23rd September, 2014:
"How to train your dragon 2"
- I was watching the movie without any subtitles and I really enjoyed it. I understood almost everything except the man who was speaking with a strange accent. In my opinion it was something similar like in the Czech Republic when you meet somebody typical from Brno with his specific accent :-).
The problem is, that my vocabulary is limited so I'm able to recognize most of the spoken words but sometimes I simply don't know what the words mean. It's acceptable in movies like this one (the English is quite easy and the story as well) because I'm able to recognise most of these words from the context or I can survive without them thanks to the context.
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During September 2014:
Emeli Sande
"Read All About It"
- I was listening to the song many times during September trying to concentrate on the spelling. It wasn't very hard to understand which is rare because mostly, songs are quite understandable. There were probably two parts I couldn'd understand so I found out the text of the song on the internet to understand them.
I like the song - it's melody and content.
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3rd October :
"White Bird in a Blizzard"
- I used Czech subtitles for watching the movie and tried to concentrate on spoken English. It's not probably convenient for learning English to use the Czech subtitles but I'm still afraid that I wan't enjoy movies like this one without them (e.g. with English subtitles or better, without any subtitles). I watch movies with English subtitles, occasionally - it requires retain attention but I wasn't in an ideal mood for watching the movie this way. I feel that it's useful to comment the listening on my portfolio because I can see some things I wouldn't realise without it.....e.g. now I can see that I'm actually afraid of watching movies with English subtitles or without them and there is no reason for that because listening is the best part of my English skills. I'm going to watch another movie by the more useful way and I'll see :-).
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September - December, 2014:
I watch and listen to the "France 24" about two times a week, always for half an hour (it's a TV programme with the latest news in English language). It's probably my favourite activity to listen to it because it is spoken in British Englis which I prefer. I really like the sound of the British English and I understand nearly everything what the reporters say. As I wrote before, the problem is that my vocabulary is limited and I simply don't know all words wchich are used in it. As for the listening, I enjoy watching this programme and I am a little bit satisfied with myself. The English in the programme is very beautiful and I don't have to concentrate on understanding like when I am watching movies. The English of the reporters is just perfect. They don't have any London or French accent and I'd like to be as good as they are in the ability of spoken English. They aren't native speakers because they're the French but it's not possible to recognise the difference between them and native speakers. That encoureges me really very much because thanks to them I can see that it is possible to reach a high level of speaking in English. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7th October, 2014:
"Horns"
I was watching the movie with English subtitles and it wasn't difficult to understand the context of the movie and even my vocabulary skills were useful for watching the movie. It's an American movie but there were many British actors and this is probably the reason I understood very well. It's easier for me to understand when actors are speaking British English. I didn't have to concentrate on the subtitles all the time and very often I just ignored the subtitles because I simply understood what the actors were talking about. Sometimes, I'm able to find a mistake in the subtitles and it always encourages me to continue to improve my skills. The movie wasn't as good as I had expected, but on the other hand it could be worse :-).
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15th October, 2014
"Deliver Us from Evil"
I was watching the movie with English subtitles and understood quite well. I don't like these kinds of movies but in this case I have to say that it was an interesting one, and eventually I was satisfied with it. There were some sentences I didn't understand their meaning because they had something in common with exorcism but I could look up some of them in the dictionary. The problem is that during the watching I'm not fully concentrated on the pronunciation because of the subtitles. I wouldn't understand many sentences without subtitles and couldn't enjoy the movie as much as with the subtitles. There is a difference between the English in this movie and the English of the canal France 24. I understand well what is said on the France 24 because the English is British English on the canal and even without any accents like e.g. Scotish or London accent. I can say that it's the pure English and I really like it. I have found out that in movies actors omitted some words. It's called "elipsis" in English when we consider the language grammatically and I have to admit that I have some problems to understand what is said when the actors use the ellipsis. Maybe, I am too concrete about the understanding because in fact, as for ellipsis, it's not a very big problem.
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16th October, 2014
"Words and pictures"
I have to say that I was a little bit tired of English and that's why I was watching the movie with Czech subtitles. Basically, it was quite easy to understand and I was satisfied with myself because I was able to recognise really many mistakes in the subtitles. The reason I understood well was probably because many of the actors in the movie were speaking the British English. I'm not a specialist of languages but the truth is that for my ears, the British English is really absolutelly something different than the American English. I know that it's not very useful for my listening to watch movies with Czech subtitles but this time it was something what I called relaxation :-). By the way, this movie is very beautiful and it's worth to watch.
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22nd October, 2014
"A most wanted man"
This movie is a really good one and I was watchin the movie with English subtitles. It's still mostly about my vocabulary skills, as for the listening, I am able to understand quite well. To watch movies without subtitles is much difficult, because when there is something in movies I don't understand, I start to be a little bit confused. In these situations I would need more time to see what was said.
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27th October, 2014
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
Watched wit English subtitles! These kind of movies are quite easy to understand, because due to the plot the conversation amongst people is not very difficult. I don't know, but I can't recognise if my listening is getting better. The main problem is, as always, my vocabulary. Maybe I am too strict with me and should be satisfied with my ability to understand quite well, but I'd like to see some progress. It's very tough to understand words which I don't know. I'm mostly able to recognise the sound but it's useless, because when I don't know the word I'm feeling that I'm not good. I know I have to be patient because the main problem about my progress is my perfectionism.
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2nd November, 2014
"Hercules"
I was watching the movie without any subtitles - hip hurrah :-). I understood about 70% of conversations in the movie but I have to admitt that there weren't many difficult conversations among actors. During the watching I realised that the British English is really my favourite. There was used an American English in the movie and the actors were often mumbling like lunatics. As for my vocabulary, it's still the problem but it's getting better and better, mainly because of my studying at the university.
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13th November, 2014
"Pride and prejudice"
I was watching the movie mainly because it's my teacher's favourite movie and she wanted to discuss it. I used English subtitles to understand better and it had been the right decision. I understood quite well what actors in the movie were saying, but there was a problem with my vocabulary again. I have to admit that it's not only about my vocabulary skills, when people speak too fast I'm not able to understand everything. It means that when somebody says a sentence where is a word I don't understand, I hesitate for a moment trying to remember what the word means, and at the very moment I can't concentrate on the speech of the actor or somebody else. When I'm reading this article I have just realised that it's really mainly about my vocabulary skills.
It wasn't bad movie but it wasn't my cup of tea. The English was British so I was satisfied, but in my opinion, these kinds of movies could attract especially women.
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14th November, 2014
"22 Jump Street"
It's a really funny movie and I needed English subtitles to understand, because there were many jokes which I have never heard. Actors used e.g. Spanish accent and at the same time they were speaking really fast so I wasn't able to understand. I think that without improving my vocabulary I can't recognise if my listening skills are improving, but I need some time to improve my vocabulary. I estimate that with English subtitles I understand about 75-85% and without any subtitles I'm able to understand about 45-50%.
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15th November, 2014
When I was searching on the internet I came across this website where I can listen to English news. It's very similer like France 24 but there are true native speakers. There is a little difference between spoken English on BBC and France 24. I like them both but I prefer English on BBC. I think that reporters on France 24 try to be perfect at spoken English and they are, of course, but I can feel that the spoken English on BBC is just natural. I watch the BBC News almost every day and that's the English I really understand very well - I'm not talking about my vocabulary but as for the sound I understand well.
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24th November, 2014
"Camp X-Ray"
I was surprised that I understood really very well, because the English of the movie was American and the actors didn't care about their pronunciation very much. I was watching the movie with English subtitles but I tried to ignore the subtitles many times during the movie, and this was the reason I was surprised I understood well. I had some problems with my vocabulary but it was much better than when I had been watching the previous movies. What I didn't understand was the slang of some actors which they sometimes used, especially when they were celibrating and drinking.
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26th November, 2014
"Predestination"
At the very beginning, it was really difficult to understand due to my lack of vocabulary. The movie was about timetravelling, there were many explanations about that and it's not exactly my cup of tea as for my vocabulary. I was watching the movie with English subtitles but it didn't help. Fortunately, after the beginning I started to understand quite well and I was able to enjoy the movie and understand the plot.
It's always about the same thing - my vocabulary :-). In my opinion, it's not possible to know all words which appear in movies. Studying at the university, my vocabulary is getting better, because I do many activities connected with English (reading, listening, writing, learning from study materials, learning vocabulary,). The problem is, that I would like to learn all English words during the first semester and when I come across some words I don't know, I think that I haven't been studying properly. I have to learn to be more patient.
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29th November, 2014
"Fury"
It is a brand new movie so I couldn't find any subtitles :-). There were some characters who spoke with strange accent e.g. Spanish, German etc. and I wasnť able to understand them very much. Fortunately, the main character spoke American English and that's why I understood quite well. I don't know, but I think that I am a little bit better at listening than I was, because sometimes I understand what the actors are saying even when they speak really fast. I remember, that it was hard to understand the parts where they were speaking too fast, but now, I am better at it. I can say that also my vocabulary is better. It's still the main problem about my listening - the big one, but I have to admit that it's getting better.
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