Why you CAN’T understand TV and movies without subtitles (and how to fix it)

You've been learning a language for a while.

You know a lot of vocabulary and most of the grammar.

But then when you try to watch your favourite films or series.

You can't understand much without subtitles.

Does this happen to you?

Don't worry about it.

I'm going to tell you how to fix this.

And how you can use it to your advantage.

To also improve your speaking.

Why is understanding TV shows and movies in a foreign language so difficult:

Native speakers talk fast and use connected speech.

This can make it hard for you to distinguish individual words.

They use slang, idioms, and informal expressions.

And different accents and dialects,

as well as cultural references specific to the country or region.

They can also use technical jargon from a specific niche.

The solution to all these problems is simple:

1. You need to acquire a lot more vocabulary.

2. You need a lot more native level listening practice.

How do you acquire more vocabulary?

By reading more and memorising more words with associations.

Read texts and memorise vocabulary related to the shows you're interested in.

Listening to podcasts by native speakers for native speakers is really important.

There is a huge gap in difficulty between language learning audio materials and the real life content native speakers watch or listen to for entertainment.

The best way to overcome this is by regular exposure to native speaker content.

If you like to watch sitcoms, listen to comedy podcasts and memorise vocabulary from the scripts.

If you like historical series, or shows about lawyers or hospitals.

Then read about those topics and memorise vocabulary from those texts.

Also listen to podcasts in the same accent as the people from the show.

Some shows, like Peaky Blinders, are notorious for having characters with very different regional accents.

Find some podcasts with hosts with similar accents, and listen to them regularly.

It is important to be ok with not understanding everything.

Don't stress about not understanding everything they say.

You can listen to the same episodes again and again.

You'll understand a lot more each time.

Remember that for any of this to work.

You need to know enough vocabulary.

If you don't know a lot of the words, you won't understand.

So memorise vocabulary with associations.

Focus on context specific vocabulary if you want to get better at understanding a particular film or TV series.

Learning kitchen utensils and colours from a language book won't help you much if you want to understand the Austrian painter's rant in Der Untergang.

BTW remember that I said earlier that this would improve your speaking as well?

Listening to native speaker podcasts regularly will improve your own accent.

You will also learn expressions that native speakers use.

Your comprehension being great will make conversations much easier.

Your confidence will grow because of this.

Doing a lot of listening with authentic materials is the best thing you can do to improve your speaking skills.

You just have to build he habit and keep doing it.

Remember that if you don't quit, you can't fail.