I’ve decided to brush up on my school French, and I think I may have stumbled onto a relatively painless way to do it. Most movie DVDs have alternate language options, usually Spanish and French (in addition to English), and there is a subtitles option you can select if you’re hard of hearing. Well, I’ve learned the two are keyed together, so you can watch almost any film in an alternate language, while simultaneously reading the subtitles in that language.

I just finished disc one of “The Hobbit”, (An Unexpected Journey) and it worked out really well. I’ve already seen the film several times, so I know the dialog almost by heart, but by both hearing and reading it in French its really imprinting it in my memory. And since I have to really work hard to keep up with both, I don’t find myself bored with the familiar material, so its almost like watching the film for the first time. I’ve always wished I could wipe my memory of the films so I could enjoy them again as if it were my first time.

After the six LOTR films, I will start going through my DVD library and rediscovering all my old favorites while polishing up my French. Most of the newer editions (movies made after the DVD era) have French dubbing or subtitles, and often both, so it will be a good way to recycle a lot of those films again.

In the meantime, I will start working my way through my old French textbook, (It has 52 chapters) so if I can discipline myself to one a week by this time next year I should be back up to speed, at least as far as reading is concerned, speech is something else again.

I did notice something interesting in the film, though. The
subtitles and the dubbing do not always agree–they both translate the English dialog perfectly, but they often do it in very different ways, as if two separate teams were in charge of the translation, and they didn’t consult with each other. I was pleasantly surprised to realize I had kept enough of my school French to be able to pick up on this!

If you’ve been meaning to refresh some of your old language skills, and are looking for a way to squeeze some extra utility out of your old movies, here’s way to do it.
Although my verbal skills were pretty poor, my written French was adequate to translate journal articles with some assistance from my Petite Larousse. If I can find someone to practice with maybe I can get my accent up to speed too. Maybe I can convince Mm. Reclus that we need to hire a young French foreign exchange student as a part-time maid…