Through the years I've seen remarks on the difficulty between the two. People argue that TV series are, since they are longer than movies as a whole, can be adapted to over time in terms of speech and register. Then some people would mention how movies are difficult because of the opposite - you have less time to get used to accents and speech, and there is an "anything" goes in that any topic can come up at any time that may or may not relate to the plot. There is also a higher chance of odd or made up words being included.
What do you guys think? Is there a difference between a rom com film and a gritty police TV series? Is there a point when one can reach peak comprehension once they can fully understand one or the other? Are movies and comedy specials on the same level as far as difficulty?
In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
I don't think there is. English is English, it doesn't matter if it's a TV show or a movie. For example, as a TV show, Modern Family sometimes can have witty lines that make you think for a second. The same goes for some movies. So it's totally up to the screenwriters, not the concept of the video.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
I think it depends on movies and TV series. Big-budget movies and TV series might have better sound quality, which would make them easier to understand, except of course if they also use that big budget to add music and sound effects over the voices. Comedy TV series might be harder to understand because they add laughter in the background or use a lot of slang words.
From my experience, dubbed movies are ofter easier to understand than those you watch in their original language. The pronunciation is often clearer and they use fewer slang words.
From my experience, dubbed movies are ofter easier to understand than those you watch in their original language. The pronunciation is often clearer and they use fewer slang words.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
I find that tv series tend to have clearer pronunciation, in movies the speech is more slurred.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
The biggest difference, I believe, is when training listening. I agree with the OP. A series has a certain predictability and rhythm that a film tends to lack. There's more of a chance to get used to the actor's voices, accents and speech patterns. When first trying a film or a series in the training listening stage, a learner may have the same comprehension issues with both. A series may go on for over a hundred hours while a film usually ends in under two hours. So, there simply isn't anywhere near enough time to get used to the actors before the film is over and it's on to the next one.
Cinema has always been considered an art form. Whereas television has often been considered to be "low brow" entertainment for the masses, not worthy of similar appreciation. To me, good storytelling is worthy whether it happens on a small screen or at the cinema. There is a lot of dross in television and, yes, there is also low quality cinema too. The opposite is also true. There is a lot of good television out there to be found. For language-learners, especially those who want to train listening, the framework and nature of a series, to me, is more conducive to that task than trying to accomplish the same results with cinema. With a series there's the ability to get used to the actors' voices. Situations repeat. The characters' actions and reactions are more predictable. The small-screen focus allows for more visual clues.
I know for those who want to learn a language that has a reputation for great cinema, like French for example, one of the attractions is to be able to watch those films in the original language. Why would you want to watch a dubbed series of dubious artistic value like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when you can watch films by Luc Besson or Agnès Varda? With a series, training listening is easier for all of the reasons I've cited. Plus, with a dubbed series there's a greater chance of familiarity from L1- somewhat analogous to using a translated novel as an introduction to reading.
After listening is trained sufficiently, I have no problem enjoying films. At least this is my observation and experience. I wish I had a series available for my smaller languages, I don't even have films for most of them. It comes with the territory, sigh.
Cinema has always been considered an art form. Whereas television has often been considered to be "low brow" entertainment for the masses, not worthy of similar appreciation. To me, good storytelling is worthy whether it happens on a small screen or at the cinema. There is a lot of dross in television and, yes, there is also low quality cinema too. The opposite is also true. There is a lot of good television out there to be found. For language-learners, especially those who want to train listening, the framework and nature of a series, to me, is more conducive to that task than trying to accomplish the same results with cinema. With a series there's the ability to get used to the actors' voices. Situations repeat. The characters' actions and reactions are more predictable. The small-screen focus allows for more visual clues.
I know for those who want to learn a language that has a reputation for great cinema, like French for example, one of the attractions is to be able to watch those films in the original language. Why would you want to watch a dubbed series of dubious artistic value like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when you can watch films by Luc Besson or Agnès Varda? With a series, training listening is easier for all of the reasons I've cited. Plus, with a dubbed series there's a greater chance of familiarity from L1- somewhat analogous to using a translated novel as an introduction to reading.
After listening is trained sufficiently, I have no problem enjoying films. At least this is my observation and experience. I wish I had a series available for my smaller languages, I don't even have films for most of them. It comes with the territory, sigh.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
iguanamon wrote:The biggest difference, I believe, is when training listening. I agree with the OP. A series has a certain predictability and rhythm that a film tends to lack. There's more of a chance to get used to the actor's voices, accents and speech patterns. When first trying a film or a series in the training listening stage, a learner may have the same comprehension issues with both. A series may go on for over a hundred hours while a film usually ends in under two hours. So, there simply isn't anywhere near enough time to get used to the actors before the film is over and it's on to the next one.
That's my view too.
But on top of that, writing for TV and writing for cinema are different disciples. A well-written film has no superfluous dialogue, and you've got to understand pretty much everything to understand the film. TV writing has deliberately superfluous language, as there's not guarantee a viewer will have seen the whole series, or even just the start of the current episode. Things happened two week ago that you need to be reminded of in order to understand what happens next. So there are constant repetitions, recapitulations and hints.
Also, cinema tends to reserve repetition for significant lines only (eg. at the end, the good guy quotes the bad guy's own words from the start of the film when he has won/is about to win) whereas in TV, repetition is frequently used as a means of establishing a character.
TV's just all round better for the learner.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
Since I am among those pointing out these differences, I would like to add that the difference is always mentioned in relation with the learner point of view, it is not an attempt to generally say either one or the other is linguistically inferior or superior.
Of course the genre and the particular example matters more than just tvseries/movie distinction.
And yes, there is a "peak" comprehension point, even though I wouldn't use the term, at which you can understand both even having used just one of the types of resources. I generally find tv series sufficient to teach me to understand all the other kinds of spoken resources (natives in real life, radio, tv discussions, movies, everything), the "peak" just comes after a much bigger amount of listening time than people usually expect.
Of course the genre and the particular example matters more than just tvseries/movie distinction.
And yes, there is a "peak" comprehension point, even though I wouldn't use the term, at which you can understand both even having used just one of the types of resources. I generally find tv series sufficient to teach me to understand all the other kinds of spoken resources (natives in real life, radio, tv discussions, movies, everything), the "peak" just comes after a much bigger amount of listening time than people usually expect.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
Yes, there is.
A series or a soap that runs for months or years affords its scriptwriters a more chilled attitude.
The scriptwriter of a movie has just 2 hours to show the world and the award committees how clever he or she is.
A series or a soap that runs for months or years affords its scriptwriters a more chilled attitude.
The scriptwriter of a movie has just 2 hours to show the world and the award committees how clever he or she is.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
However the gap between films and good TV has certainly narrowed. In the past TV used to be thought of as a place were once-famous film actors went when they were washed-up. Now you can get Hollywood stars to be in a BBC TV series. The production values are much higher and in some cases equal. Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire or any current series of that calibre is like a very long film. And the scripts are not much different than a film script.
The division I would make is between that sort of television and cheapo TV. There's an argument that you could become accustomed to the way people speak in a series, but that has a limit as you become accustomed to a small pool. Watching film after film is like when you meet different people in real life speaking in different ways and different registers. Depending where you are in a language, both have advantages.
In general I think it's better to watch factual programmes where people tend to speak normally. In films people tend not to speak very normally because they are delivering a performance. So you get slang and fast speech and mumbling and poetry and speeches. Plus that thing where everyone is having very quick conversational to-and-fro, but where no-one is tongue-tied and everyone has a plentiful supply of well-honed phrases. Or all talking at once.
The division I would make is between that sort of television and cheapo TV. There's an argument that you could become accustomed to the way people speak in a series, but that has a limit as you become accustomed to a small pool. Watching film after film is like when you meet different people in real life speaking in different ways and different registers. Depending where you are in a language, both have advantages.
In general I think it's better to watch factual programmes where people tend to speak normally. In films people tend not to speak very normally because they are delivering a performance. So you get slang and fast speech and mumbling and poetry and speeches. Plus that thing where everyone is having very quick conversational to-and-fro, but where no-one is tongue-tied and everyone has a plentiful supply of well-honed phrases. Or all talking at once.
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Re: In your opinion, is there a difference in difficulty between TV series and movies?
I think my answer kind of depends on the language. I have no problems with any of the Brazilian series or films I've watched, but French I much prefer TV series. I don't know if I have the worst luck at picking them, or if there's some sort of law banning good microphone placement, but I find French media full of whispers that hardly let me hear the dialogue. Some films are better than others, but TV shows have been pretty mumbly 9/10 times for me. At least in a series, I can get used to the mumbles and whispers, though.
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