Have you got your tickets for the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival?
The opening night screening and party with delicious Spanish food and wine was a real success and there is so much Spanish cinema to look forward to watching. If you are taking Spanish lessons with us, we hope you’ve enjoyed our free DVD library service and heard us asserting the benefits of watching films in Spanish to improve your language. Don’t forget that we are going to see two films in the festival this weekend. Click here if you want more information.
What are the benefits of watching films in Spanish?
1. You improve your vocabulary.
Even if the film has English subtitles, you will recognise many words and reinforce them in your mind. Watching films is one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to increase your lexical knowledge.
2. You can listen to native speakers for a couple of hours.
Unless you have a Spanish partner or Spanish-speaking friends, how many opportunities like that do you have in your life? It’s also easier following a movie, with its consistent plot and themes, rather than a conversation where people jump from one topic to another.
3. Language and culture are always go hand-in-hand.
A language without the context, the cultural references and backgrounds is only a skeleton. For example, a couple of weeks ago I learnt the expression “part and parcel” watching a TV series at the BBC. This is the perfect example about how useful it is and, definitely, watching films is part and parcel of the process of learning a second language.