We all know that watching movies and listening to music on your target language are great ways to expand your vocabulary, immerse yourself on context and content, and familiarize yourself with cultural aspects of the people who have your new language as their first. We always like to share new ways to help you supplement your learning. Here are two online, fun, and easy ways to do it.
Sing Along with the Lyrics
Streaming music is widely available on the internet. One station, Pandora, actually displays the lyrics on many songs. It can be hit or miss searching for songs with lyrics, but if you do a simple search for, “Pandora Radio (your target language) lyrics” you could come up with gold! Check out this great list of latino stations!
If you’re learning French, there are also a lot of station choices that will not only be fun listening, but upbeat learning! (I recommend stations like Zaz or Carla Bruni.)
If you’ve got suggestions of artists in other languages, share them in the comments below!
In the mood for a movie?
Talk about a well of entertainment – and language learning. If you’re not familiar with IMDB it is the “world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.” One of the best reasons for a language learner to know about IMDB is that you can search for foreign language films that presumably have subtitles, both in your mother tongue and in the language you’re learning.
It’s easy to find flicks* that’ll suit your fancy*. Simply search for, “IMDB (your target language)”. Note that not all of the movies that appear in the list will be in that language (when I searched IMDB French I got a Forest Whittaker film that is a re-dub of a French version.)
*Idiomatic Phrases and Common English Terms
Flick – Another word for a motion picture. The term flick is used because during the early days the film industry used flickbook technology. In addition, early films produced flickering images and hence the origin of the name. [Source]
Suit your fancy – To to appeal to someone’s imagination, fantasy, or preferences. [Source]
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