Netflix for French Learning

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Carmody
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Netflix for French Learning

Postby Carmody » Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:19 pm

We have just subscribed to Netflix and I definitely want to use it for my French. Can people make suggestions for the best way to use it?

Please note, I am B1 so I do have my limitations.

Thanks.
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Cerebral_Arbitrage
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Cerebral_Arbitrage » Sat Dec 25, 2021 3:08 pm

Hi Carmody, when I've searched under "Spanish audio," I've found an assortment of Spanish dubs that are easy to watch. I'm guessing the same would be true of French. That being said, other LLF-ers have shown me content that hasn't come up in any search. I'm sure others will respond with some good French shows soon. I love Netflix for Spanish learning! I hope you enjoy it too.
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby dgc1970 » Sat Dec 25, 2021 5:09 pm

Carmody wrote:We have just subscribed to Netflix and I definitely want to use it for my French. Can people make suggestions for the best way to use it?

Please note, I am B1 so I do have my limitations.

Thanks.


I'm sure you already know this resource but Language Reactor was made for this.
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Carmody
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Carmody » Sat Dec 25, 2021 6:30 pm

Most grateful for everyone's guidance; thank you however I enter Language Reactor into the Search and nothing comes up other than movies in English titles.
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Amandine » Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:24 pm

Language Reactor (used to be called Netflix for Language Learning) is a browser extension that allows you to have both English/French (or whatever language) subs on screen at the same time plus a bunch of other cool things to help with learning languages from Netflix shows. I personally prefer to just watch without all the fuss but its worth playing around with if you want to use Netflix to study more intensively.

The first thing I would do is set your language to French. If you don't want to do this on your main profile if other people will be using it, you can just create a second francophone profile. I have an "Amanda" and an "Amandine" profiles for this reason. The reason to do this is that it opens up the language options it will show you. It does not give you more actual shows and films than what is already available in your country (unlike, say using a VPN to access the actual Netflix in France), but for instance in my normal account I will often have default subtitle and audio options only for Traditional and Simplified Mandarin, Vietnamese and Italian. I'm in Australia so your defaults might vary but probably won't include French. In my French Amandine account however because I have my language set there if a show has French subtitles and dubs it will give me the option for them. It also makes all the titles and blurbs shown in French.

Then you can mix and match how you want to watch - French originals with english subs or French, English or other originals with French dubs etc. I've watched both Danish and Swedish series recently with the original Dan/Swe audio but French subtitles, and sometimes switching to the French dub of them with and without French subs to experiment with how much I understood. They also have "audio description" options which I have personally never used but I saw someone on here recently saying it was good. Of course as with all subtitles often the words and the subs do not match at all because they've been translated separately and Netlfix subtitles in general can have fluctuating quality (there was a mini controversy about this with Squid Game recently). Still, it is a great resource. The other good streaming service for French stuff is Disney + because it has such an enormous catalogue of very well known American films of the 70s/80s/90s with the French dubs available.

Then you just watch what you want in whatever combination of languages. Lupin is a fun place to start for French originals. I watched La Bazar de la Charité (The Bonfire of Destiny) recently which starts with a real historical event of a fire in Paris in the 19th C but then spins out into much more soapy plots. Hope that helps!
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Carmody
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Carmody » Sat Dec 25, 2021 9:03 pm

Amandine »

Thank you very much for taking so much time to explain it all to me. It looks as if there is lots to learn.
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sat Dec 25, 2021 11:29 pm

I would recommend finding a dubbed TV series to start with. Something you are familiar with so you can focus on listening and won’t get too lost when you don’t understand. (I watched 15 seasons of ER at this stage. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t understand a scene in ER.) Sitcoms work well too. You want a stable set of characters so you can get used to how they speak. Then turn the subs off and just start watching. You may understand very little at first. I promise it gets easier. Big bumps at 50 and 200 hours. You will understand French before you know it.
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Carmody
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Carmody » Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:10 am

You will understand French before you know it.
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby lusan » Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:27 am

Lawyer&Mom wrote:I would recommend finding a dubbed TV series to start with. Something you are familiar with so you can focus on listening and won’t get too lost when you don’t understand. (I watched 15 seasons of ER at this stage. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t understand a scene in ER.) Sitcoms work well too. You want a stable set of characters so you can get used to how they speak. Then turn the subs off and just start watching. You may understand very little at first. I promise it gets easier. Big bumps at 50 and 200 hours. You will understand French before you know it.


This is what I did for French. It works as you described. After 200-300 hours is done. Dubbed are easy, however native films are still difficult. I did all the episodes of Buffy the vampire killer; it took about 6 months. When I was supposed to move to native films, subito, I changed language into Italian and I stopped French. So... I missed the transition to native films.

However, I did it for dubbed Italian and now I moved to native Italian and I am happy. Now I home free with listening native material. Dubbed is a stepping stone to native material, in my opinion. Turning off the subs is Critical. Better to understand by listening a little without subs than understanding all by reading subs!

I am sure you can do it. It is not more than training to recognize words that you already know with all your reading experience. It takes time to develop this muscle.
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Lawyer&Mom
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Re: Netflix for French Learning

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:59 am

I 100% agree about no subs. We already know you know how to read French Carmody! Now you need to learn how to hear French. You can occasionally check your understanding of a crucial scene with the subs, but the default should absolutely be no subs.
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