some Spanish words and phrases for travel up your sleeve in case you bump into somebody that doesn’t speak English.

Here are some words that might be useful when you get off the plane:

Looking for your luggage

When you get off a plane, if you’re traveling with a checked-in bag, the next step will be to go and collect your luggage. The signs will probably be both in Spanish and English, but in case there are not, it’s useful to know what to look for.

Also, sometimes, the airports can be confusing, so you might need to ask someone for directions. In that case, it’s good to know some essential Spanish for travel, like how to ask where your luggage will be dropped off.

To collect your luggage once you land, you should follow the sign that says “Equipaje”, which translates to luggage. It can be accompanied by some other words like “Recogida de equipaje” but if you follow only the word “Equipaje” you can be sure that you’ll arrive at the right place.

Did the airport lose your luggage? It’s a good thing you’re insured! We recommend SafetyWing as the best travel insurance for digital nomads.

Looking for a toilet after a long flight

After a long flight, you might want to use the toilet to freshen up. The toilettes are almost always very close to the baggage drop-off, but you can find them in the whole airport.

In Spain, the toilettes will be marked as “Aseos”, which is the Spanish word for water toilettes.

Even though the pictures of a man and a woman are normally placed on the doors so you know where to enter, you can also follow the word “Hombers” for men’s toilet, and “Mujeres” for women’s. If you’re traveling with a child, you might need a changing room. Most bigger airports have this room separate from the toilets. To find this you should look for a sign “Cambiador de bebés” or if you cannot find it, you can ask “Perdone, dónde está el cambiador de bebés?”.

Focus words:

Focus phrase:

Finding the exit

Big signs saying “Salida” will take you right off the airport. Salida literally means exit, but if you’re seeing the signs “Salidas” this actually means departures.

You will probably not come across these signs leaving the airport, because the spaces for landing and for departing are separated. However, if an airport is small, you might walk into the grand hall, and then you can come across both Salida and Salidas.

If this confuses you, you can also follow the signs for taxis and buses because they normally stop in front of the airports. These signs will normally say “Taxi” and “Autobús”.

Before you leave for the grand hall or exit the airport, you will have to pass the customs or la “Aduana”. If you have anything to declare, you will have to stop here, and if not, you will pass the door that says “Nada que declarar” which means “Nothing to declare”.

Focus words:

Focus phrase:

Flying from Spain

Other than landing at the airport in Spain, there will also be times when you would need to fly from one. This will happen if you are returning home if you’re visiting multiple places in Spain so you’re flying from a Spanish airport, or in case you have a layover there.

Since the procedures are different for arrivals and departures, you will also need to learn phrases in Spanish for traveling from Spain.

Arriving at the airport

To arrive at the airport, you will probably use some sort of public transportation, although people mostly use a taxi or a car. If you’re coming in a taxi, other than saying that you’re going to the airport – “Al Aeropuerto” – you might also need to specify the terminal. Some airports are pretty big, like the one in Madrid, and they have multiple terminals that are pretty far from one another.

So, check your ticket and once you do you can inform your taxi driver where to leave you by saying “Terminal” and followed by a number. Most airports will have up to 4 terminals, so it’s useful to know the numbers up to four. Here’s how to say it:

• Terminal uno
• Terminal dos
• Terminal tres
• Terminal cuatro

So, once you get in a taxi, you can say “Al aeropuerto, terminal cuatro”. El aeropuerto means the airport, and Al aeropuerto means “to the airport”

If you’re coming by bus or metro, there will probably be one universal stop at the airport, so you will have to ask for directions to your terminal. You can do that by what you learned in the previous part and say “¿Perdone, dónde está el terminal cuatro?” or you can say “¿Perdone, cómo llegar a la terminal cuatro?”. This means, “Excuse me, how to get to terminal 4?”

Focus words:

Focus phrases:

Boarding the plane

Once you are at the airport, the next step will be to prepare yourself for boarding the plane. Some airports have different spaces for international and domestic flights, so this would probably be the first thing you’ll want to look for.

For international flights, look for “Salidas internacionales”, and for domestic flights (if you’re traveling inside Spain), look for “Salidas domésticas”.

If you’re there for a layover, it’s useful to know that this is called “Escala” in Spanish.

Once you find your way to either domestic or international flights, you might want to check in your bag. To do so, you should look at the monitor to see where the check-in for your flight is. The monitor is called “Pantalla”, and the check-in stand is called “Mostrador de la facturación”.

Once you leave your bag, you can proceed to the security check or the “Control de seguridad”. The security might double-check and ask you if you have any special items like liquids or electronic devices. Here are some words that you might hear:

Líquido– liquid

Aparatos electrónicos – electronic devices

After you pass the security check, you can check the screen to see where your gate is. The gate is called “Puerta de embarque” or simply “Puerta”. “Embarque” means boarding.

Focus words and phrases:

If you have passed all of the above – congrats! You have passed the first lesson of Spanish for travelers, and can sit back in your plane seat and relax.

The next stop – looking for transportation after you land. Let’s go!

Looking for public transportation

Knowing how to find your way around public transportation definitely counts as essential Spanish for traveling and can help you save a lot of money by not always relying on a taxi.

Choosing transportation

Typically, there will be a few options when it comes to public transportation. Going from the airport, you can probably choose from two to three means depending on where you’re heading.

In Spanish, public transportation is “Transporte publico”.

Here are the most typical means of public transport:

Metro

If the city has a metro, then this is probably the most reliable option for you. If there is a metro station at the airport, the signs to it should be very visible once you get off the plane. There is not much thinking with this one as it is also marked as “Metro” in Spanish. You can also look for the “M” signs, but there’s not a foreign word that you should learn for it.

The things that you should look for are the lines and directions or “Línea” and “Dirección”. However, in many cases, the airport is the last stop, so it will have only one direction, and might also have only one line.

The metro from the airport will most probably connect with the central bus or train station, and the city center.

Even if you’re not at the airport but traveling inside the city and you’re using the metro, the words below can come in handy:

Bus

With or without metro lines, it’s safe to say that almost every airport will have a bus stop very near, if not in front of the airport.

The bus stop is called “Parada de autobuses” from the verb parar which means to stop. If you’re going by bus, sometimes you can buy tickets beforehand, but if it’s an inner-city bus, the tickets are probably sold inside the vehicle.

The ticket is called “Billete”. Because the price of a bus ticket will depend on the place you go, to precise the place you can say “Un billete para el centro, por favor”. This means “One ticket to the city center, please”.

If you’re buying a ticket beforehand at the bus station (estación de autobuses), you should know that a ticket stand is called “Taquilla”. To go to another city or village, for example, if you’re going to Jaen, you should say “Un billete para Jaén”.

Focus words:

Train

The third basic public transportation option is the train. For example, from the airport in Madrid, the train is the only option to go to the bus station.

Now, the word for the train in Spanish is “Tren”, but the sign for the train will probably say “Renfe”. Renfe stands for Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles, or in translation National Railway Network of Spain. On all the tickets, signs, and other markings related to the railways, it will say Renfe.

To buy a train ticket, you will either use the “Taquilla” or a ticket machine – “Máquina billetera” or “Máquina de billetes”.

Focus words:

We appreciate your support!

Thank you for reading our content and following our journey! We are working towards becoming full-time content creators and being able to share stories with you even more frequently. If you’d like to support us to be one step closer to that goal, you can do it through Ko-Fi! 👇🏽

Willing to go the extra mile with your Spanish?

• italki – Improve your Spanish by having conversations with native speakers! italki is the perfect platform for that, where more than 3500 native speakers are waiting to help you with your Spanish.
• SpanishPod101 – Real Spanish conversations. Learning based on your objectives and needs. Practice and compare your pronunciation with natives’ using voice-recording tools. Direction from a personalized teacher tailored just for you. On top of all, it is completely free to start.
• MosaLingua Premium – It is an all-inclusive language learning platform. The perfect tool for people who want to expand their vocabulary with an option to personalize the learning content that fits their needs.

Disclaimer: This section contains some affiliate links.  At no additional cost for you, we can earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Learn Spanish Online

• • Spanish Language

Spanish Greetings and Farewells – Different ways to say HELLO and BYE in Spanish

• ByGala
• January 16, 2022

• • Spanish Language

italki 2022 Review – The Best Platform to Learn Spanish Online

• ByMarko
• February 26, 2022

The post Common Spanish words and phrases you will need when visiting Spain appeared first on My Coliving Space: Spain.

Typical Spanish Greetings based on the part of the day

Like in most languages and cultures, there are greetings in Spanish used only in certain parts of the day, like the morning or at night. The day in Spanish can be divided into six different periods.

In Spain, the sun rises no earlier than eight in the morning, and in the summer, it can set even after 10 PM. This is because the Spanish clock is in the „wrong“ time zone. We already spoke about this in our Siesta article, but Spain has been in the CET time zone since World War 2. This decision was made to match Germany during that period, and they simply left it that way until today.

Because of this, the day in Spain is „moved“ a bit, and it starts a bit later and finishes a bit (or a lot) later. I say I lot because, on top of their time zone, Spaniards are night owls.

Probably because of the same reason Siesta exists, Spaniards normally get out to dinner or hit the clubs way later than in other European countries. The normal time to get ready and go to a family dinner downtown in Spain is 9 – 9:30 PM. The normal time to leave the house for clubbing is not earlier than 11 PM, but closer to midnight. The clubs open around midnight but normally don’t get crowded until 2-3 in the morning.

All these characteristics also influence greetings in the said periods. So, let’s break down greetings that fit every one of these six periods of the day.

1) Madrugada – early morning

Early morning, as the name suggests, starts after midnight with the first AM hours, and continues until the sunrise. In Spain, madrugada is considered somewhere between 1 and 7 AM or until the sun has not fully risen.

For this part of the day, you can say either Buenas noches or Buenos días.

• Buenas noches (Good night or good evening). On this occasion, it will mean good night. You will say this if you’re going to bed in these hours. This way, you will treat this period as „the night“. In this scenario, Buenas noches is more often a farewell rather than a greeting.
• Buenos días (Good morning). It’s less likely that you will wake up earlier than 6 or 7 AM in Spain, but if you do, and you meet someone who also just woke up, you will say good morning or Buenos días.

If you’re keeping it more casual, you can also say Hola or Buenas (which means „Hello“), or Adiós (Bye) or Hasta manaña (See you tomorrow) if you’re going away

2) Manaña – morning

Manaña is a word with two meanings in Spanish, and its meaning depends on whether it’s a feminine or a masculine noun. La manaña (Morning), and El manaña (Tomorrow). In the sentence „Hasta manaña“ you’re saying „Until tomorrow“ and referring to the masculine noun „el manaña“.

La manaña as the morning starts with the sun (normally around 8 AM) and ends around noon. It’s pretty similar to most countries.

For this period of the day, you should greet people with Buenos días (Good morning), or more casual Buenas or Hola (Hello/Hi).

For farewells, you can say Adiós (Goodbye) or you can say Hasta manaña or Hasta luego (which means „See you tomorrow“ and „See you later“). Hasta luego or See you later is used with everyone as a casual way of saying goodbye and it doesn’t need to imply that you will actually see that person again later. You can use this in supermarkets, stores, at schools, etc.

3) Mediodía – noon

Mediodía (simply means „Midday“), and that is exactly noon.

In this part of the day, you can greet people either with Buenos días (Good morning), or Buenas tardes (Good afternoon). Because none of those are true, the best things to say are simply Hola or Buenas.

4) Tarde – afternoon/evening

Tarde (means „Afternoon“), and it starts from 1 PM and lasts until the sunsets.

Since we already said that the sun sets later in Spain, the afternoon can be until 9 PM. In most countries, 9 PM would be considered nighttime, but in Spain in the summertime, 9 PM is only the evening.

The Spanish language does not distinguish between evening and night, so Tarde can mean both afternoon and evening.

For this period of the day, you should greet people with Buenas tardes (which means „Good afternoon“ or „Good evening“ or „Good day“).

In some parts of Spain, Tarde only begins after the siesta. Before siesta, it is the morning or midday, and during siesta, there would normally not be many people on the streets. When siesta is over (around 4 or 5 PM) then you can start saying „Buenas tardes“. It refers to the part of the day in which the sun has started to set, but is not quite there yet.

5) Noche – nighttime

Noche (Night), like in most places means the time of the day when the sun is completely set.

Of course, as Spain has later „waking hours“, it can also refer to anything after midnight. However, that is technically Madrugada (Early morning), and it depends on your situation how you’ll perceive those hours.

The nighttime in Spain would normally start around 9 – 10 PM and last until midnight or 1 AM. This is the time that cafes and bars normally stay open on the workweek.

• For this period, you will say Buenas noches (which means „good evening“), or if you’re going away, you will say Buenas noches as „Good night“.

As a farewell, it is mostly used when the hours are getting so late that the bar is closing or it’s implied that you’re going home to sleep. It’s not that usual to say Buenas noches to a waiter at 11 PM if the working hours are not nearly ending.

When you’re leaving a pub or a cafe or a supermarket at night, it’s best if you say Adiós or Hasta manaña, Hasta luego, etc. These are all much more casual farewells that don’t imply anything.

6) Medianoche – midnight

Medianoche, similarly like Mediodía, is the middle part of the night, or, as we like to call it in English – midnight. 😀

This period refers only to midnight or until 1 AM.

Like mediodía, it’s a really short period of the day. After this, la madrugada starts, but unlike during madrugada, you will probably never say Buenos días at midnight, but rather Buenas noches or simply hola and adiós.

Spanish Greetings based on formality

Other than different periods of the day, Spanish farewells and greetings can also be divided by formality and who you speak to. Now, you should know that Spanish people talk with almost everyone in a very casual form. They call each other by first names, or even nicknames, even if there is a big age gap or different seniority level between them.

Students in schools and universities call their teachers by their first name, don’t use the formal way of conversing, even though, there is one in the Spanish language.

So, even though there are different ways of greeting people depending on the formality, in most situations, it is absolutely fine (even more natural) to use informal or semi-formal speech.

Formal Greetings in Spanish

In Spanish, when you want to use formal speech, you would use a „formal you“ instead of informal, so instead of „Tu“, you will use „Usted“. It is conjugated as a third person like „she“ or „he“, so every time you speak, you will use the third person conjugation to address the person you’re speaking to.

When you’d like to ask something you would say „Usted quiere…?“ instead of „Tú quieres..“?. If you’re not learning Spanish grammar yet, this might be a bit confusing, so we recommend taking a few lessons on italki with a teacher who can help you understand this. The English language doesn’t have this difference, so it may be hard to grasp.

So, without further a due, we’re going to focus only on the greetings instead of trying to fit a very serious grammar lesson in a few sentences.

• Hola is a great greeting that is absolutely the same amount formal and informal and really a greeting that you can use in just about any situation.
• Buenos días (good morning), Buenas tardes (good afternoon/evening), and Buenas noches (good evening, good night) are formal ways of saying hello. However, it is not a mistake to use this with your friends or family and is actually really common. 
• Buen día is a more formal way that you would not normally use with your friends, but rather in more formal situations.

Other than that, there is not much big of a difference between formal and informal greetings with these basic greetings. The use of questions like „How are you“ or „How are you doing“ as greetings is where the difference is seen. In a formal situation this is what would be acceptable to say:

¿Cómo está? (How are you doing?)

Gusto en verlo. (I am glad to see you)

Mucho gusto. (Nice to meet you)

¿Cómo se encuentra usted? (How are you?)

Informal Greetings in Spanish

As we said, if you ever went to Spain and you wanted to blend in, you will come up to informal and semi-formal addressing more often than formal.

Semi-formal situations are considered those with strangers, with people older than you or higher status but in casual situations. These will be professors at your university, your manager or boss in a smaller company that you meet daily or often in fairly casual situations. These will also be situations with parents of your friends or older relatives, etc.

For semi-formal situations you can use the following:

Hola (Hi/Hello)
¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
¿Cémo te va? (How’s it going?)
¿Qué onda? (What’s new?)
¿Qué tal? (What’s up?)

Very informal situations will be those with your friends, close family, co-workers that you spend a lot of time with, friends of your friends that you met before, etc.

For informal situations with friends or with coworkers, you can try using one of these greetings:

Oye (Hey)
¿Qué hay de nuevo? (What’s new?)
¿Qué pasa? (What’s up?)
¿Quiubo? (What’s up?)
¿En qué andas? (What are you up to?)

You can see that there is not much difference between the two, and it’s not a mistake to use semi-formal with your friends. The only phrases reserved for friends are the bolded ones. Just don’t say them to a professor.

Different Spanish farewells

Like greetings, there are also different farewells in Spanish that you can use depending on the situation or the person you are speaking to. Here is the list of the most common ones, and an explanation for each.

• Adiós (Bye/goodbye). This is the most common way of saying goodbye. It can be both formal and informal. You cannot go wrong with it. You can say it to a stranger, as well as your close friends.
• Hasta pronto, Hasta manaña, Hasta luego, etc. (See you soon, See you tomorrow, See you later, etc). This is another very popular farewell. Hasta means „until“, so you can put any situation after it to specify when you’ll see the other person. You can say „Hasta el proximo ano“ (which means „See you next year“). However, in daily conversation, you will either use luego, pronto, or manaña.
  • Hasta luego is a very popular saying even if there is no actual intent that you will see each other ever again. You can say this to practically anyone.
• Nos vemos (See you). This farewell has a more casual tone and is great to use with friends or coworkers. It implies that you know this person fairly well and that you will see each other at one point again. This is not a very popular saying in formal situations and you should keep it in a casual situation only.
• Te veo luego / Después (See you later). This is also a casual farewell that you would normally use with friends or with someone that you will be seeing again later that day. It’s pretty self-explanatory.
• Nos estamos viendo (See you around). This is a bit more formal way of the above. This is usually used in a situation with old friends or people that you don’t often see or don’t have a close relationship with. It’s a semi-formal farewell.
• Cuídate (Take care). This is a semi-formal farewell that can be used in a variety of situations, but it has a hearted tone to it. This expression is less popular than its English version „take care“ and it usually goes with the context. Even though it’s not super unusual to say it just as a goodbye, it’s more likely that you will say it when a person is moving, traveling, when you’ll not see each other for a long time, or in situations like Covid, etc. It brings that tone of care with it so it’s more usual to use it when this tone applies.
• Chao / Chau (Bye). This comes from the famous Italian word Ciao that the whole world has adapted to. Like in most languages, in Spanish chao can be used both as a greeting and as a farewell, although, it’s more popular as a farewell. It’s super casual and has a fun, positive tone to it. You can say it to basically anyone, it’s not informal in a way that will offend anyone in a more formal situation. However, the picture-perfect for this farewell is with friends, local shop owners, neighbors, etc. And I think it is always followed by a smile.

Bonus: Spanish greeting customs

People in Spain are more physical with each other than in some parts of Europe or the world. In Spain, people are very comfortable with each other so hugs, kisses, and touches are not reserved only for our most inner circle. Of course, Spanish people respect each other’s personal boundaries and this culture of theirs does not mean someone can touch or hug you if you’re uncomfortable.

However, in Spain, the typical way to meet a stranger is as follows:

If two guys are meeting for the first time, they will shake hands. If two guy friends are meeting, they might hug or give each other a tap or two on the shoulder. This is pretty standard in most western countries. However, in the family, the men can give each other two kisses on the cheek.

If a man is meeting a woman, or two women are meeting, they will give two kisses on the cheek even if they’re a complete stranger. If you are a woman and you come to Spain, the people you meet will most likely try to give you two kisses, and it might be a bit weird if you try and shake their hands.

However, if you’re not comfortable with that, that is also completely normal. The people will shake your hand and get past it. In their culture, this is a completely normal thing, but if it is not for you, don’t try to force it on yourself. It also goes for guys.

If you’re a guy and you’re meeting a woman and feel awkward to kiss two times, it’s’ perfectly fine not to do it. Spaniards know that this tradition is not very popular outside Mediterranean countries, so they’ll understand.

If it doesn’t feel weird, then embrace it! It’s great if you can because it gives you another perspective.

Chau!

We appreciate your support!

Thank you for reading our content and following our journey! We are working towards becoming full-time content creators and being able to share stories with you even more frequently. If you’d like to support us to be one step closer to that goal, you can do it through Ko-Fi! 👇🏽

Willing to go the extra mile with your Spanish?

• italki – Improve your Spanish by having conversations with native speakers! italki is the perfect platform for that, where more than 3500 native speakers are waiting to help you with your Spanish.
• SpanishPod101 – Real Spanish conversations. Learning based on your objectives and needs. Practice and compare your pronunciation with natives’ using voice-recording tools. Direction from a personalized teacher tailored just for you. On top of all, it is completely free to start.
• MosaLingua Premium – It is an all-inclusive language learning platform. The perfect tool for people who want to expand their vocabulary with an option to personalize the learning content that fits their needs.

Disclaimer: This section contains some affiliate links.  At no additional cost for you, we can earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Learn Spanish Online

• • Spanish Language

Best ways to Learn Spanish Online – The complete guide for 2021

• ByGala
• October 8, 2021

• • Spanish Language

italki 2022 Review – The Best Platform to Learn Spanish Online

• ByMarko
• February 26, 2022

The post Spanish Greetings and Farewells – Different ways to say HELLO and BYE in Spanish appeared first on My Coliving Space: Spain.

But first, let’s talk about why watching movies is such a good idea when it comes to learning a new language.

Why beginners should start with movies?

Watching foreign movies in original language (and with subtitles) is great for starting a new language, because you can catch on the rhythm and specifics of a language in the early stages, which can help you in later learning.

For example, if you were to learn Spanish, watching movies in Spanish can help you have a sense of whether it will be hard or easy to learn it based on what your maternal language is. Also, getting a grip on the accent in the early stages will make your pronunciation way better.

Why advanced learner should watch movies?

For example, when learning Spanish, watching a movie can help you understand the social contexts of some words and expressions that are not used in your maternal language. The Spanish language has a particularly hard thing called subjuntivo, that is hard to explain grammatically, but easy to understand when you hear the locals use it.

Also, Spanish is a language rich in colloquial expressions, which you are more likely to hear in movies than in a class.

But most importantly, movies can help you get to know the people. Knowing their characteristics, how they comport in certain situations, what is normal in their culture and what is odd, their temper and social norms. All these play an extremely important part of really getting a language and speaking it naturally.

There are many awesome Spanish movies for learning Spanish, but we chose some of the best Spanish movies in general. They are not meant for you to learn the language from them, but they are very intriguing and good movies with a bonus of learning opportunities. So, let’s hop into them!

1) Ocho Apellidos Vascos (2014) (Eight Basque Surnames)

Genre: Family, comedy, romance

Duration: 1h 38 minutes

Director: Emilio Martinez Lazaro

IMDB Rating: 6.5

Actors: Clara Lago, Dani Rovira, Carmen Machi

Plot

The plot revolves around a man from Seville, Andalusia, named Rafa who falls in love with a Basque girl and decides to follow her home. Rafa is a typical Andalusian man that never left Seville, so being in Northern Spain is something completely new for him.

The two ends of Spain differ in so many things, so it is a challenge for Rafa to accommodate to Basque traditions, but also a challenge for the girlfriend’s family to accept Rafa.

Why this movie?

This movie is amazing if you are still new around the Spanish language. It will help you sense the distinctions between people inside Spain. The characteristics of the people are somewhat emphasized so it will be easy for you to notice them and get to see how the people are in Northern Spain and Southern Spain.

Besides that, it’s a very warm family movie that will give you a nice positive vibe. It is also great for you if you know somebody from Andalusia or Basque.

Who should watch it?

Just anybody who likes light positive movies with a happy ending. Even if you are not that into comedy, its still great for getting to know the cultures in Spain. Because of that, I would say that this is one of the best movies to learn Spanish from.

2) Campeones (2018) (Champions)

Genre: Drama, comedy, sports

Duration: 2h 04 minutes

Director: Javier Fesser

IMDB Rating: 7.2

Actors: Javier Gutierrez, Athena Mata, Juan Margallo

Plot

This heartwarming movie is a perfect rainy-day movie. It tells us a story about a basketball coach who is due to some circumstances sentenced to do community work. The work consists of him coaching a group of mentally disabled people.

Why this movie?

This movie shows you real emotions and the way that the Spanish language and culture cope with certain emotions. It also shows the simplicity of language and simple childish expressions. It is also one of the most beautiful movies in the Spanish language because it talks beautifully about mental incapacity and capacity.

Who should watch it?

Anyone feeling down, anyone knowing a mentally disabled person, anyone you think may watch it, anyone who likes sports – just anyone.

3) El Laberinto del Fauno (2016) (Pan’s Labyrinth)

Genre: drama, dark fantasy

Duration: 1h 58 minutes

Director: Guillermo del Toro

IMDB Rating: 8.2

Actors: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez

Plot

This movie takes place in the war-period in 1944 in Spain, when a military officer brings his wife and stepdaughter in the country due to the war situation.

He is a sadist who doesn’t care for his stepdaughter which the mother doesn’t seem to notice. The girl is all alone in the world and finds her consolation in an occult fantasy world.

Why this movie?

This is one of the most popular Spanish movies and a remarkable piece of famous Guillermo del Toro. It’s a tragic drama with horror and fantasy elements that will take you on another level.

Regarding the language, the point of view is of a child, and thus the language is sometimes simpler and more straightforward. The story, however, has a lot of layers, so the movie can be seen a couple of times.

Who should watch it?

This movie is not for the ones who like light and positive movies. It is occult and a dark story with a heartbreaking storyline. If you like fantasy or horror, this movie is a good choice, but also if you are into drama and tragedy.

4) Contratiempo (2017) (The Invisible Guest)

Genre: mystery, thriller

Duration: 1h 46 minutes

Director: Oriol Paulo

IMDB Rating: 8.1

Actors: Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, Jose Coronado

Plot

This is a crime-mystery thriller involving a wealthy businessman caught in the middle of a murder. He goes to a witness preparation expert with whom he has less than 3 hours to find the defense. They go through the story together, as we watch new detail unveil.

Why this movie?

Spanish movies are known for good plots and plot-twists. They have a touch for the details and storylines, and they make great mystery movies. In this movie, we have a lot of dialogue between the businessman and his lawyer, which builds a great base for learning.

Otherwise, it’s an awesome movie. I do recommend subtitles, as it is a more complex storyline. This way you will be sure that you haven’t missed anything.

Who should watch it?

Anyone loving a good thriller. Also, it’s great for more advanced learners. Beginners should put subtitles on.

5) La Piel que Habito (2011) (The Skin I Live in)

Genre: drama, old-fashioned horror, thriller

Duration: 2h 00 minutes

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

IMDB Rating: 7.6

Actors: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet

Plot

This is not your typical jump-horror movies, but more of a psychological one. We are introduced to a skillful plastic surgeon who succeeded to make artificial skin that is undamageable. There is also a person who wears that skin, a mysterious woman he is keeping inside his house in a special room. Slowly throughout the movie, we are getting to know the secret of his past life and the story behind his project and the woman.

Why this movie?

This is yet another mystery with a super plotline created by the famous Pedro Almodóvar. The whole world loves Antonio Banderas, so that’s a plus. The movie is an easy-to-watch thriller that gives you a grasp of what Spanish movies tend to look like and the art behind a good mystery movie.

Also, it would be a sin not to watch a movie from Pedro Almodóvar, the most famous Spanish director. Antonio Banderas has a nice easy accent that you will be able to understand.

Who should watch it?

The movie has a slower storyline, so if you are more into faster movies, you may get bored. However, the whole package of the movie is great. This movie has such a hidden secret that you don’t know what you are looking at until almost the end of it.

It’s slow and confusing, and it doesn’t give you much to work with on your own (in a good way). But if you like that secretive storyline, this is a perfect movie for you!

Now, this is our selection of 5 best movies to learn Spanish from. That is because these movies are awesome, fun and a nice introduction to the Spanish culture. If you are more into more popular Spanish movies, you might want to check more movies from Almodóvar. The reason we didn’t put more of his movies here is that we tried to keep it more recent and more colorful.

If you are interested in learning the Spanish language, we wrote a separate article on that topic where we cover italki as one of the best websites to learn Spanish online.

We appreciate your support!

Thank you for reading our content and following our journey! We are working towards becoming full-time content creators and being able to share stories with you even more frequently. If you’d like to support us to be one step closer to that goal, you can do it through Ko-Fi! 👇🏽

Willing to go the extra mile with your Spanish?

• SpanishPod101 – Real Spanish conversations. Learning based on your objectives and needs. Practice and compare your pronunciation with natives’ using voice-recording tools. Direction from a personalized teacher tailored just for you. On top of all, it is completely free to start.
• MosaLingua Premium – It is an all-inclusive language learning platform. The perfect tool for people who want to expand their vocabulary with an option to personalize the learning content that fits their needs.

Disclaimer: This section contains some affiliate links.  At no additional cost for you, we can earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Learn Spanish Online

• • Spanish Language

italki 2022 Review – The Best Platform to Learn Spanish Online

• ByMarko
• February 26, 2022

• • Spanish Language

Best ways to Learn Spanish Online – The complete guide for 2021

• ByGala
• October 8, 2021

The post 5 Movies to Learn Spanish from appeared first on My Coliving Space: Spain.