In our last blog - Gain Verbal Finesse: 5 ways you can build and expand your English Vocabulary, we had made a passing reference to an article in The New York Times about how the sitcom FRIENDS is helping people around the world to learn English, even after two decades since the last episode was aired on television.
What could be the reason for it to become such an engaging and effective teaching resource for English language learners? The article goes on to mention that “Friends” is a near-perfect amalgam of easy-to-understand English and situational relatability with themes that speak to everyone, even those who live worlds away from Manhattan’s West Village.
The article ends with a question of whether aspiring learners of the language could hope to reach the same level of English proficiency as that of the actors in the sitcom. “Just watch ‘Friends’ and try to imitate the characters” was the advise given by Ms. Elif Konus, an English teacher from Turkey whose pedagogy of incorporating the sitcom in her English classes was featured in the article.
Subtitles and Closed Captions: Facilitating Language learning
This is the point where we delve deeper into the effectiveness of watching videos for improving your communication skills in English (or any other language). While Ms. Konus is spot on in suggesting her students to imitate the way the characters in Friends speak, it would help mostly with improving pronunciation and getting the accent right. But will it help in making students confident in speaking the language?
As indicated in our last blog, we at Glibzter lay emphasis on the importance of building and constantly expanding your vocabulary to meet that objective. And this is where a nifty feature comes in handy - Video Subtitles.
Videos which we stream online via OTT video platforms like Netflix and YouTube, come with subtitles and /or closed captions (CC). [Refer this article to understand the difference between subtitles and closed captions]] For the purpose of this article, we will consider Closed Captions (CC) as Subtitles without getting into technicalities.
So let's get down to exploring the 3 benefits of language learning by watching videos with subtitles:
1) Immersive learning with audio visual context
Subtitles and captions are both textual representations of the spoken words and sounds in a video. When you watch a video, both your visual and aural senses are engaged. When you hear a word or phrase being used in a scene, coupled with reading it in the subtitles/ captions, you can mentally tag it to a particular situation and emotion.
It helps you create a visual, audio and contextual frame of reference, that has the potential of 'making it stick' when compared to acquainting with a word or phrase purely in a textual or audio format.
Glibzter Immersive is our browser extension and web app that can be used to not just acquire new words and phrases while streaming videos on Netflix and YouTube, but also to help you with context based practice - i.e. knowing in what situation and with what emotion can you use the word or phrase.
2) Promotes reading as a habit
Did you know that in a Glibzter survey conducted in 2021, over 75% respondents had indicated their preference to consume English video content with English subtitles? The overwhelming reason attributed was to overcome challenges related to spoken English in other accents.
The beauty of adding subtitles/ closed captions to a streaming video is that it makes video watching a non-passive activity where you engage in reading the subtitles. With most of us preferring to consume content in audio visual format (videos and podcasts) rather than plain text (newspapers, magazines or even books), subtitling is one way to keep the reading habit alive in all of us.
While reading is a way to acquire new words and phrases and remember their contextual usage; the larger your vocabulary bank, better would be your level of reading comprehension and thereby communicating.
3) Build and expand Vocabulary by learning new words and phrases
While subtitles help in cultivating a reading habit and provide an audio visual and contextual reference point, they are a great source of acquiring and expanding your English vocabulary - whether you choose to watch a movie or web series in any language with English subtitles.
So if you are watching a video in an Indian regional language but have English subtitles turned on, Voila! Even better as you now identify the words and phrases with your native tongue.
Glibzter Immersive works like a digital diary that automatically collects and curates English words and phrases for you to practice from the video content you choose to watch on Netflix and YouTube. When you practice, you get to learn the usage of the words and phrases in context, with audio elements to aid in pronunciation in addition to a translation feature in select Indian regional languages.
So the next time you binge your favorite web series or stream a movie, ensure the subtitles / closed captions are turned on to reap these three benefits. Glibzter Immersive will be your partner doing the heavy lifting at the backend to give you a curated list of words and phrases for you to practice and improve your knowledge in contextually using them.
Signing off with our catch line, "Don't just Netflix and chill! Use Glibzter Immersive to enhance your communication skill."
