Watching english films

Guest   Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:15 pm GMT
zod: we talked over his language methods. He did not use dictionary at all while listening, it takes away all the fun from him. He figures out the meaning of many unknown words from context and visual scenes were a great help. Initially, it was all gibberish, each passing day his ears started decoding more and more sentences. I am not sure how much reading helped him listen well where he had spent 30 minutes or so on a regular basis. Normally, newspaper articles because they are short in length and you get to know the conclusion of a story quickly unlike books and novels. Also, he reads those articles out loud. I must say that his English is formal and devoid of slang and informal terms. When you listen him to speak he comes across as a person who is a politician or president of a company. He uses the dictionary only if he can not figure out the meaning of a word from context after trying many attempts. It is boil down to a must case scenario for looking it up otherwise he doesn't use the dictionary vigorously. It is all about keeping things in your mind.

Nope. He never took ESL classes. Yup, he did self study in the form of watching BBC channel or in more free time he watched a movie here and there just for fun. He says to me that for learning a language you must pursue your interests. You absorb the language effortlessly in this way. Before watching BBC/reading news articles - he was restricted to only greetings.


In addition to that, his older brother is a writer for a local English newspaper. I am not sure how much that helps him. He says to me that he talks with him in English when they are in a mood to do so otherwise they speak most of the time in their native language at home.

His fluency is awesome but his vocabulary is not that of an educated person yet he is very fluent like one. He uses those words that are common in the various newspapers but doesnt use those that people encounter in novels or more highbrow stuff.
ummm, erm   Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:25 pm GMT
You're right :)