Four simple ways to learn a language with movies

The best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself into it as much as you can, so is it possible to learn one with movies?

People have told us before that films have helped them learn English but how can you do this? Here are four tips to help you learn a language with movies.

 

1. Use subtitles for films in your language

 

If you are a complete beginner with a language, start putting subtitles on films that are in your own language, many streaming services offer an array of languages to pick from. The subtitles will be in the background and you will not always notice it, but this is an excellent first step. You will quickly start to pick up similar sounding words and work on the correct pronunciation. 

 

This is not necessarily the fastest way to learn a language, but you will be surprised by how much you pick up and remember just by becoming familiar with the words.

 

 

2. Get rid of dubbed audio and embrace subtitles instead

 

A film originally recorded in English, for example, might have audio tracks for your language, particularly when it comes to animated movies. This is tempting to rely on, but switch it to the original language and put subtitles on instead!

 

This gets you used to listening to language more and you will quickly get used to reading the subtitles too.

 

As an added bonus, the original audio is often a much higher quality than the dubbed version – so try it out!

 

 

3. Set the audio and subtitles to the language you want to learn

 

Once you are used to watching films with subtitles for your language, try switching the subtitles to the language you're learning too. Meaning both the audio and subtitles will be in the same language. 

 

Putting subtitles gives you a second chance to work out what characters are saying on screen. If you are reading and hearing the same language at the same time as the film is showing you the context for what is being said, you are much more likely to understand and build up your language skills.

 

Also, you might not be understanding dialogue in a film because of the way the sound is mixed, or because of the way some actors talk and their accents as opposed to your language abilities, so this can be a great confidence booster and get you used to listening to the different accents.

 

 

4. Pick the right film and re-watch it

 

Picking a film you know well can really help. Whatever works for you, building up your English is going to be easier with something you already know well.

 

Pick something you like and be prepared to watch it more than once. Try watching it three times – first with subtitles for your language, second with subtitles in English and third without subtitles at all.

 

You do not have to watch it three times back-to-back of course, but if you have the time, you might find that helps even more!