XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

One can learn English not only by memorizing long lists of words and grammar rules. It is possible to learn English with the help of your favorite movies, songs, books, games, and so on. And in our spare time, most of us will prefer, for example, watching the series, not reading books, because visually information is much more interesting to perceive. Therefore, in this article I’d like to offer you comics which are a bright book and series alternative.

Today comics are one of the most popular art forms in the world. In Japan (and after it in America) about 40 per cent of all the literature are comics. They are designed for different ages. For children there are educational and informative comics, for women comics based on detectives and romance novels, for men they publish stories about fishing, sports and the like. The Japanese are convinced that comics are a mystery to the mind, not just a fun pastime accompaniment.

In the mid 20th century America the illiterate population, as well as immigrants coming to America from all over the world learned English with the help of comics. Now they are works recommended for the school programme or studied in higher educational institutions (and not only in the United States) as a modern graphic art.

Comics are pictures with the words. In this regard, they are ideal for learning foreign languages. The first person who used them for the purpose of training was an artist from Geneva Rodolphe Töpfer. He worked at school and drew comics, which taught children to read. Each of us has a favorite American/British film and TV series. Some of them are built on comics. Moreover, the plot in comics is more detailed. So why not to spend our time with greater excitement trying to learn English simultaneously?

Pictures in comics make you more receptive to information, and it is easy to understand what is happening, as the words complement the action of the dialogues. In this regard, associational and logical thinking is developing. Over time, you will begin to understand what is meant by the context, using a dictionary. Then in course of time linguistic intuition begins to develop. New horizons and, hence, vocabulary will expand. Comics give us the opportunity to gradually learn new words from different areas, due to the fact that we can choose different genres, as well as language levels. In addition, we begin to understand the humor of the Americans and the British people and their culture. Moreover, we learn different grammar phenomena better.

Most comics use a simplified spoken language. They are designed for the widest audience possible, so there will be no complex phraseological units or rare words. The most difficult thing you can come across is compound verbs. You do not need to have a huge vocabulary to read comics. For most Marvel comics the Intermediate level is enough. But some hand-drawn comic strips can be read even with the Pre-Intermediate one. Also the widely used comics lexicon is rich in the words, which refers to emotional exclamations or onomatopoeia. They can also be remembered and used in informal correspondence, because they enrich the written text with emotions without using emojis.

Comics vocabulary can contain slangy words and expressions. However learning slang with comic books is not a good idea. It should be done carefully, because slang becomes obsolete very quickly, so if the comic more than 20 years, it is likely that you will learn phrases that nobody uses. Particularly noticeable is the outdated slang in comics published before the 1960s.

The grammar of comic strips is even easier than their vocabulary. All this is because the dialogue clouds are very limited in size and there is no place for long reflections and multilevel grammatical constructions. At times it is also not wise. Statements of comics mostly contain active verb forms and Simple tense forms, sometimes Continuous and Perfect tense forms are used. more complicated grammar forms are very rare.

And now there are a few suggestions how to use comics for learning English

You should start with small portions and set correct deadlines. For example, read an issue of the comic for a certain amount of time.

It is necessary to choose some system of reading, first choose a mini-series or small comics.

Reading should be regular. It is important to read a little bit, but every day. Choose a certain time, for example, before going to bed or while on the road.

Pick up comics based on your level of the English language. For example, if the level is not above average, it is better to start with short comics about cat Garfield.

You should choose the material that you are interested in.

Comics are frequently composed of popular colloquial expressions. These expressions are necessary to write out and memorize.

Comics contain a large number of phrasal verbs. There are special dictionaries and blogs explaining them.

It is essential to paid attention to interjections, expressing feelings and emotions. As well as onomatopoeia, as they are rarely found in books.

As you may have noticed, comics are a great pastime and great way to learn English, forgetting about boredom. I hope this article is useful for you.