pong
16×from ping-pong: table tennis
Drama · American Southern English
Forrest Gump: English level and how hard it is to understand
Forrest speaks slowly and simply (128 words per minute), and much of the film is his narration. The Alabama accent and dialect (ain’t, runnin’) are the main challenge.
Updated
Short answer
Forrest Gump is best for B1 to B2 learners. Across the whole film, a B1 learner knows about 96.1% of the words, and the characters speak at about 128 words per minute (slow).
Forrest Gump in numbers
- Recommended level
- B1 to B2
- Speaking speed
- 128 words / min
- Spoken words
- 10,371 in 142 min
- Known at B1
- 96.13%
- Known at B2
- 97.06%
- Different words
- 1,613
Difficulty rank: 10 of 16 in our movies by English level list (slow, but southern dialect).
Beyond the numbers
What makes Forrest Gump hard (or easy)?
- A strong Southern American accent, with dropped g’s (runnin’, lookin’) and “ain’t” (15 times).
- Fifty years of American history: Vietnam, ping-pong diplomacy, and the 1960s and 70s.
- Army scenes with shouted orders and military words.
Forrest Gump is mostly American Southern English. Accent and speed matter as much as vocabulary: if you know the words but can’t catch them, turn on English subtitles and slow down.
Learn these first
Useful words from Forrest Gump
B2–C2 words that came up more than once in the film. Counts are for the whole movie.
schoolhouse
2×a small school building
braces
2×metal supports for legs or teeth
bumper
2×a car bumper; a “bumper sticker” has a slogan on it
peppers
2×vegetables; also the soft drink Dr Pepper
chocolates
2×from the famous box of chocolates line
raccoons
2×grey animals with a black mask-like face
inbound
2×coming in towards you
Spoken forms you will hear constantly
hey ×42ain ×15yeah ×13uh ×7whoa ×6huh ×5
gonna = going to · wanna = want to · gotta = got to / have to. Textbooks rarely teach them, but films use them all the time.
Vocabulary profile
How common are the words in Forrest Gump?
Share of all spoken words in each frequency band (A1 = the 5,000 most common words).
A188.42%
A24.9%
B12.82%
B20.93%
C10.62%
C20.74%
Unlisted1.59%
Watching plan
How to learn English with Forrest Gump
- Forrest’s narration is slow and clear. Use it for shadowing practice.
- Learn the dialect forms first: ain’t = am not / isn’t, runnin’ = running.
- Read a short timeline of 1950s–1980s US history if the events are new to you.
In TeakReader you can import the subtitles of any movie, see the words you don’t know yet, and study them as flashcards before you press play. How it works
How we measured it
We took the full English subtitle file for Forrest Gump (1994, 142 minutes), removed sound descriptions, speaker labels, and character names, and matched each of the 10,371 spoken words to the same frequency list we use for classic book levels. Speaking speed is spoken words divided by the time the subtitles are on screen. Only statistics and single words are shown here.
The recommended level is our estimate from vocabulary, speed, and style, not an official CEFR rating. Subtitle files differ slightly between releases, so treat the numbers as close estimates.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Forrest Gump good for learning English?
Forrest Gump is slow and uses common words (about 96% known at B1), but the Southern dialect and history references make it a B1–B2 film. Great for listening practice once you can follow the accent. We recommend it from B1 to B2.
How fast do they speak in Forrest Gump?
About 128 words per minute of dialogue, which is slow for a film. Everyday conversation is often around 150 words per minute.
How many words do I need to understand Forrest Gump?
A learner who knows the most common 20,000 English word forms (our B1 band) knows about 96.1% of the words spoken. Research on listening suggests that knowing about 95% of the words is enough to follow most of what is said, so subtitles help until you reach that point.
How did you measure this?
We analysed the film’s full English subtitle file (10,371 spoken words), removed sound notes, speaker labels, and character names, and matched every word to the same frequency list we use for book levels and TV shows. The level is our estimate, not an official CEFR rating.
Can I study the vocabulary of Forrest Gump before watching?
Yes. In TeakReader, search for the movie and import its subtitles. You get a list of the words you don’t know yet, with meanings and flashcards.
Ready to read
Learn the words from Forrest Gump before you watch.
Import any movie’s subtitles in TeakReader and get its unknown words with meanings and flashcards. Free on iPhone, iPad, and Android.