Understanding 90% of most movies and songs in a foreign language, is that EVEN POSSIBLE ?
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Understanding 90% of most movies and songs in a foreign language, is that EVEN POSSIBLE ?

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language learning

Understanding 90% of most movies and songs in a foreign language, is that EVEN POSSIBLE?

Guys, I've been thinking about that for years. My English is very good, but I'm still insecure because I struggle to understand most movies without subtitles, but not all of them, and when I listen to songs without lyrics, I feel like a beginner. Some movies and songs I understand perfectly, but most of them I don't.

Robin MacPherson said that having a really high comprehension usually happens for highly advanced learners. He shared his story about being a Japanese interpreter who struggled immensely at understanding movies without subtitles and native speakers in situations where there are a bunch of them talking at the same time with their friends.

Beyond that, "Steven Kaufman" said that he lived in Japan for years, doing all of his business in Japanese, but he still struggled to understand soap operas, and it took five more years for him to understand soap operas almost perfectly.

And, there's an English teacher named Cyntia Sabino that said who you don't need to understand everything, that fluent speakers don't struggle to understand songs without the lyrics, and that fluent speakers struggle to understand people with a different accents. She lived in Canada for four years, and she's currently living in the United States, and I think she still didn't achieve this super high level of comprehension I'm talking about.

Moreover, I met a guy who lived in the United States for 30 years, and he still can't understand songs with 90% comprehension.

I've been thinking a lot about that because I just read Refold's article about the 6 levels of comprehension in a foreign language: https://refold.la/roadmap/stage-2/a/levels-of-comprehension/

Headline image by noahsilliman on Unsplash

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