Work or play, oh the drama!

When surfing online, I frequently come across people asking for recommendations on English-language shows. Which ones are entertaining or funny? Ones that are great for passing time or have action or sexy scenes worth seeing? Among these probing questions, there is one that surfaces over and over through the decades: Which drama or sitcom is conducive to learning English? I’ve always thought of watching dramas as something you do to take a break from studying. But for many, it means hardcore studying itself. I guess Koreans really do study a lot.

The older generations used to give different advice: study English by watching the CNN news. Sure, the news is great. Reporters crisply articulating their words deliver information on diverse topics. But the news poses vocabulary challenges even in Korean, so tackling it in English is not for the fainthearted. And how often can you use phrases like “intercontinental ballistic missile” in real life? So Koreans have ditched CNN in droves and gravitated toward an iconic sitcom “friendly” for learning English: Friends.

A show like Friends meets several criteria in serving as an effective learning tool. First and foremost, it has to be short in duration. An average human these days probably has the attention span of a gnat, and although an hour passes like ten minutes when you’re watching for fun, the reverse is true when watching to study. Second, the show has to be fun to watch. It would be so nice if you could, with only one viewing, get your ears to catch every word, your brain to pave deep neural pathways, and your tongue to roll out elegant sentences. We all know how often that happens, so you need to watch a show multiple times without dying of boredom. Third, the actors must have sharp and clear pronunciation. I dream about the time when I can understand all spoken English, even the garbled words uttered sans dentures, but until then, I need clear enunciation. Fourth, the conversations have to be applicable to day-to-day situations. What is learned should be put to use.

After the end of the Friends era, various shows have vied for its spot: Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, and Gossip Girl to name a few. Only modern shows can make the list. Once, I bought a DVD set of a historical drama and came upon a new word that appeared to be important. I looked it up and it was an antiquated word meaning “an impotent person.” Ah, the poor character. So here was a word as useful to me as “intercontinental ballistic missile.” For all the times I run into such people. And all the times I need to say this word to their faces.

Mothers are on a constant lookout for animations that could teach their children English. The indisputable number one in this category seems to be the British series Peppa Pig. For many children around the world, they get to watch Peppa Pig as a reward for good behavior, such as studying or doing chores. For Korean children, watching Peppa Pig is studying. How unfortunate for them. But fortunate is the show that gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from their moms — OTT viewership numbers go through the roof. Language learning, after all, is all about repetition.

Translator: Culture Flipper English Team
Original Content in Korean: cultureflipper.com/blog/work-or-play-oh-the-drama-ko
Japanese Translation: cultureflipper.com/blog/work-or-play-oh-the-drama-ja