Watching TV for language learning (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Watching TV for language learning
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

28 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

Cavesa
Triglot
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Message 25 of 28

06 October 2013 at 9:33pm | IP Logged

cathrynm wrote:

Though for me, personally, I think my main interest is the 'Japanese-ness' of things, and not the language itself. So watching dubbed American movies is not really something I'm so interested in. Really, for me the whole point is to get away from all these American movies. Being confused doesn't bother me as much.

Well, I thought many fans of japanese drama or anime or anything else already watch such things with English subtitles and therefore know them well before learning Japanese. No need for American movies then :-)

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cathrynm
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Message 26 of 28

06 October 2013 at 11:07pm | IP Logged

I've done the English subtitles thing, but eventually I figured out that I learn absolutely nothing this way. I think for every word I've picked up from TV/ANime/Movies, there are about 600 that I've memorized from Flash cards.
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g-bod
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Message 27 of 28

06 October 2013 at 11:42pm | IP Logged

I would say the main aim of watching TV is to improve your listening comprehension skills, not your vocabulary. This includes being able to keep hold of the thread of the dialogue despite gaps in your knowledge. No matter how much vocabulary you memorise, there will always be times when you come across things you don't understand (or simply couldn't hear properly), and the ability to not let this distract you, or even better to piece together what you've missed from other contextual clues in real time, is invaluable.

And I think the point Cavesa was trying to make regarding subtitles, is that you already have a back catalogue of shows you know the storyline of because you've already watched them with subtitles. A useful bridging technique would be to put on an old favourite, but this time switch off the subtitles. I've done it myself, and I found it helpful.

Edited by g-bod on 06 October 2013 at 11:43pm
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hrhenry
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Message 28 of 28

07 October 2013 at 12:20am | IP Logged

g-bod wrote:

I would say the main aim of watching TV is to improve your listening
comprehension skills, not your vocabulary.

In my case, watching *some* TV shows improved my vocabulary immensely.

About a year into learning Turkish, I started watching cooking shows specifically to
learn food, kitchen appliance and technique vocabulary. I would imagine it would be this
way for any topic-specific show.

R.
==

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