TV and Language

After a busy day of sightseeing, I enjoy watching some TV. All the programs are in French. This can be fun as I watch something familiar like, The Simpsons, or long forgotten, like, Starsky and Hutch. My French skills are okay. I can understand a lot but there are still many phrases that I don't comprehend.

Still, I find that comprehension is not just about understanding a language. As a professional speaker, you're taught that only a fraction of verbal communication is the words we say. The rest is made up of our tone and our expressions. And I do find myself looking a lot more to get the gist of what's being said.

I also realize that my understanding of French TV may also be due to an issue of focus. In France, I'm studying the TV with total focus. In the US, I'm probably doing several things at once while I'm watching a program.