See our complete collection of foreign language lesson podcasts.
Here is a quick “lifehack” for you. You can now learn foreign languages and stay current on politics all at once. How so? By taking advantage of a smart podcast concept being used by French and German broadcasters. Radio France Internationale (RFI) issues a daily podcast called Le Journal en français facile (iTunes - feed - web site), which delivers the nightly international news in slow and easy-to-understand French. Along the same lines, the German media company Deutsche Welle (which puts out many great language and music podcasts) also has its own nightly news program — Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten (iTunes - feed - web site). It’s essentially the same concept: informative news presented in very simple German, and, in this case, it’s spoken very slowly.
Now, what’s very nice about these programs is that they also provide a written transcript of the spoken word. So you can read along as you listen and make sure that you’re really comprehending. (See transcripts in French and German). Even cooler, with the German version, if you have a video iPod, you can read the transcript on your little portable screen. (See directions).
Finally, check out this offbeat suggestion sent our way by a reader: Nuntii Latini (mp3 - web site) is “a weekly review of world news in Classical Latin, the only international broadcast of its kind in the world, produced by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.”
Related Resource: See our article called “Coffee Break Spanish & The Threat to Traditional Media”
Here’s another one for you: “Nuntii Latini - News in Latin - is a weekly review of world news in Classical Latin, the only international broadcast of its kind in the world, produced by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.”
http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/
Also as podcast:
http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/audi/
Very nice
Great idea!
It’s not the news, but if you’re looking to start your kids young with English or Japanese, try http://www.kodomoeikaiwa.podomatic.com.
Swedish Radio does one as well: http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/p4/klartext/index.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID=493
and they have lots of other podcasts: http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/sidor/index.asp?ProgramID=2332
Anyone have recommendations for Italian?
I would LOVE something like this in Chinese! Anyone know of a source?
I would also appreciate some links for Chinese. Especially slow-speaking ones
Just as an fyi, for those looking for podcasts in Chines, Italian, or whatever, you should see the complete podcast collection.
http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/10/itunes_learn_fo.html
Any suggestions for Norwegian would be welcome
You can also slow down the playback rate of mp3s in Windows Media Player to hear
the words more clearly.
@DH C,
Norwegian podcasts at: http://www.nrk.no/podkast/
Norwegian videopodcasts at: http://www.tvnorge.no/
Also, iTunes->iTunes Music Store->(scroll to bottom)->My Store: Norway
Then you will see more Norwegian podcasts in the “Top Podcasts” section
or the Top 100 section.
Språkteigen is a good one.
More Norwegian videopodcasts at: http://ipublish.no
Thank you for the suggestions, Chris. NRK is great resource for Norwegian shows anyway, most of their content can be streamed for free
It’s a shame that many of those others seem to rely on iTunes instead of open, standards-based technology (I don’t use proprietary software). Perhaps they will switch to a free solution one day, though.
One big American Idol audition
Suddenly I have an image of the blogosphere as a giant American Idol audition to which we tune in regularly to see some ridiculous, some middling and some excellent performances and watch the more popular performers rise to the top and become professio…
One big American Idol audition
Suddenly I have an image of the blogosphere as a giant American Idol audition to which we tune in regularly to see some ridiculous, some middling and some excellent performances and watch the more popular performers rise to the top and become professio…
各国のことばを学ぶためのポッドキャスト一覧”Lifehack for Learning Foreign Languages”
Open Culture: Lifehack for Learning Fore…
In terms of Chinese podcasts — I’d highly recommend http://chinesepod.com . It’s really excellent. I live in Shanghai and attended a few Mandarin training schools. I’ve gone through the BLCU MP3s and even the Pimsleur stuff. I still think Chinesepod has the best audio content out there.
I’d also recommend checking out language exchange sites like http://italki.com . With all the free VoIP tools these days, you have the option of improving your language skills by actually talking with someone from that country. If you can’t travel to the country itself, it’s probably the easiest way to get time speaking the language.
Hope that helps.
Anyone know of an equivalent slow news podcast in Spanish?
Not spanish, but portuguese, you definitely have one:
http://www.learn-portuguese-now.com
Well it’s not politics, its just basic sentences, but come in a very consumable way
Great suggestions here for language learners. I’ve been really interested in innovative ways to learn languages including using DVDs with subtitles, online role-playing games, etc. I’ve been compiling things I find related to these ideas and other resources on our blog @ eduFire which we just launched.
http://blog.edufire.com
[...] Here is a quick “lifehack” for you. You can now learn foreign languages and stay current on politics all at once. How so? By taking advantage of a smart podcast concept being used by French and German broadcasters. Read more… [...]
[...] is. Even before that my wife and I desired to learn a second language…I have tried out a few online sites and podcasts but I am actually anxious to try out the Rosetta Stone software. The main [...]
at this site, you can find professional Chinese teacher, and free podcast Chinese lesson !
http://www.echineselearning.com
I did find another one, apart from the ones in the comments: http://www.studentteacherexchange.com/ which is completely free and uses chat/video/voice and whiteboards as well. They are new but my guess is they will be booming soon since they charge nothing.
I want to practice my oral English,I hope I can make some foreign friends
great to read that post.Here is a quick “lifehack” for you. You can now learn foreign languages and stay current on politics all at once.Now, what’s very nice about these programs is that they also provide a written transcript of the spoken word. So you can read along as you listen and make sure that you’re really comprehending.