Introduction

Due to the 2020 health crisis, streaming services like Netflix have seen an increase in watch time between 20% and 50% during the confinement. I’m no different, I’ve spent way more time watching TV than I'd like to admit. But in the process, I’ve actually managed to improve my German skills drastically. Streaming television has been a game-changer for language learning in the past few years. It's likely the best way to immerse yourself in a new language from home. But it has to be done in a productive way. I thought it would be very helpful to show you how you can use streaming services to really improve your skills in a new language. In the first half of this post, we’ll talk about the best streaming services for language learning and we'll show you how to find TV shows and movies in different languages. In the second half of this post, we'll show you how to watch in a way that's effective for language learning. Let's get started.

Part 1 - The Best Streaming Services for Language Learning.

Netflix

We’ll start with the most popular streaming service in most parts of the world. It is estimated that nearly 60% of American households have access to a Netflix subscription. The actual number is not known because of account sharing, but it’s fair to say that this can help a lot of people. Netflix makes it really easy to find TV shows and movies in your target language. All you have to do is go to:

netflix.com/browse/audio

Choose your language in the drop-down menu, and you will see all the TV shows and movies available in that language. This method will show you everything, dubbed content and material originally recorded in that language. If you would like to find only material that was originally made in that language, you can simply type the language in the search box. If you type “German”, you will see many TV shows and movies that were originally recorded in German.

Prime Video

Next, we’ll take a look at Amazon’s streaming service. Prime is wonderful for dubbed content and kids shows. Children shows are often much easier to understand than material meant for an older audience.

Most of the movies and TV shows on Prime Video are available in multiple languages. Simply type in your language in the search box, and you will see everything that is available to you, dubbed or original. It’s that simple.

Apple TV+

The streaming service by Apple has a limited quantity of titles available, but for language-learning purposes, they are great. Although the quantity is limited at the time of making this post, ALL their titles are dubbed in multiple languages. Plus, you can choose the region of the dubbed version. So, if you are learning Spanish, you can choose between the Latin American and Spain versions. If you’re learning French, you can choose France or Canada.

This will help you get used to the accent that you prioritize learning. Apple TV+ also has the greatest number of subtitle languages I have seen on any streaming service. If you are learning a language that's a bit less common, there's a good chance that Apple TV+ has at least the subtitles in that language.

Disney+

Disney movies are absolutely amazing for language learning. They are made for a younger audience so they are usually easier to understand, but they are entertaining for adults as well. I never get bored watching the Lion King or Toy Story. Content-wise, it is my favourite service. Although I absolutely love Disney movies, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Disney’s new streaming service from a language-learning standpoint. The content is amazing, but the platform makes it challenging to find material in your target language.

First, we’ll look at the easy part. All Disney+ originals are available in multiple languages. So if you click on Originals, there is a very good chance that your target language will be included. For the rest of the library, it’s a bit harder to find. Most of their titles are available in multiple languages, and they keep adding languages over time, but it’s completely random. For example, the original Toy Story is available in 6 languages, but Toy Story 4 is available in English and Spanish only.

Also, you can’t search for a language in the search box. You have to click play, go to the language settings, and only then will you see if the language is available. Now, if you’re learning Spanish, most of the titles will be available to you. But if you’re learning another language, it can be a bit frustrating at times to have to open the title every time. But Disney movies are so useful for language learning that we could not leave it out of this post. Plus, the Disney platform is quite new, so I’m sure they will improve this over time. Now that you know how to find material using streaming services, let’s talk about making it really effective for you.

Part 2 - How to Make Watching TV Really Effective for Language Learning: Comprehensible Input

First, there’s a very important concept you need to understand. It's a theory we often discuss on this channel. I'm talking about the “comprehensible input” hypothesis put forth by Linguist Stephen Krashen. Dr. Krashen has dedicated his entire career to the field of second-language acquisition. In my opinion, he's an absolute genius. Comprehensible input simply means that in order to learn from the material, you need to understand the general message. In order to learn words from context, you must be able to make deductions from the parts of the sentence you do understand. If you don’t understand anything at all, you won’t learn much.

So, how do we make things comprehensible when learning a new language? Well, that really depends on the languages you already speak and the one you're learning. If you speak Spanish and want to learn Italian, finding material that's partly comprehensible should be relatively easy.

Both languages are similar enough that you should be able to make out the general message as a beginner. But if you are learning languages that are more distant, comprehensible material will be next to impossible to find as a complete beginner. Here are 3 ways to make movies and TV shows more comprehensible.

#1: Learning Through Other Means First.

This may sound obvious, but you may have to learn a bit of the language in other ways before watching TV can be really effective for language learning. Learning some common words, vocabulary, and grammar can be done rather quickly and it can really skyrocket your results from watching TV. Learning just few hundred words, if you learn the right ones, can already make a huge difference to your overall comprehension. This is where a learning method like OUINO can be incredibly helpful.

Our program will teach you everything you need to build the knowledge required to make learning from TV truly effective. Once you have built enough knowledge, finding material that is comprehensible enough to learn from it becomes much easier. Eventually, everything will be comprehensible and you'll be able to continue learning from activities you truly enjoy, like binge-watching a Netflix show.

#2: Watch Things Again – But This Time Dubbed.

This method is a goldmine for people who love to watch movies and TV shows multiple times. It’s really simple, you watch a TV series or movie that you have already seen in English, but this time, you watch it dubbed in your target language. This will make comprehension a lot easier because you already know what's going on.

You’ll be able to keep up with the storyline and make deductions on what the words mean. If you have a TV series you’ve seen many times, well, it's time to watch it again! But this time, you’ll be learning a new language.

#3: Watch Children Shows.

TV shows that were made for a younger audience are amazing for language learning. They were actually created for children who are in the process of learning their first language. They often speak slowly, enunciate really well and use simple vocabulary. This makes it much easier to understand. Most of the streaming services have a "kids" or "children" category, so finding these shows should be a breeze.

The younger the target audience of the show, the easier it will be for you to understand. Do not underestimate this. If you think about it, children at 7-8 years old are already amazingly skilled at their language. In the beginning, watching a show like Caillou (Prime video) or Peppa Pig (Netflix) is a better idea than watching a Disney movie like Aladdin, even if it seems really silly to be watching these types of shows as an adult.

Should You Use Subtitles?

This is a question we get very often. Subtitles can be helpful in making things more comprehensible, so they must be good in helping us learn effectively, right? Well, not necessarily. In our experience, subtitles often cause more problems than they solve.

Don't: Use English Subtitles.
If you use English subtitles, you'll likely just read the subtitles and not even listen to the foreign language anymore. English subtitles are only effective if you use them to understand the scene, but then watch the scene again after turning them off.

Don't: Use Subtitles That Don't Match.
Subtitles in the language you are learning are really effective, but only if you can find subtitles that match what is being said on the screen. That's likely the biggest disappointment of streaming services for me. Most of the time, the subtitles for dubbed movies and TV shows won’t match the audio. The meaning is roughly the same, but the wording is different. This is really confusing for the learning brain.

Do: Use Closed Captioning When You Can.
Subtitles will only truly match with TV shows that were originally filmed in the language you are learning. It needs to be closed captioning or CC for short. If you are able to find CC subtitles, it will match the audio perfectly. This can be really helpful. Reading and listening at the same time is a really good language-learning exercise.

There you have it! If you're interested in learning language with movies, but don't have quite the ability to do so yet. We have an amazing language-learning method that will teach you everything you need to build that solid foundation and make learning with movies much easier. You should check out our website. You can find us at OUINO.com. Thanks a lot! :)