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Watchin American series with L2 subtitles | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4995 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 1 of 23 30 October 2013 at 9:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Has anyone seen any improvement of their target language by watching series/movies in English and reading the subtitles in their target language at the same time?
Would you recommend doing it for a long time? Any ideas? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4807 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 23 30 October 2013 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I watched one or two episodes with Spanish subtitles (got them accidentally). I didn't
find them to be useful. The main value of tv series lies in the sound in my opinion. Either get an original series or (easier for start) one with good quality dubbing. You can start with English subtitles but don't be afraid to exchange them for the target language ones. And after some time, throw them away. It will be tough for approximately one episode but you will progress immensely. In listening comprehension, thinking in the language, vocabulary and useful language much more realistic than from the coursebooks. And, as a surprise, these things are likely to help your speaking as well. Various people have been using series for learning (for example emk) and some have included the experience in their logs. From my experience, you can see noticeable progress after just a few episodes. A huge progress after one season (a longer one). ANd than you just polish it, get used to other series with more difficult language and wide variety of speakers. In my opinion, it is one of the most fun and most efficient ways to improve once you are intermediate. Edited by Cavesa on 30 October 2013 at 7:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5330 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 23 30 October 2013 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Cavesa's advice is excellent.
I've made a surprising amount of progress just watching TV and reading interesting books. But it's not enough just to turn on TV in an unknown language and hope you magically learn it. :-) Essentially, at any given time, you can break your TV audio into three categories: 1) Stuff you understand easily. 2) Stuff you wouldn't normally understand, but which makes sense because of the context: the images, the plot, your state of "flow", subtitles, a transcript. 3) Stuff you don't understand at all. Watching a lot of TV can help turn (2) into (1) through sheer repetition. But if all you hear on your TV is (3), it's not going to do you much good, even if you watch a thousand hours. So whatever you do with subs, make sure there's a good amount of (2) available. The usual advice applies: TV series are an especially good way to make progress, because you'll hear the same vocabulary and voices over and over again, and you'll have a good feel for the plots. This maximizes (2). Movies are harder because they're too short. Dubbed TV series and documentaries are often easier, especially those Nature Channel things where the narrator says, "The lion crawls through the grass," because they've got amazing diction and the speech is really slow. Plus everyone already knows about lions or dinosaurs or whatever, which provides even more context. If you need to make a direct frontal assault on type (3) content, be prepared to watch stuff multiple times both with and without subtitles and to rewind a lot. In serious cases, subs2srs will make almost anything comprehensible, including high-speed rap, but it's a nuisance to set it up. All this basically turns type (3) content into type (2) content via brute force, and allows the process to proceed normally. TV is an amazing source of casual spoken language. Even better, you can use it when your brain is too fried for real studying. And it's viciously addictive if you find a good series. You just need to obtain a reasonable amount of type (2) content somehow to get the process rolling, and keep yourself amused. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| osoymar Tetraglot Pro Member United States Joined 4534 days ago 190 posts - 344 votes Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese Studies: Spanish, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 23 30 October 2013 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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In general, relying on target language subtitles is a very inefficient way of getting a
little reading in. The bigger problem is that many subtitles are written in stilted language, designed to inform you in the most basic way of what was just said, so you can direct your eyes back to the beautiful actors. So in addition to getting relatively little practice, you're practicing with material that's unnatural. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4487 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 5 of 23 30 October 2013 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | ||
Agree here. I have found almost no use in TL subs with NL audio. I have, however, found the opposite very helpful. I (inspired by EMK) watched the first 3 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with German audio and English subs. I then went back and watched them again with no subs (but still German audio) and I found that I had subconsiously picked up so much from the first go round that it was a pleasure the second time around without "training wheels". I did the same with How I Met Your Mother and The Mentalist. At this point I still watch several TV series in German but haven't used subs in at least 6 Months. I am preparing to try the same with Spanish in a few Months, once I have a better grasp on the language. Edited by BaronBill on 31 October 2013 at 12:21am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4995 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 6 of 23 30 October 2013 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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@emk I'm not sure you understood my question. I'm not talking about whatching something in my target language. In fact I wish I could do it if there was the equivalent of Prison Break/Breaking Bad in Spanish. The problem is with tilenuvelas, I can't possibly imagine myself watching that with interest.
My question is specifically about watching in English, something I like, and reading at the same time the subtitles of the language I'm trying to learn. Just to get reading with context in my head, in a fun way. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4995 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 7 of 23 30 October 2013 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have already tried it to be honest, I think it does help. I only tried it with 2 episodes, I'm surprised this doesn't work for you guys.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4995 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 8 of 23 30 October 2013 at 11:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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I mean even if i watch the dubbed version of Prison Break, with no subtitles i will barely understand much, even though I'm currently at intermediate level.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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