Can I Learn a Language by Watching Netflix?
Perhaps the greatest life hack of the tech age.
(Tip: Read to the end to see my recommendations along with the first show I picked!)
I love languages. I love traveling. I am good at languages. So why — after consistent French classes from K-12 — am I not fluent in French?!
I only found this out when I traveled to Paris for the first time in 2017, after my University graduation. Why could I barely carry on a conversation with the waiter?!
This is the scam of the century, I thought. Why? Because one of my good friends, who, by the way, took the bare minimum of language requirements in school, is now 100% conversationally fluent in Spanish. She learned this skill after just 1 year living in South America for the Peace Corps. All with just 6 months of intensive conversation classes.
So here I sit, at 26, wishing I could be fluent in French so I can visit France again with the confidence in French that I need. I know at this point about 80% of the vocabulary and about 80% of the grammar I need to have regular conversation, but when someone speaks to me in French, I just freeze up!
I’m not at all used to listening to real life conversation (despite the many listening comprehension exercises in French class from the 1980’s) and the regular back-and-forth flow of conversation scares the hell out of me.
Enter — Television. I already watch it way too often, why not make some good use out of it? This idea popped back into my head from a faraway memory of a relative from Iran who had never been to the USA, but spoke really decent English. He understood humor, slang, and you’d never guess he’d never been to an English speaking country. How did he do it? He watched “a lot of American TV,” he said.
It’s genius. Sure, it’s not as great as being immersed in the country — surrounded by real life people speaking TO you, but when you’re stuck in your house in America, dreaming of someday soon visiting France, it doesn’t hurt to get a head start! Binging TV in the language of your choice is at least one part of immersion. Do it in your spare time! Do it consistently!
I was going to try this, and I had 3 criteria for choosing a TV show to watch:
- Had to be something I would want to watch anyways. (Otherwise, knowing me, I’d get bored and not want to do it.)
- Had to be something based in reality. (No Vampire Diaries here — Am I really going to just talk about witchcraft and werewolves in France?! I’d be that weird American…more than I already am.)
- Had to be something where the characters would speak about things I would find myself speaking about. (Preferably centered around twenty-somethings doing regular things like going to restaurants or going to the office.)
The perfect first choice? I decided — Emily In Paris.
I had heard of its popularity amongst my friends, so I thought it might be something I could watch anyway. It’s all based in reality (and a very simple reality at that). A twenty-something girl (like me), American (like me), who is just living her life, meeting new people, going to the office, and going to restaurants (like me). Oh… but it all takes place in Paris. Even better!
Just a fair warning — If you do choose to go with this show, and you’re still working on your accent, be aware that the American characters in the dubbed version have very American-ized accents. It’s kind of nice, on one hand, because they speak a bit slower, but it won’t give you the native French speaking practice you’d need. Rest assured, about 3/4 of the characters in the show speak the way French native speakers normally do… Just don’t end up picking up the broken French accent that the main character uses lol!
To Subtitle or to not Subtitle?
When doing some research online, this was an often debated aspect of this. From my experience, you should try to watch without subtitles. Though, depending on your proficiency level, you may find yourself needing to rewatch clips in English or with subtitles in order to not get totally lost.
Reading a recap of the episode might be another way to do this whilst committing yourself to watching the first time around with no subtitles. Just trust yourself to know where you are and how you can push your comfort zone and language skills!
So, what do you think? Will you try this? In what language — and what show? I want to know! Send a comment!
