Learning English with movies is always fun. But, why should we learn English through movies? As a beginner, learners have a lot of confusion in choosing a suitable learning method. The learning method that they choose should be effective and entertaining at the same time. Choosing a method that truly engages your interest in studying English, is very important.
Choosing movies for learning English with or without subtitles will definitely improve your speaking and listening skills. It also helps to learn new words and phrases. Relaxing on your couch and watching your favorite movie in its original version is always cool. It kindles the curiosity in you to speak English like a native.
If you observe English movies in general, they always follow a unique slang and accent, for instance, a British or American accent. However, it is ineffective to simply watch a movie if you don’t have a keen observation of the details. In this blog, you will learn about, how learning English with movies is an effective method to improve your English-speaking skills.
6 Benefits of learning English with movies:
Initially, learning English with movies is a delightful and productive method for a beginner. It aids with proper pronunciation, new vocabulary, slang, etc. Also, it paves the way to understand the cultures of different countries. In the end, choosing English movies for learning English introduces you to various accents around the world like British, American, Australian, and so on.
Builds your listening skills
Watching movies in English naturally enhances your listening skills. Spending some quality time watching English movies helps you to familiarise yourself with English sounds, accents, and slang. Without zero effort, you can improve your listening and speaking skills.
English movies with subtitles always help you to understand the context easily. It introduces many informal slang words and idioms that you cannot find even in books and dictionaries. These things can sound strange in the beginning, however, through practice, you can improve your English-speaking skills.
Ace your English pronunciation skills
Learning correct pronunciation in English can be tedious. At times, the recorded conversations which we see on various platforms are quite unnatural and don’t sound like the speech of natives. However, in movies, the actors speak using their native tongue that sounds more natural and realistic.
Listening to movie dialogues will help you to improve and perfect your pronunciation skills. Watching movies with English subtitles is preferable. It helps to observe the words or dialogues of the actor’s speech. Improve your English speaking skills by listening to the movie audio and repeating it by yourself carefully. It’s better to record yourself, which also helps to bring out the actor in you!
Improves English speaking skills
Major researches have resulted that, watching English movies has an optimistic impact on enhancing speaking and listening skills. Being attentive to natives’ conversations helps you to get better at your English fluency. Listeners will know where to place stress, intonation, and connect words together.
After watching the movie, you can pick up your favorite scene, memorize the dialogue and start practicing it. This will help you to improve your English-speaking skills. You can use the idioms and phrases that you learned from the movie and chat with your friends. These things help you keep updated with the new words in English. If you find the conversations are fast in the movie, you can obviously pause the scene. Take look at the subtitles again to get some extra clarity.
Movies and vocabulary
In the classroom setting, you may learn many vocabularies and phrases. However, in real-life situations, you may not know how to use them in the right place. The English that you learn in your textbook is often formal in tone. It displays conversations that are not often used in day-to-day life. When students apply these kinds of words, they’ll sound a bit strange.
One of the topmost benefits of learning English with movies is that they replicate real-life events. By choosing English movies for learning English, learners can improve their speaking as well as listening skills. When you learn a new word in the textbook, it can be difficult to remember. Moreover, native speakers use English in a casual way, when they talk with each other. Observing this will help you to retain the words easily.
People commonly learn vocabularies in a traditional method, reading a vocabulary list or learning from the dictionaries. This kind of learning is less effective when compared to learning English with movies. For example, if you like watching a horror movie, after watching 10 to 15 movies, you’ll get to know numerous words. You’ll learn all these new vocabularies related to that genre, without any painstaking efforts.
Let’s say if you are learning a new word called “Haunting” from a dictionary, you learn its meaning as “frightening”. when you tend to use it, it can be easy to forget. Sometimes people get confused about where to use the word in the right context. if you learn the same word by watching a movie, you will learn the word easily with the situational explanation.
Connects real-life circumstances:
When you learn a new word every day, you’ll learn its meaning and usage along with a sentence. Is this an effective learning method? I would definitely say it is not enough to understand the context in the right way. The best place to learn English is a real-life setting. This helps you to understand the key phrases and new words according to the particular context.
Sometimes teachers use to take their students to different locations and teach where they can learn from real-life events. This method will eventually make the students remember and understand the concept well. Movies show us perfect locations to understand the concepts better. For example, if you visit a supermarket you can learn the names of groceries standing in a lively location.
Explore cultures with movies
Movies reflect the cultures of different countries through their narratives, characters, etc. Language and culture are closely connected. Watching movies in English helps to learn the culture behind the language. If you are interested in knowing the cultures of different countries, then the best way is to watch movies. Just by sitting in your home, you can learn English with ease.
By watching movies that reflect different cultures, you’ll get to know the livelihood of different countries. It also replicates their cultural background, such as their style, outfits, food habits, their tradition, and so on. For instance, when watching a Japanese movie, you will get attracted by watching them enjoying a cup of tea. Finally, it helps to know the history of other countries along with their culture.
Platforms for learning English with movies:
Netflix, Amazon Prime, iFlix are the topmost and popular streaming services, used by crores of people around the globe. They feature a wide range of movies and a series of varied genres. Except for this, another most liked site to be told is YouTube.
All these websites provide a large library of movies, from comedies to timeless classics with minimal cost. eJOY is one of the primary applications that helps you to look at words while watching videos on YouTube. You will find these websites useful to learn new words and improve your English-speaking skills.
Tips to learn English with movies:
Before watching a movie, prepare yourself and have all the mandatory kinds of stuff near you. Confirm that you’ve got your pen and notebook to write down words or phrases that you couldn’t understand if you are a slow learner, which is absolutely fine.
Choose a movie of your interest
While choosing the mode for learning English with movies, it is important to settle on movies that you wish to watch. If you select a movie for the sake of learning English or which is too difficult to grasp, it will not encourage you to observe it. Choose the movie to enjoy its original version and real essence; At the same time, with the aim of learning English with movies.
Repeat short phrases
While watching a movie if you hear any new word or phrase, pause the movie immediately and write the words. Read out the noted word aloud by shadowing. Taking note of the conversation of natives and trying to repeat them is known as shadowing. While doing this you will improve your English-speaking skills together with pronunciation.
Watch movies with and without subtitles:
Initially, take 2 or 3 scenes from a movie watch it a minimum of 4 to 5 times with subtitles. Now you can begin to replicate the scene on your own. Pause the movie after each phrase, find its meaning and pronunciation, and begin to repeat it. After getting an idea of how to, speak with slang and pronounce the words, watch the movie without subtitles again. Think about every word, listen to the way they pronounce, and get familiar with the sounds.
Try to replicate the identical pronunciation and emotions that the actors perform. Record yourself and compare it with the first version and yeah, it’s time to pat your back now!
Avoid movies that are too difficult to understand:
When you plan to learn English with movies, it is eventually important to choose the proper one. The movie you select should have a plotline that’s easy to understand. If you’re a beginner, start with simple cartoons or animated films. These films can make you understand the conversation better. Moreover, it is better to know your level in English and then watch a movie.
“Toy Story” – The best movie to learn English:
Always have this in mind: “Watching movies should be fun”. You must not choose a movie that is just too high for you to grasp. One best movie for beginners would be “Toy Story”. Certainly, the reason why it is a good movie to learn English is that it is really fun to watch. Also, it contains plenty of American slang. On a whole, the language used in the movie is quite simple and straightforward to grasp.
In the movie, you can see the phrase “doodle pad” which implies drawing something in a casual manner. You will also come across the new American phrase “Hey, how ya doin’, Rex” which means “How are you”. Since ‘Woody’ is a cowboy in the movie, he often uses American slang words. This is so evident that watching movies also teaches you the cultures of other countries.
Practice to perfect your communication skills:
- Choose a movie you’re keen on to observe.
- Watch it in your language and again with English subtitles or dual subtitles.
- Make note of recent and interesting vocabulary and phrases by watching the movie multiple times and try to use it in the right place.
- Study effectively with the best scenes.
- Practice what you have learned along with your friends and do role plays with your favorite scenes.
To conclude, you can make plenty of progress in your level of communication if you follow these simple tips and exercises. Always use a notebook to jot down the jargon words. Having a dictionary will help you to know the meaning of words that are not familiar to you. Keep following this and add a bunch or along with your classmates, since it’s always fun learning together.