BITE Insight

The Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was many things over the course of his life: infamous drug baron, politician, the wealthiest criminal in history. But a foreign language teacher? That was one thing he was not.

But this was the Escobar that Netflix and We are Social fashioned with launch of Narcos Spanish lessons, Speak Like the Patron, through the globally used language app, Babbel. Throughout the screening of season 1, and once it had concluded, fans of the series took to social media to post memes and comments about the iconic phrases that they had heard.

This sparked the insight that watching a foreign language programme is like getting free language lessons. Fans of the series were interested in the lives of the characters and their exploits, but also in learning new Spanish phrases, albeit not always wholesome ones. 

For the launch of season 2, Speak Like the Patron was created to provide fans with the Spanish lessons they wanted, taught by the characters they love. The lessons included listening, reading and writing exercises to help people learn the phrases.

The lessons were available in six languages, French, English, German, Swedish, Italian and Portuguese. Humorous, crass and borderline offensive, the lessons taught users the basics of the language, Narcos style.

The Spanish lessons harnessed the emotional connection that the audience feels towards the characters, allowing them to comprehend a language that may otherwise have remained inaccessible. The lessons put the fun back into learning a language, far removed from the stuffy classrooms of childhood.