Jennie en France

Books can’t exactly teach you how to speak or understand a language. Listening is the most important skill to master when learning a language. And that is where the internet comes in. So here’s a short list of audio-heavy websites, most of which I’m sure I’ve already posted about, and many of which are multilingual:

Words & Simple Sentences

• Forvo: All the words in the world. Pronounced.
• Swac: audio collections that can be downloaded
• Le Dictionnaire Visuel: French only obviously, but very specific & technical words
• LanguageGuide: pictorial vocabulary guides
• Internet Polyglot: vocabulary in several language combinations, with games
• Learn Verbs: verb conjugations pronounced
• Book2: 100 lessons of basic phrases; mp3s can be downloaded
• Learn with Youtube: collection of videos specifically for language learning

Slow Speech, Natural Speech & Reading

• LangMedia Videos: everyday situations and cultural information; transcripts & translations available
• Ashcombe School MFL Videos: conversations, talks, interviews; transcripts & translations available
• Audio Lingua: short recordings on various topics; no transcripts available however
• ListentoFrench and Sonsenfrançais: great collection of French listening resources mostly from TV & films; transcripts available
• Radio France Internationale: listen to the “easy” news and read the transcript, though it does match exactly what is said; no translations
• Un Giro in Italia: videos of Italian culture, with transcripts but no translations
• Spanish NewsBites: listen to Spanish news and read along with transcripts, some translations of words provided
• Librivox: audio books in the public domain; with texts provided
• Logos Library: famous children’s books; with texts provided
• Euronews: videos of news in (mostly) Western European languages
• RAI Corso di Lingua: interactive elementary Italian course
• France-Bienvenue: interviews on various topics, with transcripts and explanations of cultural vocabulary
• Learn Canadian French: lots of videos (songs included) with transcripts for learning Quebecois French
• Deutsche Welle: tons of learning German resources! Why can’t other countries produce material like this?
• Slow German: articles read at a slow pace, with transcripts and translation of individual words possible

Podcasts

I am too lazy to list other language podcasts and I cannot decide which ones I like best. Search for them in iTunes because there are a lot available nowadays. One caveat about podcasts is that many require fees for the transcripts. I’ve tried to include only free websites in the links above.

Other Audio Findings that I was Happy to Stumble Upon

• Agricultural Labor Management: the University of California provides audio for learning basic phrases and agricultural words in Spanish
• Italian Lives: the University of Western Australia did an audio-video project on Italian migrants in Western Australia

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