Archive for the ‘Free To Air’ Category

Watch Television in Other Languages

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 posted by Jlewis

Launching A Satellite

Have you recently started learning a new language? Maybe you are planning to go on vacation to a country where English is not the first language and you want to be able to communicate. You may even be planning to move there. Whatever the reason, you have decided to take the logical step of making sure that you will be able to communicate when you get there, if only on a basic level. However, as great as your classes have been, you have realized that you need to practice outside of class in order to have any hope of having a decent level of communication skill in the new language by the time you are arrive in the foreign country. You need to be able to understand people speaking at native speed, and yet you have no idea how to achieve this.

One good idea is to watch television in the language that you are studying. It enables you to practice listening and understanding people speaking the language at native speed. You will also hear all those little quirks that natives use, but which language teachers ignore because they aren’t grammatically correct. It can be hard, if not impossible to find television channels in the language you are learning.

Now we have something new to help. With a free to air satellite system, you can receive television programming from all over the world. There are no service contracts and no monthly fees. The only cost is for the free to air receiver and satellite dish. For a relatively small cost, you can start to enjoy programming from almost any country in the world. With this piece of technology you can watch dance competitions from Lithuania, soap operas from Venezuela and news broadcasts from Thailand. Whatever language you are learning, you will probably find programming from that country. By watching the programs broadcast in the language you wish to learn, you will be improving your language skills. You will be preparing yourself for how that language sounds in real life rather than how it sounds on the CDs your course is using to teach you.

Not only does television allow you to practice your language skills, but it also provides you with numerous windows into a country’s culture, politics and history, which can be invaluable for a variety of reasons. Knowledge of the country’s background and personality is beneficial in preparing for your arrival in the country. Television will help you be prepared for any quirks this country may have (such slurping your soup being considered rude or insulting). TV will also introduce you to vocabulary that might be common in the country, but never used in the classroom.

Television is an invaluable tool when it comes to helping you learn a language, and now you can access and view television programs in a huge variety of languages. With a free to air receiver, you can receive television shows at no cost in the language of your choice and be far better prepared for your arrival in that country. You will be prepared for native speech patterns and you will be at least somewhat aware of some of the cultural aspects of the country, not to mention any political problems that have recently arisen.