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Watching reality shows to learn languages

  Tags: TV
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio Post Reply
alexptrans
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Israel
Joined 6768 days ago

208 posts - 236 votes 
Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew, Russian*, French, Arabic (Written)
Studies: Icelandic

 
 Message 1 of 3
06 January 2012 at 8:55am | IP Logged 
Wow, I think it's been a couple of years since I last posted on these boards! So many changes, like the new voting system, for example. Very interesting.

Anyway, I don't know if this has been brought up before, but has anyone thought about watching reality shows to learn languages? I know that reality tv isn't really considered "high culture", but it's actually a very good way of exposing yourself to natural, unscripted language, the kind you probably rarely get to hear unless you live in the country where the language is spoken. You'll probably hear people talk very fast and learn the kind of grammar they don't always teach you in textbooks. Another advantage is that you'll hear actual conversations, with all the fillers and little conversational markers that are usually left out in scripted dialogues and texts.

Also, if you pick the right show you can also learn quite a bit about the culture of your target language.
1 person has voted this message useful



tractor
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5456 days ago

1349 posts - 2292 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: French, German, Latin

 
 Message 2 of 3
06 January 2012 at 5:42pm | IP Logged 
There are different kind of reality shows. Big Brother, The Farm and 71 Degrees North don't necessarily attract the
same kind of audience and the kind of language used by the participants themselves are probably not the same.

I do not oppose the idea of using reality shows granted that you like the genre or at least the particular show in the
first place. If you hate Big Brother in your native language, there's a good chance that you'll dislike the show in your
target language too. If so, your time could be better spent on other TV programmes or other activities.
1 person has voted this message useful



hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5133 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 3 of 3
06 January 2012 at 6:24pm | IP Logged 
Personally, I get more out of game shows than I ever would from reality TV.

Plus, you'll usually find the same format of shows you've already seen in your home country transplanted into your target language's country. Wheel of Fortune (or one of its many other names), as an example, is pretty much all over the planet, isn't it?

R.
==


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