Language Learning by Mimicking

[darkchild]

We used to watch Indian movies when I was a child and my neighbors kept on mimicking the conversations that were made in the movies. They grew up to speak Hindi from continuous viewing of Indian movies and mimicking the language.

I experienced the same by watching South African TV Series. Whenever I mimic, the words tend to stick to memory. I intend doing the same for Arabic that I am learning.

Has anyone experienced this as well?

[lushlala]

It has never happened to me, personally. But I can believe it's possible because I've read and heard about such cases and have always thought, wow, how amazing! I guess if the person is heavily invested, is determined and really motivated to learn, it can happen. I say kudos to all those people who have done it and succeeded in learning their target language. I'd be curious to see if I could sustain it and whether or not I'd be able to learn solely via this method

[sidney]

Most definitely. I used to watch anime and Japanese programs, and since they're subbed, some repetitive words get stuck to my mind, so I tend to remember them. So watching subbed programs can unwittingly contribute to your language learning.

[VinayaSpeaks]

I learned Hindi language by watching Hindi movies. Currently, I can read, write and speak Hindi. I may not be as fluent as the natives, but I am good at Hindi conversation. Movies are a great tool to learn languages. Mimicking is a great way to learn.

[Rooks57]

I can't say that I've learned a language by watching the shows alone but I can definitely pick up words out when I hear them because they are repeated.  I've even found myself saying some words in Korean instead of English to my mom because she would understand them.  But I don't think I've watched enough dramas to pick up the language that well.  Acting it out though probably helps with memorizing because you're moving you body with the words.  I'll have to try it out now, thanks for post.