PeterMollenburg wrote:...My original listening block of study included a month or two of Yabla then Buffy transcripts etc. I cut it back to just Buffy and only as a reference when failing to follow the dialogue in order that I, theoretically, would basically be watching it extensively after hopefully not too long a time. I have the series, I bought it for that purpose (to refer to the accurate transcripts), might as well make use of it, is what I"ve been thinking, and it's likely to help me hone in on my hearing abilities. As I can follow some series reasonably well already without transcripts, I'd imagine it shouldn't be too long before I'm following rather well. I'll proceed onto other content incrementally (again in theory) aiming to increase the difficulty of each series. I think Kaamelott (not sure I spelled it correctly). Thoughts? (anyone)
When doing a first series, it's about the cumulative effect. Watching just a few episodes just won't allow that cumulative effect to happen. When I worked with my first Portuguese series, I'd watch and take notes in my own shorthand. I'd write down unknown vocabulary/idioms/grammatical constructions and investigate them myself/discuss with my tutor. I'd summarize what went on in the episode with my tutor. Without a tutor, the transcript can be used as your answer guide. You could post your writing online to a forum in French for feedback or even in your log here. Over 50-100 episodes, comprehension becomes significantly better. Absorption/comprehension of natural speech patterns/conversational vocabulary becomes more automatic as a benefit. It's a cumulative effect over those 50-100 episodes.
A dubbed series has advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, a dub is not native speech or culture which is a disadvantage. The advantage is in having possibly more engaging and familiar content to enjoy and use. If you've already watched every episode of a series and can "name that tune in five notes" spout dialog in L1 with just a few cues, then it becomes easier to understand what's being said in L2 and your mind can "fill in the blanks" more easily. Dubbed series can be a bridge to truly native content. They can also be a way to utilize time already spent on L1 with L2.
I watched all of Westworld 1 and 2 in Portuguese and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've watched most of the Walking Dead in Portuguese after watching in English... sometimes without watching in English. I've read TWD comics in Portuguese without resorting to English. I've enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes collections in Portuguese too. I have also enjoyed plenty of native series and literature and continue to do so. Dubs/translations also have their place and can be quite useful as a component of engaging with TL consumption. The original can be referenced. Popular dubbed and translated series/books will have online reviews/synopses/analyses/youtube video discussions/forums. The Haitian Creole Bible chapter study has been huge for me in learning. Don't get me wrong, native content is very important/useful/enjoyable as well and I take full advantage of it. I get a lot out of the Bible in Kreyòl as far as language goes but I get more cultural value out of reading /listening to interviews with Vodou oungans.
What dubs and translations can do for a learner is show us how dialog/concepts in L1 are expressed in L2. Since we are all human and share many universal traits, actions and reactions, there are plenty of "aha!" moments when we realize how a common concept in our L1 is expressed or conceived of in L2... because we have that context coming from our L1 to help us. Of course, dubs/translations shouldn't be our exclusive mode of engagement with L2... neither should they be avoided.
So, PM, the important thing when starting out with L2 series is to get the cumulative effect going on. That effect is slow but huge and becomes quite noticeable after having gone through 50-100 hours. Whether that's a dub or a native series is less important when first starting to work with a series than actually working with the series. The problem for you is having to have structure. There isn't any structure with working with a series but you can create your own structure.
How to do this? Research the episode you will watch first or after. A popular dubbed or native series will have synopses available in a lot of places- wikipedia in L1 and L2 for dubs and L2 for native. An episode synopsis can give a learner a place to start, a useful background foundation for understanding the plot and not getting lost when comprehension isn't 100%. Some synopses are brief- maybe a paragraph, others are much more detailed. That's one source. Forums discussing a series and their episodes are also quite useful. The web is full of episode analysis for complex series like "The Walking Dead"; "Westworld"; "Game of Thrones"; popular telenovelas in Spanish Portuguese and Turkish soaps in the original and all their dubs. A really popular and complex dubbed series will have participatory forums; youtube discussions; facebook groups; twitter accounts, etc. in both L1 and L2.
The transcript can be used to check comprehension. If you are taking notes (with timestamps), you can check back with the transcript to see if you got it right. If the series is a dub, the L1 original can be checked as well to clear up doubts. Unknown words and concepts can be further researched and studied. In a dub, sometimes translators will opt for a more succinct way of saying something in order to match more closely the speech time of a character's lip movements. Research of a dialog can lead to more ways to say the same thing. This is how one can "study" without a course and even "just looking up words" can be quite useful.
Your need for structure in learning can be created by yourself and followed ruthlessly with every episode... until you don't need to do that anymore. In other words, you don't have to just sit back and passively watch a series. You can make your engagement every bit as studious as you would a pre-packaged course by devising your own method of utilization to serve you best. Certain uncommon phrases that you may want to have available in your speech or writing can be srs'ed. If you can figure out how to work with native material, you will find that you will be "creating your own course" which can help your learning tremendously by making it more specific to what you need and want and speed up your learning just by "watching tv and reading comic books" as emk said. Doing this will help lessen the time you will spend learning your next language. To be cliche about it- "you get out of something what you put into it".