Netflix movies in Italian

I’ve been worrying that I haven’t been getting enough true immersion in Italian here. A few hours of class in the morning, sure, but then I’ve been spending most afternoons and evenings in my apartment, working (in English).

How fantastic, then, that I’ve discovered that Netflix’s collection of American movies and television shows in Italian is far bigger than I realized!

I’m talking classic television shows from the last couple of decades, like Friends and How I Met Your Mother and even The Office. Movies that I grew up with like Back to the Future, and recent blockbusters like Black Panther and Solo. Netflix original programming like Stranger Things.

But by far, what’s delighted me the most is my discovery of a huge list of animated kids movies in Italian. Movies like WALL-E, Lilo & Stitch, Finding Nemo, and The Emperor’s New Groove. (Here it’s “Le follie dell’imperatore” or “The Emperor’s Madness”, but whatever.

I did discover that it’s a bad idea to have subtitles on. English subtitles distract you, because you end up just reading the language that you’re comfortable with and ignoring the one that you’re trying to learn. And Italian subtitles are often not exactly what’s been said in the movie, which is very distracting, as you end up not really absorbing the audio. So, I listen without subtitles and just accept that I won’t understand all of it. At least when it’s a film that I know well, I know the general storyline, and I can aim to try and catch as many words as possible.

So, new goal… any day that I don’t go out and spend time outside of class with people, speaking Italian, then I will aim to watch a movie (or two or three episodes of a television show) that I already know well. It’ll be a good opportunity to keep immersing myself in the language.

Andiamo!