Brun Ugle wrote:It should also be noted that a certain tolerance for ambiguity is essential, especially if you don't have transcripts, subtitles or other "crutches." Since you will be watching a dubbed series which you presumably have seen before in English, that won't be such a problem. Your understanding will be helped along by your having seen the show before and remembering what happens. In my case, after having worked through courses for a while, and having watched a telenovela for learners and a sit-com for learners, I decided to dive headfirst into a native telenovela with no subtitles. So I had to tolerate not understanding everything. I could see from the action what was happening, but sometimes I had missed some dialogue that was essential to understanding why it was happening. I had to accept just getting the gist of things. For example, I knew they were pulling some shady deal with the company, but I didn't understand all the ins and outs of the deal. Still, all I had to know to enjoy the story was that they were up to something fishy with the company and were in big trouble financially. If you worry too much about understanding all the details, you'll find yourself constantly frustrated.
I agree wholeheartedly! What I was talking about is how to train listening when aids to comprehension are available and wanted. Video helps fill in a lot of gaps that cna't be filled with just audio. Also, with a popular series, especially a dubbed one, episode synopses can often be found online that, in addition to video clues, can help a lot with comprehension.
mjd550 wrote:The transcript idea is good, I'll try and find some for a drama.
You probably won't find a transcript. The next best thing is to download a subtitle file and open it in notepad. Subtitles can be found in several places online. One site is opensubtitles.org. Take care and usual precautions when downloading. A subtitle file is small, usually under 100kb and never an exe file but usually zipped.