Streaming your way to success: Pros and cons of using audiovisual content as part of your language-learning journey

In this month’s translation industry updates we’ll be looking at one of the perennial hot topics for language learners: whether or not it’s possible to gain a good command of a language through using streaming services.

Here are some of the advantages:

Flexibility 

Many people, for a variety of reasons, might not necessarily feel at ease in a classroom setting or learn well through using conventional study materials, and depending on where you live and what language(s) you’re studying, you might struggle to find traditional resources to help you learn. Streaming services, on the other hand, are widely available in most places and tend to offer original content in a variety of languages, with different subtitling options. Subscribing to a streaming service is arguably also one of the most cost-effective ways of gaining exposure to a language, particularly if you already have a subscription for your own personal use. And since many series tend to run to multiple seasons, you’re guaranteed to have enough material to keep you going once you’ve hit on something you like.

Cultural exposure

Watching audiovisual content can help you to pick up on important non-verbal cues that are not really apparent in written materials. Over and above this, watching films or series from places where your target language is spoken can help you get a better feel for what life there is like. Obviously, not all televised content is an accurate reflection of reality, particularly in the case of genres like historical drama or science fiction, but in most cases even fictionalised output can give you a window into how people in other parts of the world think. Over and above this, if you’re studying a language because you’re passionate about a particular country or culture, watching series that are set there will inspire you and help keep you motivated.

Familiarity with everyday conversation

Most language textbooks and other traditional study resources tend to focus heavily on pragmatic tasks such as ordering food and drinks and getting around, but if you want to learn more conversational expressions then watching audiovisual content can help you. Soap operas tend to be quoted as the classic example of content that loosely reflects everyday life and repeatedly uses a lot of everyday colloquial vocabulary, so it might be helpful if you want to make friends in your new culture and talk about your personal life.

Enjoyment 

We tend to engage more with things we naturally appreciate and find interesting. If you enjoy what you’re watching, you’re more likely to be receptive to it and remember it. If you can get to the stage where you can understand enough to follow a plotline in a long-running series, even though reading subtitles, you’ll probably also be at the point where you’re watching for enjoyment as well as out of a sense of obligation. Watching a foreign-language series can often be much less daunting than finding time to sit down with textbooks and study. 

Having discussed some of the advantages of learning through streaming, here are some of the potential drawbacks, particularly in relation to using streaming as a standalone learning method.

Lack of interaction 

Gaining exposure to a language through streaming can help with passive comprehension but is likely to be less useful in helping learners to improve their active communication skills. Actually speaking with people in real-life settings (or even just in language-school settings) is hard to replicate, and this is something to consider if you’re learning your target language for practical purposes such as travel. Along with this comes the drawback of not having opportunities to receive feedback, nor anyone to consult with cultural or language-related questions. This might make it harder to interpret the more abstract elements of the series, such as humour, and also make it more difficult to understand register and appropriateness.

Limitations around which type of content is suitable as a learning tool 

It’s generally felt that when trying to learn a new language we tend to progress best when faced with content that gently stretches us without overwhelming us, which is one of the reasons why it’s often advised to watch relatively simple, repetitive content in other languages before later trying to progress to more complex and culturally-specific material. Children’s programmes and soap operas have both been widely cited as examples of shows which are relatively easy to follow due to their straightforward plotlines and repetitive nature. Unfortunately, this type of content is not necessarily appealing to everyone, particularly if you’re someone that’s not a big fan of watching televised content in general.

Lack of grammatical knowledge 

Watching streamed content can be a great way of gaining familiarity with new words in context and getting a feel for how real people speak. It can be less useful in terms of showcasing the structure of a language, which is probably what leads to the popularly-held belief that some basic grammar knowledge is invaluable to helping learners gain confidence in a new language and in their ability to use it autonomously. Other limitations can include only certain registers being used in a series, such as informal language only, and not every verb conjugation regularly being used, with a lot of dialogue-based content tending to focus most on “I” and “you” forms.

In conclusion, the general consensus seems to be that using audiovisual materials can be a useful way of supplementing learning, but is likely to work best for most people when combined with some element of traditional structured study. At the same time, the cultural advantages of watching series are hard to overstate, and this plus the fact that most people enjoy engaging with audiovisual content means that watching series can be an important point of the overall arsenal when learning a language. 

Lastly, some top tips if you do like to use streaming as part of your language-learning are as follows:

• Choose shows that are genuinely interesting to you and cover topics that you find relevant
• Consider rewatching content or watching content that is relatively repetitive
• “Actively” watching by pausing to look up words and repeat phrases is generally understood to be more effective than watching passively, although both can be helpful
• Reading episode guides or other synopses before or after watching can help make sure you’re keeping up with the overall plot development 
• Lastly, if you hit on a series that you like, consider joining online communities to discuss the series in its original language

Have you tried watching audiovisual content for language acquisition purposes, and if yes then how was your experience and would you recommend it? Do you have any other tips to add to our list?

Happy learning, and see you again for next month’s translation industry updates! 

Sources

Isabel Deibel | Duolingo blog

How to use movies and TV to practice your language

https://blog.duolingo.com/language-practice-with-tv-movies

(Also includes suggested series to watch in eight different languages)

The Language Formula

How To Learn A Language By Watching TV

https://www.thelanguageformula.com/articles/learn-language-by-watching-tv