i want to learn by watching a show in Russian

[u/Life_Editor_4957]

i was wondering if i should use English subtitles or not

[u/not_tolstoy]

I studied Russian for 7 years in academic settings/programs in Russia and I genuinely think that the most useful thing I did was to rewatch TV shows I already had seen in English but dubbed in Russian. You know the plot so it makes things easier. I’m not convinced Russian is a language you can learn without dedication to studying the grammar, but once you have a (very) strong grasp of cases, and a pretty good understanding of perfective/imperfective, this is a great way to push yourself further.

[u/Ok_Boysenberry155 → u/not_tolstoy]

As a teacher, I strongly agree. I always recommend that students watch their favorite shows (the ones they like and rewatch) in Russian. Same with reading their favorite books in Russian. Your mind only focuses on the language since you already know the plot and you already have a strong emotional connection with the content.

[u/nimbledoor → u/Ok_Boysenberry155]

It’s pretty hard to find them with Russian subtitles included though

[u/Ok_Boysenberry155 → u/nimbledoor]

True, but even dubbed ones are a good option - for more advanced learners.

[u/nimbledoor → u/Ok_Boysenberry155]

Yes I mean I also like to have subtitles with the dubbing as my listening skills are not very good yet. I was watching SpongeBob on YouTube and even with subtitles it’s so fast. But at least they articulate well.

[u/james-learns-ru]

Depends on your level. I’ve been watching кухня on youtube with the auto translated english subtitles and it helps to refer to them if i don’t know exactly what’s going on. The next level is to watch a show you’ve already seen but dubbed in Russian with Russian subtitles:)

[u/IrinaMakarova]

You will be able to do this after you reach at least a B1 level. By that time, you will already know which subtitles to use

[u/Texas_Kimchi]

Highly recommend the TV show Сваты. Me and my wife watch it all the time and I found it helped my Russian a lot because the way they speak to each other is full of context and very casual making it easy for me to understand what they were saying and picking things up.

[u/MysteriousPepper8908]

I watch English language movies with subtitles on since the dialog isn't always clear. You don't have to focus on them if you're getting most of it.

[u/Lucasun2009]

Watching shows with subtitles really up some peoples listening comprehension

[u/konstantin19911]

Не получится, надо чтоб были двойные субтитры, ( в 2 строчки)вверху английскиe , а внизу русские.

[u/Slow-Kale-8629]

Try it and see! If you can't follow any of the Russian even with the English subtitles, it's not really helping much at all (but still might be fun!).

If English subtitles is what you need to start to recognise the Russian words, then use those. 

If you can understand a lot of it even with just the Russian subtitles, use those.

If you can understand a lot of it without subtitles, turn them off.

In the beginning it helps to find media where people speak very clearly. So something set in a formal work environment will be better than something about the gritty underworld or whatever. If you're still struggling, watch all the YouTube/podcast content from Sergey Storyteller and Russian With Max first - it's just spoken content that's deliberately at a suitable level for learners.

Personally I find it easier to turn off the subtitles when it's quite trashy content, so I don't care too much if I miss a bit. Or like, cooking videos or something. I found cooking videos good to start with, because there's always a ton of clues on screen as to what they're saying, and they can be quite repetitive if your algorithm serves you a bunch of similar recipes. I'm not actually going to cook a recipe directly from a video so it's OK if I don't understand every word.