How can I make my subjective question more constructive?

Question

I asked this question, which got put on hold for being primarily opinion-based.

I'd usually leave a closed question as is, for getting it reopened rarely happens. However, the question did attract a few votes (both ways) and maybe there's a way to improve it and get it reopened? I need help doing that.

I was not sure if the question would be legit or not. Aware of the subjective nature of my question I consulted What types of questions should I avoid asking? before asking.

Some subjective questions are allowed, but “subjective” does not mean “anything goes”. All subjective questions are expected to be constructive. What does that mean? Constructive subjective questions:

• inspire answers that explain “why” and “how”
• tend to have long, not short, answers
• have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone
• invite sharing experiences over opinions
• insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references
• are more than just mindless social fun

"invite sharing experiences over opinions" seems to be exactly what my question is doing. I was hoping to "inspire answers that explain “why” and “how”", by providing a list of proposals of properties/activities, so that answerers could pick them up and go into "long [detailed], not short, answers" about why and how to choose a movie or TV series, movie genre, etc. "[I]nsist[ing] that opinion be backed up with facts and references" was attempted by asking for the existence of a rating of movies.

Apparently, that was not enough.

Besides the general close reason, a few specific aspects were pointed out:

Not everyone learns a language the same way, what helps someone else, might not help you (and vice versa)

I absolutely agree with that. I decided to give watching movies a go. If that will work out for me or not is something I will have to find out myself. Please note that one main feature of the website is to mark one of possibly many received answers as accepted, which shows that it's the solution that worked for the asker. Other people might find other answers more helpful. I conclude that different things working for different people differently well is to some extent part of the system and actually desired or at least expected.

How do I draw the line for this question of being too personal and only about me? I tried to provide concrete examples for movies in my question. This way, everybody can relate to the situation, for example "You really could follow that plot?" or "Who would have trouble understanding that?"

It's also not clear how well you speak English right now, or what your difficulties are

It's hard to come up with measures for how well a language is spoken, especially when assessing the own skills. I avoided that and provided the two reference cases instead. As pointed out, I was more interested to get answers from movie enthusiasts, especially those that aren't native English speakers themselves, than from linguists. "The live broadcasts from a Shakespeare theatre play are to be avoided at the beginning, for their language is complicated.", "Documentaries are great, because they often explicitly explain things.", something like that maybe.

To outline a goal, I included the following in my question:

My goal would be to not only be able to follow the plot at ease, but also catch the fine details of dialogue and language that were purposefully inserted by the artists that crafted the movie.

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How can I improve my question? Is it even salvageable?

Answer 1

I agree with the heart of Napoleon Wilson's comment that your question is a good one, well written, and ultimately too broad. The big concept I see in your question is: How do I effectively use movies as a method to learn and/or improve mastery of spoken English? That is a big topic. I would suggest you break up the question into more bite sized chunks regardless of if you choose here or another place to ask your question. If I were going to do that here are some potential questions I'd consider asking:

• Are subtitles detrimental to learning a spoken language by watching movies?
• If I want to learn how to speak another language should the subtitles be in my native language or the other language?
• To improve my comprehension of a foreign language should I rewatch the same film many times or watch many films only once or twice?
• What is the best way to know if I don't understand something in a foreign film without subtitles because it is supposed to be a mystery to the viewer or if I missed/misunderstood an important bit of dialogue?
• Does the linearity of the story affect my ability to learn a foreign language while watching the movie?
• Is it best to just focus on foreign films with the same accent or should I diversify so my ear is less sensitive to differing pronunciation/accents when using films to learn a language?
• etc...

I'm sure not all of those sample questions are gold, but they illustrate that there can be many different approaches and considerations when learning a foreign language via films. I think the best your current question could hope for is something so general that it isn't very helpful and/or subjective anecdotes.

For example my answer to you question would be along the lines of start with action movies that don't rely much on dialogue, next move to action comedies because the action will anchor you and jokes are often surprisingly complex linguistically, and then move onto more dialogue based movies like dramas (pretty general advice that says start with Dick and Jane before attempting Jane Austen). Also I'd recommend against subtitles because I personally find that they become a crutch to me (subjective anecdote).

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All that being said, if your written English, which appears to be excellent, is anywhere near your spoken English I think you'd be fine watching any English language movie you want without subtitles. If you miss something you can always pause and rewind or just watch the entire movie again. Good luck in your endeavor!

Answer 2

How can I improve my question? Is it even salvageable?

I am sorry to say this, but there is no way you can improve your question as it is not salvageable. I am not a native English speaker, either, but I know which film or drama to watch to improve my English. The answer to your question is those which are easy to watch with more standard accent than some dialects, relatively slower speed of speech, with not many slangs nor many technical jargons, etc.

All the answers to your questions will be primarily opinion-based, e.g., some might say watching movies with subtitles is a bad idea, and some might say it is a good idea. Also, some will say rewatching a movie is a good idea and some might say watching a new movie is better.

How do I draw the line for this question of being too personal and only about me?

Well, SE is not a discussion forum and it seeks to build a library of definitive answers, NOT primarily opinion-based answers. If you don't think your question can get some definitive answers with some relevant research and references, don't ask that question. If you expect answers with "I think X is better than Y", "I think Z is the best", don't ask that question.

"invite sharing experiences over opinions" seems to be exactly what my question is doing.

You need to note that one question per post is the guideline of Stack Exchange. You asked a total of 6 questions that seek others' advice or recommendation.

How do I decide which movies to watch?

I don't know. I usually watch well-rated and Academy or Golden Globe-awarded drama or thriller to improve my English. G-rated films are easier to understand than R-rated films because target audience is different. Of course, which movie to watch will entirely depend on your proficiency.