Yo, what's up I'm Ethan your real-life English fluency coach and as you
probably know if you follow our channel we are all about helping you to find
ways to make understanding English fun with TV series.
So that said, all the time
English learners from around the world just like you asked me "what is the best
TV series to learn English with?"
Well as you probably know as the hosts of this
channel I absolutely love watching TV series and this probably makes me a
little bit of an expert.
Now, I know this might sound like a simple question but
it's actually quite complex because first of all it depends on a variety of
factors such as what is your current level, what are your personal preferences
what are your English learning goals and so on.
And in addition to this there are
tons of series out there to choose from and they're making new ones all the time.
So that said I still really want to help you to answer this question and so I
have made a list of the best series to learn English with in 2020.
Now these are all series that I've actually personally watched over the last year and I've
tried to kind of mix them up to give you a variety so that no matter where you
are or what your English learning goals are be it learning English for business,
learning English for law, learning English for science or just learning
English to be able to have an everyday conversation you are bound to find
something that you're going to love in this list and of course since I've
watched all of these personally over the last year I know that they are all going to
be super fun and entertaining for you.
By the way if you're new here every week we
make fun lessons to help you to understand your favorite TV series
without getting lost without missing the jokes and without
subtitles like Mariane who says that our lessons give her the perfect mix of
fun and learning so that she can understand everything.
And if you want to greatly improve your English comprehension and confidence all you
have to do is hit that subscribe button and the bell down below so you don't miss
any of our new lessons.
All right so now let's take a look at the best series to learn English with in 2020.
Number 10
Stranger Things.
Something is coming, something hungry for blood.
What is it?
The Demogorgon.
We're in deep shit.
Later
See you tomorrow.
-Good night, ladies. -Kiss your mum night for me.
Now guys this one is super entertaining, it's fun and
it is definitely a must watch that you can catch on Netflix.
Now the reason that
I love this one is because it's super unique in that it kind of it's a
nostalgia of the 80s first of all, you know I was born in the 80s I grew up
with a lot of the pop culture of that era so if you're similar that you grew
up with these things you're definitely going to love that aspect of it.
But even if you didn't, it's got a fresh young cast and one of the things that
makes it really great is that you're kind of waiting for monsters to pop out
so it's kind of a thriller and then at the same time it blends in elements of
comedy so I think this kind of combination kind of keeps you
entertained throughout the entire first season.
Now last year the season 3 came
out and frankly I wasn't even sure if I was going to watch it because season 2
was definitely disappointing it didn't really deliver on everything that we
loved about season 1 but eventually I decided to give it a try and watch
season 3 and it did not disappoint.
It brought back everything that we loved
about season 1 while also bringing new villains and a whole new plot so it goes
without saying that I'm definitely looking forward to watching season 4 and
I highly recommend that you check out this series.
Number 9.
Rick and Morty
Now, are you ready to laugh I mean like really laugh so hard that your ribs hurt?
Well Rick and Morty is a perfect show for this.
If you enjoy animated series
this one is definitely different than what you might be accustomed to with the
likes of SpongeBob SquarePants or The Simpsons.
Now what this series does
because it takes very complex scientific theories or philosophy and kind of
explains it in a very accessible way but what makes Rick and Morty unique is
definitely the characters that we have here the old man Rick who is kind of a
crazy insane scientist who doesn't really care what anyone thinks of him
and Morty who is a timid young boy who just loves helping out his grandfather.
Now this is fantastic for your English because you will learn idioms and
expressions, vocabulary the natives use in everyday life while at the same time
having the opportunity to learn a lot of vocabulary that is specific to science.
So in conclusion you're both equally mercurial overly sensitive clingy
hysterical birdbrain humonculon and I honestly can't even tell the two of you
apart half the time because I don't go by height or age,
I go by amount of pain in my ass,
which makes you both identical.
However, I should warn you that this series is not for everyone.
The humor in it can be dark and sometimes even
offensive but if you want to get a taste of what this series is all about then
you can check out this fun lesson that we made with it by clicking up at the
top right of the screen.
Number eight.
Friends
Now if you've been following us then you know this is one of our favorite series.
Now I know that you're probably asking yourself "what the heck is Friends, such
an old series from the 90s, doing on a top ten list for 2020?"
Well the reason that I include this one is that I actually
rewatched the whole ten seasons last
year in 2019 and I have to tell you I laughed a ton and I fell in love all
over again with all of the characters and their stories.
It definitely has not lost any of its relevance.
Check out what Selena Gomez recently said about it:
You know what makes me so happy is that I would watch
it on channel 33 at 10:30 every night on Thursday with my mom.
-Yes -And I cried
when the whole season was over but what made me so happy is like now now like
people my age and everyone else is just obsessed and it just makes me so happy
for you and for the show because it's iconic.
Oh god I love you.
And other fans that you might know about include Taylor Swift.
I watch endless Friends marathons for comfort.
Harry Styles,
First question is: "Sing your favorite TV show theme tune".
What should we do?
"So noone told you life was gonna be this way"
"Your job's a joke, you're broke Your love life's D.O.A"
And the lead singer of the popular k-pop band, BTS.
How did you teach yourself English?
Um actually my English teacher was a sitcom, Friends,
Oh you watched Friends!
Yes.
So was it mainly just phrases then?
Or you just learned everything?
Um, I think you know back in the days like when I was like 15, like 14 it was quite
like a syndrome for all the Korean parents to make their kids watch the Friends.
-Really? -So, yeah.
For...I thought I was kind of like a victim at that time
but well right now I'm the lucky one so like thanks my mother she
she bought that all the other seasons for DVDs, it got 10 DVDs, right?
Right.
So about me, and so firstly I watched with the Korean subtitle and the next
time I watched with the English subtitle and then i just removed it.
That's very impressive and Friends would be very happy that you learned
Thank you!
And there's probably no series out there that is better for learning English.
In fact, various academic studies have actually shown that this is probably the best
series that has ever been made for learning English.
Now this has to do with
kind of the storyline, you know friends spending a lot of time sitting around in
a cafe speaking about life's everyday problems but it also just has to do with
this having such a huge influence on the english as it's spoken today.
So if you would love to learn English with Friends and have a ton of fun doing it well
there's no better way than with our Fluent with Friends course, now in this
forty eight week course you will learn alongside the first two seasons getting
all the vocabulary, pronunciation and cultural context that you need to fully
understand this series while getting a ton of confidence in your English.
So why not give it a try?
You can do that with our free three-part master class just
click up here at the top left or down description below to learn more and sign up.
Number seven: Succession.
Everything I've done in my life
I've done for my children I know I've made mistakes but I've always tried to
do the best final because I love them.
Maybe you thought about the possibility
that your children are actually scared of you?
Oh fuck off!
Succession tells the story of a not so typical family called the Roy's let's
see exactly why.
This is my vision, I take over, you two under me.
Under you.
Let me think about it?
-Of course. -I thought about it, fuck you.
This family's broken and that has consequences.
Kick out the old man, him with the new guard.
Where've you been?
I was meeting about a prospective job.
With your father's enemy?
Disagreeing with dad is not treason.
You want this enough to go to war with your family.
Now, the reason that this series is on the list is not only because it's super entertaining
but I recommend it for you because it is great for learning business English
let's take a look at an example of some of the typical sort of vocabulary that
you'll learn for business, be careful because the series does include a lot of
vulgar language which is a part of real-life English but if you prefer not
to see that then you might want to skip over this example.
Yeah I'll take it
so all they need is adults in the room accounting team, analytics team and
investment we burned 50 million for a few years we, we make it the best thing
in the world.
Oh is that all?
But you always say "got a burn to turn".
Well, that's what's your read.
And you know it's interesting dad because I hear
everything he's saying and it actually it almost sounds like a good pitch but I
call bullshit I spent some time down there and I'm just not seeing it I don't
know exactly what they're doing but they're fakes
fucking beehives almond milk and take another week on that report, Matilda it
smells wrong and they're hiding shit.
Oh.
Now this series is a drama with a little
bit of comedy and it has won a bunch of awards such as the Golden Globe for Best Drama.
You can check out succession on HBO.
Number six: The Crown.
We're ready for you, your Majesty.
Three, two, one.
This is Jubilee day, this is a day of grueling as the Queen's
coronation 25 years ago.
Now with this one let's head over to England
because this series is perfect for learners of British English now it's all
about the history of Queen Elizabeth the second, the current Queen of England and
the Royal Family as she came to power.
Now the reason we include it in this list
is because it uses a classic sort of British English called received
pronunciation, which is likely what you need to learn if you're learning British English.
If that man wins, he'll want us out.
This is no longer peacetime
This country was still great when I came to the throne, all that's happened on my
watch is the place is falling apart.
You cannot flinch any falling apart if
we say it is, that's the thing about the monarchy we paper over the cracks.
Now if you enjoyed this series and the language that you can learn in it then you might
also want to check out Downton Abbey.
Number five: Suits.
Why don't we go out and celebrate?
We're all on the same boat now.
I'm taking full control as Managing partner.
Are you serious?
From now on it's are you serious ma'am, have you got that, pretty boy?
What you said about us working together.
I appreciate it.
-Thanks, Robin. -Oh you welcome, Batman.
Now coming from The Crown in England you
might have heard of Megan Markle, who married recently into the royal family
now she's one of the main actresses in this next series.
Mike Ross?
Hi, I'm Rachel Zane, I'll be giving your orientation.
Wow, you're pretty.
Now Suits just had its final season
which is great because it means that you can binge on
the entire series at once. it is absolutely fantastic for anyone that
needs to learn legal vocabulary let's take a look at some examples.
Celebratory drinks with the associates?
Yep.
You know what? You can save the disappointment
Harvey I know what I did.
Do you? because what I saw is that you backed off.
It was a fake trial, all right? I weighed the pros and the cons and I decided it
wasn't worth hurting someone for the result.
The result is you just told every
partner in this firm including myself that you have a weak stomach.
You don't have what it takes.
Now even if you're not a lawyer and don't need to learn
legal vocabulary this show is absolutely fantastic because it mixes comedy and
drama and each episode tends to cover a different case that will keep you on the
edge of your seat.
Now if you've already seen suits or after you finish it you
want some more legal vocabulary another one that I really enjoyed that you could
check out is How to Get Away with Murder.
I will not be teaching you how to study
the law or theorize about it, but rather how to practice it in a
courtroom like a real lawyer.
Now this one is a little bit corny but
is also super entertaining and suspenseful, about a famous lawyer and
her legal students at the university that she teaches out.
You can check out
both Suits and How to Get Away with Murder on Netflix
Number four: Killing Eve.
Why are you and Vilanelle so interested in each other?
She wants me to know when she's killed someone.
She's behind that door!
Oh my God, I absolutely love this one, guys.
It's definitely one of my favorite ones that
I have discovered over the last couple of years.
Now this is another one with a
really strange but super fascinating theme.
Gosh, Killing Eve is...
It's a psychological drama, thriller and it really focuses on this relationship
between these two women I played Eve Polastri at this at
this early points works, for MI-5 and is obsessed with a serial killer it's an
assassin's and then becomes obsessed with this one assassin killer named
Villanelle play by Jodi Comer and we just enter into this kind of... at
first I would say cat-and-mouse kind of relationship
but by the end I think it's like cat and cat.
Now one of the really interesting things about this series is
that both of the main characters are women in two roles that we typically see
played by men.
Now for language learners such as myself in English Learner like
you you're absolutely going to love this series because of the mix of accents
first of all we see one of the main characters has an American accent but a
lot of the series takes place in England so we see a lot of British accents and
then the other main character is Russian and she tends to speak English with a
Russian accent but she is also a master of different accents and different languages.
Jody, um, as Villanelle speaks many
languages I mean the girl has a remarkable ear she's so talented and so
she's speaking many languages and and many accents but her own accent well...
-Alright -I leave you all to...
-I'll be surprised. -Yes you will.
As each episode came
through I was like "oh! Russian, German" like they all yeah they kept going.
-Wow! -What's your favorite one to do on the show?
Um, I really enjoyed doing the Italian purely
because that was the one I found easiest to do, French is really hard.
So it's really impressive to see her doing all these different accents and it is
definitely someone that you can try to emulate.
Suncream heiress from Sydney
-I'm Billy. -Hi Billy.
and I'm an addict.
My name is Natalie this is Fanny we work with Frank.
Excuse me, sir. I'm so sorry to bother you but are you gonna graduate soon?
-Hablas español? -Sí.
-Deutsche? -Ja.
-Mandarin?
Number three: His Dark Materials.
I set out for the North some twelve months ago,
and this is the first of the discoveries I made.
A myriad of worlds,
Of which the Magisterium controls only one.
For centuries they have been trying to keep us where they want us.
on our knees.
You promised the Magisterium you'd control Asriel.
Then we'll need to take the matter into our own hands.
Lyra, there's a great change coming that will threaten us all.
I'm going to give you something.
What does it do?
It has a part to play in all this.
-And a major one. -Wait!
Tell me where the alethiometer is.
Or I will destroy all of this.
I actually just recently watched season one of this one I absolutely loved the
book trilogy by Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials and I was thrilled when I
heard HBO was making a series with this.
I'll tell you what guys this one
exceeded my expectations it is so much better than I thought that it would be
in His Dark Materials we see things like talking bears, airships, portals to other
worlds and war and it's all from the perspective of a little girl named Lyra.
Now His Dark Materials is absolutely exciting, you're always going to be
asking yourself what is coming next and wanting more at the end of every episode
so even if you have not read the books I highly recommend that you check this one
out on HBO.
Number 2: Handmaid's Tale.
I was asleep before that's how we let it happen.
When they slaughtered Congress we didn't wake up, when they blame
terrorists and suspended the Constitution we didn't wake up then either.
Now I'm awake.
Now guys this one is really impactful the
reason that it is so good is because what of a strange premise it is.
However it also seems like it's kind of realistic for something that could
happen in the future, it takes place in the United States in at least what was
the United States and it's kind of the world that we know has gone to hell that
means that everything has gone really bad.
In Margaret Atwood's near-future
novel The Handmaid's Tale a Christian fundamentalist regime called the
Republic of Gilead has staged a military coup and established a theocratic
government in the United States.
The regime theoretically restricts everyone
but in practice a few men have structured Gilead so they have all the
power, especially over women.
Now if you're like me this one will probably have
you really emotional sometimes feeling
really angry even at what's happening in the series which I think if a series can
do that that means it's absolutely fantastic.
So I highly recommend you
check this one out on Hulu and I hope you enjoy it a lot now let's move on to
number one.
Can I get a drumroll please?
Number one is...
The Morning Show.
8 seconds to you.
Queue her.
Good morning, I'm bringing you some sad and upsetting news and while I
don't know the details of the allegations...
She's throwing me under the bus.
Mitch Kessler my co-host and partner of
15 years was fired today.
So this series from the new streaming platform Apple TV + features
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell so already with this tremendous
cast we can expect a really fantastic series.
Now one of the reasons that this
series is so fantastic is that it is taking a look at a very relevant issue today.
I play a character named Mitch Kessler he's a morning personality who
is accused of sexual misconduct.
The show is about that that's sort of the
catalyst for what happens it's not really about my character it's about how
it impacts this show and the people within it.
Yep, and and cover-ups and and
how supposedly that people higher up know when things are happening.
Yeah.
And don't really do anything about it.
Yeah web of lies there's a lot I mean
it's it's ten episodes I thought it was very well written.
Boy it's really really good.
Now if you work in the world of news or journalism you're going to find
the vocabulary that you learn in this series really useful but even if you
don't you definitely should check it out because this is a drama that is full of
twists and turns that's going to leave you wanting to see what happens next.
So a great place to start if you want to check this one out is to watch a recent
popular lesson that we made featuring this series by clicking up at the top or
down description below.
So those are the 10 best series of 2020 for learning
English now I've given you all these great series to learn with today but you
might be asking yourself how can I kind of actively learn English with these on
my own and not just be like sitting on the couch and using them purely for
entertainment? Now we make this really easy on this
channel so you should definitely subscribe so any of these that we
haven't made lessons with you can see them in the future but just in case you
want to get started on your own I wanted to quickly kind of tell you our
methodology for learning that you can already apply it to learning on your own
now it'll take you a little bit more time and then these lessons that we kind
of curate already for you but it will also be useful for you kind of getting
some extra benefit out of these series.
So all right, so this is what you do the
first thing is you're going to pick one of the series here the second thing is
you're going to go to google and you're going to type in there transcripts for
in the name of the series and once you get this transcript it's really great if
you can download it or you can copy and paste it into a Word document
or you can even print it out and then what you're going to do is you're going
to kind of pick a scene maybe I would want to take like the very first scene
start from the very beginning of the series and the first thing that you're
going to do is watch this scene with subtitles so you'll kind of just be
trying to get the context of the scene now depending on your level if you're
intermediate or lower intermediate maybe you'll want to actually start out by
watching it with subtitles in your native language but if you are
intermediate to advanced then you might want to watch it with English subtitles
right away.
So after you've done this you probably have the context if you watch
it first with subtitles in your native language then be sure then after to
watch it again with sometimes in English otherwise you'll move on to the next
step the next step would be to take this transcript that you've printed out or
that you've saved and you're going to look through it and kind of take note of
everything that's kind of complicated so maybe there were some words that you
already saw that you didn't know maybe there was something that you were like I
would not have understood that without the subtitles, so maybe you're kind of
like highlight that and then basically what you're going to do is go through
all the new vocabulary or expressions that you've pointed out and you'll do a
little bit of research you look up what do these different words mean what do
these expressions mean and then once it's kind of like all full of notes of
like all the different definitions of all the words and the expressions that
you didn't know the next step would be the pronunciation so you've probably
already noticed some things that without the subtitles you would not have understood.
So these things basically what you're going to do is pick up the
scene again and watch those parts specifically so kind of listen while
you're looking at the transcript and really try to figure out why exactly was
it that I couldn't understand this.
Maybe it was due to something
being pronounced in a way that you weren't expecting so for example maybe
you saw the word "butter" but actually an American one pronounces this butter
we would say [bu-der] with a sound that sounds more like a D or maybe it was
because some words kind of connected together some words reduced completely
so you actually want to see how is the way that natives really pronounce this
and not just depending on your eyes and like reading the transcript and doing
this kind of over time you'll start to kind of get used to some of these
tendencies of how natives really speak.
Alright so once you've done all this you
have watched at first got the context broken down the transcript now it's kind
of time for the most fun part so what you're going to do now is watch the
series without any subtitles to kind of test everything that you've learned.
If you notice that there's some part of it that you're still struggling with then
that's no problem at all don't beat yourself up, that means don't give
yourself a hard time or don't criticize yourself really heavily, all you have to
do is pause it and go back and try to figure out why didn't I understand that
part and maybe watch it a few times and so you feel really confident about
understanding the whole scene without subtitles.
Alright guys so I hope that
you'll have a lot of fun learning in this way I hope that you'll enjoy all
these series and now I really want to hear from you so the first thing that
I'd like you to tell me is which of these 10 series are you going to use to
learn English with?
Second, I want you to tell me was there some series not in
this list that you really enjoyed over the last year?
Maybe it will even make a
lesson with it and also be sure to see what other learners said because maybe
you'll just find another suggestion that you like even more.
Alright guys thanks so much for joining me today,
and now it's time to go beyond the classroom and
live your English, awww yeah!