[English] Do you watch TV ?

[isa]

I didn't, I'm sorry!
But I'm not sure this one has been discussed yet but there's currently a show that's above all the others. Some even said "it's too good for tv"! The best acting and the best lines ever (well, maybe except for Six Feet Under, of course)

Allow yourself to be seduced by Don Draper



And for the fans, the new episode of the office was yesterday! And the premiere of Dexter is in 2 days!

edit : I forgot to mention The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, I'm watching the latter daily, it allows me to keep myself informed about the american politics and more generally the news. Stephen is my hero.

[Lelaom]

Whenever I switch on my tv, it is usually to watch a movie/serie/documentary. The rest is def. a waste of time to my opinion.

My golden rule about movies & Co: "Stick to the original version, period."; so to say, I always look movies with major English acting in English with or without English subs (beware that subtitles are a summary of what is being said, and not a full transcript).

As a matter of fact, multimedia content (movies for instance) is as good as reading books, it just call upon a different set of attributes. While your English movies may improve your ability to understand a specific accent, to learn new words through pronunciation, etc., books will give you an other set of perks which will be more oriented towards editing, writing, syntax, spelling, puns, rhetoric, etc.

Therefore, I deeply recommend to anyone that wish to improve his linguistics proficiencies in any language to live 100% in the target language. Read, watch, and of course speak as much as you can.

Hard work, perseverance and positive attitude are probably the only things required to improve your [insert language].

Considering the series I have been following so far (non-exhaustive list):

- Sons of Anarchy (still airing)
- Heroes (Complete)
- Lost (Complete)
- My Name is Earl (Complete)
- Hell's Kitchen (new season 8 is on air, do not ask me why, I love cooking and am a Gordon Ramsay's fan)
- Rookie Blue (currently airing)
- Boston Med (Complete, kinda docu. type)
- BSG (Complete)
- Man vs Wild (Awesome Bear Grylls)
- Etc.

===

What about you ?

[samjin]

Wow! Hugh, your English is really strong ! Congrats !

I am deeply convinced that the best way to improve your English (or any other language actually) is to immerse yourself totally into it. It has to become some kind of an obsession somehow! A guy told me (I cannot remind who and when) that the day you will wake up and reminding you have just experienced a dream completely in English, this very day, you will be able to speak English with your mind and not only with your knowledge... Am sure this is true ! So far it has not happened to me .... yet !!

So let's go back to the main subject... Do I watch TV? Yes ! What do I watch? Mostly what I down*** (boooo this is forbidden ! right !)... sometimes just what I can fall on over the TV cable or the dsl box (in Paris). I have preferences for documentaries or informative contents though ! Or cartoons.... hahahahaha !!! Sorry am still a child !

I watch as much original contents as possible. I speak as much English as possible. My friends hate me for that because am always answering in English. Leaving voice mails in English. Sending text messages in English... Even sometime (and I swear this is not even on purpose but much more the result of a bad habit) cruzing in English! And some time, people finds it cute and an interesting asset. Don't ask me "how comes??".

Oh ! About the subs, you definitly should start with french subs first. Then english. Then, as weird as It can sounds like, french track with english subs.... I swear it is a great exercise. It forces your mind to do the backward process ! You have to find back the proper words said in French into the English sub ! And finally, no subs at all. Because no matter how hard you try, you won't ever be able to understand everything thanks to subs. All those tiny subtleties which lay in the English language would be revealed to you the moment you will live completely into an English environment.

As you may have guessed, am the obsessed guy trying to improve his language as fast as possible !

My list (also non-exhaustive):
-The Big Bang Theory (Sheldon I worship you !)
-The Desperate Housewives (couuuurse ! There is a Desperate Housewives in each of us !)
-Hung (an original scenario... from my point of view o'course !)
-United States of Tara (Still waiting for the new season to get broadcasted!!!!!grrr)
-Futurama (Bender you will kill me eventually !)
-True Blood (this is the aftereffect of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... a hotter Cast though !)
-The Nanny ("nounou d'enfer" in french)
-Xfiles (dont start teasing me ! Am a huge fan(antic) of the 90's TV shows)

I lost track with many famous TV shows like Heroes or Prison Break. When the scenario (and the scenarists) make the story goes around... I just lose track and feel nauseous....

Otherwise, I used to laugh my ass off (lmao??) thanks to "That 70's show" and "Malcolm". Also with "Roseanne" or "Married with two children".

I also enjoy watching some other cartoons as "Family Guy" or "The Simpsons". The same with japanese stuffs like "One piece" and "Naruto".

Altogether, I love watching TV. What am going to watch depends on the occasion: having a huuuuge breakfast on a Saturday morning? A well-cooked dinner with friends? The same sentence but alone under a big, comfortable blanket? A snack just after a boring day at work and just before killing myself at the gym? And finally, the cereals bowl in the middle of an insomnia in front of a cartoon (to reassure my little fragile self that the world is not collapsing as my wallet being...).

Stop with the gibberishes....

[Alex de Lyon]

that the day you will wake up and reminding you have just experienced a dream completely in English, this very day, you will be able to speak English with your mind and not only with your knowledge...

that is too hard,
i think to succes it, you must live English, wake up english, read english, speak english, watching tv english like peope say BUT i'm sure that at the begining of your trip you probably have head sick (i don't know if you understand and if it's the right word!)
so congratulations everybody cause you are very strong to do all to improve your english

see you later

[samjin]

Of course it is hard to be fluent in english... I guess everything has a price

[Alex de Lyon]

but what is "easy" in the difficulty is you don't have to make "effort!" to improve your english if you live in an english country!!
(How is the english learning at Quebec,, all speak french so how improve english?)

for example to improve your english in France, you can get the vocabulary but to get the accent is hard, i think if i speak english with my parents they can't understand me because they don't speak english,
But in Canada (not Quebec beacause it's a litle bit different but in Toronto ..... you are not looking after a man who speak english, he is english speaker speaking i don't know hahahahaha

[samjin]

It might be quicker to improve your english when you live into a UK/US environment BUT you are going to provide efforts anyway!! DO not believe that just because you will be there breathing english air that somehow (miracles?) the language is going to infuse itself into your brain....
My parents came from Algeria. They did talk a bit of french at first. They did improve their french a lot during those last 40 years but still. I cannot say they are fluent in French !
You need to study it anyway if you want to achieve a certain quality of language ! Otherwise you would be stuck with a "street english"... know what I mean??

[Alex de Lyon]

i undertood what you said,
however, hear all days english, you improve it easier than a french in France with some tv shows on VO or else
But you're right, you have to "work" to improve you english if you don't want to learn only the street english.

Just a quick question
Do you find a big difference between a canadian and an american when he speaks? A canadian from Quebec for example speak english with hummm you know a beautiful french accent !!! or they speak english fluent?
thks

[samjin]

It depends. In Montreal, I met both type: with and without accent.
There is many different accents with it comes to English in North America. For the moment, I haven't heard enough canadian english so I cannot tell the difference.

Quebecois can be fluent, especially the youngest. They've learnt english really early so they can switch from quebec french to american english whenever. Because this is american english they speak, not UK or Canadian. Not the same story if you go deep into canadian lowlands !

[Alex de Lyon]

Thank you
Very interesting

[mikeclaver]

When I turn on my TV I like to watch:
- Heroes ( I cant wait for the next one)
- CSI MIAMI / CSI Manhattan but I aint like CSI Vegas ! I dont know why... lol
- Lie to Me
- Mentalist
- Law & order !!!
- MTV Cribs (via Internet)
- TO show on VH1 ( via Internet)
I guess that's it!

[deans]

I think watching TV is a good way to both learn the language and discover the "behind the scene" side of the country (and the continent) where you're living. I watch commercials too because some of them are very funny. Not funny because they are made to be funny. Funny because of the difference between the way North America and France advertise (if you watch Canadian TV, I'm sure you have watched this crazy commercial about selling your gold and getting cash immediately with a guy who shows lots of bills in his hands).

I explore mostly American television. I watch the popular American TV series, like "Two and a half men" (I don't like it, but it is a part of my American television discovery process, and my roommate likes it) and "The Big Bang Theory" (Very terrific, my favorite caracter is Howard). I watched "My Dad Says" but I didn't like it. I have the chance to have HBO/TMN and I have watched the last season of Dexter too. I watched several weeks ago the "Sarah Palin's Alaska" real TV show, because it's a recurrent subject of jokes in some American shows and medias. It was interesting in fact because it was a manner to discover Sarah Palin differently.

I watch night shows too. I have watched both David Letterman and Jay Leno shows (they share the same time slot, and are concurrent for many years), but I have a big preference for David Letterman. It was very difficult at the beginning to understand but with perseverance, after months, you start to get the jokes and laugh. You must watch some American shows and news to understand his jokes because they focus the latest American news. But it's a good exercise.

I watch the news too. News at six (CBS News with Katie Kouric), and cable news channels (CNN, MSNBC, sometimes HLN (a very crazy news channel), but I don't watch Fox News). Watching Cable News channels is very interesting to discover American political issues that are not aired in France. The "Bush Tax cuts" extension, the "Don't ask don't tell" debate, the Health care repeal by the republicans, etc. There’s a thing very fascinating in some news shows: the fact that some journalists gives their political opinion. It's true on MSNBC, Fox News, HLN. If you watch "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO for example, a political debate show, you will discover the violence of Bill Maher's attacks against Republicans, GOP and "tea baggers" as he says. If you Watch MSNBC, you will discover a very lefty cable news channel, with some shows that are clearly politically liberals and against Republican Party.

I watch 30 Rock too, and SNL (Saturday Nigh Live) when I'm at home on Saturday night.

Watching TV was hard at the beginning. After two months of daily watching, I was disillusioned. I didn't understand most of what I watched sometimes, the jokes of Letterman for example, the humor of "30 Rock" or "SNL". At this point, I started to think that perfect understanding of English speaking wasn't for me. But you must continue, perseverate, by not letting the disillusion win.

So I recommend to every new immigrants to watch TV. It's a good and pleasant way to improve your understanding of English speaking.

[funkey]

Nobody knows Breaking bad ? This TV show is awesome.

And i am really happy to be in Canada to see the next season on TV. If i'm right, the show come back in few days.

I looked Hawai-0, i'm not sure about the title. This show is a crap... My familymates love this show but i don't understand why ...

[Zbamus]

Wha is breaking bad about? Is it a csi like?

Does anyone know when all series will start they next season? By all series i mean how i met your mother, desperate and big bang theory!

Thx guys!

[funkey]

Breaking Bad is the story about Walter White, he is a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed a cancer. I decid to make methamphetamine to make money for his family before he's own death.

Diffusion is on AMC. Season 4 start tomorrow. But it's better if you see the first three seasons. Download ?!

[Lilou]

They'll probably start in september... Sons of anarchy will !!!

Do some of you guys watch True Blood or United States of Tara ?

[Zbamus]

Nope what are they about?

[Lilou]

True Blood is about vampires (when I told a friend of mine about this serie, she said it sounded like Twilight but it was created earlier than Twilight and it's more an adult serie)

United States of Tara is about a woman who has multiple personalities.

It may not sound very interesting but have a try and you'll know if you like them

[isa]

The first 3 seasons of True Blood are quite entertaining, what I enjoyed the most was the southerner atmosphere of the show, the wet louisiana nights with vampires... but the new season is a true disapointment. I think I'm going to skip this one, it's no better than Charmed!

[samjin]

Totally into United States of Tara and True Blood !!!!
Both are terrific tvshows (well... even if True Blood is a trashy remake of Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

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The first 3 seasons of True Blood are quite entertaining, what I enjoyed the most was the southerner atmosphere of the show, the wet louisiana nights with vampires... but the new season is a true disapointment. I think I'm going to skip this one, it's no better than Charmed!

Yes for the "charmed a like".
Sadly, production took the risk of a "magic oriented scenario" and it looks cheap sometimes...

---------- Message ajouté à 17h53 ---------- message précédent à 17h51 ----------

Anyone giving a look at "Modern Familly"??? or "Ugly Americans"??