Can you effectively learn how speak a language by listening to movie dialog?

[Denis Hard]

I have my doubts about this because most of what we hear in movies is never used in real life. And of course there's the issue of recycling lines from old movies which wouldn't be helpful to someone who's wants to learn multiple ways to express themselves in certain situations? What are your thoughts on the dialog lines used in movies?

[Loud]

I think it gives yo an insight into the culture of that language you're currently learning, but that's all, in my opinion. I wouldn't use movies alone as a way of learning, it can be helpful to learn the context and use of some words.

[pipps]

I've not yet watched a film in the language I want to learn and I was wondering if this is a good idea. Has anyone learnt anything from watching films? I know you cannot learn everything from a film but I think they could help in some ways.

Has anyone used films to aid their language learning?

[teamrose]

Perhaps some can, but for me the answer is a resounding NO! I had one semester of Spanish in grade school and remember a very few words. Living in South Florida we have a very large Spanish speaking population and again a few key words and phrases are known. However, when I turn on the TV or watch a movie in Spanish, I am totally lost except for the few words I already know.

In school and on learning tapes the language is spoken very slowly. In real life people speak at speeds that are way fast. One has to concentrate to even catch the words and phrases already known. Repetition is the only way to go.

[Baburra]

I think if you're already somewhat familiar with the language, or at least know a lot of the basic words, it can be helpful in the sense that it reinforces what you already know of the word via means of visual context. Apart from that, it's not really a substitute for actual studying.

[Dame6089]

I think this is possible only if you already know the basics of the language. If you don;t know the basics, then it will be very difficult to even learn anything from movie dialogue.

[pipps]

In school and on learning tapes the language is spoken very slowly. In real life people speak at speeds that are way fast. One has to concentrate to even catch the words and phrases already known. Repetition is the only way to go.

This is a reason why I think it could be a good idea to aid your learning, if you are already familiar with the language. If you are learning a language I think it could be a good idea to watch a movie as they speak at a normal pace, like they would in real life. So in that aspect, it prepares you for a real life conversation.

[sidney]

Yes, I think it would be effective if the language had a correctly translated English subtitle. If you watch the movie over and over again and you pay close attention to the words in the subtitle and the correct pronunciation, then I'm sure you can eventually learn to speak fluent phrases taken from a movie.

[MyNameIsNotDenzel]

I guess you can. I would imagine it to similar to watching television, you would have to watch it over and over again to differentiate between words and understand the topic at hand.

[MyDigitalpoint]

I remember my English teacher recommending to parents make an effort to get a Cablevision subscription by the all shows, series, cartoons and movies aired were broadcast in English only with no subtitles.

My parents follow her advice and got Cablevision to help my sister and I to improve our learning and yes, by listening to the movies and all other programs' dialogs I could learn more effectively.

[pandandesign]

It sounds very strange, but I cannot effectively learn how to speak a language by listening to movie dialog. It's a different learning method, which I don't have to ability to do that unless I know the language. If I don't know the language or start to learn a new language, then I won't be able to listen to the movie dialog in order to learn the language effectively. I have to speak with someone else with the same language in order to practice my skill.

[MegaZero]

It is effective but it is only good if you UNDERSTAND what they are talking about. If you don't, there is piratically no point in watching a movie in a foreign language.

Try watching shows before you watch a movie because tv shows are usually shorter.

[Alrikidokie]

I don't think you could rely on only watching movies and paying attention to the dialogue but I do think it is a handy tool, especially with subtitles. I mean, all of the language classes I've taken have used movies as a learning tool.

[Trellum]

I don't think listening to movie dialogues can be a good or efficient way to learn a language properly, but it can prove to be a good aid. A side one tho.  I'd not put my eggs in that basket tho, I think learning a language requires more than just listening to dialogues... it also requires an active practice.  It also requires lots of time and patience!

[tarcon]

Imagine being married to a woman who you've only ever interacted with in movie quotes.

Hasta la vista, baby.

[sophiaseo]

If a person watches a lot of movies in a certain language, I think it is possible to learn a language. Maybe not fluently, but enough to start or continue a conversation. I have never studied Japanese in a classroom/class, but I have watched anime with English subtitles. I watched the Naruto episodes from the beginning all the way to Shippuden, and I learned a lot of everyday Japanese words because many words were recurring and it would sound more and more familiar to me every time I heard it. Some people believe that you can learn a language just by hearing an audio, so I do believe that a person could learn the basics of a language by listening to a lot of dialogues.

[littleredcookbook]

I have my doubts about this because most of what we hear in movies is never used in real life. And of course there's the issue of recycling lines from old movies which wouldn't be helpful to someone who's wants to learn multiple ways to express themselves in certain situations? What are your thoughts on the dialog lines used in movies?

I think it's a powerful tool to be used alongside regular methods of learning a language. Of course, you can pick some up here and there (I picked up a few useful and common phrases in Japanese from watching anime.) but you can't learn the entire language from just movies. It provides a great external source of culture, context and new vocabulary, but you really need a teacher or book/internet source to help explain and direct your study.

[lizbeth19hph]

I do believe it helps to learn a language better by listening to movie lines for we become familiar how words are used in conversations, the proper pronunciation and situations we can use or apply such words and phrases. Learning a language has to cover all areas of speaking, listening and writing.

[deutschefun]

The problem with learning a language exclusively by watching a movie, is that most movies are made with slang or grammatical errors. So you find that bad habits are often rubbed off that way. For example you wouldn't want to teach a German to speak English through films like Terminator or Mad Max.

Arnie's famous line "I'll be back" is horribly pronounced from a linguistic point of view: "Al be beck" is how it sounds.

I guess it also depends on the genres of the movies and the way the actors speak. I found that having my advanced level students watch programs like the Sopranos was a great way of teaching them how NOT to speak, rather than trying to have them remember perfect grammatical structures from films like The Sound of Music or Driving Miss Daisy.

[mitchellgrzechnik]

I think so. It could also be a good thing to do while learning a language. It'll give you a look into the pop-culture of your desired language as well as a look at proper pronunciation and perhaps some slang that wasn't included in you're curriculum.

My step-father learned to speak English 20-something years ago from old action movies with Bruce Willis and JCVD etc. It's funny because to this day he still uses some of their old catch phrases.

[mareebaybay]

I don't think you could learn a language by listening to just movie dialogue. However I think it could be beneficial to your learning though. You would definitely need to have the subtitles on though. I mean otherwise how would you be able to understand them anyway.

[marmunmrhundun]

I think you can learn to speak a language by listening to a movies dialogue. Especially if you have on the subtitles, it would be easier for you too do so. I watch anime as well, which helps me learn a little bit of Japanese every time I watch a Anime.