i like to watch friends, it is funny and interesting...
our teacher told us that we can learn english in it, but sometimes i found it difficult to understand without chinese subtiltle. i think it is because the culture difference...so i was wondering does watch english series really helpful in learning english?
Yeah, I think it's a good idea. You already said that you enjoy the show and it's a good way to listen to and learn colloquial speech. Use the subtitles if you need to. That's an easy way to associate sounds with words and learn the proper pronunciation.
thax for ur reply...but sometime i feel like im reading the subtitle all the time...do i have to but a book of colloquial language?
to mjd,
I want to ask you about the sentence you wrote above:
"You already said that you enjoy the show and it's a good way to listen to and learn colloquial speech"
You use 'said' for say, but why don't you use 'enjoyed' and 'it was' for it's? So that, the sentence will look like this:
"You already said that you enjoyed the show and it was a good way to listen to and learn colloquial speech"
If you are Chinese, buy the Friends DVD box set with English subtitles.
Despite the silly content of the conversation of 'friends', you can catch some idioms used daily by Americans.
dian,
I was stating what she "said" in the post above, thus I used the word "said." I didn't use "it was" because I was talking in the present. Watching sitcoms is a good way to learn idioms (this is in the present tense).
Oh, I haven't watched Friends for a long time. Do they still have it on TV now?
I must hold some kind of record for seeing episodes of Friends dubbed into various languages / dialects ! It seems to exist in EVERY country in the world.. incredible.
They have it dubbed into different languages? Wow...I didn't know that. What languages do they have?
Watching English language TV and movies is a good way to learn. Try not to rely on the subtitles too much but don't worry about being too strict on yourself: enjoy the show, you learn best when you're enjoying it.
Whether "Friends" in particular is a good show for learning English or whether something else would be better is really up to you. Choose something that suits your taste. "Friends" doesn't suit mine but I'm not you.
I have to warn you, though, to be careful of "Friends" the characters are very childish so might tend to use childish language. I don't think that this is just my opinion, others agree. Apparently this is meant to be part of the humour. I just don't find it funny; silly, yes, but not funny. Anyway, each to their own; you, enjoy the show.
dian & mjd,
Some of those who write grammar books might say it should have been "You already said that you enjoyed the show and it was a good way to listen to and learn colloquial speech." This is what I'd have written but perhaps it's not a good idea to get too hung up on grammar.
Jim,
Maybe you guys are right. The only reason I wrote it as I did was because I was trying to convey that she enjoys the show and it is a good way to learn grammar.
I guess what I wrote might be grammatically incorrect, but to say "enjoyed" seems to imply that she enjoyed the show and it's no longer on. The show is on the air and she watches it regularly, so I'd say she's still enjoying it. In addition, watching sitcoms is a good way to study idiomatic speech. To say "was" makes it seem like it no longer is.
Yeah, I forgot about that, mjd. If you wrote "enjoyed", seems that it happened the past, and she is no longer enjoying the show.
That's the impression that you could get; of course, if you were some kind of grammar buff, you wouldn't get this impression, but we're not all grammrians. I don't get the impression that "it happened the past, and she is no longer enjoying the show." but I can easily understand how one could get that impression. Can you really say "Such and such is grammatically correct and so and so isn't."?
Still, some of those who write the grammar books might say that if you wanted to say it happened the past then the sentence would become "You already said that you had enjoyed the show and it had been a good way to listen to and learn colloquial speech." This is how I'd put it but maybe that's just me (and a bunch of others who fuss about grammar).
Because I am not a native speaker, I am still confused. Which format should I use? For me, I tend to use "You already said...." because of grammatical reason. But, because you are a native speaker you feel that you can write or say in different way without having to follow a rule written in a grammar book.
Jim, mjd, which one is correct?