Subtitulos o no??

Question

Hola, Es mejor mirar peliculas espanoles con o sin subtitulos ingles para aprender espanol??? No puedo entender nada sin subtitulos.

Answer 1

Although I'm guessing that many people will tell you to never use subtitles, in my opinion there is a natural progression when learning another language. At first, in your case, it may be beneficial to watch movies, news, and other programs in Spanish with English subtitles. In my opinion this helps you to develop an ear for the language while getting the gist of what is going on. You will begin to associate many Spanish words with their English equivalents. However, there are two downfalls: many subtitles contain bad translations and the fact that you have to go back and forth between two languages quickly. That being said, I think it is a necessary evil that does more good than bad.

After you improve your language abilities, you will want to start watching with subtitles in Spanish. Again there are both positives and negatives in this process. The positive is that you will see many words that you probably already know but didn't recognize when a native speaker was saying them at full speed. You will begin to get a better feel for word combinations, set phrases, idioms, etc. The negative is that while you are trying to match what is being said to the subtitles you may miss out on the context and lose focus of what is going on. In my opinion, this is also necessary.

Of course, sooner or later you will want to turn off all subtitles and try and understand everything with no help. Using no aids really helps your brain work quickly to find meaning. You will find yourself hearing words that you never knew and knowing what they mean just through context.

Like any question that has to do with language learning, you are bound to receive tons of different responses. "Do this", "Don't do that", etc. Just keep in mind, there are still lots of mysteries about language learning and what works for one person may be of little or no use to another. I think it's something very personal, and you have to experiment and find what methods work best for you.

El mejor respuesta hé visto hoy. This is probably the best set of tips I have seen all of today. Props to you, Sir! :) - Helado_eclectico, Jan 16, 2014

I actually want to add a little something. In the beginner stages, you can also see English videos with Spanish subtitles (turning the sound down) to increase the speed of reading comprehension. At least, I fancy it helped me out. :p - Helado_eclectico, Jan 16, 2014

Thank you - For sharing such a clear and concise answer. - bonnie56, Jan 17, 2014

Answer 2

In your profile, you mark your Spanish as intermediate, so I assume you are now happy to watch with no subtitles or subtitles in castellano. I find if I watch with English subtitles I do not pay attention to the Spanish, because with my native language being English, whatever my intentions it is a bit like reading a picture book in English. Ideally you should listen to things in Spanish without subtitles. Listen several times, then if stuck listen with Spanish subtitles. Our teacher says for this type of listening 4 minutes is beneficial. Here is a site which has lots of subtitled videos so you can choose whether to use or not: universal subtitle site

Here is a short film I have watched:

la suerte de la fea no subs

and here with subtitles in Spanish, which you can turn on or off:

Spanish subtitles available

In summary make the effort to do some listening without subtitles

Thanks for the video, it was hilarious and understandable even without subtitles. :) - dennywells, Jan 16, 2014

Thanks, Im sure you are right. i said that I was intermediate because I have been studying spanish off and on for 12 years. with some long breaks at times with no spanish at all. I, like most, have better reading comprehension than my listening. - Ricardonuevo, Jan 16, 2014

Gracias por el enlace, yo tengo los problemas mismo. - bonnie56, Jan 17, 2014

Answer 3

Lo mejor (para mi) es verlo con subtitulos, yo las series que me gustan (Doctor who, sherlock, broadchurch, game of thrones etc... las veo en versión original con subtitulos

Gracias por tu ayuda - Ricardonuevo, Jan 16, 2014

Answer 4

con subtitulos, asi comparas el audio con la lectura y es mas facil ^ - ^

si entiendes mucho palabras en espanol puedes sacar subtitulos al video, asi te acostubra al sonido.