Does Watching TV Shows in a Foreign Language Really Help With Learning It?

2020 was a challenging year for university studies and many language courses had to be paused. Language learners had to discover alternative ways to practice and progress. 

The truth is that teaching materials and audio lectures provide us with an oversimplified form of the language and eventually make real-world understanding quite difficult. Sure, they make the process simpler at first, but often they only do a half-decent job of educating us on how people truly communicate.

One needs a technique to practice understanding and speaking the language in its natural, native environment. Interacting with native speakers is for sure the greatest method to achieve this, and this is why many students take advantage of student discounts to learn languages with online tutors.

In addition to those, some language teachers recommend supplementing with TV watching in a different language to get more exposure of how it’s used within the cultural context of the show.

It Is Pretty Helpful, At Least To A Certain Degree

Most languages’ vocabulary reflects the Pareto principle, which states that the commonly used 1,000 words contribute to more than 80% of all speech.

Furthermore, understanding conversation in films or television shows would need knowledge of the most prevalent 3,000 common words. This is an excellent thing since streaming movies in a foreign language on a daily basis can help you learn essential phrases for everyday speech. You’ll have a better chance of understanding conversations and learning terms used in routine speaking if you start viewing films with the basic vocab.

TV shows can’t compete effectively with a systematic classroom session; and besides, this is how most native speakers improve their speaking, writing, and grammar. While movies aren’t flawless learning aids, they do have undeniable benefits when it comes to increasing speaking and listening skills. The potential to succeed in a foreign language depends on finding the proper balance between different tools.

With The Subtitles On It Could Be A Good Idea To Help Out A Bit

You would not have accessible subtitles to navigate you through every day, but you can apply subtitles to help you interpret what you’re observing and increase your linguistic skills whenever you’re enjoying your beloved movies. It’s an intensified learning alternative that doesn’t require you to travel overseas to talk to natives.

Among the most difficult factors of learning a foreign language is understanding and making any sense of just what you read or hear.

While you may only know one way to express terms like meal or motel, movies introduce you to different ones. Since the media feature fewer formal terms and more slang, a few of them may be more widespread than the standard phrase you learned.

The Younger The Person Is, The More Likely They Could Grasp This

Mastering a foreign language at a young age has several advantages, one of which is that young people learn languages quicker and easier. They have far more time to study, fewer things to learn, fewer insecurities, and brains that are more adapted to learning languages.

Grownups think more abstractly than young people. Children speak in simpler words, employ easier sentence patterns, and think in a more focused way. Since youngsters don’t have any complex ideas or experiences, kids learning a foreign language aren’t overwhelmed by the effort of expressing ideas in their second or third language.

Adults, however, encounter the challenging task of translating complicated language structures and abstract concepts into foreign languages to properly communicate.

Students Can Do So Before They Go Abroad For Student Exchange Projects

If you are planning to spend a year as an exchange student overseas, you’re likely going to have a lot of free time and little cash. Whereas the latest Netflix show is a fun way to spend time, it may well be an opportunity to attempt to watch a little something closer to a culture you’re in. 

The act of learning another language is strongly involved in the process of understanding the culture surrounding it.

Some kinds of language nuances involve some cultural knowledge. This is when foreign-language television can be useful. Students may observe and learn about a country’s cultural habits and behaviors by viewing foreign language television programs.

Give it a try…

It goes without saying that learning a new language will involve more than a couple of hours per day of lying in bed and looking at the screen. While enjoying foreign language television in the comfort of your own home might be a great method to learn the language, it cannot be your main source of learning.

The most essential thing to keep in mind is that watching television is a passive learning style that can only go not so far. Foreign films can help you with your language learning efforts, but only until you study them beforehand.

Ragnarok image courtesy of Netflix