Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Andalucía Televisión

Just a quick post from my side. In the last post I talked about getting native materials and that getting a satellite dish might be a nice solution. For the people who can't afford one and depend on the internet for their Spanish materials I found Andalucía Televisión. As you probably know, Andalucians have a quite heavy Iberian accent (at least the majority, there are quite come ceceos), but it's great television nevertheless.

From here you can watch a live stream in a Youtube-like player (unfortunately it's not available in full-screen, I think). You can also watch previous episodes of their programmes by searching for them in the right frame. On top of this, there are some radio stations which are actually quite good (both the music and the DJ's).

I suggest you check it out (especially if you're learning an Iberian accent) and try to make watching/listening it a daily routine.

TeleMadrid got a similair service, but the quality of the stream is pretty bad in my opinion.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great idea. Although the Andalusian accent is a little difficult for me, this is very helpful. I have also started reading a local Spanish-language newspaper to see what that does for my Spanish...so far it feels pretty good because there are only a few words in each article that I do not know, but I can definitely read Spanish as easily in a newspaper as if it were English.

On another note, how are things going for you regarding your Spanish lessons? Are you in school or teaching yourself at this point?

Ramses said...

Not to bash you or anything; but I guess the Andalucian accent is a bit tricky for you because you're used to a Latin-American accent? For me it's VERY easy to understand as I hear and speak [with] the Iberian accent every day.

As for my studying; currently I'm majoring Spanish in college so about 50% of the time I spend at school is used for Spanish. The other 50% is for didactics (teacher training). That doesn't mean I don't work at home. Per day I have about 3 to 5 hours of extra input, next to schoolwork.

Anonymous said...

Haha don't worry, you weren't bashing...the professors that I have had are from Puerto Rico or Mexico, so yeah I'm pretty much used to the Latin American accent. I have been to Spain a few times, staying mainly in cities in Andalucia, and I still cannot get used to the accent.

When I was studying in Granada, I also took a didactics class (Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language), and it was a lot of fun. You must be getting ready for summer weather, though...I know I am!

Anonymous said...

There are also streaming radio and TV stations from Latin American countries, if you're used to that accent (or group of accents, I guess): http://www.spanishcourses.info/OnlineRadioTV/AAAOnlineRadioStations.htm?IdiomaNr=3&NoMostrarFullPage=1&PaisBusquedaID=147

(Just click on the country to see a list).

Also, if you're like me and you really want to perfect your accent, you could buy an audiobook along with the real book in Spanish and try to follow along, repeating the text out loud. I have Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) along with the audiobook, both from Salamanca. I got the audiobook from my local library and just ripped the audio to my computer, though--it's really expensive otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Andalusian accent is not considered suitable for serious stuff, or at least that's what Canal Sur seems to think, since all the newsreaders speak with a Castillian accent, some of them with a real one and others, well, they try their best.

So, don't think all what you hear in the Andalusian public television and radio is actually Andalusian, it's like the BBC, a "beautiful" accent that nobody really has among the population.

Anyway, this channel is just a piece of shit, only old ladies watch it, not to mention the political sectarianism resulting from being in office for more than thirty years, I don't know exactly cause I'm not that old. Being an Andalusian myself, I think it's my duty to warn you.

Regards.

Ramses said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your eh... clear (yes, you're clear ;)) review :). I agree, there are some things that I don't like either, but the point is that for a lot of people (including me) it's quite impossible to get satellite channels from Spain or Latin-America. Therefore, every real source of material is welcome.

If you have any links to (free) materials (I prefer live streams with a good quality), please share them.

Anonymous said...

Hi again, you've got some good quality streams here: http://www.octoshape.com/play/play.asp (have to download a plugin, I reckon it is some kind of legal P2P broadcasting. I'm using the Linux plugin, I guess the other for windows machines is not worst)

For example, there is the only news Spanish public chanel (24H TVE), probably very boring. The documentaries channel looks better, but unfortunately doesn't seem to be available from outside Spain. There are also some other satellite Spanish regional channels.

And of course there is always the radio, for me the better way. I think all the main Spanish radio stations are on line. There are RNE, Onda Cero, Cadena Ser and Cadena Cope (Listen to the two latter at your own risk). Look it up at Google, and if not, there is a more complete list here: http://www.radioes.net/cadenas.asp (no, radio María is not about what you tink)

Have fun!

Ramses said...

I already know the Octoshape, and yes it's legal :).

Regarding the radio stations: I was already looking for some, but the majority seems is in Catalan (at least the ones I found good).

Thank you for sharing :).