Foreign films can be your friend

So chances are you are taking some course on a certain language you would like to master and how you know it is, they teach you the grammar structures and pretty only the formal way of talking.  Yea you would know if took a spanish or french class while you were in school.  But don’t just stop there, there are many other ways of bettering your speaking skills, how about next time you rent out a movie for you and your family/girl friend and instead of renting out the typical blockbuster hit why not try out a foreign movie?

Just make sure it to your taste and you may be presently surprised on the hidden gems out there due to lack of attention in the US.  Take Cidade de Deus (City of God) for example.  Now why should you seek out foreign films?  Well one thing for the subtitles and/or the dubbing.  What better way to learn more about spanish, portuguese or whatever you choose to learn than the actors performing in their native language.

Using the subtitles to spot the spelling and how the words form together while set dubbed to english or do it vice verse, listen to pronunciation for the words while you follow along reading the enlgish text.  Maybe the translation isn’t word for word but is one thing they don’t teach about in the classrooms.  THE IDIOMS… very important to know about the idioms about the language and watching foreign films is the way to do it although sometimes on in while there are unnecessary mistranslation to appear.

So instead of rehearsing the same generic “where is the libary aunt gloria?” cliche lines they give out there learn to embrace the concept of watching foreign films as their actors engage in natural dialogues (unless they are bad actors) with the flow and style you should hear if you visited their country.  That is simply something you can’t seem to duplicate while practicing conversing with other students also having the same troubles while in class.

Also try logging on youtube or other video sites by using foreign words as tags to your search to view the locals with their videos spoken in their language or how about visiting foreign network social sites or forums where they discuss their issues.  This is the internet age and live in the information age so take the the information on learning a new language but algo keep in mind web 2.0 where the internet also is socialized so you can see the discussion flow of the language on discussion forums and youtube has I just said.

Note that if you should at least have the basic grip of the language if you search for foreign spoken video submissions since they don’t provide subtitles.