I've known people who learned English watching friends, and I noticed they often had more natural language skills. That high volume of audio input really helps.
I think you're right on that point. I've spoken to many folks learning English in countries where English isn't the Lingua Franca, and those that spent a large amount of time learning from audio seemed to have far more natural/native sounding oral production.
Both my parents are ESL and my dads ability far outpaces my mothers as he watches content only in english and my mother still only watches shows from her country.
I saw a Reddit post years ago on "how to learn english" and the guy was straight forward, watch friends 3 times, one with your native language subtile, one with english subtitle and the third one, without it. It was morous at the beginning, but by the 3rd season I was watching directly with english sub, and by the 5th, without it. So yeah, I'd say it worked :D
I had to learn English in school just around the time DVDs with language settings came up. So instead of doing homework, I watched friends on DVD, first with German subs, then English Subs and finally without Subs. Got graded A+ plus that year.
I remember RM (the leader of BTS) who is korean and speaks english fluently said he learned by watching ALL of Friends with korean subtitles, then with english subtitles, and then a 3rd time without subtitles 😊
Any better ones than this? I found it a bit rubbish too. But I want to find something with colloquial language and lots of dialogue unlike something like Dark (which I loved).
There is a fundamental assumption error here: the idea that 20 exposures are enough to learn a word is only valid if the input is comprehensible. If you start watching Friends without knowing any words in your target language, you won’t understand anything. After watching one episode, you likely won’t have learned as many words as suggested in the video. The input needs to be made comprehensible in some way. Either you look up every word (which will be very tedious) or you start watching Friends after having some solid foundation in your target language.
One problem for language learners who use "comprehensible input" is finding input that is comprehensible. For languages that are very different (English/Chinese) this issue lasts for many months: you have to understand a large number of Chinese words in order to know what is happening and what people are saying. That is why I use sub-titles when watching Chinese TV series. When possible, I use sub-titles in both English and Chinese, since you can't look up a word from its sound alone.
@emmanuelestrada2194 0 seconds ago And when the language has a few amount of speakers or it doesn’t have industry to create content, it is too difficult to find comprehensible input because it is hard in that cases to find input by itself
As a pole, I can honestly tell that best polish serial (by the majority of poles) is ,,Ranch" (,,Ranczo), it has 130 episodes, 50 minutes each (10 seasons, 13 episodes each). It's about girl named Lucy, whose lived all her life in America and she comes back to Poland after her grandma died, as she left her the ranch and Lucy decides to move to this ranch in a small polish countryside named ,,Wilkowyje".
A lot of people start learning Japanese through anime, and I learned a lot of Korean watching a Korean variety show too. Maybe it's not enough to learn the entirety of the language, but it's usually enough to get the feel for it and get started.
Agreed, though I think with languages that are radically different from English like Japanese, you should learn the basic grammar first, to save time. I know I would have taken a long time to understand what particles were if I hadn't taken a class
Another great video! For Spanish learners (particularly those who are interested in Spanish from Spain) I would definitely recommend “Aquí no hay quien viva”. It’s a 00’s sitcom about an apartment building and the people living in it. It’s hilarious and the plot is easy to follow, even if you don’t understand everything said. And there’s many episodes (about a 100) and there’s even a follow up show called “La qué se avecina” that’s still airing to this date!
I have watched the Greek version, called "η πολυκατοικία", and I agree! The show was enjoyable! Also the Greek tv series which was recommended on the video, "ευτυχισμένοι μαζί" is the Greek version of "los serrano". It is a great help because you are already familiar with the main plot, so you have more space to focus on the language instead.
I can also recomend the speed dating TV show “First Dates” on Cuatro TV channel (they broadcast online too). The show is fun, easy to follow and you will gain sense of how street pronunctiation is due to a massive exposure of conversations with real people and their stories
I am very much looking forward to the watching vs reading video. I have done a lot of watching. A little bit of reading. I'd like to do more, but man, it's so much harder for me at this point. I'm hoping seeing the numbers will give me the nudge I need to spend more time on reading. (I'm 100% sure that's what the numbers will say is more helpful for vocabulary.)
I'm also very excited to do the research there. I'm not 100% convinced that the math will be the same there. Aka I think you may need closer to 20 exposures to a word when listening but fewer when reading, since reading produces more directed attention at the words since you can set your own pace (which can also be felt as it "being harder"). Stay tuned 😜
It doesn’t get much attention but you can learn a lot by having target language subs on for any and all content you watch in your L1. This works best if you are motivated and watch media alone. Pay attention to the subs, stop when you see a new word. Look it up if you need to confirm the meaning. Write it down if you want to. This can be a good way to learn idioms and colloquial language and register. It can also help your reading speed and spelling if you need that.
I learned with Seinfeld, Friends and with 24, Prision Break, Doctor House, The Orange County, and breaking Bad… i speak really well. By the way i am cuban born and raised
This analysis is really powerfull, and there's one more thing about friends, you can start it for any reason, but you stay because is fun, light, quick, captivating. The topics are closer to a daily conversation, so fits better for the sense of progress than spending time with a tv show that has specific themes. You're bringing a really valuable study, could I ask for a higher resolution photo or a graph for download? to see the slope would suit quite well to understand where I am and what to expect next :D
I watch each episode three times, first with subtitles in my native language, but I only read them when I dont understand, otherwise I ignore them. The second time I watch the episode with English subtitles, but only read them if I have to. The third time I watch the episode without subtitles. I watch each episode three times in the same day.
I learned English through the internet (I did have it in school and I did understand things, but not as well as now). I don't know if I'd call myself the best at the language, but I'd definitely say that I do understand at least one word.
This was a really interesting and well put together video! I feel like I know a lot of random phrases in various languages due to different shows, movies, and even music. The way you quantify things, I am quite inspired to start watching more content in languages I want to learn.
Great stuff, but you could have added the flag of Portugal under Spain and the flag of Brazil under the Mexican flag, since "amigo" means friend in Portuguese as well. Portuguese is also one of the most spoken languages in the world, so I'm surprised you didn't put it there. And yes, you guessed my target language, Polish! All in all great work with the video! I'll look forward to trying out the method in this video! :)
I love your videos! They're full of good information, and talking about information, I was wondering: where you get all this information, like studies, cientific papers and such?
Great video! I really enjoyed your thoughts. Here's a question: Do you really think that it's realistic to watch a show like Friends when you're at a beginner level in your target language? I found the curve from zero really hard to believe, because in my personal experience I don't learn almost any words until my comprehension is at least around 50-60%. It's really hard to acquire vocabulary when you don't understand the message or the context. What are your thoughts? Would you ever take that approach when starting a new language?
Yeah I think it's optimistic to expect the same retention of words when going from 0% comprehension as from 50%+, I don't think this is taken into account here.
That's a very fair point! I'll throw out 2 thoughts: 1) On the one hand, it is totally doable to watch foreign language shows, since people do it all the time for entertainment (there wouldn't be a "foreign film" category in the Emmy's otherwise). If people watch it to enjoy the content, if you frame it as a language learning exercise, the activity would change because you might pause more, rewatch etc. but people do this every day. 2) On the other hand, besides the data and research I presented, I'm genuinely not sure what the learning curve looks like at the beginning. From my experience, which has also been echoed by others, it can really feel like there's an explosion of vocabulary and growth when you first begin learning a language. Though it feels like you're learning less when you get to an advanced beginner/intermediate, it's likely that each new word is an ever-smaller part of what you know. The plan for my next video is to put my money where my mouth is and see how many words I learn / remember as I watch content in a language I've never studied (probably going to be Polish). This'll be a test of the 20 exposure test.
@@OneWordataTime1 I totally agree that there is an explosion of perceived learning at the beginning, but I've actually found that if you're using native-level content your explosion really happens once you can understand the majority of what you're watching, meaning you can understand even the words you haven't heard before. This is the "comprehensible" part of comprehensible input. BUT, just because I haven't figured it out doesn't mean you can't! I totally love your idea for the Polish challenge. If you feel like it's actually viable to learn with native-level content from day one and that it's just about your attitude and the way you go about it, that would make language learning a TON simpler. I'm excited to see what you come up with!!
Is it realistic to... Even if you cannot consciously understand each and every word, the exposure to the language, the cadence etc, helps your subconscious identify words in a sea of syllables.
Another banger of a video! I would like to know your take on the Anki deck "Spoonfed Chinese" which takes full sentences and sorts them by character frequency. I've been going at it for 2 months and would like to create one of my own with the idea of this video (the idea that I've been chewing on for a few years, but don't have the technical knowledge to pull off). How can I get the scripts of the "Love is Sweet" series, break it down into full sentences, and sort them by word frequency? as study material before watching the series itself
thanks! i couldn't find the exact Spoonfed Chinese deck you mentioned though I get the idea and it makes a lot of sense. If Love is Sweet is on Netflix, then you can use Language Reactor to export the full script for each episode (tedious but probably worth it in your case). You'd need to then define a rule for how you classify a sentence for frequency. A couple of options that come to mind: 1) average frequency of all words (maybe remove outliers aka words not in the top 10k) 2) highest frequency across the whole sentence 3) taking the median word frequency It'd take some work to put a Python script together so good luck!
hi! I'm so glad i found this comment because building a tool for something like this is actually my dissertation which is a work in progress! if anyone would like to brainstorm any ideas or if there's anything you'd like to see in a program like this or if you know of anything similar, let's have a chat :)
Can you make a video with tips on how to actually do this? As either a beginner or more advanced. I'm specifically curious about how comprehensible it needs to be, and whether or not to do lookups. I find it hard to believe that simply hearing the word 20 times would be enough on its own.
I think that with the brazilian portuguese is better to learn it with music than with TV shows because they don’t have a big industry of TV shows but they have a big national industry of music (Few countries can create an industry music that is economically affordable without exporting that music to other countries)
20 times? Maybe if actively trying. I have read research that suggests anywhere from 40 to 60 to remember, without trying to remember... Listen to a song 5 times a day for 4 days while trying to remember it, vs 12 days as a passive listener.
Would you say it is better to watch shows made originally in your target language? Would watching a dubbed version of Friends for example be less useful? Interesting video! I'm also learning German :)
5:34 i dont think that this "flat" thing with people who had a headstart is really a thing, the more you are able to understand the context, more easy it is to pick up new words, so is like, the more words you know, the less times you need to see a new word to learn it. its kinda of a "paradox" each new word you learn "unlocks" less an less understanding of the language, but also, make it more easy to learn new words. but i understand that the 20 times thing its kinda of an average, that maybe in the end would show similiar results.
To summarize this video, I would personally say that the best way to learn any language, is to use the target language from the very beginning. And I mean literally. 🤓✨ If you know nothing about the language, grab a baby's book and start reading or go to a native speaker and let them read to you, like your mama did. 😇 And so you can naturally learn and evolve in your target language, just like in your native tongue. 😇 First a baby's book or a tv show for babies. Then a children's book or tv show, followed by content for kindergarteners. Then school book from elementary school slowly up to college books. Eventually you will understand all of it. 😊 Happy Learning! 🫂
I tried Skam for Norwegian but I get anxious to watch it because, teenagers! 😂 I'm so glad that I finished that horrible phase of my life, so I don't want to "revisit" it 😂. Does anyone have recommendations for Norwegian?
As a norwegian, I haven't really heard of any good norwegian shows (to be fair I haven't been looking much either) but I found a video from a few years ago here on youtube listing a a bunch of stuff you can potentially try out! As youtube doesn't like links in comments, I'll just give you the title: "Video 289 Programmer du kan se for å lære norsk" by "Norsklærer Karense". I'll warn you though that most of the norwegian shows I have seen seems to have a lot of heavy dialects, so that might be confusing. And I've met lots of people who have accidentally learned a very specific dialect only to find out they can't recognise more common norwegian (imagine someone going to australia to learn english only to be unable to understand british or american english afterwards, except norwegian dialects are more distinct I think), so I recommend being careful about that. Maybe checking where each actor is from might help? Hope any of that is useful, though I wish I could give more specific recommendations.
I'm learning italian at my uni and by watching series -- in italian audio and subtitles. When I don't know a word I google it and add it to my quizlet. Lately I try to make around 30-40 flashcards per day and learn them. I tried not to make the flashcards, but remembering a word -- 1) after seeing it 1-2 times 2) when it was in a context I couldn't comprehend without checking -- was not working for me and I was kind of wasting time. Though watching La casa di carta was easier in the way that the words were very much repeting (even those more advanced ones) and so I was only checking the meaning of those more unique on that double-subtitles thing (in the target and native language). But now that I think about it, I think it's way better to make flashcards, to be able to return and check if you really remember. Any tips to make it (even) more effective? I also have a harder time with grammar, I mean, I would like a show, or episode, in which they only speak in one tense for example (but idk if something like that exists??).
Have you ever thought to make comprehensive german input content? Since your german knowledge is pretty good? Or are you sticking to the data driven youtube vids (which are always good)
@@OneWordataTime1 yeah just like stephen krashners example. Because personally i like listening to you, so if youre doing a slow german speech with mimicry and potential prop like things i think it would stick in my brain. Just a thought!
I’m curious what counts as an exposure. I know with Japanese it’s so fast and so different that learning words from it takes a very long time. Especially with English subtitles and/or little knowledge of the language, the audio can rush past in a blur.
That's beautiful in the paper... but in practice, as a beginner, you can watch the whole series and you won't learn a single word, unless you're with a dictionary in hands to check every word, but then I really doubt you'll learn that many words in 2 months..
I use Terrace House for Japanese listening practice. It’s an unscripted reality show where they just put three women and three men in a house and they all just do their own things. No forced agenda or anything.
No. You need to watch a Japanese show that has both English and Japanese subtitles. Start with English, watch it once or twice, then watch again with Japanese subtitles then again with no subtitles at all. Obviously you’ll need to learn how to read the language first. Good luck. I’m right there with you.
@@OneWordataTime1 OTOH it's easier to understand it when you're already familiar with recurring phrases, memorable lines and just what they usually talk about in general.
I would probably recommend against that simply for the fact that it can be difficult to localize humor and translate cultural context in an appropriate way. And Friends is a show that can be very ingrained in late 90's/early 00's American culture.
Look into German word order a bit (keyword: inversion). The subtitles do match was people say but you have to shake the mindset that things are said the same ways in different languages. I've been thinking of making a video on this topic of why 1:1 translations can be hard (both for understanding and speaking).
@@OneWordataTime1Hi! That is a plausible explanation, but it is not what I see. They just throw out a word here or there, they substitute one word for a synonim. I absolutely don't see it happening in English, Polish or Hebrew. Hebrew is excellent, most shows have subtitles and they transcribe word for word. You may say that Germans are trying to save space (that's sometimes the case, but not always), or they are trying to reconcile differences between dialects - I don't know German well enough to tell. Still, I think it is nuts. Makes learning much more difficult.
Oh I see! Yeah I remember the subtitles in Türkisch für Anfänger not matching the speech 1:1 and being endlessly confused. No idea what’s going on there 😂😂😂
Yes! The friends equivalent will be Универ. You can also watch Интерны which is a russian equivalent of scrubs which was also really popular. But the best of all is Кухня. There are full episodes here on yt and it's all very easy to follow. Hope this helps!
I can't say for shows, but I subscribe to a few German RUclips channels to at the very least stay in practice and keep my comprehension from degrading. There are hundreds of them and you could probably find a few that feature content that you enjoy. I'd recommend a few, but I'm pretty sure RUclips will just delete my comment over it.
As a language learner, I understand the temptation to think that. But like I mentioned in another comment, people watch foreign language TV/movies all the time for entertainment (there wouldn't be a "foreign film" category in the Emmy's otherwise). If you frame it as language learning, the activity would change because you might pause more, rewatch etc. but people do this every day. If you're hesitant, I'd say to give it a shot for a week for a TV show or RUclips channel you want to watch. If I had to bet, you'll have a hell of a lot of fun and pick up more of your language than you're expecting, especially if you stick with it.
I have been learning dutch for the past 3 months purely through immersion, reading or listening to audio a little bit every day, I have used no flash cards or apps and I can definitely say I can understand a decent bit now (although I still have a long way to go ofc)
@@zawuz2681yeah, but you`re probably someone who had seen pieces of the language throughout your life and then decided to pick it up. Imagine doing that in a language where you don`t know how to say ``hi``
@@OneWordataTime1 That`s my point. I have been doing that with Korean for instance... but if it wasn`t for the online classes and YT vids teaching the language I don`t think I`d ever be able to catch anything at all. For example, the word ``thank you`` is said all the time in the series, but it`s only after having learned that formally in class that I was able to hear it in the series and notice how frequent that was (at this point I had already watched MANY k-series without noticing that. Maybe I was dumb?! possible, but I speak 3 languages, now learning my 4th so I theorize it wasn`t dumbness alone). My point is... Usually when learning a language, most people wanna do it ASAP. If we`re doing this solely through series without ANY previous knowledge of the language I don`t think anyone is gonna be able to learn it in about 2 years or so. Again, from an A2 or above I believe it`s totally doable(which is something I do). I think this discussion deserves a video better explaining and demonstrating it in the early stages. For example, when you said ``watch`` I understood that literally. But if we`re pausing, rewatching, etc, then that`s for me ``studying`` the show (but doing that in a language where I`m pre-A1 seems like a nightmare). Again, I see many students who simply ``watch`` shows totally ignoring everything they don`t understand, so maybe that`s worth explaining... anyways, sorry about the long text, just wanted to clarify why I think like that
How do you think we learned our native tongue? We started totally from scratch without even knowing concepts existed and we not only had to learn concepts but also words for them. Listening helps your brain decipher words even if you don't know their meaning.
For Russian learners I can recommend "Realnye patsany" ('Real boys') and "Svaty" ("In-Laws"). Both have charming characters I really got invested in and you hear how real people talk. Besides the fact that the shows are hilarious
@@shamicentertainment1262 Ich verstehe perfekt! Die Wörter sind einfach nicht immer in die richtige Reihenfolge. Ich kann auch nicht so viel sagen. Ich hab die Sprache immer gekannt (ich bin halb deutch), aber habe mur seit letztes Jahr eigentlich in Deutchland gewohnt. Im Vergleich zu den richtigen Deutschen, bin ich nicht so gut.
@@MisterGameswell, Gomorra is amazing, but I don't know if it's good for language learning, it is full of people speaking Naples dialect!!! If you like cartoons I used to watch "Winx" when I was little, it's an Italian show about faries. Guardati le Winx! 😂❤
One liter of tears is definitely not a Japanese alternative to Friends. 😂 It’s about a high school girl who starts suffering from a degenerative disease and dies by the age of 25(based on a true story). As the title suggests, it’s so sad you will be shedding quite a lot of tears. Quite the opposite to Friends.
@@OneWordataTime1 Aren't all dramas character-based though? I feel there could be so many better suggestions for an alternative to Friends than One liter of tears.
The thing is I wanna learn korean but Im very sick of k-dramas theyre so repetetive and over exadriating...does korea offer any more "normal" shows or maby movies? I feel like im watching a higschool tv show like hannah montana anytime I watch a grown up kdrama. (I like hannah montana tho) and I used o like kdramas until i noticed they all have the same formula and are to identichal...and all love interactions are like....they barely kiss att all...thy bsrely even hug...it freela so stiff and fake..so if snyone have tips on some other kind of videos from korea so I can learn trough audio ?
I feel similarly about Kpop with it's overly corporate sound. Meaningful Stone is a good Indie Rock artist I recently discovered. Very refreshing to hear. I'm sure there is plenty of content outside of what is mainstream, but you might need to dig a bit deeper. Maybe find some subreddits or something that can point you in the right direction.
I've known people who learned English watching friends, and I noticed they often had more natural language skills. That high volume of audio input really helps.
I think you're right on that point. I've spoken to many folks learning English in countries where English isn't the Lingua Franca, and those that spent a large amount of time learning from audio seemed to have far more natural/native sounding oral production.
I would connect the large amount of audio input with their "natural" skills, rather than saying it's all just in-built
Both my parents are ESL and my dads ability far outpaces my mothers as he watches content only in english and my mother still only watches shows from her country.
I saw a Reddit post years ago on "how to learn english" and the guy was straight forward, watch friends 3 times, one with your native language subtile, one with english subtitle and the third one, without it. It was morous at the beginning, but by the 3rd season I was watching directly with english sub, and by the 5th, without it. So yeah, I'd say it worked :D
I had to learn English in school just around the time DVDs with language settings came up. So instead of doing homework, I watched friends on DVD, first with German subs, then English Subs and finally without Subs. Got graded A+ plus that year.
I remember RM (the leader of BTS) who is korean and speaks english fluently said he learned by watching ALL of Friends with korean subtitles, then with english subtitles, and then a 3rd time without subtitles 😊
but he also has an above average iq level (148). so it'd probably take longer for a normal person to learn English through friends
It's funny that the series for learning German is called "Turkish for beginners" :D
thats true but its definetly an amazing show its one of my favourites
That Series is so crap. But i'm German, so never mind haha
Any better ones than this? I found it a bit rubbish too. But I want to find something with colloquial language and lots of dialogue unlike something like Dark (which I loved).
There is a fundamental assumption error here: the idea that 20 exposures are enough to learn a word is only valid if the input is comprehensible. If you start watching Friends without knowing any words in your target language, you won’t understand anything. After watching one episode, you likely won’t have learned as many words as suggested in the video. The input needs to be made comprehensible in some way. Either you look up every word (which will be very tedious) or you start watching Friends after having some solid foundation in your target language.
One problem for language learners who use "comprehensible input" is finding input that is comprehensible. For languages that are very different (English/Chinese) this issue lasts for many months: you have to understand a large number of Chinese words in order to know what is happening and what people are saying. That is why I use sub-titles when watching Chinese TV series. When possible, I use sub-titles in both English and Chinese, since you can't look up a word from its sound alone.
You're right
@emmanuelestrada2194
0 seconds ago
And when the language has a few amount of speakers or it doesn’t have industry to create content, it is too difficult to find comprehensible input because it is hard in that cases to find input by itself
Mildly funny and alegedly charming show hahahah perfect description.
My go to for french series would be "Le bureau des légendes" spy series with many more episodes than lupin.
As a pole, I can honestly tell that best polish serial (by the majority of poles) is ,,Ranch" (,,Ranczo), it has 130 episodes, 50 minutes each (10 seasons, 13 episodes each). It's about girl named Lucy, whose lived all her life in America and she comes back to Poland after her grandma died, as she left her the ranch and Lucy decides to move to this ranch in a small polish countryside named ,,Wilkowyje".
noted! Maybe I'll watch this in a few years when I go all-in on Polish 😜
The most systematic approach to language learning out there. I would call it "Krashen on steroids".
A lot of people start learning Japanese through anime, and I learned a lot of Korean watching a Korean variety show too. Maybe it's not enough to learn the entirety of the language, but it's usually enough to get the feel for it and get started.
Agreed, though I think with languages that are radically different from English like Japanese, you should learn the basic grammar first, to save time. I know I would have taken a long time to understand what particles were if I hadn't taken a class
Which Korean variety show do you watch? What is the name?
Approximately what was your cefr level(a1, a2 etc) when you first started watching tv shows?
Another great video! For Spanish learners (particularly those who are interested in Spanish from Spain) I would definitely recommend “Aquí no hay quien viva”. It’s a 00’s sitcom about an apartment building and the people living in it. It’s hilarious and the plot is easy to follow, even if you don’t understand everything said. And there’s many episodes (about a 100) and there’s even a follow up show called “La qué se avecina” that’s still airing to this date!
where can i watch it?
I have watched the Greek version, called "η πολυκατοικία", and I agree! The show was enjoyable!
Also the Greek tv series which was recommended on the video, "ευτυχισμένοι μαζί" is the Greek version of "los serrano".
It is a great help because you are already familiar with the main plot, so you have more space to focus on the language instead.
I can also recomend the speed dating TV show “First Dates” on Cuatro TV channel (they broadcast online too). The show is fun, easy to follow and you will gain sense of how street pronunctiation is due to a massive exposure of conversations with real people and their stories
For Swedish I recomend "Royal youth" and "Kärlek och anarki". Both are up on Netflix.
Thanks!
I am very much looking forward to the watching vs reading video. I have done a lot of watching. A little bit of reading. I'd like to do more, but man, it's so much harder for me at this point. I'm hoping seeing the numbers will give me the nudge I need to spend more time on reading. (I'm 100% sure that's what the numbers will say is more helpful for vocabulary.)
I'm also very excited to do the research there. I'm not 100% convinced that the math will be the same there. Aka I think you may need closer to 20 exposures to a word when listening but fewer when reading, since reading produces more directed attention at the words since you can set your own pace (which can also be felt as it "being harder"). Stay tuned 😜
It doesn’t get much attention but you can learn a lot by having target language subs on for any and all content you watch in your L1.
This works best if you are motivated and watch media alone. Pay attention to the subs, stop when you see a new word. Look it up if you need to confirm the meaning. Write it down if you want to. This can be a good way to learn idioms and colloquial language and register.
It can also help your reading speed and spelling if you need that.
I learned with Seinfeld, Friends and with 24, Prision Break, Doctor House, The Orange County, and breaking Bad… i speak really well. By the way i am cuban born and raised
How much of your learning time did you spend watching tv?
Average around 2 years watching this shows for 2 hours daily, and later try to talk and also reading a little bit, no gramar or deep learning
Yep, this is how I learned English - trying to do the same thing for spanish by watching stuff I basically know by heart in English. Great stuff!
all of the content that youve made so far were so useful that worth of a mini-thesis about linguistics
This analysis is really powerfull, and there's one more thing about friends, you can start it for any reason, but you stay because is fun, light, quick, captivating. The topics are closer to a daily conversation, so fits better for the sense of progress than spending time with a tv show that has specific themes. You're bringing a really valuable study, could I ask for a higher resolution photo or a graph for download? to see the slope would suit quite well to understand where I am and what to expect next :D
I watch each episode three times, first with subtitles in my native language, but I only read them when I dont understand, otherwise I ignore them.
The second time I watch the episode with English subtitles, but only read them if I have to.
The third time I watch the episode without subtitles.
I watch each episode three times in the same day.
I learned English through the internet (I did have it in school and I did understand things, but not as well as now). I don't know if I'd call myself the best at the language, but I'd definitely say that I do understand at least one word.
This was a really interesting and well put together video! I feel like I know a lot of random phrases in various languages due to different shows, movies, and even music. The way you quantify things, I am quite inspired to start watching more content in languages I want to learn.
This is what I've been wondering for a really long time, glad I saw this
Great stuff, but you could have added the flag of Portugal under Spain and the flag of Brazil under the Mexican flag, since "amigo" means friend in Portuguese as well. Portuguese is also one of the most spoken languages in the world, so I'm surprised you didn't put it there.
And yes, you guessed my target language, Polish! All in all great work with the video! I'll look forward to trying out the method in this video! :)
Truly amazing content, keep up with the good work, always great to hear you and learn about language learning !!!
Good video---and also: you need to give the Friends a try!
I love your videos! They're full of good information, and talking about information, I was wondering: where you get all this information, like studies, cientific papers and such?
Great video, as always! I will have a look at the Greek show you suggested 😊
I recommend 'Κωνσταντίνου και Ελένης' & 'Στο πάρα πέντε'.
Great video! I really enjoyed your thoughts. Here's a question: Do you really think that it's realistic to watch a show like Friends when you're at a beginner level in your target language? I found the curve from zero really hard to believe, because in my personal experience I don't learn almost any words until my comprehension is at least around 50-60%. It's really hard to acquire vocabulary when you don't understand the message or the context. What are your thoughts? Would you ever take that approach when starting a new language?
Yeah I think it's optimistic to expect the same retention of words when going from 0% comprehension as from 50%+, I don't think this is taken into account here.
That's a very fair point! I'll throw out 2 thoughts:
1) On the one hand, it is totally doable to watch foreign language shows, since people do it all the time for entertainment (there wouldn't be a "foreign film" category in the Emmy's otherwise). If people watch it to enjoy the content, if you frame it as a language learning exercise, the activity would change because you might pause more, rewatch etc. but people do this every day.
2) On the other hand, besides the data and research I presented, I'm genuinely not sure what the learning curve looks like at the beginning. From my experience, which has also been echoed by others, it can really feel like there's an explosion of vocabulary and growth when you first begin learning a language. Though it feels like you're learning less when you get to an advanced beginner/intermediate, it's likely that each new word is an ever-smaller part of what you know.
The plan for my next video is to put my money where my mouth is and see how many words I learn / remember as I watch content in a language I've never studied (probably going to be Polish). This'll be a test of the 20 exposure test.
@@OneWordataTime1 I totally agree that there is an explosion of perceived learning at the beginning, but I've actually found that if you're using native-level content your explosion really happens once you can understand the majority of what you're watching, meaning you can understand even the words you haven't heard before. This is the "comprehensible" part of comprehensible input. BUT, just because I haven't figured it out doesn't mean you can't! I totally love your idea for the Polish challenge. If you feel like it's actually viable to learn with native-level content from day one and that it's just about your attitude and the way you go about it, that would make language learning a TON simpler. I'm excited to see what you come up with!!
@@isaaquillopanecillo yep I agree that the pace picks up when you can understand and pick out more than just individual words!
Is it realistic to... Even if you cannot consciously understand each and every word, the exposure to the language, the cadence etc, helps your subconscious identify words in a sea of syllables.
Really solid advice.
Another banger of a video! I would like to know your take on the Anki deck "Spoonfed Chinese" which takes full sentences and sorts them by character frequency. I've been going at it for 2 months and would like to create one of my own with the idea of this video (the idea that I've been chewing on for a few years, but don't have the technical knowledge to pull off). How can I get the scripts of the "Love is Sweet" series, break it down into full sentences, and sort them by word frequency? as study material before watching the series itself
thanks! i couldn't find the exact Spoonfed Chinese deck you mentioned though I get the idea and it makes a lot of sense. If Love is Sweet is on Netflix, then you can use Language Reactor to export the full script for each episode (tedious but probably worth it in your case). You'd need to then define a rule for how you classify a sentence for frequency. A couple of options that come to mind:
1) average frequency of all words (maybe remove outliers aka words not in the top 10k)
2) highest frequency across the whole sentence
3) taking the median word frequency
It'd take some work to put a Python script together so good luck!
hi! I'm so glad i found this comment because building a tool for something like this is actually my dissertation which is a work in progress! if anyone would like to brainstorm any ideas or if there's anything you'd like to see in a program like this or if you know of anything similar, let's have a chat :)
Can you make a video with tips on how to actually do this? As either a beginner or more advanced. I'm specifically curious about how comprehensible it needs to be, and whether or not to do lookups. I find it hard to believe that simply hearing the word 20 times would be enough on its own.
Another superb video. Thank you!
🇬🇷 thanks for the greek series !
I am from Poland and an interesting show to watch in polish is "Świat według Kiepskich".
Any suggestions for a light show in Brazilian Portuguese?
I have the same question 🙋♂️
"A grande família" it is a very simple show, but really funny, about a typical Brazilian family.
I think that with the brazilian portuguese is better to learn it with music than with TV shows because they don’t have a big industry of TV shows but they have a big national industry of music (Few countries can create an industry music that is economically affordable without exporting that music to other countries)
20 times? Maybe if actively trying. I have read research that suggests anywhere from 40 to 60 to remember, without trying to remember... Listen to a song 5 times a day for 4 days while trying to remember it, vs 12 days as a passive listener.
How did you make some of these charts? Especially how did you get the number and list of core words from the unique words?
Would you say it is better to watch shows made originally in your target language? Would watching a dubbed version of Friends for example be less useful? Interesting video! I'm also learning German :)
Great video
Ya subtitles is definitely a tricky thing to balance. I find i sometimes mentally tune out of the audio and focus too hard on the reading.
5:34 i dont think that this "flat" thing with people who had a headstart is really a thing, the more you are able to understand the context, more easy it is to pick up new words, so is like, the more words you know, the less times you need to see a new word to learn it. its kinda of a "paradox" each new word you learn "unlocks" less an less understanding of the language, but also, make it more easy to learn new words. but i understand that the 20 times thing its kinda of an average, that maybe in the end would show similiar results.
To summarize this video, I would personally say that the best way to learn any language, is to use the target language from the very beginning.
And I mean literally. 🤓✨
If you know nothing about the language, grab a baby's book and start reading or go to a native speaker and let them read to you, like your mama did. 😇
And so you can naturally learn and evolve in your target language, just like in your native tongue. 😇
First a baby's book or a tv show for babies.
Then a children's book or tv show, followed by content for kindergarteners.
Then school book from elementary school slowly up to college books.
Eventually you will understand all of it. 😊
Happy Learning! 🫂
Thanks.
I tried Skam for Norwegian but I get anxious to watch it because, teenagers! 😂 I'm so glad that I finished that horrible phase of my life, so I don't want to "revisit" it 😂.
Does anyone have recommendations for Norwegian?
As a norwegian, I haven't really heard of any good norwegian shows (to be fair I haven't been looking much either) but I found a video from a few years ago here on youtube listing a a bunch of stuff you can potentially try out!
As youtube doesn't like links in comments, I'll just give you the title: "Video 289 Programmer du kan se for å lære norsk" by "Norsklærer Karense".
I'll warn you though that most of the norwegian shows I have seen seems to have a lot of heavy dialects, so that might be confusing. And I've met lots of people who have accidentally learned a very specific dialect only to find out they can't recognise more common norwegian (imagine someone going to australia to learn english only to be unable to understand british or american english afterwards, except norwegian dialects are more distinct I think), so I recommend being careful about that. Maybe checking where each actor is from might help?
Hope any of that is useful, though I wish I could give more specific recommendations.
I'm learning italian at my uni and by watching series -- in italian audio and subtitles. When I don't know a word I google it and add it to my quizlet. Lately I try to make around 30-40 flashcards per day and learn them. I tried not to make the flashcards, but remembering a word -- 1) after seeing it 1-2 times 2) when it was in a context I couldn't comprehend without checking -- was not working for me and I was kind of wasting time.
Though watching La casa di carta was easier in the way that the words were very much repeting (even those more advanced ones) and so I was only checking the meaning of those more unique on that double-subtitles thing (in the target and native language). But now that I think about it, I think it's way better to make flashcards, to be able to return and check if you really remember.
Any tips to make it (even) more effective? I also have a harder time with grammar, I mean, I would like a show, or episode, in which they only speak in one tense for example (but idk if something like that exists??).
Is 1 Liter of Tears really an alternative to Friends when it only has 11 episodes (plus a special)?
Have you ever thought to make comprehensive german input content? Since your german knowledge is pretty good? Or are you sticking to the data driven youtube vids (which are always good)
Do you mean content in German itself? Most likely I'll leave this up to the professionals but who knows 😅
@@OneWordataTime1 yeah just like stephen krashners example. Because personally i like listening to you, so if youre doing a slow german speech with mimicry and potential prop like things i think it would stick in my brain. Just a thought!
Fantastic video! Question: do you work professionaly as a data scientist?
I do not but I do spend time with them. Who's knows, though, since making these videos is building a lot of skills ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I need to watch shows to learn languages. I do the traditional way by reading and writing
I’m curious what counts as an exposure. I know with Japanese it’s so fast and so different that learning words from it takes a very long time. Especially with English subtitles and/or little knowledge of the language, the audio can rush past in a blur.
That's beautiful in the paper... but in practice, as a beginner, you can watch the whole series and you won't learn a single word, unless you're with a dictionary in hands to check every word, but then I really doubt you'll learn that many words in 2 months..
Anybody have recommendations for shows like this for learning Hebrew?
I use Terrace House for Japanese listening practice. It’s an unscripted reality show where they just put three women and three men in a house and they all just do their own things. No forced agenda or anything.
So you’re saying I don’t have to translate the words I don’t know?
Problem with japanese, I cannot read any subtitles because of kanji and those sitcoms are hard to find.
I've never seen friends
You should get out more ;)
@@tomdoesstuff1978Hola bro, hablas español como yo.
Is that real. In my case, After 3 months of watching RUclips videos and listening to podcasts, I haven't seen any progress.
So, if I don't know anything about Japanese, I can watch Friends and Star Trek a couple of times to learn the language without flashcards?
No. You need to watch a Japanese show that has both English and Japanese subtitles. Start with English, watch it once or twice, then watch again with Japanese subtitles then again with no subtitles at all. Obviously you’ll need to learn how to read the language first. Good luck. I’m right there with you.
Where does one watch Friends in German?
Any show recs for Hindi?
Can anybody give a recommendation for a Hebrew learners? Shows or youtube channels
Superstore (קופה ראשית) is a fun option on RUclips
Can anyone share good Tv shows in French? And also German?
Watch Friends dubbed in your target language?
Definitely an option, though it might feel clunky if you'd prefer content originally in your target language
2:06
@@OneWordataTime1 OTOH it's easier to understand it when you're already familiar with recurring phrases, memorable lines and just what they usually talk about in general.
I would probably recommend against that simply for the fact that it can be difficult to localize humor and translate cultural context in an appropriate way. And Friends is a show that can be very ingrained in late 90's/early 00's American culture.
@@Amins88 My mom watched it dubbed in her (and my) native language and she still loved it. I thought it was ok too.
Can anyone tell me WHY on German TV the subtitles don't follow closely what people actually say??? It doesn't make any sense!
Look into German word order a bit (keyword: inversion). The subtitles do match was people say but you have to shake the mindset that things are said the same ways in different languages. I've been thinking of making a video on this topic of why 1:1 translations can be hard (both for understanding and speaking).
@@OneWordataTime1Hi! That is a plausible explanation, but it is not what I see. They just throw out a word here or there, they substitute one word for a synonim. I absolutely don't see it happening in English, Polish or Hebrew. Hebrew is excellent, most shows have subtitles and they transcribe word for word. You may say that Germans are trying to save space (that's sometimes the case, but not always), or they are trying to reconcile differences between dialects - I don't know German well enough to tell. Still, I think it is nuts. Makes learning much more difficult.
@@OneWordataTime1Oh, I just realised I might have not made it clear: I mean German subtitles for German shows!
Oh I see! Yeah I remember the subtitles in Türkisch für Anfänger not matching the speech 1:1 and being endlessly confused. No idea what’s going on there 😂😂😂
@@ihspan6892can you recommend shows or youtube channels on Hebrew?
Any greek content I could watch to learn the language?
does anyone know any shows like this in russian? thats my current target language
Yes! The friends equivalent will be Универ. You can also watch Интерны which is a russian equivalent of scrubs which was also really popular.
But the best of all is Кухня. There are full episodes here on yt and it's all very easy to follow.
Hope this helps!
@@Sane8388 thank you! I'll have to check some of those out. I've heard good things about кухня so I'll probably start there.
Anybody have recommendations for shows like this in German ?
I can't say for shows, but I subscribe to a few German RUclips channels to at the very least stay in practice and keep my comprehension from degrading. There are hundreds of them and you could probably find a few that feature content that you enjoy. I'd recommend a few, but I'm pretty sure RUclips will just delete my comment over it.
Have you done "Jojo Sucht das Glück" course on DW?
Okay, but let's be real: watching shows from day 1 is nearly impossible(and counterproductive) if you're not AT LEAST an A2 in the language, right!?
As a language learner, I understand the temptation to think that. But like I mentioned in another comment, people watch foreign language TV/movies all the time for entertainment (there wouldn't be a "foreign film" category in the Emmy's otherwise). If you frame it as language learning, the activity would change because you might pause more, rewatch etc. but people do this every day.
If you're hesitant, I'd say to give it a shot for a week for a TV show or RUclips channel you want to watch. If I had to bet, you'll have a hell of a lot of fun and pick up more of your language than you're expecting, especially if you stick with it.
I have been learning dutch for the past 3 months purely through immersion, reading or listening to audio a little bit every day, I have used no flash cards or apps and I can definitely say I can understand a decent bit now (although I still have a long way to go ofc)
@@zawuz2681yeah, but you`re probably someone who had seen pieces of the language throughout your life and then decided to pick it up. Imagine doing that in a language where you don`t know how to say ``hi``
@@OneWordataTime1 That`s my point. I have been doing that with Korean for instance... but if it wasn`t for the online classes and YT vids teaching the language I don`t think I`d ever be able to catch anything at all. For example, the word ``thank you`` is said all the time in the series, but it`s only after having learned that formally in class that I was able to hear it in the series and notice how frequent that was (at this point I had already watched MANY k-series without noticing that. Maybe I was dumb?! possible, but I speak 3 languages, now learning my 4th so I theorize it wasn`t dumbness alone). My point is... Usually when learning a language, most people wanna do it ASAP. If we`re doing this solely through series without ANY previous knowledge of the language I don`t think anyone is gonna be able to learn it in about 2 years or so. Again, from an A2 or above I believe it`s totally doable(which is something I do). I think this discussion deserves a video better explaining and demonstrating it in the early stages. For example, when you said ``watch`` I understood that literally. But if we`re pausing, rewatching, etc, then that`s for me ``studying`` the show (but doing that in a language where I`m pre-A1 seems like a nightmare). Again, I see many students who simply ``watch`` shows totally ignoring everything they don`t understand, so maybe that`s worth explaining... anyways, sorry about the long text, just wanted to clarify why I think like that
How do you think we learned our native tongue? We started totally from scratch without even knowing concepts existed and we not only had to learn concepts but also words for them. Listening helps your brain decipher words even if you don't know their meaning.
For Russian learners I can recommend "Realnye patsany" ('Real boys') and "Svaty" ("In-Laws"). Both have charming characters I really got invested in and you hear how real people talk. Besides the fact that the shows are hilarious
Ja, ich geschaut Dark an mit Englisch Untertitel, und ich gelernt kein deutsch lol.
Man merkt es ein bisschen
@@klop4228haha, ich habe nur zwei Monate Deutsch gelernt. Du kannst noch mir verstehen? reflexive verbs are a pain in my arschloch
@@shamicentertainment1262 Ich verstehe perfekt! Die Wörter sind einfach nicht immer in die richtige Reihenfolge.
Ich kann auch nicht so viel sagen. Ich hab die Sprache immer gekannt (ich bin halb deutch), aber habe mur seit letztes Jahr eigentlich in Deutchland gewohnt. Im Vergleich zu den richtigen Deutschen, bin ich nicht so gut.
@@klop4228 Geil, ich habe gerade das Wort 'Reihenfolge' gelernt haha. Wo lebst du in Deutschand? Ich fahren dort in Juli
@@shamicentertainment1262 Ich studiere in Rostock, also nicht so in der Nähe von interessanten Plätzen, aber eine ganz schöne Ecke.
Does anybody know a good show in italian? :)
Gomorrah... Tv gansta show, if a Sopranos type show is your thing.
@@MisterGameswell, Gomorra is amazing, but I don't know if it's good for language learning, it is full of people speaking Naples dialect!!!
If you like cartoons I used to watch "Winx" when I was little, it's an Italian show about faries.
Guardati le Winx! 😂❤
I've heard these are good:
Romanzo Criminale (2008-2010)
Boris (2007-present)
For me it was Modern Family
One liter of tears is definitely not a Japanese alternative to Friends. 😂
It’s about a high school girl who starts suffering from a degenerative disease and dies by the age of 25(based on a true story). As the title suggests, it’s so sad you will be shedding quite a lot of tears. Quite the opposite to Friends.
Hahaha that's very fair. I meant alternative to Friends in the sense that it's character-based 😅
@@OneWordataTime1 Aren't all dramas character-based though? I feel there could be so many better suggestions for an alternative to Friends than One liter of tears.
Do you have a recommendation then?
@@Entropic_Alloy Any slice of life anime, I guess.
@@cookieface80but sometimes In anime they aren’t using accurate (day to day) Japanese. If you need a recommendation you should try Terrace House.
Simpsons and Family guy would be impossible to watch all of it specially if you start now
The thing is I wanna learn korean but Im very sick of k-dramas theyre so repetetive and over exadriating...does korea offer any more "normal" shows or maby movies? I feel like im watching a higschool tv show like hannah montana anytime I watch a grown up kdrama.
(I like hannah montana tho) and I used o like kdramas until i noticed they all have the same formula and are to identichal...and all love interactions are like....they barely kiss att all...thy bsrely even hug...it freela so stiff and fake..so if snyone have tips on some other kind of videos from korea so I can learn trough audio ?
Not all kdramas are romance based or repetitipe. The are good action ones, I highly recommend Vagabond.
I feel similarly about Kpop with it's overly corporate sound. Meaningful Stone is a good Indie Rock artist I recently discovered. Very refreshing to hear. I'm sure there is plenty of content outside of what is mainstream, but you might need to dig a bit deeper. Maybe find some subreddits or something that can point you in the right direction.