日記44 : Learn English with TV Shows

How do you study English with movies or TV shows ? Many people recommend watching TV shows in English as a great way to learn the language, but I’m not sure about what is the best method to do.

Here’s how I currently study with English TV dramas: First, I watch a scene without subtitles and repeat it several times to understand what the characters are saying. Sometimes, I hardly catch anything. Then, I watch the same scene with English subtitles. At this point, I usually grasp the general meaning, except for slang. I often feel the need to understand the dialogue accurately, so at last, I watch with Japanese subtitles.

I don’t know if this is the best way to learn English and it’s definitely not the best way to enjoy the story. Whether it's Inception, Titanic or Shawshank, would you think the movie was a masterpiece if you stopped it every minute and watched every scene three times with different subtitles? That’s why I tend to choose ones that are not too intellectual or well-crafted in terms of story.