ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

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mentecuerpo
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ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby mentecuerpo » Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:58 pm

Mentecuerpo: If I am learning a new language, why understanding movies is so hard when I can understand podcast or news?

ChatGPT: Understanding movies in a new language can be challenging for several reasons, even if you can understand podcasts or news in that language. Here are a few possible reasons:

Speaking speed: Movies typically have a faster speaking pace than news broadcasts or podcasts, and actors may use more informal or slang expressions, making it harder to keep up with the dialogue.

Idiomatic expressions: Movies often contain a lot of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms that may not be commonly used in news or podcasts. These expressions can be difficult to understand, especially for someone who is still learning the language.

Complex plot: Movies often have complex plots that can be hard to follow, even in your native language. This difficulty can be magnified when watching a movie in a new language, as you have to keep up with the dialogue while also trying to follow the plot.

Background noise: Movies often have background music and sound effects that can make it harder to hear the dialogue clearly, especially if you are not yet familiar with the language.

To improve your understanding of movies in a new language, you may want to start by watching movies with subtitles in that language, so you can read along with the dialogue while also hearing it. Additionally, you could try watching movies with simpler plots or ones that are geared towards language learners. With practice and exposure to the language, your comprehension will improve over time.

Mentecuerpo: But if I keep watching movies in a foreign language, will my comprehension improve over the time?

ChatGPT: Yes, watching movies in a foreign language can be an effective way to improve your comprehension over time. While it can be challenging at first, continued exposure to the language through movies can help you improve your listening skills, vocabulary, and grammar.

As you watch more movies in the foreign language, you will become more familiar with the rhythms and patterns of the language, making it easier to understand the dialogue. Additionally, you will begin to recognize common expressions, idioms, and slang, which will further improve your comprehension.

To make the most of watching movies in a foreign language, it's important to focus on both listening and reading. Start by watching movies with subtitles in your native language, so you can read along with the dialogue while also hearing it. Then, as you become more comfortable with the language, switch to subtitles in the foreign language, or turn them off altogether.

It's also helpful to watch movies that you are familiar with in your native language, as you will already know the plot and can focus more on the language itself. And don't be afraid to pause and rewind as needed to ensure you understand what's being said.

Overall, with consistent effort and exposure, watching movies in a foreign language can be a fun and effective way to improve your comprehension and fluency over time.

Mentecuerpo: I don't want to start speaking in a foreign language until I am able to understand at least 75% of films or movies on that language. Do you think this is a good approach to determine when it is time to start speaking in a foreign language? Once I have a solid comprehension and vocabulary in the target language.

ChatGPT: While watching films and improving your comprehension in a foreign language can be an important step towards speaking fluently, it's not necessarily the only or best way to determine when it's time to start speaking.

While it's true that having a solid comprehension and vocabulary in the target language can make speaking easier, speaking is a skill that involves many different factors beyond just understanding vocabulary and grammar. For example, speaking requires you to be able to think quickly, respond appropriately to social cues, and understand the nuances of the language.

Therefore, it's important to remember that speaking in a foreign language is a process that involves trial and error, and there's no need to wait until you understand 75% of films before starting to speak. In fact, speaking from the very beginning, even if it's just a few words or phrases, can be a great way to practice and improve your skills.

One approach to consider is to start speaking as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, regardless of how much you understand. Even if you make mistakes, this can be a valuable opportunity to practice and receive feedback, which can ultimately help you improve your comprehension and fluency.

Ultimately, the best approach will depend on your individual learning style and goals. The most important thing is to keep practicing and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, whether that means speaking, watching movies, or any other language learning activity.

Mentecuerpo: Yes, but trying to speak with a limited vocabulary and poor comprehension is challenging and frustrating. I have been on that road before. I think have a solid vocabulary base and good comprehension will certainly make speaking practice much easier, less frustrating and encouraging as well.

ChatGPT: Yes, you are absolutely right. Having a solid vocabulary and good comprehension in a foreign language can make speaking practice much easier and less frustrating. When you have a solid vocabulary base and good comprehension, you are able to express yourself more easily and understand the responses you receive from others.

Being able to understand films and other native content in the language is a great indicator that you have achieved a certain level of proficiency, and it's a good idea to work towards that level before jumping into speaking practice.

However, it's important to remember that speaking is an essential part of language learning, and it's important to start speaking practice as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, even if your vocabulary and comprehension are not perfect. Speaking practice is a valuable way to improve your fluency, pronunciation, and confidence, and it can help you identify areas where you need to improve your vocabulary and comprehension.

So, while having a solid vocabulary and good comprehension can make speaking practice easier, it's also important to start practicing speaking as soon as you can, even if you make mistakes or struggle at first. Over time, with consistent practice and exposure, you will continue to improve your language skills and become more confident and fluent.

Mentecuerpo: This is great, can you please give me a summary of this chat with key points including my preferences?

ChatGPT: Sure, here's a summary of our chat with key points based on your preferences:

You find it harder to understand movies in a foreign language compared to podcasts or news.
Watching movies in a foreign language can be an effective way to improve comprehension over time.
To make the most of watching movies in a foreign language, it's important to focus on both listening and reading, start with subtitles in your native language, then switch to subtitles in the foreign language or turn them off altogether.
Having a solid vocabulary and good comprehension can make speaking practice easier and less frustrating.
Starting to speak as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, even if your vocabulary and comprehension are not perfect, can also be a valuable way to improve your fluency, pronunciation, and confidence.
It's important to remember that speaking is an essential part of language learning, and it's important to practice speaking even if you are not yet completely comfortable.
Everyone's learning style and goals are different, so it's important to find the approach that works best for you.

THE END
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby Le Baron » Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:26 am

While it's true that having a solid comprehension and vocabulary in the target language can make speaking easier, speaking is a skill that involves many different factors beyond just understanding vocabulary and grammar. For example, speaking requires you to be able to think quickly, respond appropriately to social cues, and understand the nuances of the language.

Therefore, it's important to remember that speaking in a foreign language is a process that involves trial and error, and there's no need to wait until you understand 75% of films before starting to speak. In fact, speaking from the very beginning, even if it's just a few words or phrases, can be a great way to practice and improve your skills.


This is the best thing ChatGPT has said. I think it should be invited to become a member here.
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby rdearman » Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:01 am

Le Baron wrote:This is the best thing ChatGPT has said. I think it should be invited to become a member here

Given that the AI was trained on internet websites and extracted data from them, I would argue that it already is.
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby Crojo » Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:52 pm

What would happen if you asked the AI to teach you a language?
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby rdearman » Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:08 pm

Crojo wrote:What would happen if you asked the AI to teach you a language?

Tried that. It couldn't even come up with a consistent lesson plan. :lol:
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby Crojo » Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:49 am

rdearman wrote:
Crojo wrote:What would happen if you asked the AI to teach you a language?

Tried that. It couldn't even come up with a consistent lesson plan. :lol:


That's disappointing.

The more I learn about ChatGpt, the more I think it's a surface-level trick. It's impressive in its way, but there's a long way to go. I've seen some 'essays' that it's produced and while some are good, most are not great. They're almost exactly what I'd expect from a human who writes search results into 'full sentences' or who paraphrases readily-available material without adding their own analysis, criticism, evaluation, and synthesis.

I suppose that's either (1) what happens after several decades of the internet becoming a vehicle for selling stuff (2) a flaw in the AI, which it may or may not learn to overcome (with or without human input) or (3) a flaw in the way that humans are phrasing their questions.

The scary thing is that if the AI reads this and all the other criticism (positive and negative) that has recently bloomed across the internet, it'll very soon be able to offer what appears to be a reflective self criticism.
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby Cainntear » Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:41 am

ChatGPT is the sum of all human knowledge.

Wrong + wrong + wrong + wrong + right ~= wrong

If we put our trust in AI, we are putting our trust in received wisdom. In language learning in particular, there's a statistical predominance of theories that are older than me, because these are used as justification for bloggers who haven't actually studied linguistics or language teaching to spout off about language teaching as though they're experts. There's a real risk that ChatGPT will favour out of date materials over modern stuff just through statistical predominance. Any attempts to correct for that would only basically be to increase the value of recency, but then you're biasing the system to believe stuff that is truly new... and therefore probably wrong because good science can't exist independently of out-of-date science. ChatGPT has very little (if any) ability to evaluate logical reasoning, so can't be trusted on science.
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Re: ChatGPT: Why understanding movies is so hard for me?

Postby freakative » Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:25 pm

Crojo wrote:I suppose that's either (1) what happens after several decades of the internet becoming a vehicle for selling stuff (2) a flaw in the AI, which it may or may not learn to overcome (with or without human input) or (3) a flaw in the way that humans are phrasing their questions.


By definition, most of the content that you find on the internet on whatever topic is of average quality. Some of it is very good, some vey bad. LLM's are statistical machines. They take average, they spit out average. They make up sentences that would likely exist on the top of the Gauss curve.

Don't think of it like a super-intelligent human, but like 1.000.000 average-intelligent humans.
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