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Can Movies Help Me Learn English?

Learning a language doesn’t always have to happen in a classroom with a teacher who probably doesn’t speak it well anyway. A beautiful thing about learning languages is that it can happen ANYWHERE — it can happen in the classroom, at home, at a friend’s house, at a restaurant, and especially in another country.

Most of the language-learning magic happens outside the classroom, rather than in it. For some people, they learn English best by listening to songs sung in English, and for others, they learn better by watching TV programs. Let’s talk about this! You may be surprised that movies/films can help you learn English. You’ll learn what and how words are used (vocabulary), how they’re pronounced, and how they are used in conversations (speaking and listening).

Connection, Not Perfection!

English learners often forget that they don’t have to know perfect English to communicate with native speakers. If you’re waiting for your English to be perfect before you start using it with native speakers, then you’re going to be waiting a very long time before that happens! My advice:

Just speak it!

Just speak English using the words you already know, and the rest will come later, and you’ll be surprised how well you can communicate using what you know.

With that being said, let’s talk about the Top 10 Movies For Learning English!

WHAT ARE THE TOP MOVIES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH?

And how do you choose a good movie to help you improve English skills? Watch this video lesson to find out!

When I was learning Spanish, I watched every Spanish movie I could get my hands on, and it helped my listening skills, vocabulary, and pronunciation — a lot!

Movies can help you learn fluent English because they show you natural language and real culture. They give you something fun to talk about with an English speaking partner, too!

Top 10 Movies for Learning English:
1. Forrest Gump
2. The King’s Speech
3. The Break-up
4. The Hangover
5. 500 Days of Summer
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Castaway
8. Toy Story
9. The Hunger Games
10. The Social Network

Have you seen any of these movies? You can also watch any English movie you want (it doesn’t have to be from this list), but remember to watch a movie that is interesting to you! It’s great to watch movies to learn English, but if you’re watching a movie that is slow or boring, then learning English this way might be more of a challenge, so always choose a movie you like!

Movies From A Specific Country

Another important thing to remember is what dialect of English do you want to learn? Do you want to learn American English (hello), or do you want to learn British English (ello, guvnah)?

While the USA and the UK are English-speaking countries, the English language that is spoken can be different. What are some examples of the differences?

• Pronunciation (listen to how Americans and British pronounce water).

• Slang words (each country uses very different slang).

• Vocabulary (the word chips has a very different meaning in US English than in UK English).

So, it’s a good idea to know what dialect of the English language you want to learn. Is it American English, British English? Australian English? Canadian English? So many choices!

Subtitles?

Depending on your level of English, then using subtitles may or may not be a great idea. Subtitles are great to help you connect the words that are being spoken to the words you see on the screen. If you’re a beginner or someone who wants to improve their listening skills, then you should use subtitles when you’re watching it for the first time so you can understand what the movie is about.

And then, watch it again without subtitles, and pay close attention to the words you’re hearing. Easy, right?

These movies will help you a lot with your listening and speaking! If you watch any of these movies, then let me know what your opinion is! Did you like it, or did you not like it?

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