How I Learned English from Watching Movies (and How You Can Too)
Bilal Zou
I grew up in the suburbs of Rabat, Morocco and learned English predominantly from watching movies. I would watch three or four movies in a day, and after a few years, I realized I could speak the language. It shocked everyone, including me.
My goal is to help you do the same, in a much faster time. In this article, I’ll show you how to learn English from watching movies and give you ways to structure your learning process.
Follow your (film) interests
I learned English as a byproduct of my interest in American culture and cinema. More specifically, I enjoyed real-life stories and indie dramas that didn’t have a lot of plot but realistically portrayed how people live. One of my favorite such movies is Your Sister’s Sister with Emily Blunt.
Letting yourself get carried away by your interests is key to learning English from movies. Don’t ask “how can I learn English?” (yet), ask “what English-language movies would I be interested in?” Some people like horror, others documentaries; some people prefer British comedy to American, etc. It depends on each person. Answering this question is key to your English learning journey.
Turn on the (right) subtitles
It goes without saying that you need to turn on subtitles in your mother tongue to learn from movies at the beginning. What is key here is making sure you enjoy movie watching, and for this you need to understand said movies.
Many people assume that to learn English you need to watch English movies with English subtitles. In my experience, this takes away the fun from watching the film as each new word you don’t understand will look like a giant obstacle in front of you.
Repeat your favorite expressions
I would always find myself mumbling DeNiro’s “You talkin’ to me?” or Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny!” to myself. The reason I did this was because these expressions were fun to say, but in the way I was improving my pronunciation and speaking skills.
Try to repeat expressions in movies you think sound cool. Whether it is Matthew McConaughey’s “Alright, alright, alright” or any other, repeat it to yourself for a while. You will find that your accent will improve.
Review movies online
Go on online film forums like Letterboxd or IMDb and review. Review, review, review. Write anything but make sure it’s in English. This will help you get started on your writing.
Make sure you review movies you either loved or hated, as that will push you to express yourself better in writing.
Organize your time to watch more movies
I’ve always been a big proponent of watching at the very least one movie a week (Sunday is my personal movie night). It’s simple, the more movies you watch, the more you’ll learn.
Start with a weekly movie night. If you don’t have a big TV to watch movies, no problem. Watch on your phone, computer or laptop and just enjoy the film. If you develop a passion for film, you will find yourself watching more. The key is to watch consistently.
Every once in a while, watch a movie with a native English-speaker (if you can)
If you have a native English-speaker friend or colleague, watch a movie together and discuss it afterwards. It’s a fun exercise to test your understanding of the language and have a chat with someone in English.
In Morocco I made English-speaking friends by enrolling in a journalism class. If you don’t have English-speaking friends, it doesn’t mean you can’t make new ones!
And bonus: in my case, those people I met in Morocco are now some of my best friends.
Watch the same movies more than once
Try watching a movie twice or more. I’ve always found that doing this helped me understand the movie better and improve my listening skills.
Most of the movies I watched were through a channel called “MBC2”, which played American movies 24/7. I couldn’t choose which movies to watch (and they didn’t have a lot of money to license new movies), so I ended up watching some movies many times over.
You probably have access to a much more practical way to watch movies. Pick your favorite actors, directors or writers and let yourself become obsessed with their work. Usually, movies you want to watch more than once are good movies. And good movies make learning English fun.
Use new apps
There are so many apps out there that can help you learn English, and some of them harness the power of movies. Language Reactor is a completely free one that I recommend to anyone who wants to learn English. The app works by employing the same technique I’ve been explaining throughout this article: movies with subtitles in your native language, which you pause on every new word so that you can practice it. Lingopie is another app that prides itself as being the “Netflix of language learning” but they currently don’t offer English. Maybe one day.
That’s all for how to learn English through movies. I hope you found this article useful and interesting, and that it will make your English learning (or teaching) journey more fun.
Speaking of fun, I made this database of words that are unique to each language. Here is the list for English words that don’t translate. Words like “catch-22”, “gun-shy”, or “kitty-corner”.