If you’re going to practise listening for general understanding as opposed to listening for specific information, then films and series is was one of the best ways to do this.

All you need is a TV.

And let’s face it, who doesn’t have a TV?

However, many English learners do it incorrectly, either choosing the wrong kind of series or film for their level, or not using subtitles in the correct way.

A typical scenario is the following.

An English learner feels frustrated with their listening skills. They feel very motivated to improve their listening skills, and decide to watch everything in English. The first time they listen to an episode of their favourite TV series in English, they understand around fifty percent of what is being said.

The episode finishes, they feel lost because they didn’t understand it, they get frustrated, and never watch anything in English again.

There’s a magic number you need to keep in mind when you want to watch films or series: 80%.

When you choose to watch something in English, you need to understand around eighty percent of what is said.

You don’t need to understand everything, but you do need a minimum for it to be practical.

Why do we watch films and series? What is the main reason we watch them?

To either relax, be entertained, or both.

Eighty percent comprehension will allow you to learn and practise English, but more importantly, it will allow you to enjoy what it is that you’re watching.

If you don’t understand what you’re watching, you won’t enjoy it.

If you don’t enjoy what you’re watching, you won’t do it again. And doing it again is the most important thing.

Your primary focus when watching films or series in English should be enjoyment. Anything less than eighty percent comprehension, and you won’t enjoy it.

What is eighty percent comprehension?

It’s a feeling.

It’s the feeling that you could correctly explain to another person what’s happening in the film. It’s the feeling that, although you don’t understand every word, you feel that you could continue watching without missing any important part of the story.

You know when you understand eighty percent.

The eighty percent allows you to watch, understand and enjoy the film or series. The other twenty percent is what you can try to learn.

So how do you get to eighty percent?

There are four levels of difficulty to choose from when you watch TV in English. Level one is audio in your language and subtitles in English. Level two is audio in English and subtitles in your language. Level three is with subtitles in English. And level four is just in English, no subtitles.

Which level do you choose when you want to watch something? The level which will give you eighty percent comprehension.

Easy.

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Which one you choose will depend on two things: your own level, and the film or series you choose to watch.

For example, if you’re watching a series in an accent that you’re not used to, you’ll probably need subtitles in your own language.

If it’s a series that you watch regularly and you know each character’s way of expressing themselves, you can probably have it with English subtitles, or even no subtitles, depending on your level.

Don’t worry if the subtitles need to be in your own language. That’s absolutely fine. Some English is better than none. As you get used to the characters’ voices, you can try jumping up a level.

My wife has C1+ listening, almost perfect. She rarely misunderstands anything. However, if she has subtitles, she prefers to have them in Spanish, not English. She just likes it best this way, and it’s what she’s used to.

She spends most of her time watching the film or series without reading, but occasionally, she’ll need to check a word or phrase with the subtitles.

And this is key, try to put an emphasis on listening, not reading.

Listen first, then read.

This will be difficult in the beginning if it’s your first time with subtitles. Most people spend most of their time reading, not watching or listening, but you get better very quickly, and learn to skim-read the subtitles after listening.

Sometimes, though, after a long day at work, you just don’t fancy listening in English. Don’t worry if you feel like this. You can’t always want to learn and practise English. On those days, put the audio in your language and subtitles in English.

If you don’t feel like reading them, then don’t.

But maybe you’ll hear an expression or something else in your language and want to know the translation. Well, you have the English subtitles to see it.

Some English is always better than none.

Your priority should be to watch for pleasure, enjoyment and relaxation.

If you can, you should also do five minutes of listening for detail when the film or series finishes.

For example, with a notebook and pen, write down all keywords and phrases that you hear during three minutes of dialogue. After three minutes, the goal is to tell a person exactly what has happened during those three minutes of dialogue. What was said, what was happening in the story, and what will happen after.

If you don’t have anybody to tell, just write it down in a paragraph or two, using the keywords and phrases you heard and your own words, being careful with grammar.

This is a great exercise that shows you are listening carefully, and that you are able to relate conversations to others.

Also, with your notepad and pen next to you, write down any words, phrases, or expressions that you hear more than once or that you want to learn. When it finishes, check those words in a dictionary.

There are a million different exercises you can do with just one minute of dialogue.

With a little imagination you can invent new exercises all the time.

English is just one press of a button away. Even if it means audio in your language and subtitles in English. You’ll be surprised how much you learn doing it in that way.

Press that button and get your daily dose of English.

There’s no excuse.