Speak like a native: The 7 tips for learning English through movies.
From Blockbusters to Fluency: How to Learn English with Movies
Learning a new language sounds like climbing a mountain. But wait. If you learn English by watching movies, it will be more of your entertainment than reading long grammar books.
I've watched hundreds of movies and series in English, and it's one of the best ways to learn the language.
In this article, I’ll show you how to level up your English skills with seven simple and effective tips that helped me become fluent in English. These are the tips I wish I had known when I started learning English.
Jump to sections
- Search for the movies you love that are suitable for your English level:
- Don’t watch movies with translated subtitles; watch with English subtitles instead:
- Become a language chameleon: Mimic movie characters and conquer English fluency
- The buddy system for learning English: How watching movies together can help
- Do some commentary
- Act out the scene (crazy tip)
Why learn English from movies?
It’s simple: movie characters use real-life English phrases and words and informal English.
Watching movies in English lets you immerse yourself in the language, which is proven to help your brain acquire new vocabulary and grammar faster and easier.
Olly Richards, who speaks eight languages and teaches them using his story-learning method [1], suggests following the 80/20 rule for language learning.
That means spending 80% of your time on input activities like reading and listening and 20% on other activities like grammar, speaking, and writing.
Richards emphasizes that immersing yourself in the language is critical to understanding and interpreting it and will ultimately make learning easier.
An article [2] reviewed many studies about learning languages through immersion. The author suggests that if you can't go to a country where people speak the language you want to learn, you can watch movies in that language to create a similar immersive environment. This helps you hear how native speakers use the language and learn about their culture.
Think of watching English movies as a workout for your brain. The more you exercise it with movies, the stronger and more flexible it becomes in understanding the language, as well as improving your accent and pronunciation.
You will learn words in context, which means you will learn them from the situation in which they were used. That helps so much to learn the vocabulary in an easy way.
After reading this article, grab some popcorn, settle for a movie marathon, watch, and follow the pieces of advice you learn here. Your English skills will grow stronger with each film you enjoy.
Tip:
Read my other post “6 ways to boost your English learning” to get more information about the ways you can learn English at home!
Search for the movies you love that are suitable for your English level:
Watching a movie that captivates you and gets you excited can be a powerful motivator for improving your English skills.
As you immerse yourself in the story and start to understand the movie, you'll develop an emotional connection with the English language.
This emotional connection can make the learning process much more enjoyable and effective. So, when choosing movies to watch in English, it's essential to look for ones that you'll find engaging and entertaining.
Not only will this help you stay motivated, but it will also improve your English skills in a fun and enjoyable way.
However, you must choose movies suitable for your current English level. For beginners, there are many movies available that are easy to understand and can help you learn a lot of English quickly.
Watching a movie that is of an advanced level will make you feel demotivated and frustrated. I guarantee that if you follow the pieces of advice in this article, you will see the results for yourself.
If you're looking for a recommendation, have you tried watching Japanese anime movies like Doraemon or Naruto? Many anime movies have been dubbed into English, making them a great resource for English learners. You might be surprised at how much you can learn while watching these movies and series.
Additionally, many anime movies also have a comic book version that you can read. This way, you can improve your English language skills while enjoying the storyline and characters you love.
I myself have become addicted to watching anime movies, and I highly recommend them as an engaging and effective way to learn English.
Don’t watch movies with translated subtitles; watch with English subtitles instead:
You might think that watching movies with translated subtitles is the best way to understand them, but that's not always the case.
When you watch a movie in your native language with subtitles, your brain doesn't fully engage with the English language, and it's unlikely that you'll learn much from it.
For instance, many people in my country watch Turkish series with Urdu-translated subtitles, but they never really understand the Turkish language. If you want to immerse yourself in English, you need to watch movies without translated subtitles.
When you choose movies suitable for your level, you’ll understand them. It’s okay if you don’t understand every single word, try to understand the story.
You can always watch the same movie again after a few weeks when you have learned more words and phrases. This way, you'll consume and learn more phrases from the movie and improve your English skills over time.
Keep a notepad beside you: A trick to stealing useful words from movies:
I watched the Sherlock Holmes movie inbo two days because I was stopping after each scene to note down every word that I didn’t know. I filled my notebook with words and phrases.
I don’t want you to repeat this mistake. If you note down every single word, that will overwhelm you.
Instead, focus on the words and phrases that you encounter repeatedly. For instance, if you notice a character saying "admit" multiple times or If you see the same word in different movies, that's a good sign that it's an important one to remember, then you should write it down.
This strategy helped me learn useful words and stopped me from jotting down each word I heard. The same can be used for phrases.
You can also pay attention to the context in which words are used. This will help you understand their meaning more fully.
After that, you can look up the words in the dictionary. Remember to read the meanings of the words again and again to memorize them.
Bonus tip:
Learn English With TV Series is a Youtube channel in which they teach English with movie scenes. You should check it out!
Become a language chameleon: Mimic movie characters and conquer English fluency
One of the fun ways I learned English was by imitating movie characters that I admired. I would pay attention to how they spoke and expressed themselves. Whenever I heard a phrase that caught my attention, I would pause the movie and repeat it out loud, trying to match their tone and accent.
This method helped me a lot in improving my English skills. By mimicking movie characters, I exposed myself to new vocabulary and grammar structures.
I also practiced my pronunciation and intonation, which are essential for sounding natural and fluent. Plus, it was really fun and enjoyable to pretend to be someone else for a while.
Next time you watch a movie, take a break and repeat the interesting phrases out loud. Then pause and repeat them as many times as you need until you feel comfortable with them.
You can also record yourself and compare your voice with the original. How much you can learn from movies and how much your English will advance will surprise you.
The buddy system for learning English: How watching movies together can help
If you have a friend who is learning English as well, then watching movies with them is going to be an English learning and entertainment watch party!
You can learn new words and phrases together. If you come across a word that your friend knows, they can explain it to you easily. You can talk about the story of the movie while watching.
Pass comments on funny scenes, and will practice English together as well as consume content in English!
But if you don’t have an English-learning friend, don’t worry. The next tip will back you up.
Do some commentary:
This is a crazy tip: Sometimes when an exciting, shocking, or confusing part comes in the movie, I pause it and talk to myself loudly about the story and predict what will happen in it.
Doing commentary to yourself about the movie will help you practice your English while you watch it; it will be like you are watching with your friend and gossiping about the story!
Act out the scene (crazy tip)
If you tell people about this, they’ll think you’re crazy. But who cares? You wanna learn English and enjoy it.
If you have a favorite fighting or action scene in a movie, try acting it out and copying the dialogue with the same tone and intonation.
Not only will it be a great way to practice English, but you'll also reinforce new words and phrases you've learned.
And best of all, these phrases will come in handy in your daily life too. So go ahead, unleash your inner movie star, and have fun while learning English!
Key Takeaways:
- Learning English from movies is like creating a virtual environment for you to immerse yourself in English.
- Think of watching English movies as a workout for your brain. The more you exercise it with movies, the stronger and more flexible it becomes in understanding the language, as well as improving your accent and pronunciation.
- You will learn words in context, which means you will learn them from the situation in which they were used. That helps so much to learn the vocabulary in an easy way.
- Watching a movie that captivates you and gets you excited can be a powerful motivator for improving your English skills. Find a movie that you love and that is suitable for your current English level.
- Don’t watch the movies with the translated subtitles. It won’t help you immerse yourself in English.
- Note down the words that you encounter repeatedly while watching movies.
- Mimic the phrases that characters use in movies. This will help you learn the phrases and will improve your accent and pronunciation.
- Talk to yourself about the movie scene and predict what will happen next. This will help you practice English while watching movies.
- Act out the scenes and copy the dialogue with the same tone. Not only will it be a great way to practice English, but you'll also reinforce new words and phrases you've learned.
Final words:
I hope my experience will make your learning journey easier. Your feedback is necessary. Give your feedback or comment down below about what methods you use to learn English from movies.
You like reading novels in English as well, right? Read my other post on 5 classic books that will teach you English as a beginner.
References:
- StoryLearning. (n.d.). StoryLearning: Learn languages through stories. https://storylearning.com/
- Cambridge Assessment English. (2019, October 17). The benefit of immersive language learning experiences and how to create them. Cambridge English. https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/blog/the-benefit-of-immersive-language-learning-experiences-and-how-to-create-them/
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