Watching TV series is one of the most fun and effective ways to learn English. They expose you to real vocabulary in context and different accents, making it easier to get familiar with the language. Listening to native speakers sharpens your pronunciation and comprehension, and by imitating their sentences, you’ll quickly boost your speaking skills.
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Best Netflix series to learn English
1. The Crown
This series explores the story of the British royal family, its diplomacy, and key historical and political events. It’s a great way to pick up formal vocabulary linked to royalty, including English surnames, while also exposing you to a traditional British accent that reflects the period it portrays.
Main Features:
- Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced.
- Accent: British English.
- For: Understanding real historical events and formal dialogues.
2. Stranger Things
This sci-fi series, set in the 1980s, follows a group of teenagers facing mysterious supernatural events. Along the way, you’ll pick up ’80s slang, casual idioms, and science-related vocabulary. Even when the terms sound complex, the dialogue and context make them easy to follow.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate.
- Accent: American.
- For: Learning informal and idiomatic dialogues and expressions, as well as vocabulary.
3. Orange is the New Black
This series follows Piper and her fellow inmates, immersing you in colloquial English and showcasing American culture through diverse social perspectives, dialects, accents, and idioms. You’ll pick up a wide vocabulary tied to the prison system, along with slang and profanities that reflect real-life speech in different contexts.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate.
- Accent: American / Various accents.
- Good for: Expanding vocabulary, listening to different accents.
4. Ozark
If you’re interested in financial English, Ozark is the perfect pick. This crime drama dives into money laundering and financial crimes, giving you a wide range of vocabulary on the subject. Alongside finance terms, you’ll also hear everyday expressions, emotional dialogues, and natural conversations set against tense, dramatic events.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Advanced.
- Accent: American.
- Good for: Immerse yourself in criminal, business, and financial topics and vocabulary. You'll learn new expressions related to emotions.
5. 13 Reasons Why
It all starts with Hannah’s tragic suicide, after which her classmates discover a box of tapes she recorded. Each one unravels the circumstances that led to her death. The series exposes viewers to genuine teenage language and conversations, while addressing important issues like bullying, mental health, and relationships. Watching it, you’ll pick up emotional and impactful dialogue in real contexts.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Beginner.
- Accent: American.
- Good for: You'll learn slang, idioms, words, and idiomatic expressions used in everyday life.
6. The Office
One way to view everyday, common, corporate language in a fun way is with The Office, which showcases the most typical office events, with new and non-traditional expressions used in other stories.
This series has two versions, one American and one British, where you can learn about their accents and slang based on their customs, but both offer humorous English wordplay.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Intermediate.
- Accent: British and American.
- Useful for: Understanding the differences between both accents and how slang, expressions, and vocabulary vary.
7. Breaking Bad
This award-winning drama series features extensive colloquial language as Walter White, a chemistry teacher, becomes one of the world's biggest methamphetamine dealers after receiving medical news that changes his life.
As the series unfolds, you'll learn scientific terms, profanities, and social issues that the characters will confront in captivating ways that will keep you engaged.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Intermediate.
- Accent: American.
- For: Learning rich and diverse language and real-life expressions.
8. Wednesday
Wednesday, or Merlina, is a series that captivates young people and adults alike, following the famous journey of "The Addams Family." Despite being several years old since its success, this new plot is full of modern expressions used by today's teenagers.
It's a series set in a boarding school, where the characters face interesting events. It also offers insights into everyday situations, such as family conflicts, friendships, and love, from a sarcastic perspective and ironic humor.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Beginner.
- Accent: American.
- For: Becoming familiar with informal, colloquial, and sarcastic language.
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9. Gilmore Girls
Learn about American popular culture, friendship, romance, work, love, and everyday life with Lorelai and Rory Gilmore through their signature colloquialisms, quick-fire dialogue, and eccentricities.
Through their story, they'll teach you many puns and cultural references typical of their region. This lighthearted, fun show is perfect for watching with friends or family.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Beginner.
- Accent: American.
- Good for: Practicing listening with fast-paced dialogues, concentration, common expressions, and urban terms.
10. Modern family
Modern Family is narrated from a mockumentary perspective, telling the story of a family, their customs, and their interactions with each other through humor. This makes the experience lighthearted and fun to watch.
Its characters have different accents, so listening to their dialects and pronunciations can help you avoid being limited to just one way of hearing English, but also give you the opportunity to understand the language in all its diversity.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Intermediate.
- Accent: American.
- Good for: You'll learn everyday words and common phrases in family and social situations. Featuring characters with different backgrounds and accents, you can practice listening to different English dialects.
11. Black Mirror
Black Mirror touches on dystopian and alternate reality themes that aren't far removed from a probable future. It's mostly related to technological and social life. Each episode is designed to develop the entire plot without continuity, being more precise and concrete.
It features complex and thoughtful dialogue, allowing you to hear more formal and elaborate language. It also has a rich vocabulary on more in-depth virtual reality topics.
Main features:
- Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced.
- Accent: British and others.
- Good for: Learning complex technology terms and artificial intelligence. Becoming familiar with deep, thoughtful conversations.
5 tips to improve your English while watching Netflix series
Watching series will help you learn the most commonly used words in English, but it doesn't guarantee you'll become fluent in the language. To achieve this, you'll need to combine it with tips, courses, and certain habits that can help you improve the learning process, making it more effective. Here are some of them.
1. Choose series that you like
The key to learning English is enjoying the process. Choose a series from your favorite genre and appropriate for your level to stay focused and learn without getting frustrated.
Use Netflix's tools to search by genre, read synopses, and check out reviews. That way, you'll find the perfect series for you!
2. Use subtitles strategically
- Beginner: Start with Spanish subtitles for a better understanding of the series.
- Intermediate: Alternate between Spanish and English subtitles to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary.
- Advanced: Try watching the series without subtitles to challenge your listening comprehension..
3. Repeat what you hear
Try repeating out loud the phrases that catch your attention. This technique will help you improve your pronunciation and memorize new words, learning more than just the colors in English. This will help you gradually expand your vocabulary.
4. Practice with a partner
Watching the series with a friend or partner who also has the same English learning goals not only allows you to discuss what you've seen, but also to practice speaking, thereby achieving a more fluent level and greater verbal comprehension.
5. Create a glossary or list
Write down any unfamiliar words, expressions, or phrases and look up their meanings. You can do this in a notebook or any app to organize new vocabulary and possible ways to use it in different contexts.
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You won’t just memorize things like pronouns—you’ll practice real conversations and activities that build your confidence, comprehension, and fluency step by step.
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Series are just the beginning. With Papora, turn your entertainment sessions into fluency in English.
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Frequently asked questions about English learning series on Netflix
If you're learning the language, it's always best to watch movies with English subtitles. This allows you to hear and read the words at the same time, helping you expand your vocabulary and learn new expressions. Over time, you'll become accustomed to hearing the language naturally.
The best option is to choose them according to your level. If you're a beginner, you can start by choosing children's series you already know so you're familiar with the dialogue. Then, progress by incorporating comedies and lighthearted series, eventually choosing options with a more complex vocabulary or accent.
