Learning a New Language Through Comedy

Learning a new language using a surprising stimulus

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! People often have a misconception that they must sit down and read out of a book in order to study. While this may be true for some things in certain use cases, it is far from the only way to learn. One of the best ways to teach language skills is by studying the language in context.

Written language is important, but most people who are learning a new language are learning it in order to speak it. That is why listening to other people and imitating them is so important. Stolen jokes are a crime, if you are a comedian. They are a powerful tool if you are a dedicated language learner.

Comedy specials for second language acquisition

Learning to understand jokes is difficult. Many of the funniest jokes hinge on understanding word play. That is why jokes and comedy specials are such a powerful second language acquisition tool. You can hear, pause, rewind, and listen again to the ways different people play with words in different languages.

Humor is usually the final language barrier, but when you learn to joke and understand jokes in your target language you will shock people. Even in one's own native language jokes can go over their head. If you can crack a joke, especially using word play, in your target language then you are on the right track.

It will, however, take time to understand the jokes. In all likelihood you will have to use several crutches along the way. There is nothing wrong with this, so long as you do not rely on them indefinitely. Along the language learning process you will come across things that demand supplementary aid.