How watching movies can assist your language learning. By Lynne Davis

 

It's good to start brushing up on a foreign language if you have plans to travel to another country.  Lots of people do it by taking a class, getting a conversation partner who speaks the language, studying books or CDs, or reading newspapers.

 

Another way - my personal favorite - is to watch movies.  It's a great way to learn both language and culture, and it's fun!

 

First, choose a movie that you like.  You'd better like it a lot, because you'll need to watch it more than once.  The key to learning language through film - as in learning it through any medium - is repetition.  Many people will watch a foreign-language film only once and be done with it.  They might learn a little this way, but not enough. So choose a movie according to your own tastes.  Then you'll enjoy watching it over and over.  There are plenty of good movies in many different genres - action, fantasy, drama, whatever you like.  (If you don't like romantic comedies, don't force yourself to watch one of those.  There's no need.)

 

 Some movies I have used in class as an English teacher include:  ET (adventure), Home Alone (comedy), You've Got Mail (romantic comedy), Moonstruck (romantic comedy), Mrs. Doubtfire (comedy), Catch Me If You Can (thriller), and Big Fish (fantasy).  The last three are based on novels, which can be very useful in combination with the films, if you are the kind of learner who likes to see things in print.

 

I once knew a Korean professor who told me that he learned English by going over things one hundred times.  He would read the same newspaper article a hundred times, he said, or listen to a song or watch the same movie a hundred times.  I don't know if he was exaggerating or not.  As much as I love the movie You've Got Mail, I can't imagine watching it a hundred times!  But I do understand the principle.  It's simple.  The more you watch a movie, the more dialogue you understand.  Not only that, but, like a song, the movie will stay in your mind.  You will hear Tom Hanks saying, "Rose.  That's a great name, Rose."  Or Meg Ryan saying, "Don't you just love New York in the fall?"  And you will remember not only the words, but the intonation - the way they say them. 

 

And by the way, it also helps if the movies you choose to study have actors that you really like.  It makes the experience that much more pleasant, and it makes you more open to listening to the person's way of speaking, remembering it, and copying it.

 

I proved the value of repetition to myself recently when my sister came to visit.  Like me, she loves languages and foreign films.  I asked her if she had seen the Spanish movie Volver.  When she said no, I rented it.

 

We spent an enjoyable evening watching the film.  It was my second time.  When it was over, we agreed that it was really good.  But, she added, she had only understood a few words.

 

I didn't tell her, but I had understood a lot more than that.  And it wasn't because my Spanish is better than hers.  It's not.  We're about equal in our proficiency.  The only difference was that it was my second time to see the movie.  I already knew the plot and characters, and I was picking up more language.

 

So that's my first suggestion for improving your foreign-language skill with a movie.  Watch it more than once.

 

The second suggestion is to add some structure to the experience.  Don't just kick back and passively watch the movie.  Well, you can do that the first time, just take it all in.  But in subsequent viewings, it helps your learning if you take an active part.

 

Get a notebook, and when you watch the movie a second time, write words and phrases and sentences that you hear.  Later, review them.

 

Keep the remote handy.  You will need to stop and repeat often.

 

You can write vocabulary that is new for you.  You can write idiomatic expressions.  I like to write these, even if I've heard them before or think I already know them.  The reason?  The words and phrases I can understand when I hear someone use them (passive vocabulary) are not necessarily words and phrases that I am comfortable using myself (active vocabulary).  In other words, they sound good when I hear them, and appropriate to the context, and I get them.  But I forget to use them - or when I start to, I stop, wondering if my usage is appropriate.

 

I'll give you an example.  In French movies that I've watched lately (Indochine, with Catherine Deneuve, Les Brodeuses, Truffaut's Stolen Kisses), I've noticed that the expression "ça va" is a very common one.  It seems to mean, "Okay?" "Are you okay?" and "I'm fine," or "I'm well."

 

This is just the kind of expression that seems simple and obvious when I'm  hearing it - but when I'm out there in real life in a foreign country, and I'm about to say it, I stop myself and think, "Wait a minute.  Is that really right?" 

 

I remember the summer when I was twenty-one and traveling alone in Paris.  Everything I heard seemed to be different from what I had learned in the classroom, in my textbook.  It made me feel insecure.  I got on a bus one day and was afraid to use the sentence I had learned for "How much is it?"  I was afraid the driver would laugh at me.

 

So I write down these common phrases I hear in the movies, and I study them.  I also write vocabulary whose meaning is clear at the time, in the context of the film, but that I might not remember later if I don't write it.  An example of that is the word "broderie."  In French it means "embroidery," and when I heard it in the movie Les Brodeuses, that meaning was quite clear, because I could see the women embellishing the beautiful fabrics with designs in thread.  But I probably wouldn't remember it if I didn't write it.  It works for me.

 

I also do little exercises in my notebook.  I might choose one scene from a movie and play it over and over, until I can catch every word, and I write it all.  This is a good way to learn idioms, pronunciation, and grammar too.

 

Sometimes I copy a short segment of dialogue from the movie, then practice it, perhaps with another person.  Or I try writing my own dialogue for a particular scene.  All of these activities make me pay more attention and also use what I know, which reinforces my language learning.

 

After I do these exercises, I let myself relax and just watch the movie again, and feel good about how much I understand.  And usually I hear more new things, too.

 

I also like to write a short summary of the movie I've watched, in the foreign language, using some of the vocabulary I've learned.  When I write in the foreign language, I let myself insert an English word here and there, if I don't know how to say something.  Later I can look it up - or just try to rephrase it using words I know.

 

I have also tried watching the movie without sound and without subtitles, the second time around.  This might seem strange, since what I am trying to learn is language.  But I have found that in doing this I can notice all the other clues to meaning other than language.  I can get a grasp of the story, the characters and the setting that I do not get when I am listening hard for every word and focusing only on language.

 

Try this at least once and see if you like it.  You may not have the patience to watch an entire movie this way.  On the other hand, you may find it a fascinating and productive exercise, as I did.

 

Some people like to listen to the movie without watching, to focus entirely on the language.  I've tried this, and it's useful, after I've watched the movie once or twice and have had a chance to read the subtitles.

 

Movies are entertaining, fun, and educational.  Choose one that you love.  Watch it over and over.  Take notes.  Review them. Then, when you get the chance to travel to the foreign country, you'll be better prepared.

 

Don't forget the popcorn!

 

Lynne Davis taught for over 15 years at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale