Hollywood to the Rescue
August 5th, 2015, by Guy Harris
An old client recently joined a foreign generic drug company which is now operating in Japan. Although his written English is very good, he has difficulties when videoconferencing with the head office.
“I do not catch half of their conversation and have difficulty in discussions with them.”
He asked me how he could improve his listening and speaking skills. I responded as follows:
“Do you have a DVD or BlueRay player? Or do you have access to Hulu?
If so, I suggest you watch movies while having the English text shown on the screen. That way, you can listen to the conversation and read the words at the same time. I think it is a very effective method.
I also suggest that you memorize some of the movie's conversation each night - sentences that you think are useful. eg 10 good sentences every night. Write them down on paper and repeat them. Copy the intonation used in the movie. Memorize them so you can say them without thinking, like a parrot. In a few months, you will develop an excellent speaking vocabulary.”
I recommend this method to anyone - simple, effective, cheap and enjoyable. Hollywood has given us the best language learning method ever invented.
