i’ve started importing a french tv show from Netflix and I’m in hearing what methods people use with tv shows.
Do you watch the show first (with subtitles in your native language), then go through the lingq lesson and then watch again without subtitles to see if your listening comprehension is better? I’m considering doing this but then of course it means I watch each episode twice. Unfortunately, I can’t watch the show the first without native language subtitiles as the french is simply too fast and I wouldn’t be able to follow with enough understanding of the details/nuance etc.
The other option is to Lingq first and then watch, but I wonder if that ruins the enjoyment of the tv show.
First I watch the episode in its entirety and then work the text at lingq for me this way I have some sort of background knowledge of a plot while going through the text and then watch the episode again. Even if I miss something and my overall understanding of sentences is still sketchy at best. As a beginner I do not fret over it and move on with the next episode. Yes, all in all, I have to watch each episode twice. This is what I am doing for learning German however I have the option of using subtitles in English but It hampers me from giving my full attention to listening to the content. As I live in Germany, in the outside world understanding German speakers I do not have access to subtitles either in my native language or English, trust me, with enough exposure, your understanding will improve and will tune your brain to understand real French native speakers spontaneously. For this reason, I do not use any subtitles at all and force my brain to understand the language in its true form. 6 months before I was in your boat German seemed too fast now when I watch movies/TV I understand a lot sure not 100% but still enough to follow what is going on and enjoy. My two cents
But it seems you still watch twice, once before lingq and once after, which is what I intend to do. I still want to enjoy the show fully, so if I’m going to watch twice, then for me once might as well be with subtitles for enjoyment and then one without (after lingq)for listening comprehension
Swakefield, I think this is definitely going to be an effective method. Clearly, there are more efficient ways to get input, but this is still good, and having knowledge of the plot before watching in your target language helps you comprehend more than you would otherwise. If this is enjoyable, definitely do it. It’s one way to make use of content that is otherwise way above your level. I might add that, I find watching dubbed versions of shows to be easier than straight native content. For example, I used to watch that 70s show repetitively when I was younger, so when I see the dubbed version in spanish, I have a much better sense of what is being said. If I didn’t know it so well, it wouldn’t be nearly as comprehensible. If you have any shows that you just loved and have already seen, I’d recommend trying to watch the dubs of those. If the subtitles match the dub exactly, even better, but I’ve found that they rarely do! I think your original idea is a great way to relax and play with the language, even though it might not be the most effective in terms of time spent to language acquired. Mixing it up is good!
The thing, is studying with Netflix can be fun sometimes, but I’d have to say reading books with audio is just a way better, more effective way to build up vocab and comprehension. Movies are visual medium, not a text medium. There are entire movies out there where the subs contain only enough words for one LingQ lesson (expl. see the Argentinean movie Black Snow on Netflix.) That’s 2200 words spread out over close to 2 hours of content. (Some movies will have more of course, the French movie Wolf’s Call is something like 6,800 words.)
In comparison 2 hours of an audio book will typically contain up to 17,600 words! (One lesson @ 2,200 words usually takes up 15 minutes of audio book narration.) And when you get faster at reading / listening, you can set your audible to 1.25x speed and encounter 22,000 words in two hours. That’s 10x as many words / minute as some movies.
And when you add the fact that you re-watch movies and shows as part of this process, your time spent / words encountered ratio is diluted even further.
So, really the best way to use Netflix is as a fun immersion supplement to accompany a more robust study method.
Ah, so you don’t really recommend using the lingq netflix import at all? I thought it would be useful for ‘real speaking’ rather than podcasts or audiobooks tailored for the specific purpose of listening/reading. I guess for me the I also just enjoy the show but I do see perhaps it’s not the most efficient use of time
I’m not saying “don’t use it at all” it can be fun and useful tool in some situations. For example, in Korean, where there is no real audiobooks available, using subs can be somewhat of a substitute for that. Or in the case of a movie like “Wolf’s Call” which had a lot of words related to submarines, so I went through it with LingQ after having watched it, to get all the lingo.
But as a “method” of regular engagement for learning, books with audio are just a way more effective use of time.
To be clear I watch a TON of foreign language Netflix – native or dubbed, I don’t care. But I watch it as in, “I’m watching TV” not as in “I’m learning with subs on LingQ.” And yes, it does help with understanding “real speaking” but that’s because I’ve already heard and read most of those words before from reading books every day.
Yes, I’m watching primarily for entertainment but thought it might be a good way to combine with active language learning and study. The show I watch (call my agent, amongst others) has quite a dense script, e.g I exported 1 episode an hour long and lingq split it into 4 as it’s over 6000 words.
Do it and see how it feels. For me, it’s fun for a while but then controlling the different elements — pausing Netflix, going to LingQ, reading and marking, then back to Netflix, press play… wait for line of dialog… pause again, etc. — just gets too tedious to worth my time in the long run. When I read a book on LingQ, it’s all relevant text. I have one hand over the keyboard shortcuts and another with the finger on the pause button on audible in my phone and I just read and mark, pausing occasionally to re-read a sentence. It’s super easy compared to messing with a TV show.
Call my Agent is chattier than most shows and that’s good. But with every native sub comes the inevitable sound cues like “sad music plays” that also just get annoying to LingQ though every time.
Yeh, I can completely understand. For me, im just going to Lingq entire episodes, maybe even a whole season without audio then go back and rewatch. Lingqing as I go along would just break up the flow too much.
I still have an audio book and innerfrench so i will keep going with them too. This is more of an experiment to aid listening comphrension and familiarity with more colloquial language. Thanks a lot for your tips
hi i listed what you sai and i think different you can learn any language with netflix and i know that maybe a udibook can be really better but actually you can apply differnt methods to learn with netflix in my experience i want to buy lingq premium maybe the net week i will buy but you can apply anothers tool without lingq i will give you some advices i will say you three methods differents first you can watch the serie at the same you learn everytime that you dont understand something translate the half of the episode and the another you watch only that is passive and active the next method if you want to learn better you can go to every 3 minutes you translate everything that you dont understand and write it down and watch that same the first three minutes again like 5 times watch the part stop and check repeat and repeat hahah those are my methos ive been searching a lot about that but nobody have an answer deeply haha but you can try to do it those methods are really helpful form me
I find Netflix is excellent for mastering dialogue and speech patterns, as books will typically have a higher grade of vocab and “correct” forms while movies tend to be extremely idiomatic.
I like to use shows I’m familiar with, if possible. I prefer to avoid subtitles in my native language since those might still be very different from the actual source text. Personally, I prefer to import shows I’ve already watched/liked. Watch it once in the source language (with whatever subtitles you prefer), then import into LingQ and practice.
In the past, I have also found that watching movies without subtitles is helpful for overall comprehension. You don’t get every word or nuance, but your listening comp. will get faster. I’ve been going to see Indian movies in the theater or on TV without subtitles for the past 5 years or so. While my spoken Hindi is still lacking, I can understand most movies now without English subtitles.
As I am living in Germany, had I not watched dubbed German movies, I would not have picked up on collocations and idiomatic usage that an average shop keeper or an average German person uses on the street. There have been several instances that I have heard and learned an expression/collocation while watching a movie and subsequently heard the same exact expression spoken by a native German speaker in real life. So watching television series and movies is not at all a wasteful strategy and it is a good way to acquire spoken form of the language without living in your target language country. The world is indeed now nothing more than a village. Always vary your content so that you can develop both literacy and fluency at the same time.
Dual subtitles are the future of language learning.
I don’t watch streaming sites anymore due to the lack of control I have over the content. I rip them from bluray or download the shows to my media server, and I use a program called SMPlayer. It allows you to have two subtitle files on screen simultaneously. I watch shows like Un Village Française and Dix Pour Cent using this method.
I think your original idea is a great way to relax and play with the language, even though it might not be the most effective in terms of time spent to language acquired. Mixing it up is good!