English Learning On TV

[ghanashyam]

I have a TATA sky DTH connection and they have a paid channel " Learn English". For some small fees each day they will put 5 new words before the viewers, speak them and show the pictures to explain the  meaning. The words are usually those which a person should come across when travelling in European countries. I think this is  much more better and cheaper than the learning on internet or classroom.

What do you say?

[DiesIrae]

I don't know how cheaper it is. I would do self study from the internet and it would only cost me my internet connection fee. I'd guess it would be comparable to learning from TV in a way, except you can have varied sources which I think might be good.

[MyDigitalpoint]

I don't have such channel on my system, but I can say that one of the local TV channels broadcast educative programs early in the morning, aimed to be supportive material for students, including an hour of English review.

Such programs, when available on your local service might help you, your children or anyone needing to learn English and are totally free.

[sillylucy]

I don't have that channel, but I am sure you can get some videos for free at the library or pick up some books at the library and not have to pay anything. The internet also has a lot of free videos and resources. I wouldn't pay unless it was hard for you to reach the other resources.

[aceofnoobs]

This sounds like a decent strategy, but the amount of words that they are teaching might be too little. I think watching some TV shows with subtitles, and then writing down words that you don't know will help you much more. You will be able to see the words being used with proper grammar, and in a natural context that will be applicable to you when you travel to Europe. Good luck with your learning, and have fun!

[Kektheman]

This might turn out to be a great idea! But I'm not sure it is the cheapest. Watching tutorials on Youtube is free, you only have to play for the internet connection and the electricity. There are many other tutorials online that you can choose from. If using the computer isn't your forte, go to the local library instead!

[Baburra]

If it's a channel dedicated to learning English then I'd say it's worth it, but otherwise I think there are too many free resources online for me to want to spend much on learning a new language.

[Livvypoo]

That really does not seem worth it at all. You're being asked to pay someone to read our five words per day to you. You could just as easily open up youtube and get that, and more, for free.

[xTinx]

This may help but in my observation, learning a language speeds best when different media are used (e.g. reading books, watching television, writing English words, talking in English).

[DancingLady]

That does not sound cheaper.  There are plenty of free resources online, and you can watch TV shows on Hulu or youtube videos to get familiar with listening to spoken English.  I think that would be much cheaper and even easier as it would get you familiar with more words faster.

[Baburra]

That does not sound cheaper.  There are plenty of free resources online, and you can watch TV shows on Hulu or youtube videos to get familiar with listening to spoken English.  I think that would be much cheaper and even easier as it would get you familiar with more words faster.

You're right. With the amount of free resources nowadays it's hardly practical to have to pay for it, especially since online resources even afford you the ability of accessing the lessons when you need it instead of having to follow a certain schedule that tv programming requires. Still, if it's just there along with the package you're already paying for then I guess that's a welcome added value.

[czarina84]

I guess it would depend on the amount of the fee.  However, there are many good free sites that teach foreign languages and will probably give you more of a challenge (or less, if that's better for you).

[agentzero]

I don't know about this. I mean, don't get me wrong, I first got in touch and started learning English exactly through the TV, except it was just watching movies and TV shows in English language and I instinctively picked it up, but this feels like a money grab to me and not a really effective way of learning. That being said though, there are plenty of ways people can learn a language and if this is one of them, then all power to them. I just never heard of such a method and I have to wonder if it's really effective. 

[宇崎ちゃん]

When I read the title, I literally thought of a TV show that taught you English (live?) on TV.

On a more serious note, I actually find learning from English language TV very ineffective.
Subtitles distract me all the time, I can't hear the audio and I can't see the visuals while reading the subtitles.
Besides that, learning from subtitles is more translation-based language learning.

The main problem of translation-based language learning is this:

1. You see a word in a foreign language.
2. You read this word.
3. You translate it to a language you know (English or native).
4. You translate it back to the foreign language.
5. Now you finally know what it means.

In other words, you're spending too much time figuring out what something means before you know it.
Besides, native speakers think in sentences, not in individual words.
The alternative way of learning would be association with objects (pictures for example):

1. You see a word in a foreign language.
2. You automatically think of the object as a visual thing.
3. You know what it means.

And this will become natural over time.
Sometimes when I see a bicycle, I think "あ、自転車！" (Japanese), instead of "oh, a bicycle", "o, een fiets" or "o, rower" (English, Dutch or Polish respectively).

[Trellum]

We have  TV show on cable that is supposed to be a great aid for people learning English.  It's filmed in my own country, with the contributions of several persons  who often make an appearance in the show.  Most of them are native English speakers, so it's quite cool.  Sadly I found it too late, otherwise I think this would have helped me a lot back in the day. 

[LeesaJohnson]

According to me, it can be good for the beginner learners because they can learn some basics from it but I don't think that you can learn from it professionally. So I will suggest you join some institution where you can be able to learn from professional trainers, they will help you to develop your communication skills as well as the grammar part. You can also learn through online EFL tutor classes which will help you to save your time for travelling to institute.    

[Lingua Franca]

I don't know whether it's better, I think it's just another way of learning a language. It doesn't on the other hand impede someone from using the other methods and they can easily use it in conjunction with it. It's good to see that there are more and more resources that people can use to learn other languages.

[Linguistic]

Depending on the cost, it can be affordable as compared to the internet websites.

 

Also, as you mentioned it uses the images and videos to help you better understand and the visual memory is the strongest type of memory and therefore. you can ensure that you would be able to remember those words more clearly as well to ensure that you are able to use it in the sentences in the future.

[Norjak71]

It does seem like it would get a little pricey over time depending on how fast you learn and it's not an actual teacher there. If you really want to learn a language I would be more inclined to dish out some real money and get a certified instructor but if it works for you then go for it.