How To Learn A Language By Watching TV: A Must-Read Guide For The Addicted And Ambitious
Back in the day, I watched all ten seasons of Friends in English hoping it would help me learn the language.
Now, you might think that the experiment went well. After all, if you've been reading my posts, I seem to be more or less fluent, right?
Wrong.
This 84-hour Friends marathon was only a fraction of the time I spent learning English. Watching TV wasn't the only thing I did to get here. Preparing for the IELTS, moving to Canada, and completing half of my university degree in this language were just a few of the many other things I did.
But before you unsubscribe from Netflix, let's take a minute to think about whether watching TV can indeed help you learn another language, or whether it would be the biggest waste of time.
Can You Learn a Language by Watching TV?
I remember watching The King's Speech during one of my English classes in high school. Was it fun? Clearly, especially compared to what we usually did. Was it helpful? Hardly, considering that I didn't understand 70% of the movie.
This one-time experience didn't make me abandon the idea of learning a language by watching TV. On the contrary, it made me believe that it can be a great way to improve your language proficiency when you're already an advanced learner. However, trying it at home as a beginner is akin to linguistic suicide.
Don't get me wrong, I love watching movies. But there are several reasons why watching TV may impede language learning rather than facilitate it, especially for beginners.
Pros and Cons of Watching Foreign Language Movies
According to Stephen Krashen, a second language acquisition researcher from UCLA, we learn languages in one single way: by understanding what others say to us. For this understanding to occur, we must receive input that is just slightly beyond our current level. The more comprehensible input we get, the faster we acquire the language.
However, if the input we receive is not comprehensible, we are putting up roadblocks to fluency.
Let's consider a typical good movie. Such films tend to have a complicated plotline, witty dialogue, and good humor. The problem is that a typical good movie is also the worst enemy of a language learner.
Speech rate
An average conversational speech rate is 150 words per minute. In cinema, however, dialogue tends to follow the pace of the movie. As the plot unfolds, the speech rate will accelerate or slow down, reflecting the course of events. In most cases, learners won't be able to catch up.
Accents
Then, there are the accents. For example, as a Spanish learner, if you come across the Argentine accent, it may be difficult to understand. Their /sh/ sound, which appears in unexpected places, can be the only thing you hear. The same goes for learners of French who stumble upon the Quebec accent.
Humor
When it comes to humor, it's a whole new ball game. Good humor reflects the culture and often involves wordplay, extensive use of idiomatic expressions, and other sophisticated language.
If you struggle to parse dialogue into separate words 50% of the time, humor may turn the whole enterprise into a complete disaster. And if your gut tells you that the movie is actually good, and you're missing out on a lot simply by watching it in your target language, you'll get frustrated and give up.
Amount of input
Finally, there's an opportunity cost. With films, you receive only half the input compared to simultaneous reading, for example. So, if you want to quickly improve your comprehension, I would prioritize books.
High speech rates, complex vocabulary, accents, and humor – all of this blends into a cocktail I call a linguistic grenade. Taking it in may be a dangerous idea.
Or not?
How Watching TV Can Help You Learn a Language
Despite my criticism of this method, I do try to maximize watching movies in my target language. However, I don't expect to learn a language by watching TV 24/7. What I look for is fun and exposure to high-frequency vocabulary.
First of all, I believe that language learning must be enjoyable. Although I always choose interesting books and podcasts, there are days when I don't feel like reading or listening. During those times, I may just want to indulge in a family pack of Lays and organize a mini version of the Toronto Film Festival in my bedroom. That's when Netflix, with its original content in 20+ languages, becomes my dearest friend.
Second, watching movies can help you pick up high-frequency vocabulary. I still remember a handful of Japanese words (like "arigato gozaimasu") from nights spent binge-watching The Blue Exorcist (even though I never started learning Japanese). Additionally, you have a great chance to pick up certain traditions and cultural habits, such as how to greet or address people who are older than you. As human beings, we learn by imitation, so watching TV can help you crack the culture code.
Be careful, though. After watching several episodes of La Casa De Papel in Spanish, one of the first phrases I picked up was "¿Qué coño?" because it had the highest frequency throughout the season. It can be very useful if you know what I mean.
I won't claim that you can fully learn a language by watching TV; however, I do believe that it provides the most authentic cultural experience you can get without crossing national borders.
Now, let's examine how we can maximize the benefits of TV immersion.
How to Learn a Language by Watching TV: Two Methods
There are two ways to take maximum advantage of your Netflix binge-watching sessions. Depending on your energy level (and language proficiency), one method may be more effective than the other.
Method 1: Nostalgic Passive Watching
Over the past few years, I have watched Fight Club more times than I am ready to admit. Although some people can't stand the thought of watching the same movie twice, most of us can name at least several films we have seen ten times.
The good thing about such movies is that we know the dialogue almost by heart, and at any time, we know exactly what's going to happen the next minute. We can even follow the plot perfectly, even if an evil leprechaun played a joke on us and cut off the soundtrack. All of this makes such movies a perfect source of comprehensible input and entertainment.
So if you don't feel ready for great deeds, here's your plan of action:
Go to Amazon Prime Video and rent your favorite movie.
Select your target language as the language of the movie.
Set up subtitles in your target language.
Enjoy the show while receiving fully-fledged double input.
Will it be tough? No. You can even slip into passive watching mode. Your brain will automatically learn new vocabulary, even if you don't make an active effort to understand the movie.
This method can help you learn a language by watching TV, but it has limitations. The first and most important limitation is the number of movies you have actually watched multiple times. "Passive watching" won't do you any good with new films.
Method 2: Active Scrutiny
Here, you abandon your incidental learning “cruise control” and switch back to manual: deliberate learning.
A word of warning: what I am proposing here is not quite what you would ever call "watching a movie."
This method doesn't involve passive watching of a French version of "Taxi 4" with a bag of popcorn in your hands. Instead, you have to actively engage with the movie: pause it, write down every new expression, and even repeat phrases after the actors. Sounds like a lot of work, huh?
It is a lot of work. I avoided such practice for years because it seemed like too much hassle. However, I changed my mind once I found a Chrome extension called Learning Languages With Netflix. This little thing makes the process of "studying a movie" unbelievably simple.
Learning Languages With Netflix
First of all, Netflix itself already has a good catalog of foreign-language movies, so choosing one in your target language is rarely a problem. With Netflix, you can set up the original soundtrack and subtitles. The LLWN extension adds a second row of subtitles, so you can read them in both your target and first languages.
Is that it? No.
Learning Languages With Netflix also automatically pauses the video after each phrase. So if you have trouble understanding where one sentence ends and another starts, your problem is solved. Once the video is paused, you have the option to replay the phrase or move on to the next one. And, obviously, you have all the time you need to write things down. No need to check the dictionary: remember that bilingual subtitles are on the screen at all times.
Learning Languages With Netflix at work | La Casa De Papel
Yes, studying a movie takes a lot of time - you can literally spend half a day "watching" a single episode of White Collar. But if you want to learn a language by watching TV, you have no other choice but to prioritize the "learning" part.
Watching TV to Learn a Language
In a perfect world, we would be able to upload languages to our brains "Matrix-style." Unfortunately, the reality is a little bit more complex, and plugging your hemispheres into Netflix Originals won’t make you fluent even years later.
However, it doesn’t mean that watching foreign language movies is a waste of time. On the contrary! Films can teach you culture, vocabulary, and pronunciation, but only if you are ready to learn and put in your time. And, as with everything else in language learning, you shouldn’t rely on TV alone on your way to fluency.
Read things, memorize new vocabulary, annoy natives on HelloTalk, listen to podcasts, watch movies… The only magic trick that can make you fluent is constant exposure to your target language. So make sure to get enough.
