Language Learning Series #9: Television

While the television presents in itself a distraction for the language student, it also provides a unique opportunity to test your visual and aural capabilities.  There are two ways you can test yourself with a television.  First, if you are not yet at a sufficient level of proficiency, you can watch a foreign channel with the subtitles on the screen.  I recommend that you do not rely on the subscript too much; first, a subscript is always delayed by the television as it transforms the actor’s speech into written words.  Furthermore, as many watchers of Japanese animations know, subtitles done by individuals often vary considerably between translators. Secondly, televisions are not intended to be effective foreign language translators.  Do not expect the television to understand of accurately translate any program.  Second, once you arrive at a level of confidence in your capabilities, you may watch a program without the subscript.  If you wish to truly test your abilities, watch a program that is unfamiliar to you; that is, if you are accustomed to news broadcasts, watch a cooking show.  Each program provides a unique set of vocabulary as well as distinctive lingual tweaks.  A news broadcaster is less likely to speak in a fast pace or refer to cultural idioms or slang while a cooking show hosted by an emphatic chef is more likely to do so. 

If you do not own a television, many foreign channels are available online.  Websites such as multilingualbooks.com provide lists of foreign television channels as well as links to their pages.  Video websites such as youtube.com or megavideo.com often provide foreign videos with subscription (often abbreviated into “sub”), although their subtitles are often brief for lack of screen space.