Movies to Learn from

[Artfan]

Hi y'all. So, I'm watching the movie Napoleon Dynamite right now, and it occurred to me that it's a fantastic example of everyday American English speech. Maybe we could discuss this and other movies for learning English in this thread.

 

[Lestat84]

First off, y'all is egregiously wrong grammatically. Second, movies are a TERRIBLE place to learn GOOD English. I'm not sure it's the greatest way to learn colloquial English either. You really need to learn the proper use of a language, then learn its colloquialisms.

 

[Mike Cash]

The bane of all Southerners....Yankees who mimic Southern speech using "y'all" as singular pronoun. Like fingernails on a chalkboard,

 

[Lestat84]

I HATE it when people use y'all. The southern accent/dialect irritates me as well. Why can't people just use proper grammar. I probably only take issue with this because I'm an aspiring author, but it is annoying nonetheless.

 

[Mike Cash]

Well, aspiring author, if you're going to mimic speech, even speech you hate, at least try to do a good job of it.

For what very little it is worth, I find the speech of people from your part of the country every bit as annoying.

お互い様だ。

 

[Artfan]

Hey, everybody. 1. Y'all is short for "you all", is American English, and was not used as parody or mimicry. 2. This particular movie was cited not as a source of "GOOD" English. 3. Movies, and books, contain language, and people here are learning language.

To all people who are learning: do not take every bit of information you receive as gospel. If you want a peek on regular ol' English in America, check this out. Do not, however, go around talking like the characters in this movie. It's a different (but realistic) viewpoint than that presented in textbooks.

 

[grawrt]

I dont see why movies are a bad place to use reference. Regardless of where youre from, the speed used in a conversation of native speakers is usually the same for everyone. Movies can help train your ear for the speed, as well as get a feel for how the language is expressed. Sarcasm, etc.

Im not sure how it would help with grammar though...

 

[Glenn]

I don't see why it would be a problem as long as the speech used in the movie accurately reflects speech used in everyday life. It may be a problem if it's highly regionalized, but it's still worth being able to understand various dialects, even if you don't speak them. I mean, I got to where I was understanding もんてきー！ and けんど、おまんはどうするがじゃ？ from watching Japanese period dramas (well, 龍馬伝/Ryomaden), but I wouldn't talk that way unless I were joking around (OK, so I liked how they sounded and repeated them enough to where they'd just come out sometimes...). That brings up another point -- it's nice having those regionalisms in your back pocket for some added flavor every now and then anyway.

 

[Davey]

I don't know but I find movies the best place to learn English from.

When you are interested in something it will stick longer, you can listen to it and with subtitles you can also read English as well.

But I agree that it can also have it bad parts regarding slang, etc. Watching the movie "Snatch" to learn English wouldn't be very useful.

 

[Lestat84]

Well, aspiring author, if you're going to mimic speech, even speech you hate, at least try to do a good job of it.

For what very little it is worth, I find the speech of people from your part of the country every bit as annoying.

お互い様だ。

You find a northerner's speech annoying. Please note I do not have a Boston accent if you assumed that.