Learning English Through Movies

If you are reading my blog on a regular basis you may have noticed that my English isn't flawless. Maybe you've already seen a little film strip note on the sidebar where I'm talking about my “movie” English. That's right, I've learned my English almost entirely through  movies. It all started when I was a little girl. Back then, foreign movies weren't dubbed  in my country. We always watched the original version with subtitles in our language. Most of the time those movies were in English. So I listened to the original voices  and read the subtitles simultaneously, it was a no brainer at the time.

Later  I started to learn German in school, there even wasn't an option to learn English in our little town of 5000 people. I loved German so much throughout my school time that I even decided to study it and become a teacher!

It wasn't till I had my first baby (love you, froggilein) that I realized that something wonderful must have happened in my brain because I started to understand English without having one single lesson in my life! All these years of watching and listening to the movies without any effort...was it even possible? 

I finally found the explanation for this phenomenon while living in Germany in the nineties. I stumbled upon a book of a German psychologist and linguist Vera Birkenbihl. In her book “Stroh im Kopf” she said, among other things, that it was possible to learn  languages trough a passive method, without taking lessons and studying grammar. The explanation was a bit more complicated then that but it suddenly started to make sense to me! From that moment on, I started to pay more attention when listening to the music or watching television. I even started to read in English: magazines, books and later on the Internet. My passive knowledge of English language grew constantly. But from there to start to talk or even to write: inconceivable!

When I moved to Canada with my family in the late nineties we had to learn French – we were in Quebec! I was under the impression that I've lost all of my English while learning French. But it was only temporary, it all came back once I learned French very well. I also started to watch television in English on a regular basis, all the American cable channels to choose from, such a treat for me!

Trough my first job in Canada, I've created a  four level English conversation course for immigrants in Quebec City and hired an English  teacher. Although we were living in a French speaking city, English was a must when applying for a job. One of the teachers encouraged me to participate in an advanced (!) conversation group (thank you, Hormuz!). It was the first time that I took an English course and also a first time that I said something in English. 

Later, when I discovered a blogosphere, I started to follow English speaking blogs and was amazed by all the wonderful people who shared their talent with the world. So I finally created my own blog in 2008 but didn't start writing on a regular basis until September 2009. I was surprised myself that I was able to write in English, with or without errors. And I'm so happy when someone leave a comment on my posts, I can't believe how generous bloggers are!

Oh boy, this must be my longest post ever! I'm somewhat relieved now when you know the truth! Thank you so very much for reading my blog!!!

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Learning English Through Movies