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Watching TV for language learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4814 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 9 of 28 03 October 2013 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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TV in the target language is awesome. A few points I would add to emk's awesome summary:
As TV is usually used as extensive input, you need to watch quite a lot of it. So, choose primarily things you are interested in. Don't be shy to use even English subtitles at first (than the target language ones and than none) but don't get too addicted to them. They are just a tool that you will need to throw away one day. And when the day comes, you will be probably shocked at first, like "help, I don't understand anymore." It's normal and you will get much better very soon. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6714 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 28 03 October 2013 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Subtitles or not, my main issue with TV (as the main method - not that anybody in this thread suggested that) is that there isn't enough content per time unit (a 2 hour film rarely has two solid hours of dialogue). Barring this, I think it's a great source of all kinds of spoken varieties which you might not encounter in other material.
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| sans-serif Tetraglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4364 days ago 298 posts - 470 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Swedish Studies: Danish | Message 11 of 28 04 October 2013 at 9:21am | IP Logged | ||
This is one of the main reasons why I generally prefer podcasts over TV. Another is that podcasts are more convenient to listen to. Third, and this admittedly depends on the show/podcast in question, I find that podcasts often have more context and redundancies to aid comprehension, making them easier to understand despite some unknown vocablary. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4814 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 12 of 28 04 October 2013 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I don't mind it. The fact that there is "less" content doesn't disturb my immersion at all and it gives me time to naturally (in the language) think about what I am watching, just like in my native language. And As well moments to repeat something in my head.
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| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4583 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 13 of 28 04 October 2013 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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TV as a means of distance language learning has never gotten the credit it deserves, because the assumption is that the learner will eventually travel to the TL country and immerse himself in the language there. Not everyone has that opportunity.
Most learners will return home and will be confronted with the question of maintaining fluency if they have attained it. And that is where TV, especially without subtitles plays a vital role, but only if the serious learner has made the sacrifice necessary to boost his skill level to where he can understand the content. That may require 2-3 years of solid study outside the TL country. TV for me has been virtually my only means of maintaining fluency in Russian and Armenian, and I deliberately choose TV shows which will be more difficult to understand like the news or standup comedy. I can't count the number of hours of God-awful standup comedy I have watched to raise my skill level, but my level of understanding is now at about 90%. I can now laugh at the few jokes that are truly funny. Not only that TV has gently and gradually improved my grammar. For example without TV I would never have passively learned the dozens of comparative adjectives of Russian, without consulting a textbook. Also, being able to sample 30 different voices in a single news program may be more helpful to a learner than just the familiar voice of one tutor. TV was the inspiration for me in the first place. I had started watching Armenian and then discovered that half the TV commercials were in Russian so I decided to learn Russian also. Beginners shouldn't watch TV in the TL. It could be such a shock to them that it might cause them to stop studying entirely. So they really need to be sure it's time to get rid of the bicycle and start riding the unicycle. Edited by tanya b on 04 October 2013 at 11:36pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4814 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 14 of 28 05 October 2013 at 12:34am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, while I find your experience valuable and interesting, tanya, I wouldn't drive people from tv completely. A2 learners can still be considered beginners and I think it is a good level to start watching tv, even though some of the easier genres.
And I totally agree about TV being one of the best immersion opportunities outside the country. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4473 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 15 of 28 05 October 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Watching TV does not improve your active skills. My passive Italian (listening and reading) is B1 to B2,
while my active Italian (writing and speaking) is A1 to A2. Furthermore, I've noticed that American sitcoms, Latin Spanish and Brazilian soap operas use limited vocabulary (10 K max) so everyone can understand them. Thus, they are not great for acquiring new vocabulary (except for idioms and slangs). You waste time when you watch an episode of ''the latest and the greatest'' Brazilian soap opera (they're all the same crap anyway) and you don't learn anything new. Mexican and Brazilian soap operas are made for the ''popular'' (and semi-literate classes), so they feature limited and basic (as in ''elementary school'') vocabulary. They're meant for advanced beginners (A2). The only real advantage is getting exposed to the normal-to-high speed native speech. Edited by Medulin on 05 October 2013 at 3:07pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4814 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 16 of 28 05 October 2013 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||
It does improve active skills. Not as much as practicing the active skills with good quality feedback, of course but that is not always available, but much more than any other kind of passive or textbook based activity. It did miracles for my active skills in French and to some extent in Spanish. I am now able to use a lot of things I have heard many times but never actively studied. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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