The Way to Master a Language Utilizing Subtitled Shows On TV
I communicate a lot about language "input," which I've in the past defined as "correct phrases and sentences in the native language." As a reminder, this explanation has three specific components. They must be correct, they ought to be full phrases and sentences, and they also need to be in a version of the language that is truly native. One of the largest challenges in learning a language, especially if you're at the outset of your journey, is finding a source of language input that satisfies these requirements, that you can understand at the least some of, and that is interesting enough to you that you're going to stick to it. In the following paragraphs, I would like to talk a little bit about one resource that I've found that provides all of this to me: Shows with English audio and target-language subtitles.
This is the setup I usually use. I go on the net, and search for variants of U.S. TV programs with subtitles in the goal language. Often, you will discover versions of your favorite shows with all the subtitles previously embedded. In the event you can't find that, you are able to usually find the U.S. version of the shows for pay or without spending a dime. This will make it a matter of searching the web for a suitable subtitles file that you can overlay on the video. Let me talk about some of the pros and cons of using this method to master a language.
1. If you pick out TV shows that you like, you are almost always sure to be interested in them. It will make "studying" not feel like real work in any way. This is almost more essential than any other factor - the 80% solution that one could stick with in the long run will probably give much better results than the 100% solution that you abandon after two weeks.
2. If you are knowledgeable about the TV shows, you've already surpassed the barrier of determining what's occurring. Since you already have context, it will make it much easier to concentrate on the exact sentences and phrases being said.
3. If you utilize the combination of English sound and target language subtitles, it will make it much easier to discover new words. Should you already know what 90% of the words and phrases within the sentence are, and if you're experiencing the English while doing so, it's often an easy task to figure out what those unknown words mean.
4. The most important con is that you can produce a sense of "false understanding" - when you are hearing the English at the same time, then naturally you will understand everything. It may then make it problematical to gauge what amount of the target language that you are truly understanding. This can be a con that can be addressed by some of the other language learning tools I will prescribe in the future articles.
Try and watch a television show with this setup every single day, and you will be one step closer to language fluency!
This is the setup I usually use. I go on the net, and search for variants of U.S. TV programs with subtitles in the goal language. Often, you will discover versions of your favorite shows with all the subtitles previously embedded. In the event you can't find that, you are able to usually find the U.S. version of the shows for pay or without spending a dime. This will make it a matter of searching the web for a suitable subtitles file that you can overlay on the video. Let me talk about some of the pros and cons of using this method to master a language.
1. If you pick out TV shows that you like, you are almost always sure to be interested in them. It will make "studying" not feel like real work in any way. This is almost more essential than any other factor - the 80% solution that one could stick with in the long run will probably give much better results than the 100% solution that you abandon after two weeks.
2. If you are knowledgeable about the TV shows, you've already surpassed the barrier of determining what's occurring. Since you already have context, it will make it much easier to concentrate on the exact sentences and phrases being said.
3. If you utilize the combination of English sound and target language subtitles, it will make it much easier to discover new words. Should you already know what 90% of the words and phrases within the sentence are, and if you're experiencing the English while doing so, it's often an easy task to figure out what those unknown words mean.
4. The most important con is that you can produce a sense of "false understanding" - when you are hearing the English at the same time, then naturally you will understand everything. It may then make it problematical to gauge what amount of the target language that you are truly understanding. This can be a con that can be addressed by some of the other language learning tools I will prescribe in the future articles.
Try and watch a television show with this setup every single day, and you will be one step closer to language fluency!
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Would you like to keep doing everything that it is possible to to learn languages? Read some of my other articles about what it takes to become fluent in a language.