Learn English through Movies | How to Improve Your English by Watching Movies

35,757 views ・ 2016-06-20

To Fluency


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hello, everybody! This is Jack from tofluency.com and welcome to this video
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lesson where I'm going to talk about watching movies in English. I see so many comments
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on my YouTube channel, my Facebook page and elsewhere from learners who tell me
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that they find it difficult to watch movies in English.
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And I'm sure if you're learning English that you find this difficult too.
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So, firstly, what I want to say and to help you feel better is that when I'm
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watching certain movies,
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I don't always understand what they say.
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Movies are difficult to understand - they use slang terms; they use very strong
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accents; and sometimes the audio is very low. And when the director is making a
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movie,
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he's not thinking about the dialogue so much -
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it's more about the artistic appearance of movies.
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So, know that native speakers have problems understanding certain movies
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too. But I know how annoying this can be because if you like movies then you want
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to watch them in English to practice.
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So, what I recommend you do is a couple of things: firstly, watch movies that you've
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already seen
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in your native language. Doing that helps you understand the general idea of what
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is happening.
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So, when you know what is happening in the movie, then you can guess the dialog;
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you can work out what they're saying
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from your experience and from the context.
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So, think about movies that you've seen - movies that you've enjoyed - in your
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native language and watch them again in English.
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Secondly, look for the transcript.
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So, if you really do enjoy watching movies, then I recommend getting the
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transcript, finding this online. Now, you can also turn on the subtitles too but
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sometimes these aren't entirely accurate.
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So, search for the movie transcript in Google,
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ok, then you'll be able to read what people say.
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Now, you might not want to read the entire transcripts but it's useful to
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maybe even have it on your phone while you're watching the movie and then you
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can pause and read what they say.
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Now, I also have a method that you can use to help you learn the new words and
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phrases that you learn from movies, so be sure to check out the description where
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I talk about this.
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This is called the sentence method. Finally, what I want to say is that if a
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movie is too difficult to understand, and you feel stressed, then watch something
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else instead.
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This might be another movie or maybe, even better for you,
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a TV show. Now, I recommend TV shows because the dialogue is easier to understand and
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also they repeat certain words and phrases over a few episodes, so if you
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used to watch Friends or if you watch it now,
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you'll understand that the different characters all say similar things over
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time.
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So, for example, Ross'll say certain things in every episode - but you also get
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used to the accent.
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You get used to their voice so that you can better understand what they're
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saying.
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Now, I have two things that I want you to do:
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firstly, please share any movies that you've seen in English that you think are
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good for English learners - so, leave the movie title in the comments section
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below. And then, secondly, tell me what you do when you watch movies:
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do you read transcripts? Do you have the subtitles on? How many movies do you
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watch?
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So, please share your experience with this.
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And if you have found this video useful, please share it with your friends.
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So, thank you for watching and I'll speak to you soon!
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