Watching videos is a great way to build listening comprehension skills and learn more vocabulary, but let’s be honest. It can be VERY frustrating! Maybe the people in the video speak too fast or maybe they have an accent and you can’t understand what they’re saying. True, learning a new language is work and it takes effort, but if the experience is TOO frustrating and painful, we stop.

With these tips, you will be able to:

• see the words when are watching the video,
• decrease the speed of the video if the speaker is talking too fast or has an accent,
• download the words to have a printed copy, and
• find out how to use these tips as learning tools.

Captions

Captions (or subtitles) are the words that are displayed when you are watching a video. They are used by people who have hearing impairments and they are very helpful for people who are not fluent in the language used in the video.

When you are watching a video, you might understand some of the words, but not all of them. If you are a visual learner, it helps to see the words in addition to hearing them. Did you know that on YouTube you can choose to see captions?

How to See Captions

If you are watching a video on YouTube using your smartphone, you will see three dots in the upper right corner of your screen.

Tap on these dots and you will see “Captions” in the menu. Tap here to choose the language. Unfortunately, not all videos have the option to see captions.

If you are on your computer watching YouTube, you’ll see the CC button at the bottom of your screen. Click on “CC” to start seeing captions.

To the right, there is also the settings wheel. You can click this to see more options for captions. Again, not all videos have captions, so you will not see this option for all videos.

Are Captions Accurate?

The creator of the video can add captions or they can be produced automatically by a computer program in YouTube. If the captions are created by the video creator, they are probably very accurate. It may not be exactly word for word, but it will be close.

Captions that are created automatically can be confusing. If the person speaking in the video has an accent or they do not speak clearly, the computer program will incorrectly guess words because they sound like something else. This is not the best option, but it is better than nothing.

All videos from International Mountain Connection will have captions that are created by us. We might make a small error here or there (nobody is perfect!), but we will always do our best to make sure that text you see corresponds perfectly with the words you are hearing.

Video Speed

Did you know you can change the speed of the video you are watching? This is such a great language tool! If it is difficult for you to understand a video because they are talking too fast, you can slow down the video. This way, it is easier to understand AND read the captions!

How to Change the Video Speed

If you’re on your smartphone, you are going to tap on the three dots at the upper right corner of your screen. In the menu, you will see “Playback speed” and it is automatically set on “Normal”.

To change this, tap on “Playback speed” and tap on 0.75x. This is going to slow down the video.

To change the speed of the video back to normal, go to “Playback speed” and tap “Normal”.

If you’re on your computer, click on the settings wheel. In this menu, you will see “Speed – Normal”. Click to change the speed to 0.75x.

This will lower the speed of the video. Choose “Normal”  to go back to the original speed.

Transcripts

A transcript is a document you can view/download that has all of the text from a video. Like captions, they are usually very accurate. For each video created by International Mountain Connection, transcripts will be available to download. Unfortunately, this option is not available for most videos you find on the internet.

Where is the Transcript?

If you are watching a video by IMC on YouTube, you can find a link for the transcript in the description box. Click on the link to view and/or download your copy of the transcript. It’s FREE!  

How Can I Use These Tips as Learning Tools?

Using Captions and Video Speed

A great method for watching videos is to watch the video first at the normal speed and without captions. Do a comprehension check. What parts did you understand? What parts do you THINK you understood? Where in the video were you completely lost?

Next, turn on the captions (if they are available) and slow down the video. After you have watched the video a few times using these tools, watch the same video in “real” time with the captions. Which sections are clearer? Which parts are still difficult?

If you are ready for a challenge, watch it without the captions! Did you understand? You should feel a difference between the first time and the last time watching the video. You’re making progress!

Using Transcripts

Transcripts are like captions because you can see the words as they are spoken. The advantage to using a transcript is that you can print a copy and use it as a learning tool.

You can:

• read the transcript before watching the video and check your comprehension,

• underline or highlight words and phrases you don’t understand and look them up on the internet or in a dictionary, and

• as you are watching the video, you can underline parts you didn’t understand and find those words on the internet.

Remember it takes time to improve listening skills, but with practice, you’ll start to see improvement!

Do you use these tips when you watch videos? Which is the most helpful? Write a comment below!