Watching movies with English subtitle

ดูหนังแล้วเปิดซับอังกฤษ ดีจริงๆ

A lot of people ask me for tips for learning English, and one of the things I always tell them is watching the movies they like over and over in English with the English subtitle on.

When I was a teenager, I loved a movie called Dead Poets Society.  In my time, we didn't have DVDs--there were videos and video players.  I bought a video of the movie, and I sat in my house watching that movie almost every day after school.  I had the English caption on, and I listened to the sounds and the voices of the characters I loved in English, while my eyes read the subtitle and gradually learned those words, expressions, and even the pronunciation.

If there is a movie that you like, I highly recommend getting its DVD and playing it often when you have some free time to spare.  If you like the story, and you have already watched it with the Thai translation at the theater, then you have already understood the story and what each character is talking about.  So from that point on, all you need is to learn English the easy way from the movie.

The reason why I say this method is learning English "the easy way" is because, by nature, people are highly motivated to do something when we are interested in it.  So once you've already liked the movie, you won't really need much effort to spend time with it, and you'll be automatically interested in what is being said in each situation and how it is said.  That's learning English the natural way, just like when people learn English when they are in an English-speaking country: learning the words and sounds because you need to understand the meaning and to communicate.

So if you have time this weekend, go out and get yourself a movie that you've already watched and liked a lot.  Then come home, sit back and relax, and watch that movie with the English caption on!

What it takes to learn a new language

ต้องมีอะไรถึงจะเรียนภาษาได้

If it's English, most Thais have already had some background of it since it is the compulsory foreign language in Thailand.  Many people start from kindergarten, many from the fifth grade.  It continues to be required until people are in college.  Why do we not learn it or speak it fluently like people from other countries?  When English is a required course throughout our education, we only study it in class, but we have no chance or motivation to use it in our everyday life.  For me, it started when I was a teenager.  I just realized I loved it, and so I was motivated to be good at English.

So for people with some background like formal education of the English grammar and some basic vocabulary, the only two more things needed are interest and practice.

By interest, I mean you need to begin to notice things in English and want to try communicating in English.  By practice, I mean you need to read more.  But it's not just grabbing any text in English--you won't really learn much, if at all, if the thing you're reading is not what is interesting to you.  Get books or magazines that talk about what you like, make sure they're not too difficult to understand (something that you won't need to consult the dictionary all the time), and just enjoy reading!  Without knowing it, you'll soon learn a lot of new words, and the grammar you've studied at school will become alive and make much more sense to you.

If it's a totally new language, one that you have zero background, the most important thing you need is some kind of motivation.  It could be program requirement if you're studying for a degree, it could be personal interest, anything.  But if there is no good reason for you to learn it at all, why bother?!!

Then once you've started on that new language, vocabulary is one of the things that will help you get better at it.  Grammar is important, but just like English, knowing the grammar of a language without any words to put in those grammatical structures is not going to get you anywhere.  Then what you need next, also just like learning English, is practice.  So practice, practice, practice, and don't give up until you're good at it!