Learning language through movies.

[falcon001]

I learned English mostly through movies. I think that movies are a great source of new words and the proper way to form a sentence. Unfortunately, most movies lack good grammar, but movies enrich our vocabulary, so it's important to watch movies while learning the language you want to learn.

[Hatem Tarek]

I learned English mostly through movies. I think that movies are a great source of new words and the proper way to form a sentence. Unfortunately, most movies lack good grammar, but movies enrich our vocabulary, so it's important to watch movies while learning the language you want to learn.

agree with you , could you tell me what to do while watching movies? i learn english , how to use it? how many times should i listen to the same movie?

[Trellum]

It might sound funny, but I actually learnt English thanks to Yahoo chat and the internet in general, I'm very grateful to them for that.  I guess the movies also helped me a lot, because thanks to them I knew what some words sounded like, so that gave me clues on how to pronounce them.  That was super helpful, because I learn and practiced English only by writing it! 

The first time I spoke it I was so shy!  Because I knew I could express myself of in the written form, but not so sure about the spoken form.

[martindrox]

I've learned English through movies and american accent as well. there is a pretty common thing about people learning that way because  English movies and TV shows are well known around the world.

there's word that might be difficult to learn through movies but it's really possibly can be done.

[mickey4533]

Back in elementary my teachers and parents would always attribute my growing grasp of English to books but I knew it was because of the TV shows and movies played a tremendous part. American culture in general has has taught me more English than books and teachers have.

[levitator]

Movies have been an invaluable mean to me to learn english. Actually, belive it or not, I learned the most english while binge-watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" over and over again, back when it was not so popular in Poland, and only english version was available. Actually I took it upon myself to create subtitles for several episodes, just so I could show them to my polish-speaking family and friends. I learned a lot in the process!

[Dora M]

I always had a passion for strange Spanish movies, and that's where I picked up a lot of my vocabulary. Needless to say that I have been the centre of many jokes, since I have an interesting repertoire of phrases and expressions. Blame it on Almodovar!

[Trellum]

Back in elementary my teachers and parents would always attribute my growing grasp of English to books but I knew it was because of the TV shows and movies played a tremendous part. American culture in general has has taught me more English than books and teachers have.

My boyfriend swears that's how he learnt English, he says it was thanks to the fact everything was subbed instead of dubbed.  I agree, I didn't have a close encounter with English until I was a teen.  It was too late then.  I'm sure I'd have been able to learn it sooner and way easier.

Sadly children in our country are getting used to dubbed movies and TV shows.  Yup, even when you go to the movies almost everything is dubbed.  I really hate it, I prefer to watch  subbed movies.

[tuparientemateo]

I've heard this from a lot of people, that they've learned to speak another language from watching movies. I personally have problems with doing that for two reasons. The first is that in movies, the actors talk so quickly and it can be really hard to focus on their every word for two hours at a time. The second is, since I'm not immersed in the culture and advertising of another part of the world, I don't know what good movies are coming out and it can be hard to find a good movie to sit down and be entertained by. I wish there was a way to polish this method of learning languages, because it seems so easy and entertaining. I'm jealous of your ability. 

[Colebra]

I have also learned English through television.

I just watched a lot of Cartoon Network and old films... One day I just woke up, and there it was. It was literally like that.

I always give thanks to Charlie Chaplin for my English... Which is funny because most of his career was in silent film! But I can't tell you how many times I watched "The Great Dictator".

For your entertainment, here's a list of movies where I swear I can say the lines at the same times the actors do, while the movie is playing:

"The Great Dictator"

"Home Alone"

"Home Alone"

"Terminator 2"

"Uncle Buck" - maybe not the whole movie though...

[Rosa]

I do think that watching movies is a good way of learning a language but I think it works much better for someone wanting to learn English. I did a lot of that when I just got serious about learning Spanish and it helped greatly when the caption was on.

[PashaR]

I am an ESL teacher, and I can say that learning a language through movies and television is very effective. It is important to study grammar, vocabulary, etc., but modern movies and television expose the learner to conversational speech, modern speech patterns, expressions, idioms, slang, and pronunciation. It also helps with listening comprehension. It combines language learning with visual stimulus and entertainment. This should not be the only method of study, but it is a very effective method.

[Archangelos]

Well, movies are a good tool. I haven't learnt english through movies but I'm using movies in order to extend my knowledge.

Two days ago I ordered two DVDs from amazon.it in order to have audio in italian.

[May102014]

I agree! I am currently studying German and I have the films What A Man, Jesus Liebt Mich (Jesus Loves Me), and Frau Ella (Mrs. Ella). I still use the close caption option for English. However, I follow the dialogue of the actors in the movie and match them to the English words. It helps me more when I get done studying for the day and I immediately put in one of those films and see if I can watch certain parts without relying on any type of translation.

[CrystalMarie]

I agree. Movies are a great way to learn a lang age. It allows to to get visuals and pronunciations. I started off watching kid movies that I know and love. That way I know what is going on because I seen it in English while learning a new language.

[AExAVF]

I have a library of movies in my computer, and I really enjoy watching them.  Actually, it's not just English movies, but there are also some cartoons as well as foreign language movies, but English films dominate my library.  I've learned a lot of English from movies, but I also supplement my learning by attending weekly lectures in English, since I'll be taking a government service examination in two months.

[Determined2014]

I learned English mostly through movies. I think that movies are a great source of new words and the proper way to form a sentence. Unfortunately, most movies lack good grammar, but movies enrich our vocabulary, so it's important to watch movies while learning the language you want to learn.

I believe that movies are a good source of learning a new languageespecially if you pick one with great grammar.

[sweetjelatin]

It is a fun way to learn a new language! Plus you can see your favorite actors as well and learn the language in an everyday setting. You can also learn their lingo.

[lei / Latifa]

I don't think watching movies helps me learn a language. It helps makes it stronger but not make it better. When I first started learning French I watched a lot of movies in French with English subtitles...it didn't help. But now that I can pick up 70% of what someone is saying and know the basic.. it helps me remember and i can draw a conclusion based on what they say. but it definitely isn't a good way to learn a new language.

[SpringBreeze]

I can't do this. I just don't have enough patience. When I am seeing a movie I want to be able to understand at least 85% of what's going on.

I'm watching telenovelas right now in Spanish. But the only reason why I do it is because I've already learned enough Spanish to keep the telenovelas entertaining for me.

With all that said, I'd also like to add that my mom is right now learning Hindi through movies. And she's find not being able to understand everything going on. But the one trick she has is before she watches the movie, she reads the detailed synopsis on wikipedia. That way she can at least have a basic understanding of what's going on and put 2-and-2 together while she's watching. It seems to work for her.

[Baburra]

Yes,it's a great way to learn some additional things but I'm skeptical that it could provide for a main source of education. I think it helps if you already have a basic knowledge before watching.

[chigreyofthenorns]

I agree! I am studying Korean, and I realized that watching Korean movies and shows is a great way to learn the language. Although the language being used there is mostly informal, I still learned a lot of words by watching.

[beccagreen]

It depends on the movie really. But it really helps a lot when it comes to learning new language, I tend to watch French films all the time just to properly study the accent and the way they speak in overall since they are actors you're bound to have a perfect (or not) reference for the language.

[sidney]

I have learned English already since I was a kid because it is a mainstream language in my country, but I agree that watching movies with the foreign language that you intend to learn as the subtitle of the movie is one great way to speed up your learning and familiarization process. You can also learn how to pronounce the word correctly just by doing that.

[raytalks]

Learning languages through movies are effortless. There are common words that will easily sink into your mind with repetition. They won't help for complex learning with grammar, but for a beginner or casual learner, its very good. I loved watching Jackie Chan movies, and even though I never tried to learn any Chinese, I got some automatically into my system. Like 'Ni hao', 'Ni Hao Ma'. And usage of such common phrases have brought a few smiles when I interact with new friends.