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posted by janrinok on Friday July 17 2015, @04:59PM   Printer-friendly

Netflix has recently added Spanish-language shows on its service in the US. And the company says American subscribers are loving it.

"We've licensed a lot of programming from Latin America into the US, and are getting incredible viewing," Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a call with shareholders today. "Shows that are successful for us in Mexico are now drawing huge numbers for us in the US."

Netflix has been able to reach a new demographic of users in the US, Sarandos says, by offering shows that originate in Latin America—and can assess what kinds of other content these users might find interesting. "We're getting hundreds of thousands of hours a day on single shows," Sarandos adds.

I started watching a Mexican program to keep up with my kids who are in dual-language kindergarten at school. Regrettably the plot advances at the snail's pace of all soap operas. Can any Soylentils recommend Spanish language shows on Netflix for our crowd?


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @05:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @05:18PM (#210507)

    learn another language if you can. try something exotic. there are plenty of Spanish speakers in America,
    go for something more rewarding. (and no, NOT FRENCH)

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  • (Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday July 17 2015, @05:34PM

    by AndyTheAbsurd (3958) on Friday July 17 2015, @05:34PM (#210514) Journal

    At least with Spanish, you've got plenty of people to practice it on. But personally, I prefer German so that I can sound angry even if what I'm saying is "I love you a whole lot".

    --
    Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
    • (Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Friday July 17 2015, @07:05PM

      by sudo rm -rf (2357) on Friday July 17 2015, @07:05PM (#210542) Journal
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 17 2015, @07:52PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 17 2015, @07:52PM (#210562) Journal

      My German host father had a phrase to prove which language was more beautiful, ("the two young girls walk in the woods"):

      "Die zwei junge Maedchen gehen spazieren in die Waelder."

      vs.

      "Les deux jeunes filles promenadent dans les bois."

      He sang the former and spat the latter. Delivery counts. :-)

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:32PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:32PM (#210608)

        Ich bin eine scheisse kopf?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:43PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:43PM (#210614)

          I guess, but you would know better than I.

          By the way, you want to combine those last two words into one, and capitalize the "s". And you got the article wrong.

          • (Score: 2) by Bill Evans on Friday July 17 2015, @11:21PM

            by Bill Evans (1094) on Friday July 17 2015, @11:21PM (#210649) Homepage

            combine those last two words into one, and capitalize the "s". And you got the article wrong

            This. But go easy on him. He obviously speaks only one language.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:26PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:26PM (#210901)

              I'm wondering who modded him informative?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @05:02AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @05:02AM (#210692)

        "Les deux jeunes filles promenadent dans les bois."

        FTFY: « Les deux jeunes filles se promènent dans les bois. »

        What makes French sound better (when correctly pronounced ;o) is the liaison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_(French) [wikipedia.org] that softens the prosody whereas German words are clearly separated.

        Once, I couldn’t recognize the Marsellaise hummed by a German because she was chopping all her “pom”, making it sound like the 5th.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 17 2015, @05:43PM

    Every immigrant appreciates it when someone makes an effort to speak their mother tongue. Every time I say "Mi nombre Miguel. Tu nombre?" they are completely overcome with joy - even if they speak fluent English.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 17 2015, @05:55PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 17 2015, @05:55PM (#210522) Journal

      "they are completely overcome with joy"

      You really believe that? I've been on "the other side" a few times. I've strolled thorugh towns and neighborhoods where no one spoke English. Some odd ball walks up out of nowhere, and says, "Hello, Joe, how are ya?" I wasn't overwhelmed with joy. Yeah, I know, different strokes for different folks and all that, but I can ask for a cold beer and a hot woman in just about any port in the world. What more does a man need to know? The finer things in life are best enjoyed without words.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 17 2015, @07:58PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 17 2015, @07:58PM (#210565) Journal

        Everyone expects you to speak English because it's the international language. Few people expect you to speak Tagalog (or other language). None expect English speakers to try. When you do, it's appreciated*.

        *Except in France. French are bigger language bigots than Americans or British.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday July 18 2015, @01:18AM

          by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Saturday July 18 2015, @01:18AM (#210665) Homepage Journal

          Speak French to them.

          Whenever I try to they reply in better English than The Queen Of England speaks. Consider that England was once a French possession.

          I honestly intend no offense but they cannot tolerate my surfer dude accent.

          --
          Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
          • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @09:14AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @09:14AM (#210728)

            If you really want to piss the the French off, insist on speaking in french as taught in English public schools.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 18 2015, @02:43PM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 18 2015, @02:43PM (#210777) Journal

            I speak French fine but they get pissy and reply in worse English rather than "suffer" to hear my accent sully their language. When I was younger that was when I'd turn the tables and roll through Mandarin and Japanese to watch them go slack-jawed with the dawning realization that they are terribly provincial.

            To be fair I only encounter that attitude in Paris. Everywhere else in France people are perfectly lovely. As an aside that was the worst travel let-down I've ever had. After all the hype in song and story about how beautiful Paris is, I found it an ugly city with ugly people, rife with ugly racism and devoid of sophistication. Coming from Brooklyn it felt like a dull two-horse town where everything shut down at 9pm--how can a city that shuts down at 9pm puff itself up about its great night life? It was utterly filthy as well, with piss, excrement, and trash everywhere. Its cleanliness is really on par with, say, Manila, not with a first world city (no offense to Manila, which is great in other ways). I dunno, I've lived in Bordeaux, spent a lot of time in Les Pays Basque, and also in the north near Lille and Metz, and the Parisians ought to hang their heads in shame to be compared to those places. Where the Parisians get their arrogance from is mystifying.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:23PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:23PM (#210899)

              Back in the 80's some colleagues of mine were at an international conference in Paris. A group of them went out to dinner. One of them was from Quebec and, of course, was fluent in French. The group let him do the ordering. He spoke to the waiter in French (Canadian) and the waiter responded back in English.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2015, @12:00AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2015, @12:00AM (#210903)

                Perhaps the waiter heard that all the table spoke English and thought it would more efficient and polite to speak English so that no one would have to interpret everything and the other members of the group could understand that they could directly talk to him.

                Ah, but no, it’s easier to assume the waiter was an asshole. He was French, that’s proof enough.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2015, @01:54AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2015, @01:54AM (#210931)

                  Well, I'll go with what my friend and colleague, the one who was actually in the fucking conversation with the waiter over the course of a several hour meal, as to what the demeanor of the waiter was. Plus, it wasn't a table of all native English speakers. I think even a dumbass like you would agree those assumptions are a lot fucking easier than going off the assumption made from some asshole Francophile on the internet.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:52PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @11:52PM (#210902)

              If your French were fine, you wouldn’t write “Les Pays Basque.”

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Friday July 17 2015, @06:05PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 17 2015, @06:05PM (#210526) Journal

    The point of learning a language is to communicate, not to feel smugly superior to everyone around you.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 17 2015, @08:07PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 17 2015, @08:07PM (#210572) Journal

      Language is also a window into a different world view; immersing yourself in one and the culture that goes with it is the closest thing you can experience to living in a parallel universe, barring major advances in quantum mechanics.

      Language can be a status symbol and a social weapon too. Post-colonial studies discuss that dynamic a lot.

      I enjoy them because it's a way of stepping outside the linguistic and cultural bonds that invisibly constrain us, in the sense that Simmel [wikipedia.org] talked about it.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:36PM (#210610)

        My H.S. German teacher said "don't just learn the language, think it also", it helped a lot. And once you learn a second language, learning more is even easier.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:46PM (#210616)

      There are benefits to learning most languages, but French is certainly the one to learn if your motivation is smugness.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @09:49PM (#210618)

      "The point of learning a language is to communicate, not to feel smugly superior to everyone around you."

      If I want to learn a language to feel smug and be a prick, what business is it of yours? I see the OP in the thread was modded down. Is this /. ? it's beginning to feel like it.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @10:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @10:40PM (#210638)

      From H. W. Fowler:

      To say a French word in the middle of an English sentence exactly as it would be said by a Frenchman in a French sentence is a feat demanding an acrobatic mouth; the muscles have to be suddenly adjusted to a performance of a different nature, & after it as suddenly recalled to the normal state; it is a feat that should not be attempted; the greater its success as a tour de force, the greater its failure as a step in the conversational progress; for your collocutor, aware that he could not have done it himself, has his attention distracted whether he admires or is humiliated. All that is necessary is a polite acknowledgement of indebtedness to the French language indicated by some approach in some part of the word to the foreign sound.

      Also, Richard Feynman used to tease Murray Gell-Mann. Gell-Mann liked to put on airs and make a point of pronouncing any foreign word succinctly in the proper native pronunciation, and would go as far as to let people know how their names should be pronounced:

      Richard Feynman, Gell-Mann's chief competitor for the title of the World's Smartest Man but a stranger to pretension, once encountered Gell-Mann in the hall outside their offices at Caltech and asked him where he had been on a recent trip; "Moon-TRAY-ALGH!" Gell-Mann responded in a French accent so thick that he sounded as if he were strangling. Feynman -- who, like Gell-Mann, was born in New York City -- had no idea what he was talking about. "Don't you think," he asked Gell-Mann, when at length he had ascertained that Gell-Mann was saying "Montreal," "that the purpose of language is communication?"

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 17 2015, @06:06PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday July 17 2015, @06:06PM (#210527) Journal

    Rewarding? Useful = rewarding.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers#Ethnologue_.282013.2C_17th_edition.29 [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers [wikipedia.org]

    Spanish is the third largest language by total number of speakers, second by number of native speakers.

    Plenty of Spanish speakers in America is a reason to learn it, unless you want to leave the glorious U.S.A. and don't want to go to Latin America or Spain.

    What's the real reason you don't like Spanish?

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2, Troll) by albert on Friday July 17 2015, @11:56PM

      by albert (276) on Friday July 17 2015, @11:56PM (#210655)

      What's the real reason you don't like Spanish?

      Anything that encourages Spanish (such as learning it) is contributing to the end of English-speaking culture in the USA. Lots of people within that culture very rightly dislike that. It's giving up their mother tongue, accepting an invasion, and transitioning to a culture that has been less productive.

      If you want something economically useful, the big winner is German. It's not commonly known in the USA, it's not hopelessly difficult, and it helps you interact with valuable economic activity. Nobody is going to hire a non-native Spanish speaker for Spanish skills, but non-native German skills are worthwhile.

      BTW, for those crazy enough to spend years learning something super-difficult, see what the army and CIA are looking for. It's probably Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, and Pashtun.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @01:50AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2015, @01:50AM (#210673)

        SoylentNews and its right-wing maniacs.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 18 2015, @03:58PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday July 18 2015, @03:58PM (#210802) Journal

        Anything that encourages Spanish (such as learning it) is contributing to the end of English-speaking culture in the USA. Lots of people within that culture very rightly dislike that. It's giving up their mother tongue, accepting an invasion, and transitioning to a culture that has been less productive.

        There is no chance Spanish will displace English in America. English is the international language. That Americans speak it natively is a real advantage. Judging from the number of English Language Learning classes and programs for Spanish speakers in America, the evidence indicates they come here because they really want to learn English, not force Americans to speak Spanish.

        Productivity is a separate issue. It is not clear cut. A great deal of work is done by Spanish speaking immigrants in America. If you buy strawberries at the supermarket, chances are very high they were picked by immigrants from Latin America. If you eat meals at restaurants in medium- to large American cities, the chances are quite good they were cooked by Latinos (no matter what cuisine it was). If you buy any kind of goods at any kind of store, the chances are quite good they were delivered in trucks driven by Latinos. If you live in a building newer than 20 years old, the chances are good it was built by Latino laborers. Latinos work their butts off in the United States to ensure you enjoy a high standard of living. They exemplify the very work ethic that Americans say they laud. And the Latinos who have come to America are totally down with the American project. They want to be part of it. They've signed on. Why wouldn't America want that? I mean, those people definitely are not coming to the United States for its generous welfare state (hahahahaha sorry, the idea of anyone coming to the United States for welfare instead of any given country in Europe with a real welfare state is so beyond ludicrous).

        Minus coarse, crass racism it's hard to understand what the problem is. It seems to me white trailer trash cooking meth are a greater engine of crime than Latino immigrants. Can/should we dump those people on Mexico? Or should we tow their trailers and cluster them in an uninhabited corner of Missouri to draw all tornadoes away from every other part of tornado alley?

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday July 17 2015, @06:24PM

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 17 2015, @06:24PM (#210533) Journal

    French is still quite a useful language to have in many parts of Africa, the Far East, and some minor locations dotted around the globe. And, of course, where I currently reside - France. It will be my 4th language but age is beginning to slow the learning process quite significantly. Still, it makes for good mental stimulation.

  • (Score: 2) by dusty monkey on Saturday July 18 2015, @10:27AM

    by dusty monkey (5492) on Saturday July 18 2015, @10:27AM (#210741)

    I used to learn exotic languages like you, but then a took an arrow to my Haskell functions.

    --
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