your opinion

qusyairi   Tuesday, December 16, 2003, 13:40 GMT
I need to do a reaseach of learning english by watching movies. so, I need some information about this issues. Whay is your opinion about learting english by watching movies?
Simon   Tuesday, December 16, 2003, 13:55 GMT
As long as the movies are in English, I can't see the harm.
dian   Friday, December 19, 2003, 08:42 GMT
This question should be answered by the non-native speakers. For the native speakers, they don't see why we need to see movie to learn English...:-).

I am also an English learner here. In my opinion, we can also learn English by watching English movies. May be we can rent a video, so that we can watch it again and again. Or, when we need a special attention to some part of the movies, we can stop it for awhile, and then continue it again.

I like to see a movie that has the subtitle in my own language.

In my country, we can rent a vcd. I am not sure in other country, whether they can rent or not. So that I don't have to buy a vcd to watch a movie. VCD is too expensive to buy.

Usually, I watch vcd from a notebook. I don't care about the quality of the picture, because I only need to hear the conversation. It is not my own notebook. As usual, I borrow from someone....

But, you can also learn English from learning BBC or VOA. I think it is useful.

I hope that this helps.
HongKonger   Friday, December 19, 2003, 19:16 GMT
Sorry for my bluntness, but I totally disagree with one of Dian's point.

We should really watch an English movie WITHOUT the subtitle in our own languages. However, it will be extremely helpful to have the subtitle in English. If the subtitle is in our own languages, we will just inevitably focus ourselves on the subtitle, without learning any English. And, sometimes, the translation is so bad, totally bending the true meaning of the sentences.

However, if the subtitle is in English, you can easily relate the actual words the actors are saying to the pronunciation. In case you find any new words to you, you can look it up in the dictionary ( you know the spelling from the subtitle).....so, I think it's more beneficial to have the subtitle in English.
Jaro   Friday, December 19, 2003, 19:31 GMT
I agree with Hongkonger, you shouldn't watch Inglish movies with subtitles in your native tongue.
Watch the film with Inglish subtitles firstly, look up any new words and then watch it again without subtitles.
Boy   Friday, December 19, 2003, 19:35 GMT
You should certainly watch English movies. In the beginning, you should not be worried about understanding everything that is being spoken. Keep concentrating at words. Also, you should keep a notebook next to you. Whenever you hear a strange word, jot it down on a sheet of paper. later look it up in a good dictionary. Any movie channels are good. Apart from watching movies, you ought to watch news channels as well. If you have any interest about science and mother nature, you should also watch Discovery and National Geographic channels. Regular listening will do a trick for improving your English. Apart from all this advice, try to read books, novels, and newspapers. Once your head is collecting more and more English inputs, you'll see that your mind will translate all thoughts into easy comprehension. Trust me, even your mind won't have to focus at each and every word to understand. It'll comprehend the whole idea in the form of chunks. The bottom line is to collect alot of inputs through listening and reading. You need to put efforts in. You need to be motivated enough to accomplish your goal that is learning the language. Sum it up, the more and more you expose yourself to the language with the help of every given resource, I bet you're going on the way of your goal.
wassabi   Friday, December 19, 2003, 23:31 GMT
i can't speak for myself, but my mom found it quite useful to help her accent and her vocab
dian   Monday, December 22, 2003, 04:04 GMT
I agree with Hongkonger that it is better to have an English subtitle when watching an English movie.

But, I think learning from the subtitle in your own language is not bad at all. Especially, in my country, I can't find any English movies that are subtitled in English. All of them are subtitled in my own language.That's why I try not to look at the translation too often, just hear the conversation.
Juan   Monday, December 22, 2003, 04:07 GMT
Radio is better I reckon. Its not visually distractive so you can concentrate more on the pronunciation.
dian   Tuesday, December 23, 2003, 03:44 GMT
Yes, we should also listen to the radio.

In my ears, there's a little differences between listening to the radio and watching movie. When I hear a news from the BBC, I can hear the news more clearly than watching a British movie. Hearing a conversation in an British movie is more difficult than in a Hollywood movie, but hearing the news from the BBC is easier than from VOA. I don't know why. I just feel that it's easier to listen to the BBC.