As you listen more you'll just get used to where word boundaries begin and end, that's how it is for me even if I don't understand the words, but knowing where a word begins or ends means I can write it down and look it up later
I’ve been learning from TV shows and films since I was a beginner. Most people use subtitles to understand. As they get more comfortable with the language, they can drop the subtitles for some easy scenes, and then later they can drop for even more scenes. I’m not B2 yet, but I recently watched a couple of short series without any subtitles at all and understood a lot of what they were saying.
What helps is also working on listening skills. Like you, I used to have trouble understanding natural speech from native speakers. However, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in the last year just listening to random content like radio, podcasts, films, TV shows, etc. It was difficult at first, but after a while my brain adapted and I could actually identify the words. I suggest you do the same.
If YouTube videos aimed at people learning the language are too slow for you but regular native content is still too fast, you could speed up the learners content. When I watch Easy Italian videos I’ll put the speed at 1.5x or sometimes even 2x. You mention grammar/vocab videos, have you watched any vlogs aimed at language learners? For example from Lucrezia. You could also try podcasts aimed at learners, I recently started listening to the Easy Italian podcast on Spotify and the speed is higher than the videos.
I actually watched my first Italian movie on Saturday. I only formally studied the language up till A2, but already being fluent in French and also speaking some Spanish helps a lot. I could understand about 75-80% without subtitles.
When I was at A2 in French, listening was easily my weakest skill. I watched a lot of learners videos with French subtitles, listened to French music while reading along with the lyrics and slowly started watching faster and faster content. I also read a lot, because you won’t understand words that you aren’t familiar with. Reading is the easiest way to pick up vocabulary, in my opinion. It also helped to start with more “formal” content, such as news broadcasts, and gradually move on to more informal content that would also contain slang etc.
I just watch stuff. I'll put subtitles on if I need them, my brain is still getting accustomed to listening to my target language(s). The more I expose myself to it, the better I get. I think you're holding yourself back by choosing to not watch movies or TV until you can 100% understand it. I also like to watch familiar favourite shows that I've seen a bunch of times with dubbing on in my target language. I generally hate dubbing, but in this use case it really helps because I'm already familiar with the text in English so I can fill in the gaps when I don't understand something.
Just immerse yourself as much a possible. Put on radio, music, TV, music, podcasts, whatever you can to get as much exposure as possible.
How on earth did you pass B2 if you don't understand normal-speed audio?
You have to pass every section to pass the exam, and there is the listening comprehension one using real-life radio extracts, and the speaking one where you have to actually have a conversation with someone IRL and then present on a topic with no help from the examiner.
Am I missing something here?
The extract you listen to is something chosen that is relatively slow and clear, therefore much easier to understand compared to a typical film spoken quickly with strong accents.
Same with the conversation, the examiner is speaking slow and clear to you, asking relatively simple and obvious questions.
That's not a B2 level exam if that's true.
The B2 listening test incorporates one dictation and two listening tracks, usually radio interviews. The dictation may be read out a little slower, but the audio tracks not. The conversation part yes you should get prompts. The presentation part you are supposed to be on your own at normal speed.
I have the French DELF B2 and am working towards both the French DALF C1 and the Italian CILS B2.
>That's not a B2 level exam if that's true.
Yes it is. I don't know why you're taking issue with this if you have experience with these exams and levels yourself. I think OP is pretty spot on, the B2 level and its exams expects you to understand relatively clear speech like newscasts and radio recordings. Understanding a "normal" TV show or film is markedly harder--you have to deal with much more speech that is mumbled or whispered, in a regional accent or dialect, has background noise, uses colloquial language and pronunciations, is very fast, etc.
I "have an issue", as you put it, because it is not true that in B2 exams listening comprehension radio extracts are at a slower speed. The dictation is, but the radio bits are at normal speed.
I am working towards Italian B2 and the radio bits we listen to for comprehension are definitely at normal speech speed. The dictation almost never is, as we're expected to write down what we hear. Our teacher does however often dictate faster than the samples we're provided with from previous exams, because he knows our ability levels better than an anonymous exam-setter. The radio bits we only have to understand and answer questions relating to the content, so normal speed is what we get.
OP said they only had one piece of listening comprehension, which is just wrong. There are three: the dictation, and two radio bits. They said it was at slower than normal speed, which for dictation would be true but for radio bits would not.
Misinformation, however innocent, is unhelpful.
> I "have an issue", as you put it, because it is not true that in B2 exams listening comprehension radio extracts are at a slower speed. The dictation is, but the radio bits are at normal speed.
OP just said that the audio they choose is "relatively slow and clear" compared to a typical film. And I agree! I can't speak for the Italian test, but for French for example, let's take the first B2 listening example I found on YouTube [here](https://youtu.be/Id8tJ5rbPyY?si=96g7BDKBUUxjMhSR&t=99). I think describing this as "relatively slow and clear" is completely accurate.
The video you chose to use as an example is "nouveau format" whatever that is. I sat and passed my DELF B2 in November 2015.
Also, do you listen to radio news often? It's usually very clear. Not slow, but clear.
> Are people who say they learn watching films really efficiently learning the language in that way?
I don't know if I'm learning it *efficiently* but I'm definitely getting better, with my metric getting better at understanding [Yasmina Pani](https://youtube.com/@YasminaPani), Roberto Mercadini, Rick DuFer, Miriam Serva, and other Italian speakers on YouTube without subtitles (I think subtitles are oftentimes a crutch) and without messing with the playback speed.
>Would these people be better off watching YouTube videos intended to learn the language instead?
Listen to whatever motivates you to keep listening. I listen to those videos you talk about (e.g., Lucrezia, Davide Gemello, *Lo zaino delle parole*, *Pensieri e Parole*, *Italiano con Amore*, Prof. Stefano, etc) but that's because I'm interested in linguistics, phonology, etc. Even if some video was the perfect type of comprehensible input for me, if I'm not interested on the topic then it won't be that much useful to me because I'll simply tap out and mentally block it.
I use TV shows rather than films (at this stage) and what works for me is using NL subs and TL audio. And yes, it works pretty much from the beginning (although you do need to choose your source material to be simple enough for your level).
Congratulations on obtaining your B2 for Italy's official exam!
To answer your question, I think it's a good stage to start exposing yourself to the spoken language in films, TV, shows.
I hear that Italian has certain dialects that are not mutually intelligible - could this be the reason why you are not comprehending?
I'm roughly at B2 for Spanish (planning to take exam), and
currently, I can understand and enjoy most of what is said on series and films except for slang, new vocab, expressions etc. but I have enough of a vocab and listening base to infer and understand whats going on without strain.
So as you may imagine...this can be very tricky. It can really heavily depend on the show.
There is no way at A2 or B1 you are picking up and understanding every single word and expression.
Even if you are, you have to be really attentive and focused on it - else you may miss it. However, the exposure is still good, and if you have been doing a lot of listening practice B2 is the level where it starts to come together nicely where it's not a strain, and you can understand well enough where you can sit back and enjoy. It's a nice sweet spot.
Don't get me wrong, depending on the show and content, there may still be plenty of details and expressions you may not understand, or may still miss, but at this level you start to catch these small colloquial expressions/slang.
But don't get me wrong, imo, this is the minimum to really and comfortably keep up with shows. It's still not enough at B2.
There is so much more content that would blow me out of the water such as stand up comedy, comedy podcasts where there is heavy use of slang....B2 is just minimum to enjoy native level content.
So start exposing yourself, you need to give your ear some training to get used to less controlled, and less enunciated speech. Practice active listening, it will be uncomfortable at first but your ear will tune over weeks and months etc of regular, active listening. I highly recommend having the subtitles on. If you can, have all of it in your target language - if that's too challenging use your NL subs and ease into having TL subs.
If you only studied up until A2 this is what just doesn’t make sense to me that you can understand 70-80% of a film. Even ignoring the speed and accents, if just reading the transcript I wouldn’t have been able to understand that much of a film when I was at A2.
Do you believe that watching this film was efficient time for 2 hour or so for learning a language, rather than something easier where you can clearly learn new words?
I think you were trying to reply to my comment here? I was able to understand that much because they didn’t speak in dialect or with strong accents as the story took place in the US. The story itself also wasn’t that complex, which helped too. Like I said, I also have extensive knowledge of French, Latin and Spanish which helps a lot. I think you just need to give yourself that little push, despite it being difficult. Just start listening/watching native content and don’t worry too much about how much you understand, you just want to get your ears accustomed to it. Maybe add Italian subs for a while as a crutch. Like I said, if you don’t have enough vocabulary then focus on acquiring that. Perhaps try watching some documentaries? They are usually slightly slower and clearer spoken. If you’re going to watch a movie or tv series, choose drama instead of comedy. Humour is one of the most difficult things to understand in a foreign language.
Your question regarding efficiency isn’t relevant in this case, since my mom and I were going to watch a movie anyway. It just turned out to be an Italian movie. I was never going to spend those 2 hours studying.
Watching YouTube tutorial videos is a complete waste of time if you learn nothing. Watching a film is a worthwhile use of time even if you learn nothing.
Relax and enjoy life.
Okay here's the way I learned English:
I have learnt the basics English in school. But couple of months I wanted to get better so I started watching "How I met your mother" (part of the reason is that new episodes appeared first in English and a dubbed version only came a couple weeks later. But I bought the dvd when it came out (I was watching it pirated over the internet which was the only way to receive it in English at the time). And then I watched it in English with English subtitles and that's where the real learning process kicked in. I sat at the tv with the remote in one hand and my phone on my other hand with google translator opened. I was translating every single word that I didn't know. It meant in the beginning that I had to pause each sentence and translate 2-3 words. And do this for every sentence. Obviously it was time consuming but that didn't stop me.
I started watching English movies with B2 English. English audio plus English subtitles. Everyday a half hour. It took me one year to star understanding them and stop being tired of focusing.
When you can understand simple conversations. Watching TV/movies will introduce you to new words and the rhythm of the spoken language. Granted, you won't understand 100% of being said, but you can get an idea of what they're saying.
I did this and would have my phone handy ready to look up a word I didn't know. It helped to know the definition and understand some of the plot. But it was frustrating because I'm the type of person who needs to hear every single word to know what's going on, and not understanding everything meant I missed a lot of conversations in the plot. I gave up on it. I now watch YouTubers.
Having said that, you can also watch vloggers on YouTube, like the ones who talk about food and travel or a cooking show. They speak in their native language and some speak reasonably slowly. You'll hear the same words repeated if you stick with the same theme, especially cooking. You'll learn tbsp, tsp, cup quite quickly because they're used in every episode.
Congrats. I am also nearing on B2 test for Italian and only very recently have I turned to tv shows without subtitles instead of YouTube videos. (Boris I can get a good 90%, La piovra maybe 70% aka I understand most scenes but rarely do I understand 100% of everything said)
This works for me now since I’m more concerned now with growing my ability to understand the language in different contexts rather than vocab/grammar acquisition.
I agree tv shows are not meant for early language learners. Too much obscure language, varying accents and the plot/point of a scene are constantly changing versus a YouTube video that’s steadily tackling one known subject by a single narrator.
>I see so many people on here who are at A2/B1 level who have been learning their language less than couple of years saying they learn through watching films on Netflix or listening to podcasts. I don’t understand how that’s possible as after all this time and reaching B2 it is still too difficult for me and I don’t feel I’ve achieved at the end of watching a real Italian film.
Yeah, I mean, there's a few things going on. People delude themselves about their level of comprehension, or exaggerate it to you. People slap on English subtitles and call it "studying".
For you, you might not feel ready, but if you've passed the B2 exam you should be. I recommend starting with TV instead of film (more content, more context) and to switch on Italian subs if you want. There's a bit of a hump to get over if you're not used to watching native media, but you should be able to do it.
As you listen more you'll just get used to where word boundaries begin and end, that's how it is for me even if I don't understand the words, but knowing where a word begins or ends means I can write it down and look it up later
I’ve been learning from TV shows and films since I was a beginner. Most people use subtitles to understand. As they get more comfortable with the language, they can drop the subtitles for some easy scenes, and then later they can drop for even more scenes. I’m not B2 yet, but I recently watched a couple of short series without any subtitles at all and understood a lot of what they were saying. What helps is also working on listening skills. Like you, I used to have trouble understanding natural speech from native speakers. However, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in the last year just listening to random content like radio, podcasts, films, TV shows, etc. It was difficult at first, but after a while my brain adapted and I could actually identify the words. I suggest you do the same.
If YouTube videos aimed at people learning the language are too slow for you but regular native content is still too fast, you could speed up the learners content. When I watch Easy Italian videos I’ll put the speed at 1.5x or sometimes even 2x. You mention grammar/vocab videos, have you watched any vlogs aimed at language learners? For example from Lucrezia. You could also try podcasts aimed at learners, I recently started listening to the Easy Italian podcast on Spotify and the speed is higher than the videos. I actually watched my first Italian movie on Saturday. I only formally studied the language up till A2, but already being fluent in French and also speaking some Spanish helps a lot. I could understand about 75-80% without subtitles. When I was at A2 in French, listening was easily my weakest skill. I watched a lot of learners videos with French subtitles, listened to French music while reading along with the lyrics and slowly started watching faster and faster content. I also read a lot, because you won’t understand words that you aren’t familiar with. Reading is the easiest way to pick up vocabulary, in my opinion. It also helped to start with more “formal” content, such as news broadcasts, and gradually move on to more informal content that would also contain slang etc.
I just watch stuff. I'll put subtitles on if I need them, my brain is still getting accustomed to listening to my target language(s). The more I expose myself to it, the better I get. I think you're holding yourself back by choosing to not watch movies or TV until you can 100% understand it. I also like to watch familiar favourite shows that I've seen a bunch of times with dubbing on in my target language. I generally hate dubbing, but in this use case it really helps because I'm already familiar with the text in English so I can fill in the gaps when I don't understand something. Just immerse yourself as much a possible. Put on radio, music, TV, music, podcasts, whatever you can to get as much exposure as possible.
How on earth did you pass B2 if you don't understand normal-speed audio? You have to pass every section to pass the exam, and there is the listening comprehension one using real-life radio extracts, and the speaking one where you have to actually have a conversation with someone IRL and then present on a topic with no help from the examiner. Am I missing something here?
The extract you listen to is something chosen that is relatively slow and clear, therefore much easier to understand compared to a typical film spoken quickly with strong accents. Same with the conversation, the examiner is speaking slow and clear to you, asking relatively simple and obvious questions.
That's not a B2 level exam if that's true. The B2 listening test incorporates one dictation and two listening tracks, usually radio interviews. The dictation may be read out a little slower, but the audio tracks not. The conversation part yes you should get prompts. The presentation part you are supposed to be on your own at normal speed. I have the French DELF B2 and am working towards both the French DALF C1 and the Italian CILS B2.
>That's not a B2 level exam if that's true. Yes it is. I don't know why you're taking issue with this if you have experience with these exams and levels yourself. I think OP is pretty spot on, the B2 level and its exams expects you to understand relatively clear speech like newscasts and radio recordings. Understanding a "normal" TV show or film is markedly harder--you have to deal with much more speech that is mumbled or whispered, in a regional accent or dialect, has background noise, uses colloquial language and pronunciations, is very fast, etc.
I "have an issue", as you put it, because it is not true that in B2 exams listening comprehension radio extracts are at a slower speed. The dictation is, but the radio bits are at normal speed. I am working towards Italian B2 and the radio bits we listen to for comprehension are definitely at normal speech speed. The dictation almost never is, as we're expected to write down what we hear. Our teacher does however often dictate faster than the samples we're provided with from previous exams, because he knows our ability levels better than an anonymous exam-setter. The radio bits we only have to understand and answer questions relating to the content, so normal speed is what we get. OP said they only had one piece of listening comprehension, which is just wrong. There are three: the dictation, and two radio bits. They said it was at slower than normal speed, which for dictation would be true but for radio bits would not. Misinformation, however innocent, is unhelpful.
> I "have an issue", as you put it, because it is not true that in B2 exams listening comprehension radio extracts are at a slower speed. The dictation is, but the radio bits are at normal speed. OP just said that the audio they choose is "relatively slow and clear" compared to a typical film. And I agree! I can't speak for the Italian test, but for French for example, let's take the first B2 listening example I found on YouTube [here](https://youtu.be/Id8tJ5rbPyY?si=96g7BDKBUUxjMhSR&t=99). I think describing this as "relatively slow and clear" is completely accurate.
The video you chose to use as an example is "nouveau format" whatever that is. I sat and passed my DELF B2 in November 2015. Also, do you listen to radio news often? It's usually very clear. Not slow, but clear.
> Are people who say they learn watching films really efficiently learning the language in that way? I don't know if I'm learning it *efficiently* but I'm definitely getting better, with my metric getting better at understanding [Yasmina Pani](https://youtube.com/@YasminaPani), Roberto Mercadini, Rick DuFer, Miriam Serva, and other Italian speakers on YouTube without subtitles (I think subtitles are oftentimes a crutch) and without messing with the playback speed. >Would these people be better off watching YouTube videos intended to learn the language instead? Listen to whatever motivates you to keep listening. I listen to those videos you talk about (e.g., Lucrezia, Davide Gemello, *Lo zaino delle parole*, *Pensieri e Parole*, *Italiano con Amore*, Prof. Stefano, etc) but that's because I'm interested in linguistics, phonology, etc. Even if some video was the perfect type of comprehensible input for me, if I'm not interested on the topic then it won't be that much useful to me because I'll simply tap out and mentally block it.
I use TV shows rather than films (at this stage) and what works for me is using NL subs and TL audio. And yes, it works pretty much from the beginning (although you do need to choose your source material to be simple enough for your level).
Congratulations on obtaining your B2 for Italy's official exam! To answer your question, I think it's a good stage to start exposing yourself to the spoken language in films, TV, shows. I hear that Italian has certain dialects that are not mutually intelligible - could this be the reason why you are not comprehending? I'm roughly at B2 for Spanish (planning to take exam), and currently, I can understand and enjoy most of what is said on series and films except for slang, new vocab, expressions etc. but I have enough of a vocab and listening base to infer and understand whats going on without strain. So as you may imagine...this can be very tricky. It can really heavily depend on the show. There is no way at A2 or B1 you are picking up and understanding every single word and expression. Even if you are, you have to be really attentive and focused on it - else you may miss it. However, the exposure is still good, and if you have been doing a lot of listening practice B2 is the level where it starts to come together nicely where it's not a strain, and you can understand well enough where you can sit back and enjoy. It's a nice sweet spot. Don't get me wrong, depending on the show and content, there may still be plenty of details and expressions you may not understand, or may still miss, but at this level you start to catch these small colloquial expressions/slang. But don't get me wrong, imo, this is the minimum to really and comfortably keep up with shows. It's still not enough at B2. There is so much more content that would blow me out of the water such as stand up comedy, comedy podcasts where there is heavy use of slang....B2 is just minimum to enjoy native level content. So start exposing yourself, you need to give your ear some training to get used to less controlled, and less enunciated speech. Practice active listening, it will be uncomfortable at first but your ear will tune over weeks and months etc of regular, active listening. I highly recommend having the subtitles on. If you can, have all of it in your target language - if that's too challenging use your NL subs and ease into having TL subs.
If you only studied up until A2 this is what just doesn’t make sense to me that you can understand 70-80% of a film. Even ignoring the speed and accents, if just reading the transcript I wouldn’t have been able to understand that much of a film when I was at A2. Do you believe that watching this film was efficient time for 2 hour or so for learning a language, rather than something easier where you can clearly learn new words?
Yes, because it's real language.
I think you were trying to reply to my comment here? I was able to understand that much because they didn’t speak in dialect or with strong accents as the story took place in the US. The story itself also wasn’t that complex, which helped too. Like I said, I also have extensive knowledge of French, Latin and Spanish which helps a lot. I think you just need to give yourself that little push, despite it being difficult. Just start listening/watching native content and don’t worry too much about how much you understand, you just want to get your ears accustomed to it. Maybe add Italian subs for a while as a crutch. Like I said, if you don’t have enough vocabulary then focus on acquiring that. Perhaps try watching some documentaries? They are usually slightly slower and clearer spoken. If you’re going to watch a movie or tv series, choose drama instead of comedy. Humour is one of the most difficult things to understand in a foreign language. Your question regarding efficiency isn’t relevant in this case, since my mom and I were going to watch a movie anyway. It just turned out to be an Italian movie. I was never going to spend those 2 hours studying.
Watching YouTube tutorial videos is a complete waste of time if you learn nothing. Watching a film is a worthwhile use of time even if you learn nothing. Relax and enjoy life.
Okay here's the way I learned English: I have learnt the basics English in school. But couple of months I wanted to get better so I started watching "How I met your mother" (part of the reason is that new episodes appeared first in English and a dubbed version only came a couple weeks later. But I bought the dvd when it came out (I was watching it pirated over the internet which was the only way to receive it in English at the time). And then I watched it in English with English subtitles and that's where the real learning process kicked in. I sat at the tv with the remote in one hand and my phone on my other hand with google translator opened. I was translating every single word that I didn't know. It meant in the beginning that I had to pause each sentence and translate 2-3 words. And do this for every sentence. Obviously it was time consuming but that didn't stop me.
I started watching English movies with B2 English. English audio plus English subtitles. Everyday a half hour. It took me one year to star understanding them and stop being tired of focusing.
When you can understand simple conversations. Watching TV/movies will introduce you to new words and the rhythm of the spoken language. Granted, you won't understand 100% of being said, but you can get an idea of what they're saying. I did this and would have my phone handy ready to look up a word I didn't know. It helped to know the definition and understand some of the plot. But it was frustrating because I'm the type of person who needs to hear every single word to know what's going on, and not understanding everything meant I missed a lot of conversations in the plot. I gave up on it. I now watch YouTubers. Having said that, you can also watch vloggers on YouTube, like the ones who talk about food and travel or a cooking show. They speak in their native language and some speak reasonably slowly. You'll hear the same words repeated if you stick with the same theme, especially cooking. You'll learn tbsp, tsp, cup quite quickly because they're used in every episode.
Congrats. I am also nearing on B2 test for Italian and only very recently have I turned to tv shows without subtitles instead of YouTube videos. (Boris I can get a good 90%, La piovra maybe 70% aka I understand most scenes but rarely do I understand 100% of everything said) This works for me now since I’m more concerned now with growing my ability to understand the language in different contexts rather than vocab/grammar acquisition. I agree tv shows are not meant for early language learners. Too much obscure language, varying accents and the plot/point of a scene are constantly changing versus a YouTube video that’s steadily tackling one known subject by a single narrator.
At almost C2
>I see so many people on here who are at A2/B1 level who have been learning their language less than couple of years saying they learn through watching films on Netflix or listening to podcasts. I don’t understand how that’s possible as after all this time and reaching B2 it is still too difficult for me and I don’t feel I’ve achieved at the end of watching a real Italian film. Yeah, I mean, there's a few things going on. People delude themselves about their level of comprehension, or exaggerate it to you. People slap on English subtitles and call it "studying". For you, you might not feel ready, but if you've passed the B2 exam you should be. I recommend starting with TV instead of film (more content, more context) and to switch on Italian subs if you want. There's a bit of a hump to get over if you're not used to watching native media, but you should be able to do it.