How to Use Short Videos to Power-Up Your Language Learning

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Short videos helped me bridge the gap between classroom English and the speech I heard in real conversations. Here is the three-step practice I used.

I am a native Spanish speaker, and when I was learning English, I tried different courses and methods. I often came away thinking English was too difficult.

However, ever since I can remember, I’ve always been interested in languages. My eyes well-up with tears every time I remember my dad telling me that he was taking English lessons when I was seven. I was so curious about my dad’s new skills that I was always like: “¿Cómo se dice [anything] en inglés?” (how do you say [anything] in English?).

From that point of my life, I fell in love with foreign languages, and because of that, my parents signed me up for several English courses.

A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away with a native speaker for at least 15 minutes with the “Fluent in 3 Months” method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.

I Struggled with English… Until I Found Short Videos

My dream was to speak English fluently and sound like people from the movies (yep, that was the wish of a seven-year-old boy influenced by Hollywood).

Anyhow, during my English lessons, I spent a lot of time analyzing grammar rules and learning textbook English, and that was far from my dream.

Every time I had to face a real conversation, I just couldn't understand the other person clearly.

Later, one thing that helped me understand the English I heard in conversations was using media, especially short videos. Repeating small sections made spoken English easier for me to follow.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing with you the method that I personally follow to use short videos and power-up my language learning.

You can adapt this technique to English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian or another language. It is a focused way to practise listening and speaking, not a guarantee of fluency.

“What Kind of Videos Should I Watch?”

Perhaps the question above is the first thing that popped into your head after reading the first paragraphs of this article.

Well, notice that I am not asking you to use a complete movie or just any kind of video, I am talking to you about short videos.

A suitable video can give you:

• Spoken language in context;
• Idioms and natural expressions;
• Communication between people;
• More listening practice;
• The rhythms of your target language.

Why Short Videos Work Well

Why do I prefer short videos? Simple: a short video is easier to analyze and to watch from beginning to end compared to a movie or a longer video.

Not every short video will suit this practice. Look for useful material with clear, natural speech from a proficient speaker.

A slow pronunciation lesson serves a different purpose. For this exercise, try a story or explanation delivered at a natural conversational speed.

The 4 Rules for Choosing a Video

These four guidelines will help you choose a workable video:

1. Choose something interesting or fun for you.
2. Look for accurate captions in the target language when possible.
3. Choose clear, natural speech from a proficient speaker.
4. Keep it short enough to repeat. Around 10 minutes is a useful starting point.

One of the best platforms to look for short videos is of course, YouTube, and in the past, Benny has given recommendations on how to use YouTube as a tool for language learning.

You can also look up for some short YouTube videos in your target language that contain the following content:

• Short clips or parts of TV shows or movies;
• Language vlogs;
• Reviews of movies or products;
• ‘How to’ videos;
• Short interviews.

My 3-Step “Video Power-Up” Technique to Learn a Language Using Short Videos

Alright, now you know the benefits of using short videos, and the kind of videos that you should look for, I’d like to share my video “power-up” technique.

Here is how I use a short video for focused listening and speaking practice.

Before you start, choose one short clip and define the task: understand it, imitate it and compare your recording with the original. Regular exposure helps, but exposure alone does not guarantee fluency.

Let’s get started!

Phase 1: Understanding

Start by understanding the section you have chosen. Go slowly and work with a manageable segment.

Try 10 to 15 minutes at a time, then adjust the session length to your concentration and the difficulty of the clip.

Start with easy to understand short videos like science for kids or small sections of TV shows for children. As you get comfortable watching videos and listening to the native language, increase the difficulty and go for different kinds of videos.

Something really useful is to divide the video into shorter segments and focus just on small parts of the video.

Are you watching a 5-minute video? Then divide it into two parts of 2.5 minutes each, and then go deeply through the segment:

• Turn on the subtitles in the same language as the video is spoken.
• Watch the first segment and look for words and expressions that you don’t understand.
• Look up the meaning of those words, so the video becomes completely clear for you.

Remember I said, “10 – 15 minutes studying the video”? Well, the goal of phase one is to learn the vocabulary of the video deeply, so focus on repeating the first segment of the video for a couple of days.

Once you can match the words in the captions with the speech, turn off the captions and repeat the segment. Continue until you can follow it comfortably, whether that takes one session or several.

Make sure you can understand the first segment of the short-video and then move on to the next phase: Speaking.

Phase 2: Speaking

When you can follow the segment comfortably, move on to speaking practice.

Now, the next step is to play sentence by sentence the first segment of the video, and as you hear every sentence, pause the video and repeat the words you hear aloud.

Try to do exactly everything you hear and see, don’t just repeat mindlessly, copy everything:

• Emotions
• If there’s an actor, copy the body language
• Intonation
• Energy

Do this for a couple of more days and try to increase the level of difficulty by turning off the subtitles and just repeating the sentences without reading anything.

With practice, try to speak along without pausing. The time this takes will vary with the clip and your level.

Try to forget that you are doing this to learn a language, and have fun with it, exaggerate the gestures or shout out the words.

Every time I do this kind of exercise I remember my classmates back in high school, some of them used to make fun of some teachers mimicking them, they were so good that even other teachers laughed at the interpretation of their colleagues.

Phase 3: Correction

A recording can help you notice some differences between your speech and the original.

This comparison is useful for timing, rhythm and intonation, although it will not reveal every pronunciation or grammar problem.

You can correct yourself by recording your voice on your phone saying everything the video says and after that just compare the video to your recording.

Listen for differences in pronunciation, rhythm and intonation, then record another attempt. When possible, ask a tutor or proficient speaker about anything you cannot diagnose yourself.

Is this the end of using a short video to improve your new language? No, remember that I told you to divide the video into segments, so when you complete phase three just go to the next segment of the video and start over from phase one.

Here’s a short video where I explain this 3-step process:

Will Short Videos Make You Fluent in a Language

I can’t tell you that you will master Spanish or Japanese by simply using short videos. However, they can be such a great tool!

I have learned lots of phrases through videos, like when I learned the phrase: “It’s up to you”, I was looking for a way to connect my PlayStation to an old computer monitor and the guy from the video showed two different connectors saying something like: “you can use either one of these two, it’s up to you”.

I looked up the meaning of this new expression and repeated the video many times. In the end, I connected my PlayStation to that old monitor. More importantly, I learnt a new phrase that I have used often since.

That is one of my experiences using short videos for language practice. Try the technique as one tool alongside conversation, feedback and other study that fits your goal.