Cinema Paradiso: Learning English with Moving Images

By CARLOS MARTÍN GAEBLER

It is often said that Spaniards have a longstanding idiomatic deficit when it comes to speaking a foreign language. This is partly due to a very simple fact: hardly ever are they exposed to hearing foreign languages spoken on TV or at the cinema, since all of the films they watch and hear are dubbed into their native language. Naturally, they are not well prepared to develop an ear for English. They find learning it much more difficult than, for instance, their Portuguese neighbours, who are used to hearing English-speaking films or series on a regular basis. This same pattern occurs in other EU countries, such as The Netherlands, Denmark or Sweden, which, together with a more efficient bilingual education system, accounts for the high standard of English of their citizens.

The rich variety of highly-acclaimed English-speaking films and series produced in Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand provide you with the opportunity of enjoying a vast diversity of actors’ accents: Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient; Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day; Helen Mirren in The Queen; Nicole Kidman in Dogville; Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in Bridges of Madison County; Hugh Grant in Love Actually; Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, or all the different American accents in Crash. Therefore, using moving images to improve your English is of utmost importance in an increasingly multilingual global society.

Here are some tips aimed at helping advanced learners of English (living in Seville) to obtain a better understanding of today’s lingua franca. Current releases with Spanish subtitles can be seen at the Avenida, Metromar or Nervión Plaza cinemas (discount day is Wednesday). Another option is seeing films with English subtitles from the Speak Up dvd series (you can check out some of them at the self-learning section of the Engineering School library on the Cartuja campus), which come with a helpful glossary, or enjoying the digital technology of DVDs, which also allows you to watch and read a film at the same time. Besides, seeing an English-speaking film with English subtitles online is strongly recommended because you experience the film directly in English from beginning to end without having to read a Spanish translation of it.

If you happen to be a television fan, TV platforms nowadays offer you the possibility of watching films and series in their original version. Finally, the legendary Metrópolis from La 2 screens subtitled short films or advertising selections from time to time. (See TV listings.)

In short, remember that hearing a dubbed film is like experiencing only half of it because the voices of actors and actresses who star in films are essential to fully enjoy cinema. Somebody once said, “Watch a hundred films and you’ll find the meaning of life”. Ultimately, watching foreign films and series in the original version is just another way of broadening your cultural horizons.