4 Reasons to Watch Documentaries to Improve Your Level in Your Target Language

When it comes to learning a new language, people have wide range of methods and techniques they recommend. Some prefer the old-school method which mean using textbooks and offline materials. Others, prefer using computers and modern technology. Based on my own experience in learning English, watching documentaries was extremely helpful in improve my progress pace. Here are 4 reasons why you should consider watching documentaries to improve your level in your target language:

1# Learning the pronunciation and the spelling as well

            Reading is an excellent exercise to improve your vocabulary and spelling. However, if you spend a lot of time only reading, you won’t know how the word is pronounce. This concept requires having the subtitle feature activated. This will allow you to see the word’s spelling and hear the pronunciation in the same time. It will help you to know if any silent letter the word has or if it has a unique way to pronounce it.  

2# Learn new vocabulary with pictures creates memories

            Watching a documentary is a great way to link learning new vocabulary with your memory. When you hear a certain vocabulary while you are watching images linked to it, it will create a better understanding of the meaning and the usage of the vocabulary. As Jim Kwik said “Knowledge + Emotion = Long Lasting Memory”. 

3# It use an Academic Language 

            There are many types of documentaries but what I am talking about is the type of documentaries which contains Academic Language. Why? Because academic vocabulary is understood by all the native speaker and it keep appearing more often than non-academic vocabulary. For example, watching American movies to learn English is a good way to improve your English. However, most of the time they contain slangs which is not really useful. In fact, they might be confusing as often times it makes sense only in the movie. Academic Language is more useful as you will see it in the books, news and all native speaker understands it. 

4# Documentary movies keep repeating certain vocabulary over and over

In most cases, the documentary will keep repeating certain vocabulary over and over with different sceneries. This is because each documentary has a certain point of view to represent. Throughout the documentary you will keep hearing certain vocabulary over and over which will make you fully understand the meaning of the vocabulary without and doubts or confusions. 

Watching documentaries can be very boring for many people. It requires you to pay a lot of attention to the explanation the narrative makes. For many people this is not really a fun way to learn a language. I recommend language learners to watch one documentary from while to while as it will make them diversify their learning methods and flourish their progress.  

Thanks for reading