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!