Can watching movies really help you learn a new language?
If you’ve ever met a couple of smart-looking people (also known as geek) guys who speak Klingon or Vulcan, then you already know the answer to that question. If people can learn languages that are not on this planet by watching movies, then people can certainly do the same with any language that is spoken on this world.
Perhaps you have heard of people learning a foreign language by watching TV or movies. A few years ago there were reports that actress Mila Kunis, originally from Ukraine, learned English by watching the price is ok.
That didn’t turn out to be true, but most of us believed it back then, probably because it wasn’t such a crazy idea to begin with. Many of us catch lines or words from movies. Who hasn’t quoted a famous line from a movie at one point or another?
Sometimes we even pick up foreign phrases or words from the shows or movies we have seen. I know many children, the real ones and those who are “children at heart”, who can pronounce Japanese phrases or words effortlessly. They got these words and phrases from watching their favorite anime.
Of course, they can’t necessarily converse in Japanese when they have to, but it was easy for them to learn these words or terms from the movie or show they saw. This doesn’t really prove that you can learn a foreign language just by watching movies. It just goes to show that watching foreign movies can help anyone become more familiar with a foreign language.
Many language learning centers are already using video and digital media to help their students learn their target languages. Some of these language learning centers use educational videos to teach languages. Some learning centers use movie clips to make learning more fun and interesting for their students.
With movies, having subtitles can help give language learners a clue as to how words or phrases are pronounced or used in context. People trying to learn a language can become more familiar with their target language by watching a movie in that language with English subtitles or by watching it with English subtitles.
Having English subtitles helps them recognize words or phrases more. For more advanced learners, being able to read what the characters are saying helps them keep up with the conversation because, in most cases, natural speakers of a language tend to speak faster and use a lot of slang.
People have different ways of learning a language. Some people learn more when they listen to it, while others prefer to watch or read it. Some people learn more by practicing and speaking the language regularly.
Whichever category you fall into, you have nothing to lose by using movies to help you learn a language. If you really want to learn a language, take a class or find a teacher. If you just want to confuse people by spouting Klingon lines, then watch a Star Trek movie and take notes.