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Learning a language by watching TV? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| 80-MAN Newbie United States Joined 6760 days ago 1 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 134 20 May 2006 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Is it really possible to learn a language simply by watching TV in that language? If so, how long does the process take to understand the language well? Is there a certain way to watch the program? Could a beginner learn by watching TV, despite if he/she doesn’t speak the language very well? I'm just concerned, because I am studying Spanish, and I heard that watching TV is a good method for understanding your language word for word and also because you can learn many new words that way. I have three Spanish language channels: The Discovery Channel in Spanish, CNN in Spanish, and Univision. Which one sounds the greatest for watching?
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| laiwai Diglot Groupie SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6833 days ago 66 posts - 71 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 134 20 May 2006 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think you can learn a language simply by watching tv, you need to have some active training as well. But, for sure, it can increase your understanding a lot.
But as you said you are studying Spanish, so go ahead and watch. As to witch channel to pick i don't think it matters much. If you're a beginner though, it might be good to find a program with short and not to serius monlogs. (So maybe not CNN. Don't know what Univision is) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Thuan Triglot Senior Member GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6921 days ago 133 posts - 156 votes Speaks: Vietnamese, German*, English Studies: French, Japanese, Romanian, Swedish, Mandarin | Message 3 of 134 20 May 2006 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been watching HK movies since for twelve years and Japanese movies and animes for seven years. I picked up a few words from watching these movies, but never really learned the language by watching these.
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| miKonnen Bilingual Diglot Groupie Canada mikonnen.blogsp Joined 6842 days ago 54 posts - 57 votes Speaks: English*, Cantonese* Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 4 of 134 20 May 2006 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think it's possible to learn a language just by watching TV shows, although I guess you could pick up a few phrases and tune your ears to the language
I was wondering, though: when you are watching a foreign TV show, do you actively try to understand what they are saying? (Like, if someone pointed at a piano and hollered something, and someone else started playing it, would you consciously think that the person was saying something on the lines of "Play the piano!"?) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7095 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 5 of 134 20 May 2006 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm sure you can pick up a lot of the language, but there seem to be additional methods that would make learning quicker.
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| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6847 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 134 20 May 2006 at 10:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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You need a base. TV without a basic understanding of how the language works isn't very helpful. I credit my breakthrough in Spanish to my decision to watch telenovelas every day, but that was after many years of motivation-draining (but grammatically valuable) Spanish classes.
Univision is a great channel. I recommend you watch telenovelas and enable the closed captioning. Since most of the storylines are the same rehashed, dramatic slop, you should try to find a show that will keep your attention somehow. My hook was pretty girls. Watch the shows consistently and pay attention to what's going on. Figuring out a phrase or a word through context here and there is important progress. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| panematioco Newbie United States Joined 6776 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 134 20 May 2006 at 11:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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My uncle's ex-wife from Germany use to claim that she learned English just from watching tv. Of course, she was exgerating just a little bit because she could already speak the language somewhat. I don't remember really remember her but my family says her accent was very strong, and that she stumbled over how to say things. What I think she meant was she learned how to talk more like the rest of us and learn idiomatic expressions.
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| Will Senior Member United States Joined 6929 days ago 165 posts - 165 votes | Message 8 of 134 21 May 2006 at 3:13am | IP Logged | ||
I only get one Spanish language station/network and that is Univision. Univision offers enough variety throughout the day, including news, that I think it is all the Spanish television I will need. I'm curious though, the CNN channel that you get, are these actual Spanish speaking anchors? Or is it Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs standing there with their English being dubbed over with Spanish? Same question for the Discovery Channel, are they just dubbing over English speakers, or are all of the programs originally made in Spanish, with Spanish speakers? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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