That question may seem like it could be answered instantly with a clear “no!”. But today, we’ve got a guest post from Cara Leopold at Leo Listening who begs to differ when it comes to watching foreign films without subtitles. So I’m going to hand things over from here. Cara – can I really watch foreign language films without subtitles?

Yes, you can. But you’re wondering how right? Well, avoid the 3 big mistakes I made when I was learning French.

When I was learning French, I tried watching movies without subtitles. I used to borrow French films from the library on video cassette – yup, showing my age here. In fact, we’re talking about the mid-2000s, but DVDs were still fairly new, as was YouTube.

So I would take arty films out from the library – because that’s all they had. And watch them without subtitles – because that’s the only option I had. And then feel frustrated because I couldn’t understand everything.

In some scenes the characters sounded really mumbly. Or at least that’s how they sounded to my ears. I’d complain about the quiet, hard to catch dialogue. And my inability to catch it.

At this point, I had been learning French since age 12 and was studying it at university so I “knew” the most important grammar and vocab.

I was starting to learn more “real” French: I was reading Nouvel Observateur in the bus on the way to class and listening to Europe 1 on long wave radio in the mornings.

But movies were still tough. Where was I going wrong?

Mistake # 1: I wasn’t doing the groundwork

My choice of film was limited by what the local library had in stock. And that wasn’t much. When you live outside the country of your target language, only “highbrow” films tend to be available.

The film on video that I struggled with was Fin Août, Début Septembre, starring Virginie Ledoyen. It’s a French drama about a group of friends, including Adrien who finds out he’s dying. In light of this news, his friends spend the film taking stock of their careers and love lives.

Apart from looking at the back of the cassette, I didn’t know much else about the film. Nowadays, with a smartphone, you can read reviews in English or in your target language, watch the trailer or watch interviews with the actors. All in a couple of clicks.

Once you’ve got a bit of context about the plot, the characters (even knowing their names in advance can be a big help!), watching the film is going to be a bit easier.

Mistake #2: I was watching whole films

We all dream of sticking on a film like we would in our own language, kicking back with a bowl of popcorn, chilling out and watching it effortlessly.

And this is part of the problem.

Spending 2 hours watching a film in your target language is tough. Even if you’re at an intermediate level or higher, a whole film is a lot of work to understand.

Nowadays, I would recommend watching a series – these are much easier to get hold of, unlike back in 2005.

Watching a series gets you to subtitle freedom sooner because:

you’re familiar with the context
you see and hear the same characters every week
you hear the same expressions

It’ll make your life simpler and you’ll be able to see your progress week in week out.

Another solution is to listen to movie clips or short films. This is a great way to do some intensive ear training. More on that in a second.

You can also watch clips or short films multiple times. You’re not going to watch a 2-hour movie over and over again, even if you enjoyed. And repetition is a key element of language learning.

Mistake #3: I didn’t know what I didn’t know

While watching this type of French film, I would furrow my brow and complain about the mumbly actors. But my real problem was I didn’t know what I was missing.

Was it an expression I didn’t know?
Was it a known word with a weird pronunciation?
Was it a known expression linked together in fast speech?

This is where the subtitles come in. And why watching and listening to lots of the target language without ever double checking what you’re missing doesn’t work.

You can explore tricky sections of a film by trying to write out what you hear. Or even repeat back something you’re not sure about. It feels weird but it works.

After, you can switch on the subtitles to check what you heard. This is where you go from “just listening” to actively working on and improving your listening.

You can check if what you heard was a new expression. Or more likely, a known expression in its fast, spoken form. You may realise that what you heard was some kind of cultural reference – perhaps to a historic figure, an author, another film, a political event etc.

It’s ok not to understand these things – even after 10 years in France I can’t catch all these types of references and it’s okay. I can still watch and enjoy films.

Repeating what you hear as closely as possible will help you to get used to how the fast, spoken version of your target language sounds. Pay close attention to how sounds join together or disappear – there are usually patterns to this. You can find out more by looking for pronunciation resources for your target language.

My top tips for watching foreign language films without subtitles:

• Do the groundwork – watch a trailer, find out some basic plot details, read a review
• Prefer film clips over whole films – much less tiring and much better for ear training
• If you don’t know what you don’t know then find out – do some dictations and switch on the subtitles to check your work
• Prefer series where possible – they’re much easier to follow and make improvement with
• Work on listening and pronunciation – find out how sounds disappear or link together in fast speech
• Cultural references – they’ll come up, you won’t always understand them – don’t worry too much about them, just go with the flow
• Give yourself permission to use the subtitles – if you get lost, stick them on and let them help you
• Be gentle with yourself – series and movies especially are tricky to understand. It’s not your fault if you’re struggling.

Thanks, Cara!

To learn more and sign up for Cara’s mailing list for loads more tips and advice on becoming subtitle free, click here.