Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever tried watching a movie or TV show
in English but you don't understand what is happening and
you find it really frustrating, And I imagine you really
wish you could just sit down watch a TV show
in English and firstly understand everything, but also just sit
(00:24):
there and enjoy it. If this is you, if you
have felt frustrated when watching TV in English, this episode
is really going to help you. So it's going to
give you the tools and the knowledge and resources that
you need in order to enjoy watching TV in English
(00:47):
and also in order to learn English through TV. So
this is fun, it's practical, and it's effective whether you're
watching TV for enjoyment or for serious life learning. And
at the end of the episode, I have a question
for you that I really want you to answer because
it's going to help you and it's going to help
(01:09):
other learners too. The first section of this podcast episode,
it's all about finding the right TV shows and movies. Now,
this is super important because the main idea is this,
if the TV show that you're watching is too difficult,
(01:30):
you won't learn much. And also if it's too difficult,
you're going to feel bad about your English learning. And
you won't learn the English you need to know. Here
are some common problems that a lot of learners face.
They say things like, I watch TV shows but I
only understand a tiny bit of what they say, or
(01:52):
the fast conversations and the slang make it impossible to
follow the story. What's interesting in is this English native
speakers and people who have a high level also sometimes
find it difficult to understand what they're watching. A very
common example is this. Imagine an American person and they
(02:16):
watch a TV show that comes from the UK. A
lot of the time, the references, the humor, the slang,
even just the basic language is difficult for them to understand.
So a common issue is or something that is going
to help you with your mentality is knowing that this
(02:38):
happens to everyone as well. There are TV shows I
watch and I don't understand what they're saying. For example,
I've watched the show Severance and sometimes I rewind it
to try and understand what was said. Because the dialogue
is low, you don't always hear what they're saying, or
what they're saying is quite complex, and the issue is
(03:01):
if the TV show is too difficult. Like I said before,
you won't want to keep watching. It just doesn't feel
good If you don't understand what's happening. You think, oh,
my English is terrible. I can't understand everything. But be
honest with yourself with the level you're at, so that
you can find those TV shows that are really going
(03:21):
to benefit you. Now you might be asking, well, how
do I do that? Which TV shows should I watch? Well,
it's important to think about it this way. Watch something
that you can more or less understand, no matter what
that is. So, for example, you might watch something that
you've already seen in your native language. If you've already
(03:44):
seen a TV show in your native language, you understand
what's happening, the context, what people say, what the characters
are like, and if you already know the story, it's
a lot easier to follow in English. Maybe it's based
on a book that you've read as well. And then
you can also think about choosing TV shows that are
(04:06):
quite simple in the dialogue and they're not too complex.
You might also think about watching TV shows made for
younger audiences as well, because most of the family friendly
shows have clearer pronunciation and simpler vocabulary, but they also
use every day English, so you can learn English too.
(04:29):
The TV show that people always talk about is Friends,
Friends with Rass and Rachel and everyone else. This has
every day English and casual conversations. And also another one
is The Simpsons, which is a fun way to learn
slang and culture, and it also has every day English
(04:51):
in there too. And I'll leave a link to an
article that talks about the different TV shows that are
good for English learners, so you can start now. Before
we talk about a really powerful method that will help
you improve your speaking and you're listening, let's talk about subtitles,
(05:11):
because a lot of learners ask should I use subtitles
when watching English TV? The answer is yes, but there
are ways to do this. The research says, from what
I have seen, that turning on English subtitles improves comprehension, listening,
and vocabulary learning. So there was a study done that
(05:34):
showed that this improves all of these areas because when
you read and hear the words at the same time,
your brain processes them better. Now, I also made a
video on how to read for fluency, and I'll leave
a link to that in the description, where I talk
about a reading method and how you can read and
(05:54):
listen at the same time. This is similar here you're
turning on subtitles and you're reading and listen. So the
best way to use subtitles here is to start with
the English subtitles because your brain connects the words you
hear with the words you see. And then what you
can do is watch the episode again and then take
the subtitles away. So maybe you repeat the episode twice,
(06:18):
the first time with subtitles and the second time without subtitles.
And also do you turn on subtitles in your own
language now? In section four, we'll also talk about what
you can do with these subtitles to learn English. Many
years ago, I came across a blog where somebody talked
(06:39):
about how they learned a language to a high level
by repeating after people on TV. Okay, and that's what
we're going to talk about next, because listening to real
spoken English is hard, and native speakers talk fast. They
use slang, and they connect words together, so they might
(07:00):
say something like I really want to go now, I
really want to go now, where they're saying I really
want to go now, but it's quick and they're saying
I really want to go now now. One of the
best ways to train your listening. To train your ears
is to use the pause and repeat method, because when
(07:21):
you repeat something, you internalize it and you remember it
a lot better. Now, the method works like this. When
you're watching TV in English, watch a scene normally, So
watch the TV show normally, and then when you want
to do this, pause after someone has said something, repeat
(07:42):
what the actor has said, and then check your pronunciation. Now,
this last part, checking your pronunciation might mean recording yourself
and listening to yourself. Again, I think this step is optional.
Sometimes people can understand how they're saying something by just
listening themselves. But again, those steps are to pause after
(08:05):
a sentence and repeat what the actor has said. So
listen and repeat. This helps because it improves your pronunciation
by copying English speakers. It also helps you remember phrases
by saying them out loud, and it trains your brain
to understand English at full speed. And many professional actors
(08:27):
train their accents by listening to English speakers and repeating
exactly what they hear. Now. I have this method and
I talk about it a lot on this channel, but
I'll leave a link to the full method here in
the description on YouTube, or if you're listening on Apple
podcasts or Spotify or wherever you are. And that's a
(08:51):
good stage to say. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify,
then definitely search for to fluency on you YouTube. And if
you're watching on YouTube and you think, oh, I can
listen to a podcast, go to Apple or Spotify. So
give this a try. Repeat what you hear and let
(09:13):
me know how it goes. Okay, so far, we've talked
about how to find TV shows and movies that are
perfect for you. We've also talked about how to use
English subtitles, and we've just talked about the pause and
repeat method. Next, we're going to talk about the spaced
repetition software method for better memory before talking about something
(09:38):
that's really important as well. Now, watching TV can help
you learn new vocabulary. But sometimes you learn something and
then you think, oh, forgotten that. I've forgotten that that's
just gone out of my memory. But how can you
remember those words and phrases. Well, one of the most
powerful ways to do this is spaced repetition software, something
(10:01):
like ANKI. Now stay with me because this is important,
and also know there'll be a link to this method
in the description too. So what is spaced Repetition Software
or SRS. It's basically smart flash cards and instead of
(10:21):
repeating words randomly, repeating sentences randomly, SRS shows you words
right before you forget them in the most efficient way.
So we can use this method with learning English through TV.
By doing the following. We can find the transcript of
(10:43):
a TV show. So let's say you're watching Friends. Search
for Friends episode two, season one transcript. Find that transcript.
Then all of the sentences that you find useful, you
can add them to ankee and then you can review
them when you need to using this software. Now, this
(11:06):
is going to be really useful because instead of just
learning it and forgetting it, it gives you the ability
for software to do all of the work for you,
all you have to do is go into the software
and use it. So an example, in the TV show Friends,
(11:27):
someone might say I'd love to go to the boy
I'd love to go to the party. You can while
watching TV, pause it or after the episode, find the
transcript and find that sentence and then simply add it
to your flash cards and practice. Now you can also
(11:48):
add in the audio clip obviously from the episode. Is
difficult to do, but you can find it where it
automatically gives you the audio into the slash card. Now
step five. The next part of this episode is fun.
This is the fun part because let's say you think, okay,
(12:10):
I want to watch TV in English, but I don't
really want to do the listen and repeat method. I
don't want to take these flash cards. That's okay. Those
things are optional, and it depends how much you want
to specifically learn from those episodes versus just watching TV
for natural input. If this is you, this part is
(12:36):
really important. This part you're going to enjoy. So the
last step here is to do something called binge watching.
Binge watching and this just means watching lots of episodes
in a row. And this is actually really useful for
learning English because TV shows are competitive in their language.
(13:02):
Characters use the same expressions again and again. Going back
to Friends, Joey often says how you doing, how you're
doing over and over and over again. Characters use the
same vocabulary. Characters use the same type of accent as
well and speaking style. So when you binge watch these episodes,
(13:25):
you get used to the characters accents and you get
used to their speaking styles. This is important because that
makes it a lot easier to understand. And also you're
going to hear the same phrases again and again and
again so that they become more natural. The more you watch,
(13:45):
the easier it becomes. So binge watching is an important
part of this. This is the part where you're going
to get lots of natural repetition and it's how you're
going to start getting used to the way character speak
so you understand more and more. So, if this sounds
good for you, find TV shows that have lots of
(14:07):
seasons so that you can watch that show again and
again and again. And if you want to make it easier,
what's the show that you've already seen in your native language.
So if you've seen let's say, How I Met Your Mother,
which is a TV show in your native language, and
it has lots and lots of episodes, and you like it,
(14:29):
you enjoy it, then consider binge watching binge watching in English.
So my question for you is what TV show are
you going to watch next? Or what TV show have
you seen recently that you think is perfect for English learners?
Leave a comment below that's going to help other learners too,
(14:53):
and it gets you to practice your writing, gives you
writing practice, and also allows you to talk about your
favorite TV show. I'll leave links and notes in the
description so then you can get a summary of this
podcast episode and put it into practice. And then also
be sure to watch another episode or another video if
(15:16):
you're on YouTube, and continue learning with me. Thank you
for being here. Like the video, share it with a friend,
and subscribe if you need. Bye for now.