Using Videos for Learning Languages
December 03, 2023The 6 Best Sources of Language Learning Videos on the Internet
Foreign language immersion is as easy as watching a video.
To speed up the process of language acquisition, one of the things that you absolutely have to do is to watch a lot of native language clips, movies, soap operas, series, newscasts, etc. In fact, academics have warmed up to the possibility that these kinds of videos are the future of education. In this post, we’re going to pay homage to motion pictures by giving you the best sources of language learning videos on the internet.
Content:
Why Videos Work in Language Learning: The 3 M’s
Videos Make the Students Motivated
If there’s any doubt as to the motivating effect of videos on people, one only must look at how students are responding to the games presented in video form—or the so-called video games.
The positive effect of games on learning is well-documented. But having those games in video form seems to take it to a whole new level where students actually get addicted to learning and make peanuts out of the lessons.
Videos have this effect of exciting and engaging the students in any activity. We all heard of kids who forget to eat or sleep because they’re so mesmerized by some video game, right?
Today, videos are being used in language courses to maximize motivation and minimize anxiety in learners.
Videos Make the Lessons Memorable
Videos are moving to the forefront of education. They have been found to have positive effects on the medium- and long-term memory.
Videos generate visual stimulants that wake up the brain cells and demand focused attention.
How many teachers or audio courses get “focused attention” from their students? A video requires that you look at it. It demands that you listen and take stock. Because of these characteristics, videos improve learning outcomes.
But hold your horses just yet. There are probably billions of videos in existence, and not all of them are created equal. They have varying degrees of educational impact.
Content matters. A boring video, well, is boring. There’s really no way around that.
How the video integrates the different technologies available also matters. For example, captioned videos are significantly more effective in teaching language than uncaptioned ones. Later we’ll learn about how websites make their videos more interesting than the rest of the competition.
Videos Make the Culture Meaningful
Culture can never be divorced from the language that gives it expression.
Videos provide visual context for the lessons, allowing students to see not only what the teacher or native speakers look like, but also their facial expressions, animated gestures and even their fashion sense.
All the little visual cues add up to give the student a bigger picture of what the culture is like. You don’t have this element with non-visual podcasts or audiobooks.
Only video really gives this type of peek into the culture of the language you are learning. And that’s why, if you’re going to be acquiring your target language soon, you better open your eyes and your mind to the profound and subtle lessons of one simple, unassuming, video.
We are going to talk about the different ways of watching these videos because there are different types of videos online, there are also different ways of watching them. That all depends on your purpose, which is what we’re going to talk about now.
3 Different Strategies for Watching Language Videos
1. Watching for Pleasure (Taking in the Big Picture)
This technique is usually done for foreign movies or series. The purpose here is not linguistic at all. It’s for entertainment. So, it’s usually the method used when one initially approaches new material.
Let’s say you’re watching a short clip, episode, or film. You watch it first just like any normal movie-goer would. If the video has English subtitles, then you turn them on so you can understand what’s going on.
This approach familiarizes you with the plot of the movie, for example. It introduces you to the characters, the basic conflict and the different twists and complications to the story. You’re taking it all in. You’re not thinking about vocabulary or grammar at this point.
Now, don’t belittle this approach and think it “superficial.” If you’re going to milk a video, clip or movie for all it’s worth, if you’re going to understand the nuances in the language later on, you’re going to have to do this to every video that comes your way. Watch it for pleasure; take it all in.
Do this 3-4 times!
You’ll never understand context or why they are using a certain type of vocabulary if you don’t get the big picture.
2. Watching with Subtitles, Without Subtitles or Dubbed in Another Language
This is where you start to get linguistic in your efforts. Now that you understand the big picture, watch the whole thing again, but this time with the purpose of learning.
Watch it with the foreign subtitles. This is really going to help you with vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. As you read the subtitles, you’re remembering the dialogues and you’re remembering the English equivalents of words. This becomes easier because you have the benefit of context to help you remember. (That’s why you need to watch the video over and over.)
Then you’re going to watch it without the subtitles. This time, you’ll be doing a lot of listening. You’ll train your ears to listen to the tone, cadence, and pronunciation of the words. And because of your familiarity with the material, you’ll probably be predicting the words and dialogue. (If so, practice speaking to them out loud!)
Now, if by chance the material is dubbed in English, then watch it. This way, you will be approaching the subject from a different angle. And this will only strengthen your knowledge of the material.
Doing these three things will allow you to really get all you can out of a video. A single clip, movie or episode can teach you a lot if you have the patience to let it.
3. Watching with Intent (Pause and Play Method)
Now this is the most productive part of watching a video. You’re not only milking it, but you’re also really going to mine it for all it has.
Watching with intent is when you don’t care about the big picture, you don’t care about the movie or the characters, plot or whatever is going on. You’re just watching it for the language gems you can mine.
You do this scene by scene. And a single scene you do line by line. So, in a sequence of dialogue, you pause the movie after a series of lines. Then you study the lines and mine it for every grammatical, vocabulary and context lesson it presents. (The cool thing is, the more you know about a language, the sharper your eyes and ears are for these things.
When you’re done with the last approach, you would have watched the whole thing close to 20 times. You’ll be so sick of it; you’ll wish it had never been made. You’ll consider it the worst tragedy in the history of learning.
Our Top 6 Websites for Language Learning Videos:
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