In this article, I’d like to share my findings, which might pleasantly surprise you if you’ve been struggling to watch movies in English without subtitles.

When I was learning English as a teenager, I had the chance to communicate with English speakers, including Americans, at a language school I attended. By the time I reached an intermediate level, I had no difficulty understanding them. I was also a fan of crime stories and had no trouble understanding true crime podcasts, except for a few unfamiliar words. Watching movies, however, was sometimes a bit more challenging due to background noises, but I managed fine.

However, in recent years, I started struggling with newer films and series. I even began to wonder if my English was somehow getting worse! Then, one day, I was talking to my cousin, who was raised in Canada, and she surprised me by saying that even as a native speaker, she often watches modern shows with subtitles on! This revelation led me to do some research, and I came across a YouTube video where it was shared that many native speakers also struggle to understand new movies and shows in English.

It turns out that this is not about your listening skills, but rather about the way films are made nowadays.

First, modern films are designed for cinema screenings, which use sophisticated audio equipment. Most of us don’t have access to such equipment at home, and the audio in movies is not optimized for standard home speakers.

Second, in the past, movie audio was often rerecorded after filming, or larger equipment was used on set to capture sound. Today, smaller lavalier microphones are used, which are attached to actors’ clothing to allow for more movement. While this helps actors perform more freely, it also reduces audio quality.

Lastly, very few studios rerecord audio after a movie is shot, as that would require paying the actors for a second time—once for acting, and again for recording. As a result, sound engineers sometimes have to cut and paste pieces of audio from different takes, which can significantly lower the overall sound quality.

So, if you’re struggling to understand modern movies and shows, don’t be too hard on yourself! Even native speakers often need subtitles. If you want to practice your listening comprehension, try listening to podcasts recorded with high-quality microphones, watch documentaries with fewer background noises, or choose older movies where the audio was recorded the old-fashioned way. If you can understand those without a problem, then the issue is likely the audio quality, not your comprehension.

My message for you this week: Don’t be too hard on yourself—understanding modern movies and series can be challenging for everyone, even native speakers sometimes need subtitles!