Why you CAN’T understand TV and movies without subtitles (and how to fix that)

let's talk about a problem we all experience  when we try to watch TV in a foreign language   we don't understand what we hear it's probably  one of the biggest things I struggled with when   I first started learning English I would turn on a  show in English I would start watching it but then   the problem was I could not recognize the words  the words the actors were saying without turning   on the subtitles and for me at that time it was a  big problem because I thought that I was supposed   to understand every single movie every single  TV show without any subtitles because I had an   opinion that using subtitles was a bad thing now  I really think that subtitles can help you improve   your listening skills at least they really helped  me they really helped me start understanding more   words in English and I'm using the same approach  right now while learning Spanish so this video   will be a reflection of my personal experience  all the shows and movies that I watched and all   the different things that helped me improve my  listening skills and my listening comprehension   so why was it so hard for me at the very beginning  to understand TV and movies in English and why is   it hard for you guys so I have discovered that  the one thing that I struggle with the most is   the speed and pronunciation because native  speakers talk extremely fast and when you're   just learning the language especially when you  have just started learning this language it's   really hard for you because they're talking so  fast and you have no idea what they're saying   they're blending all the words together you  have no idea what's going on and obviously as   a language learner you just feel very confused  native speakers and movies and TV shows often   speak at a natural conversational pace which is  usually significantly faster than what we're used   to this rapid Pace can make it difficult for us  language Learners to catch individual phrases or   maybe words and understand different new nuances  and pronunciation so how did I fix this problem   what did I do when I was watching a show and I  couldn't understand anything because the actors   there were speaking too fast well in reality I  just stopped watching that show because at the   very beginning I understood that I was not going  to be able to understand everything and especially   I was not going to be able to understand native  speakers as easily so what I did was I just went   to YouTube and instead at the very beginning  I just watched a lot of educational YouTube   videos obviously they also by native speakers  or by people who have a very good level in this   language but for me it was important to watch  something more so educational maybe like a story   like a person is telling you a story but then they  share all the vocabulary they maybe explain like a   grammar Rule and this way I was actually learning  because when I was watching shows and movies I was   realizing that the level was a little bit too  high for me so I think it's also important to   understand that sometimes you will probably have  to stop watching something just because it's a   little bit too hard but it doesn't mean that you  will never be able to watch this show no you can   make this your goal for example right now my  goal is to read a whole book in Spanish like   a book for adults in Spanish and I know that  my level is maybe not that high to be able to   accomplish this goal right now but I know that one  day I will do it and for me to be able to do it I   have established a system of oh let me read this  short articles for non-native speakers or let me   read this book which is a lot easier for me and I  can understand it a lot better and basically this   way I built out this system for myself a system of  just watching YouTube videos watching educational   content on YouTube in this language and then  slowly but surely I was increasing my vocabulary I   was watching more and more complicated videos and  then one day I was like you know what I think I'm   ready to watch friends because believe it or not  guys but friends is actually a hard show I feel   like a lot of people always recommend friends as  like the first TV show you should watch in English   but I think it's pretty challenging at least this  was my experience at the very beginning you know   all the actors there were speaking extremely fast  for me they were using a lot of slang and I was   just like what is going on yeah and that's why  I decided to pause for a second and just go to   YouTube and continue watching educational videos  so now we're slowly moving on to the second reason   why it was hard for me to understand shows or  movies in English it's because usually actors   there use a lot of idioms and slang and it's  not something that you're gonna learn super fast   TV shows and movies often incorporate different  idioms and slang that you're honestly not taught   in your traditional language class and they can  be pretty perplexing for many language Learners   because sometimes we'll look at this expression  we're like What does it mean you know I have no   idea I need to Google it I need to memorize it  and only later I will be able to actually use   it myself and it's totally okay I just want to let  you know that this is something that I experienced   too in the past and obviously right now my English  is a lot better I know a lot of Expressions a lot   of idioms in English so you can do the same thing  I feel like now I'm struggling with this problem   a lot in Spanish because my level in Spanish is  not that high yet and so every time somebody is   using an expression I'm like what does it mean  oh my God it's another idiom or you know it's   like slaying and I'm like no it's too hard I  don't understand can you please not use slang   but in reality they can't like that's the truth  about how native speakers speak the language they   always use slang they always use idioms and for  us language Learners the difficulty is knowing   which idioms are actually useful and which slang  to actually learn so how did I fix this problem   first of all every time I was watching a show in  English I made sure I used subtitles subtitles   in English for example if I was watching something  in English I used English subtitles right now when   I'm watching something in Spanish I use Spanish  subtitles my experience when it comes to using   subtitles is that they helped me a lot because  this way I could see all of those expressions   and idioms I wanted to learn later on so I will  be watching a show and then I would see a phrasal   verb in English for example I would pause I would  make sure I understood the meaning of this phrasal   verb if I didn't I would Google what it meant and  then maybe I would create a flash card for myself   to later memorize this phrase over because at  the end of the day if this is something that you   actually need and this is something that native  speakers regularly use if you consume content   in this language you will come across this word  time and time again but obviously providing the   fact that you actually consume a lot of content  in this language because oftentimes we get lazy   we get busy and we practice languages only once  a week which is definitely not enough and when it   comes to tackling the challenges of understanding  TV shows and movies in foreign languages there's   one platform that helped me so much and I am still  an active user of this platform it is called lingo   pie it is designed specifically for language  Learners who want to watch movies and TV shows   and improve their language skills this way with  lingo Pi you're not just learning you're delving   into the heart of real native conversations  slaying Street language and popular culture   on their platform you have the chance to learn  Spanish French Italian German Portuguese Russian   Korean and Japanese their content is extremely  interesting and includes various genres from   Comedy to romance mystery to drama and everything  in between but what I love about lingo pie the   most is their interactive features the show  I'm currently watching a lingo pie is called   special Mexican food tour and I love it a lot  you can watch your favorite show with interactive   subtitles that provide instant translations with  a mere click on unfamiliar words and what's even   better is that they're built-in flashcards and  auto-generated quizzes help me internalize what   I've learned it's like turning into language  learning into a game reinforcing vocabulary and   phrases as effortlessly I always tell you guys  how flash cards have changed my life and that's   also why I love lingo pie because if I don't  know a word I can just click on it and I can   create a flash card and I can review all of these  flashcards after I finish watching an episode of   my favorite show so lingo pie can really help you  save a lot of time and effort and only for you   guys lingo pie is offering a seven day free trial  with an exclusive 55 discount for a limited time   just follow the link in my description and watch  shows and movies with the help of lingo pie the   next thing I struggle with is the fact that when  you're watching a show there are usually people   who have a lot of different accents and dialects  and for a language learner it's kind of hard to   understand all the differences and all the words  we all know that many languages have multiple   Regional accents and dialects and it makes it  harder to comprehend the spoken language even   native speakers can struggle with understanding  unfamiliar accents so guys as language Learners   we just have to relax breathe out and I feel  like a lot of people are just way too harsh   on themselves yes you don't understand this accent  and now what it's not the end of the world you can   always practice it can always improve and yeah and  then you'll be able to understand this accent so   how did I fix this problem to be completely honest  what I actually did from the very beginning is I   only focused on one accent I feel like it's not  something that a lot of people recommend usually   people always tell you try to surround yourself  with a lot of different accents and dialects and   everything but for me I'm a language learner and  I feel like I just feel overwhelmed especially   at the very beginning when my level is not too  high yet for example it's something that I'm   experiencing with Spanish right now if I were to  follow this advice of you know surrounding myself   with a lot of different accents and dialects I  would probably quit because I would realize the   Spanish is way too complicated but that that's not  my goal I don't want to quit so I decided to only   focus on Mexican Spanish for now because I live in  Mexico and that's my priority because in truth the   more you practice the language you know the higher  your level gets the more confident you will feel   you will feel like you're ready to expose yourself  to a different accent and try something new but   not at the very beginning just you know relax  a little bit stick to one accent with English   what I did is I decided to stick to the American  English I decided to master the pronunciation I   mean I'm still trying to do it even to this very  day because I'm not a native speaker but anyway   I focused on the American accent because it's  something that I wanted to work on I started   watching a lot of movies and shows where people  only spoke with American English because that was   my focus and then after I started speaking better  after I improved my listening skills I was like   you know what I think it's time for me to listen  to British English right now and then a whole   new level of difficulty began but I was ready  for it and that's the most important thing the   next difficulty was movies and shows is cultural  context and references movies and TV shows often   include cultural references that are very specific  to the country or even region where this content   was produced and obviously as language Learners  we're often not familiar with this region or a   country because we just didn't grow up there and  because of that we might miss out on a lot of   jokes and puns and cultural references in reality  it's actually pretty hard to fix this issue   because basically fixing this whole problem would  mean that you have to learn everything about this   culture and it's quite difficult to do if again  your parents are not from this country you were   not raised in that country you never traveled to  that country before you never lived there before   but it's possible the first time I traveled to an  English-speaking country I was 20 years old and by   that age I could already speak English pretty well  and I knew some things about you know the American   culture for example obviously I was not like super  Advanced I didn't know everything but I knew some   things so how did I learn those things first of  all I was watching all the shows that Americans   were talking about at that very moment if I saw  online that this show is very popular in the Alexa   stop if I saw online that this show was very  popular in the United States for example I was   like I have to watch it I have to figure out  what the show is about I have to familiarize   myself with you know the show and the content of  the show because to be honest what really shapes   the culture is a lot of things it's the history  of this country it's you know it's like cultural   things like music and books and movies and you  can't like learn everything but you can kind of   give yourself this goal of focusing on one thing  at a time so first I was like okay I want to watch   this show and then it was like oh I want to watch  this movie because it's a classic and then it was   like oh maybe I should listen to these songs at  least for a little bit because I know that they   are extremely popular among Americans but I think  what really helped me here is just realizing that   I'm a person from a different culture and it's  absolutely okay there are going to be jokes that   I am not going to be able to understand and it's  okay but I will learn all of those things and my   language skills will become better and on this  note I would like to wrap up this YouTube video   thank you guys so much for watching don't forget  that if you like watching movies and shows and   for languages you absolutely have to give lingo  pie a try it's an amazing platform and I use it   almost every single day to study Spanish right  now remember they have a lot of languages there   so make sure to click the link below and check  them out if you like this video don't forget   to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my  channel and I'll see you guys in my next video

Channel: Veronika's Language Diaries

Views: 1,150,630

Keywords: veronika mark, lingopie, how to watch movies in english, is using subtitles good, can i use subtitles while watching TV, how to watch tv in english, how to watch tv in spanish, how to watch movies in foreign languages, why i can't understand movies in english, why i can't understand tv without subtitles, how to understand movies without subtitles, use subtitles to study languages

Id: SzzKeIHatEw

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023