Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

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DaraghM
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby DaraghM » Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:25 am

As previously mentioned, more exposure helps with understanding films and tv shows, but one thing I found really useful is to read film scripts (guiónes) in Spanish. You come across more idioms and idiomatic grammar constructions, as well as broken sentences, interjection styles, acting cues, and overlapping dialogue.

A sample of film scripts can be see here, http://www.berlangafilmmuseum.com/archivo/guiones/, to give you a feel for the contents.
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Jean-Luc
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby Jean-Luc » Wed Jan 30, 2019 10:16 am

You have to choose slow speaking ones and without too much slangs or "local expressions". Some apps do this job for you like FluentU or Yabla.
Last edited by Jean-Luc on Tue Feb 05, 2019 9:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby rdearman » Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:18 am

I would advise you to not watch films. They are only 90 minutes long and the situations they describe are only one time. I believe you are better off watching a television series. You'll get the same actors, with the same accent, in the same situation. I posted somewhere if you watch all the various Star Treks TV shows you'll get 400+ hours of exposure. If you're learning British English then you might prefer to watch soap operas like EastEnders, or Coronation Street. You can also watch things like The IT Crowd, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, The Great British Bake Off, The Inbetweeners, Misfits, and many more. There is a lot of great TV to watch and you'll soon pickup the words and the accents.

If you really want you can listen to Radio 4's The Archers, a radio (audio only) soap opera which began broadcasting in 1950, so there are almost 70 years of episodes to listen too. That should keep you going for awhile because at last count, it now has over 18,740 episodes to listen to.

EDIT: Dooh, wrong thread the OP is learning Spanish not English. I'm sure someone asked this question about English... I'm off to find that thread.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby Valddu » Thu Jan 31, 2019 4:52 am

reineke wrote:CEFR descriptors (Films and TV)

B1 With regards to broadcast media, B1 "can follow many films in which visuals and action carry much of the storyline, and which are delivered clearly in straightforward language.
Can catch the main points in TV programmes on familiar topics when the delivery is relatively slow and clear. Can understand a large part of many TV programmes on topics of personal interest such as interviews, short lectures, and news reports when the delivery is relatively slow and clear."

B2 "Can understand most TV news and current affairs programmes. Can understand documentaries, live interviews, talk shows, plays and the majority of films in standard dialect."

C1 can "follow films employing a considerable degree of slang and idiomatic usage". C1 can also "understand a wide range of recorded and broadcast audio material, including some non-standard usage, and identify finer points of detail including implicit attitudes and relationships between speakers" .

C2. "Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read.

Translated, dubbed fiction is generally easier to process than native shows. During translation a level of complexity is simply lost. Native fiction will likely feel more colloquial, slangy and slurred. Some simple sentences may be harder to catch due to ambient noise. L2 learners struggle to process speech in noisy environments. In dubbed TV shows much of the ambient noise is lost* and cartoon dubs sound extra clean in this respect.

*Guide to Postproduction for TV and Film: Managing the Process
By Barbara Clark, Susan Spohr


Wow, thanks for this. I never thought about the role of background noise, but I definitely could see how that could affect comprehension. One of the shows I’m watching now features numerous characters that not only use slang but talk over each other frequently—which almost never happens when I’m listening to a single speaker, or a interview, or any of the other types of native content I actually find comprehensible.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby javier_getafe » Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:17 pm

reineke wrote:CEFR descriptors (Films and TV)
B2 "Can understand most TV news and current affairs programmes. Can understand documentaries, live interviews, talk shows, plays and the majority of films in standard dialect."


:shock: :shock: Not for me unfortunately, despite I struggle every day to reach this point.

I'm certified B2 just in case you want to know.

I can understand Tv news and current affair programmes (the latter depends on participants), I can certainly also get some live interviews, talk shows, but not all of them (again it depends on the partipants accent), however, I'm afraid it is impossible for me to understand english films without captions.

Right now, I'm watching an amazing english serie, Broadchurch, watching the second season currently. Sometimes, I try to turn off the captions only to find out that it is impossible for me to follow the plot without them. Sometimes it's frustraiting.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:45 pm

javier_getafe wrote:
reineke wrote:CEFR descriptors (Films and TV)
B2 "Can understand most TV news and current affairs programmes. Can understand documentaries, live interviews, talk shows, plays and the majority of films in standard dialect."
Not for me unfortunately, despite I struggle every day to reach this point. I'm certified B2 just in case you want to know … Right now, I'm watching an amazing english serie, Broadchurch, watching the second season currently. Sometimes, I try to turn off the captions only to find out that it is impossible for me to follow the plot without them. Sometimes it's frustraiting.
My wife, who is a Québécoise and who is certified C2 in English, absolutely adores watching a number of British and Australian televised series including Broadchurch. However, she has difficulty understanding some of the characters primarily owing to their accents, not because of their idiomatic speech which, I must admit, can be a tad confusing at times. I suspect that you are experiencing a similar problem.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Thu Jan 31, 2019 5:52 pm

Broadchurch is amazing, and totally worth watching. But I’ve found that densely layered mysteries are not the easiest to follow in your target language. I have had more success with more episodic series. They can still talk really fast, but there is less intricate plot to follow. Or just embrace not not following the plot as you watch, then read a recap of the episode afterwards to catch what you missed.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby javier_getafe » Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:26 pm

Speakeasy wrote:My wife, who is a Québécoise and who is certified C2 in English, absolutely adores watching a number of British and Australian televised series including Broadchurch. However, she has difficulty understanding some of the characters primarily owing to their accents, not because of their idiomatic speech which, I must admit, can be a tad confusing at times. I suspect that you are experiencing a similar problem.


Maybe! The accent of both detectives are very hard to understand, sometimes even with captions. But, that your wife has difficulty with a C2 level encourage me!! :D

Lawyer&Mom wrote:Broadchurch is amazing, and totally worth watching. But I’ve found that densely layered mysteries are not the easiest to follow in your target language. I have had more success with more episodic series. They can still talk really fast, but there is less intricate plot to follow. Or just embrace not not following the plot as you watch, then read a recap of the episode afterwards to catch what you missed.


You are right. It is hard to follow because you need to comprehend everything. The most of the times it is not a matter to recap when I am able to understand nothing without subtitles. :oops:
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby rdearman » Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:45 pm

Scottish accents are hard even for Native English speakers. I know in America they put sub-titles on for Susan Boyle, the Britain's Got Talent star, was given subtitles during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
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Re: Why are movies and TV shows so difficult to understand?

Postby lichtrausch » Thu Jan 31, 2019 9:14 pm

As a native English speaker, I probably miss about 5% of the dialogue in an average Game of Thrones episode due to British regional accents / mumbling / background noise. I struggle to understand English spoken to me in loud clubs and bars. In other words, some of the listening comprehension standards for L2 speakers are unreasonable.
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