The Best TV Series for Learning a Language (and Why They Work)
Series teach vocabulary the way textbooks can't: hundreds of hours of real dialogue, faces attached to every word. The science — and the right shows for each language.
Vokabulo helps you build the vocabulary of your own life: the words you encounter, reach for, and want to use. Personal vocabulary for people who are past the basics and want to become more articulate.
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Home 133 🇪🇸 DO YOU REMEMBER?
el mando a distancia
… and more words are waiting for you.
Select a filter
Enter a word or sentence – a translation and a relevant example will be added
You’re showing up. Today’s job is locking in words you already have. Like interest: small daily reviews grow quietly.
Words 🇪🇸 Enter a word or sentence – a translation and a relevant example will be added
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
no salir de su asombro
to not get over it
“No salgo de mi asombro con esta noticia.”
“I still can’t get over this news.”
el borrador m
the draft, the rough copy
“Te mando el borrador esta tarde para que le eches un vistazo.”
“I’ll send you the draft this afternoon so you can take a look.”
Es tan ingenuo que picó el anzuelo.
He is so naive that he fell for it.
picar el anzuelo
to fall for it, to take the bait
Scenes 🇪🇸 I just moved here and I want to meet new people and make friends.
EXAMPLES
Sets 🇪🇸 WHEN GRAMMAR ISN’T THE PROBLEM ANYMORE
Language apps and courses teach the foundations: grammar, pronunciation and the first thousand words. But around B1, the problem changes. You can already speak. Now the challenge is finding the words to say exactly what you mean. After B1, your vocabulary becomes personal.
BUILT FOR WHAT COMES NEXT
At the beginning, everyone needs roughly the same words. Once you can actually speak, the words you need start to depend on your life.
No single word list fits everyone anymore. The words you need now come from your work, your conversations and your interests. They come from the moments when you know what you mean, but not how to say it.
WHAT CHANGES
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precision
Say exactly what you mean instead of the nearest thing you can remember.
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natural speech
Learn how people actually say things: the right tone, phrasing and word combinations.
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range
Move beyond the same safe words you reach for in every conversation.
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expression
Say more of what you think, feel and notice, without simplifying yourself.
FEATURES
01 Words
Hear a phrase you want to remember. Find a word in a book. Get stuck searching for the right expression in a conversation. Add it, and Vokabulo fills in the translation and a natural example.
The result: Your own vocabulary, built from the words your life gives you.
2,067 words
Enter a word or sentence – a translation and a relevant example will be added
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
no salir de su asombro
to not get over it
“No salgo de mi asombro con esta noticia.”
“I still can’t get over this news.”
el borrador
the draft, the rough copy
“Te mando el borrador esta tarde para que le eches un vistazo.”
“I’ll send you the draft this afternoon so you can take a look.”
Enter a word or sentence – a translation and a relevant example will be added
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
02 Scenes
Tell Vokabulo what you’re about to do: a client meeting, a dinner party, a doctor’s appointment, a first date. It creates the vocabulary and examples for that exact situation, matched to your level.
The result: Be ready for tomorrow’s German rental contract, Spanish presentation or French dinner party, before you walk in.
Tell us what’s happening or what’s coming up, and we’ll help you find the right words.
Meeting new people and making friends
Key vocabulary for building a social circle after a move
25 words generated
conocer a alguien → to get to know someone
“Tengo muchas ganas de conocer a mis nuevos vecinos.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting my new neighbours.”
hacer amistad → to make friends
el círculo social → the social circle
la red de contactos → the network
caer bien → to be likeable
acogedor → welcoming
un vecino → a neighbour
charlar → to chat
proponer tomar algo → to suggest going for a drink
apuntarse a un club → to join a club
intercambiar los números → to swap numbers
03 Study
Understanding a word once isn’t enough. Vokabulo brings it back at the right time, again and again, until you can recall it when you actually need it.
The result: Words move from something you understand to something you can actually use.
Es tan ingenuo que picó el anzuelo.
He is so naive that he fell for it.
picar el anzuelo
to fall for it, to take the bait
Colloquial
FOR LIFE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE
The words you need come from your work, your conversations, your interests, and everything you want to do more fully in another language.
Handle everyday life with confidence: from appointments and paperwork to conversations that make a place feel like home.
Join the seminar, the discussion and the life around it, with the words to contribute, connect and belong.
Bring the same clarity, confidence and personality to every meeting, presentation and conversation.
Go beyond understanding the gist: catch the nuance, humour and references that make the original worth reading or watching.
VIDEO
“I’m amazed at how precisely it comes up with genuinely useful words for one specific situation. Brilliant app for my day-to-day work in medicine!”
“It’s good fun, and after a few weeks of using it, it works really well for the way I learn.”
“Vokabulo helps enormously. Everything makes sense straight away and the app is really well thought through. Learning like this is a pleasure.”
GET STARTED
You already know the language. Now learn the words that let you use it your way.
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FAQ
Vokabulo is for people who already speak a language and want to become more articulate in it. If you are past the basics and want a vocabulary built around your work, conversations, interests and everyday life, this is the stage Vokabulo was made for.
Duolingo builds the foundations of a language. Vokabulo is built for what comes next: a personal vocabulary for the situations, subjects and conversations that matter to you.
Anki is a powerful memory tool: you decide what goes in and build the cards yourself. Vokabulo helps you find the words you need, adds translation and context, and then helps you remember them.
Describe something you’re about to face: a meeting, dinner, doctor’s appointment or first date. Vokabulo creates the vocabulary and examples for that exact situation, matched to your level.
More than 100 languages, in any language pair combination you choose.
Vokabulo is currently available for iPhone and iPad running iOS 26 or later.
Vokabulo is free to start. The core app remains usable for free, while AI-powered features have limits. Vokabulo Pro removes those limits and adds the full feature set. Pricing varies by country. It is currently $69.99 a year in the US, £59.99 in the UK and €69.99 in Ireland and the rest of the eurozone, which works out at $5.83, £5.00 or €5.83 a month. Pro Family covers up to six people for $99.99, £99.99 or €119.99 a year, which is $1.39, £1.39 or €1.67 per person per month.
Free includes one language pair, free study and spaced repetition, streaks, sharing and set imports, plus limited AI translations, Scenes and other AI features. Pro removes those limits and adds full access to all language pairs and imports of your own word lists.
FROM THE BLOG
Series teach vocabulary the way textbooks can't: hundreds of hours of real dialogue, faces attached to every word. The science — and the right shows for each language.
Calvin and Hobbes smuggles university-grade vocabulary inside a comic about a boy and his tiger — words like 'perfunctory' and 'soporific', each one glued to a picture you'll never forget.
In Brazil, Turma da Mônica isn't a comic — it's a shared childhood. Mauricio de Sousa's characters teach warm, everyday Brazilian Portuguese in perfect doses, rural dialect included.
Italy is the country where Disney comics became national literature — and where a horror detective taught two generations to talk. Two comics, two registers, one very Italian story.
Occasional notes on vocabulary, language and how to say things better. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CAUGHT IN THE WILD