Learning English with movies and series

Using series and movies to learn a language is a method that has many advantages. They are a fun way to learn English when you are too tired to do anything else. They can, also, give a cultural insight so you´ll be able to understand the culture and history of the country. Thanks to the new technologies we have a great variety of audiovisual elements and possibilities of interaction with them.

Some advantages of this method are, among others, that you can learn real English, the kind that native people actually speak. The English spoken in movies is very natural and use some colloquial expressions that aren´t found in textbooks.

You can hear how words are pronounced which is a very interesting and important thing to learn because it allows you to better communicate with native speakers and to improve your English level. Also, you can understand how words are said, taking into account the tone of voice, so you will be able to know what the person who is talking wants to express, further than just paying attention to the words. This is an advantage that we don´t have if we want to learn this by reading (which doesn´t mean that reading is not a good method, on the contrary, since it helps us with vocabulary, spelling and syntax) because reading doesn´t allow us to observe the characters or interpret their expressions.

Movies and series can give an idea of the context in which the words that you have just been learning are used. This is an advantage in relation to learning from vocabulary lists, which is very common, for example, in schools. It´s obvious that knowing the meaning of the words is essential but knowing where and when to use them is important too, as well as the different meanings they acquire according to the context in which they are used.

The last advantage that we are going to comment is the possibility of turning on or off the subtitles during the visualization of the movie or series that we choose. Although many people recommend seeing them without any subtitles, this can be challenging at the beginning so I think that maybe they can be gradually turned off. For example, at first, you can have them in Spanish and, as you improve, they can be switched to English and then, finally, you can turn them off completely. Perhaps it would also be a good idea to watch easy movies and series, and the ones that matches with your current English level so it´s not too complicated when you start. You can even watch films in English that you have already seen in Spanish first. On the other hand, the subtitles may present the problem of reliability depending on who make them since not always are experienced translators who carry out this work.

For all the previous advantages I think that series and films constitute a good way of learning without this supposing to take away importance to the other methodologies.