How to Learn Faster with the Best Foreign Language Audiobooks | FluentU Language Learning

4. repeat over and over. the more you listen, the more you’ll learn. most audio language courses are designed to repeat the material for this reason. If you are listening to an audiobook for children or adults entirely in the foreign language you are studying, you will need to repeat the sections yourself. listen several times to get comfortable with what you’re hearing.

5. practice in real life. Whether you’re taking a class or meeting with a conversation partner, take your list of new vocabulary words with you and practice using them with a native speaker. engage your friends in a conversation about the audiobooks you are listening to and learn more about what they think. When you practice words in different contexts, you help yourself remember them better.

beginner level: audio language courses

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The best type of audiobook for a beginner is an audio language course. They are usually designed for beginners and travelers who need to learn phrases quickly in order to communicate on a trip. you’ll find that an audio course teaches you useful everyday words and phrases in a friendly and enjoyable format, while giving you plenty of practice listening to native speakers.

You are probably familiar with audio language courses, as these are the most common and accessible foreign language books available. you’ve probably even impulse bought an audio phrasebook of some kind before!

how to choose the best audio language course:

• check your favorite library, bookstore or website. it’s easy to find audio language courses for most commonly studied foreign languages. look for titles like “spanish for dummies”, pimsleur, collins or earworms.

• take advantage of textbook cds or audio files. many textbooks offer access to online audio files for listening practice. investigate this option if you are already using a textbook for study.

• Ask your friends for recommendations. If you know someone who has studied a foreign language (even if it’s not the one you’re studying), ask them which audio language course they liked best . .

Once you have your audio language course, turn it on and start learning! But before that, here are a few more little tips to make the process easier.

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make it work for you:

• Supplement with grammar materials. Everyday words you’ll learn with an audio course will help you ask simple questions and understand the answers. but most audio courses focus on stand-alone phrases and don’t provide detailed grammar instructions. If you find yourself wanting to say not just “I’m going to the museum,” but “I went to the museum yesterday,” you may have to look beyond your audio course. Extend the sentences in your audiobook by supplementing it with a grammar book or website that explains grammar rules.

• Don’t be afraid to skip ahead. If you find that the most important material for you is in one of the later “chapters” of an audio course, skip right to it! Although most audio language courses are based on the material taught in the previous chapters, there is no reason why you should wait if what you most want to learn is a 45 minute audio course. Go ahead, listen to what appeals to you!

• Make an audio course part of your overall language learning routine, not the entire routine. Most of us retain information better when we get it from a variety of sources. different tickets. Look up new words in a dictionary, use a textbook to learn more, watch online videos, and talk with a conversation partner to get a full picture of how language is used in different contexts.

  Look for programs that incorporate listening and other skills at the same time. fluentu, for example, takes short, culturally relevant videos and adds interactive subtitles to improve your listening and reading comprehension skills. the more varied your language inputs, the more likely you are to retain information and learn how words are used in different situations.

  intermediate level: children’s books

  Intermediate language learners are ready to go beyond the basics and will likely enjoy the challenge of authentic audio materials, the kind of audiobooks that native speakers might use.

  An adult audiobook in a foreign language can be overwhelming for even the most confident language learner, so it’s best to start with children’s books. you will find that they are accessible, fun and very useful for learning.

  To choose the best children’s book for you, follow these suggestions:

  • have fun! children’s books are meant to be fun. Fortunately, most are designed to be engaging, educational, and interesting, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a good one.
  • Ask native speakers which books they like best. What do native speakers read to their children? What books do you remember from childhood? Choosing books that are loved by native speakers is a good way to ensure you don’t pick a “flop” and can mean you’ll find an audience interested in discussing it with you.
  • Avoid archaic language. Some of the best children’s stories are folktales, poems, and stories passed down for centuries. While these provide wonderful opportunities for cultural learning, archaic language is best avoided when first starting out. Archaic language is likely to be confusing to language learners and won’t be as helpful if you plan to use phrases you learn to speak to people every day (you probably don’t want to tell your friend the equivalent of “lego this piece of cake” Start with more modern stories and work your way up to stories with more complex language.

  Of course, the easiest way to start learning with an audiobook is to simply turn it on and listen. but having a plan and some resources will help you stay on track.

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  make it work for you:

  • focus on the story. Don’t worry about looking up every word. instead, look up a few key words and then listen again to see how much more you can understand. it can be overwhelming if you try to look up every word you don’t know.
  • learn like a child. Children’s stories are the foundation of language and reading development. children often take phrases from books and try them out in new settings. this is exactly what you should do.
  • emulate the narrator, but not too much. Children’s book narrators are fantastic storytellers. emulating the narrator is great practice, but remember you don’t want to sound like you’re talking to kids every time you speak!

  advanced level: novels and non-fiction for youth and adults

  When you’ve mastered children’s audiobooks, it’s time to start listening to novels and non-fiction.

  Think a bit about what you plan to listen to. It will probably be much longer than a children’s book, so it’s important to select something that catches their attention.

  Here are some things to consider:

  • choose a book that native speakers are reading. Find bestseller lists in your target language and ask native speakers what they like to read. a book that native speakers have appreciated is more likely to be interesting and will offer more opportunities for discussion with native speakers than a little-known book.
  • Consider starting with a book you’ve read in your native language. You’ll already be familiar with the characters and plot, so you can more easily follow along without looking at so many words. If you have read a translated book that was originally written in your target language, this is an ideal book to start with. reading the book in the language in which it was written will give you a new and more complete perspective on the story.
  • Take a look at young adult novels. young adult novels often appeal to the masses and are written in “plainer” language than adult novels. these can be fun to read and a little less daunting than starting out with an adult audiobook.
  • Avoid the classics, at least for a while. Classics are enduring stories and have great cultural value, but they can be difficult to understand, even for native speakers. Unless you know that a certain classic novel is written in language that is easy to understand, it is best to start with books written in more colloquial language. once you get familiar with the audiobook format, you can start trying to listen to classics.

  after you’ve selected the audiobook you’re going to “read”, it’s time to get started!

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  make it work for you:

  • Get a hard copy in your native language, if possible. While you shouldn’t rely on the book in your native language, having one to refer to can help you feel confident that you’re following the story correctly and getting all the nuanced information. just remember not to try to translate word for word or even sentence for sentence because the exact wording may be different.
  • go ahead! Listening repeatedly improves your comprehension and helps you memorize new words, but a whole book is too long for you to spend too much time on one section. While you may be able to listen to a children’s book over and over again, an adult book is much more about flow and general understanding than the details of a single section.
  • Focus on the big picture. Your goal should be to understand the story and learn a few new words in the process, not look up every word you hear. You will hear some of the same words repeated over and over and begin to get a sense of what these words mean and how they are used in different contexts. recognize that it’s okay to “get the gist” without understanding all the nuances.

  Audiobooks, whether language courses, children’s books or adult books, are a great way to learn and practice your language skills. they are fun, inspiring and can fill a gap in your language learning routine.

  As you begin to listen and become more comfortable with the best foreign language audiobooks, consider trying the increasingly difficult ones. you may be surprised at your level of understanding and learn a lot in the process.

  It’s time to level up!

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