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
Popularity: 2% [?]
Quebec
Provence
Australia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Iceland
Latvia
Lithuania
Mauritius
Montenegro
Norway
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sweden
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Canada
Croatia
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Egypt
England
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Monaco
Netherlands
Spain
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
Vatican City
View Comments so far ↓
1 Sally // Nov 21, 2009 at 10:44 am
Hi Jennie,
Thanks for this – really useful. I’ve just been checking out the Slow German site – absolutely brilliant!
Sally
2 shakesrear // Nov 21, 2009 at 9:57 pm
It’s not just hearing it either, although that helps enormously. When I was going through my one-on-one French lessons, my teacher had to show me how to shape my mouth to make the ‘e’ sound. I knew I wasn’t making it correctly, but I didn’t know why. She showed me that I have to pucker up and make a tight ‘o’ shape with my lips to pronounce ‘e’, otherwise it comes out sounding like ‘è’. This is probably why anglophones have a hard time pronouncing French words correctly – because they haven’t taken the time or haven’t been instructed to properly shape the mouth for these foreign sounds.
.-= shakesrear´s last blog ..Infant Potty Training =-.
3 colin // Nov 22, 2009 at 4:10 am
These are useful! Thank you Jennie! I read your blog every night .it is good for me to learn English and french. i am Chinese and Worked 深圳特区.
4 Jason // Nov 22, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Hi Jennie
Firstly, I enjoy reading your take on living in France. Thank you for taking time to research and pass on the audio links.
Can I suggest the BBC for their Spanish Mundo podcast ( I believe there is a Chinese one as well) available free via i-tunes? Cheers.
5 Jeanie // Nov 23, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Thanks Jennie, these will help me out a lot!!
Leave a Comment