Can we really learn languages by watching movies and series?

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00:00 Intro
01:13 Learning strategies for different levels
03:35 Tips for beginners
04:21 Tips for intermediate and advanced levels

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⭐️How to improve your speaking skills by yourself? The shadow boxing technique!
⭐️3 tips for learning a language effectively on your own
⭐️How to study languages consistently with a full-time job: the tiny habits method

[steveb]

I personally never understand when people say they learned a language just through watching television. They must have some other input or way of knowing what the words mean, for example, translating as you watch. I think a lot of people create the false illusion that you can just put the TV on and absorb a language. When in reality it actually takes a lot of work and effort. Another great video Zoe, thanks 👍🏻

[moudhaffarsaidi]

I mainly learned english by watching english films. Studying grammar and vocabulary is important, watching films is the best way to get used to the language next to living in the country.

[madalina.g]

If you read Ferdinand de Saussure, you will discover that by hearing a language very often, although at first it sounds like a continuous melody, in time you get to make distinctions in that language, to separate words or parts of words etc. So it's definitely useful to watch series in the language you want to learn - especially if they are subtitled -, precisely when you are a beginner, because at some point you learn how to recognise words. You also acquire thus a very important passive knowledge of the language, which will be useful when you will start concentrating on books and grammar. At that moment, you will have the impression that something feels "natural" or seems to be "already known", without you wouldn't know exactly where from. In my country, half of the population that watched subtitled Spanish telenovelas in their youth have a pretty decent level of Spanish now :)

[johncooper]

I am learning both Dutch and French through multiple avenues and I found that watching TV shows and movies are one of the best tools for those who don’t have much time or energy to devote toward learning a new language. Most of my ‘study’ sessions occur in the evening after work. I found that I needed to start with Kids shows to obtain vocabulary and general structure and then I was able to graduate to more complicated shows, although I had to watch multiple movies and shows before I could watch more casually. Also, Disney+ is a great source for language learning since most of the movies are dubbed and subbed in multiple languages. I’m definitely far from fluency in both languages, but I’ll get there someday! Good luck everyone! Thanks Zoe for the nice video!

[JoannaSopala]

I always thought I'm too lazy for learning from watching. I focus on the action, story and totally forget about writing down the notes or just new words. But at certain level I see some advantages like training pronunciation while watching with subtitles or simply get used to the sound of new language. Also lately I really enjoyed the feeling when I can finally watch some videos without subtitles and still understand a lot 😄

[ManForToday]

Here's what I'm doing with Russian now trying to go from B1 to B2.

1) I start a series, I watch 1-3 episodes right through with RU subtitles, extensive watching for pleasure.
2) I then download the subtitle transcripts and read through them intensively translating all unknown words which automatically get added to a flashcard list.
3) After each transcript I will watch that episode again until I'm up to date and then continue with another 1-3 episodes extensively.

I often forget words but I do pick up many, I try to find a balance between studying as intensively as possible but not so much that I get bored. I want to get through the series as fast as I naturally want to as if it were in my own language.

[olgapchelinova]

In my humble opinion, watching vlogs is more efficient. And you do get better results if you listen, not watch. As our eyesight helps us a lot. With most of series its quite possible to understand whats going on even if you dont speak language a lot. I started watching a turkish series as i am studying turkish, and after 45 mins time it was like i just was enjoying myself. So I switched to a turkish guy who was making vlogs about supermarkets and trips, and that was great! Series may work if you do some tasks, like retelling what you've seen but do the most people do it. I doubt it.

[jamiececilielange]

I mostly learned english through games and videos, but I did have some basic lessons when I was young. I also read and wrote a lot and later I spoke it a lot.

I think it also depends on what languages you already know. If I were to be able to learn through movies with almost no lessons, it would probably have to be german, Norwegian or Swedish, since I already am Danish and speak English and Dutch.

[redwolf]

You always have a way of dropping something that's relevant to where I'm at in my language journey.

Great as always

[Copolia]

I have definitely found it useful to improve my Spanish by watching Spanish films or films dubbed into Spanish. I use this in addition to my language studies and I find it helps enormously as it adds another layer of comprehension, context, slang etc.

[QuizmasterLaw]

Yes, watching films and t.v. is an effective way to learn. It's to be done in conjunction with other things. You will passively learn things as well as actively notably pronunciation, stress rhythm, tone pitch, set phrases.
Your goal is to totally saturate your brain with the target language so much so that you internalize it. You can and should listen to your target language while you sleep for this reason. Vocab reinforcement while sleeping works. Not active learning but passive immersion and acquisition can and do happen passively including while sleeping.

[yutpeu]

Thank you for the timely and helpful video! I've been trying to jump on the bandwagon of "learning" through media, but was quickly overwhelmed by how much I couldn't recognise and understand. Recently however, I mindlessly watched a Korean video with Korean subtitles and was able to make out several dialogues and subtitles! As you shared, the use of media as a resource should be appropriate to one's level ☺

[mariamawad]

انتي فعلا جاوبتي علي كل الاسئله اللي انا كنت عايزة اعرفها شكرا ليكي زوي 🫶🏻

[byeol]

That was really useful. I used to do this to practice the pronunciation. But now I have to focus deeply and challenge myself. Thank you ❤️

[aminekamili]

i must say watching movies and tv series is a pretty fun way to learn a language, but i feel like that would be 100 percent only for english .
i my self never really learned english from school almost 95% of my vocabularry came from movies as i am a really big movie enthusiast and tv series
it is a really nice way to learn . but on it has its own down sides : firstly if you only rely on them it would take you a verry long time to become decent in that language for me it almost took 3 TO 4 years to have my level
and secondly it won't really help on the grammar side so you just have to memorize how the verbs are written and how the structure of the phrase is put .
over all i would say it's more of a compliment than a method of learning

[kabirnurul]

Dear Zoe, we are dying for a video from you that will provide us with the minute details of learning French right from scratch. So, plz plz plz save us. Lots of love from Bangladesh.

[sous.]

شكرا لك يا زوي.
انا أتابع فيديوهاتك من المانيا.
وأيضا أتعلم اللغة المانية.

[farawla]

I learned English at school. To improve my English. i watch series and movies in English plus English subtitles. If i did not properly understand what they said i can read it. If i do not unterstand the meaning I will google it.
It helped me alot with grammar and ingreesed my vocabluary.

I do the same in urdu but with English sub.

[jddominguez]

Off-topic here, but the turtleneck, the earrings, the ponytail, the pelitos, GIRL, you are so beautiful!!

[AnaMercedesVMtz]

I love your videos. You always give me some motivation to learn more. I am currently struggling with integrating in my routine arabic and russian studying sessions. Thanks for the tips. XOXO from Mexico City.