Destinos

[DonnaMarie]

This morning I was up at 5 AM ET and turned on our public TV station. There was a Spanish language learning series called Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish. I guess it is a soap opera, telenovela, produced in 1992 which re-runs on public TV. A dramatic story line with people speaking in slower Spanish. There is also a website and DVDs for their learning program. I also found it on this website

http://www.learner.org/series/destinos/watch/index.html?ep1

Has anyone used this?

[monzac]

Destinos is the only soap opera I ever committed to. I'm up to episode 51/52 :( They way they remove the little bits of extra help as the series progresses is very good. The over-enunciation decreases and the the rate of speech increases.

[DonnaMarie]

Oh I just found you can watch episodes with the dialogue running in a side bar, study the vocabulary for the episode before you watch it, fill in missing vocabulary words. Looks like a great resource.

[nkosi]

This sounds interesting. I'll have to look into it. It's similar to what BBC was doing with their Italian language course. I still have to finish it. They had some sort of copyright issues that interrupted the course when I was doing it. It looks to be back to normal now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/

[DonnaMarie]

Oh thanks because I need something like that for Italian! I need help with the basic pronunciation. I had much more background in Spanish.

[nkosi]

No problem. :)

[wataya]

Yes, I have used it and can recommend it wholeheartedly. For my taste, they enunciate a bit too much, especially in the first couple of episodes but that's first of all a minor issue and secondly surely a matter of taste.

[JoeB469]

I first became aware of Destinos some years ago when it was being shown on PBS TV. It's very well done and the story moves among various countries where differences in Spanish usage are introduced. I have spent a little time on the website and it has many excellent learning features. I recommend it.

[saminman]

It's a good series. I will watch it again sometime.

[woadgrrl]

We used to watch it in my high school spanish class. It must be twenty years old now!

[DonnaMarie]

It is on our local PBS TV station at 5 AM ET. I recorded it this morning. But it is online as well. I know it's old but it is nowhere near as melodramatic as watching the novellas on Telemundo.

[DonnaMarie]

that was Destinos I meant, not the Italian show. There is some French show that comes on at 4 AM. So the BBC must have done several of these.

[pangaea]

I have been looking at this - it is very cool - thank you :)

[MadameSchwartz]

We used Destinos in our community college language course in the 1990s. There is a textbook that goes with it.

[carly14]

I just started watching these tonight and i think they are great. I understand a lot of it (more than i thought i would) and they definitely speak slow enough for you to pick it up without a problem

[jake12]

I studied Spanish via correspondance (before internet option) and they used Destinos as part of the course. I found it very useful and now watch telenovelas on TV just to help my ear for the language.

[vwlj]

Many thanks, DonnaMarie. I used to watch this years ago, and had forgotten about it. It's a fun way to hear how Spanish is used.

[dimarpat]

Oh yes, and I like it. The clothing and hairstyles are dated, but I think it adds to the flavor. Raquel travels through Latin America to solve the mystery so there is footage (also dated) of the countries she visits. You will hear native speakers in conversation, which is helpful. I never finished--I think I'll re-visit it.

[DonnaMarie]

I realized I can watch episodes on my iPad with a free flash app you have to download. It is funny about the women's clothes and hairstyles, from the worst era of fashion, 1990s. But their speech is so nice and clear. You have a few Sesame Street scenes of them teaching numbers or various concepts. Starts out with lots of repetition but others say it gets more complex as you go. I'm only on episode 4.

[mitcorb]

Thank you for the link in the top post. I have watched the introduction. I hope to continue the series.

[funkyfroggy]

have tried to watch in the u.k.but it says it is unathorised in u.k.why?

[funkyfroggy]

'Content is only available in certain countries'

[sweeneyrod]

If you use a VPN (the Chrome plugin TouchVPN is the one I use) and set your country to something like Canada then it works.

[Juliane339717]

same here...(germany), very sad. I wonder is there a way to still watch it

[Alison257494]

It used to be available in the UK until a year or s ago. Frustrating as I had got part-way through.

[snydecomments]

I'm enjoying it but the whole time I'm watching all I can think is WTF IS SHE WEARING???!!!

[jake12]

It was the 70's. Those fashions haven't cycled around recently.