Audiodidact: using podcasts for foreign language learning

An everyday system, TM, is a simple, commonsense solution to an everyday problem, grounded by a pun or metaphor. Propose/discuss new systems here.
Post Reply
User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Audiodidact: using podcasts for foreign language learning

Post by reinhard » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:31 pm

A podcast is to radio what a blog is to newspaper. It basically lets anyone set up their own internet radio show, except better, because you can download each episode to your computer or portable mp3 player and listen at your leisure.

iTunes has recently made it very easy to find and subscribe to podcasts. Just click on "podcasts," then "podcast directory," and browse (or search).

Most podcasts, I'm sure, like most blogs, are not especially interesting. But for students of a foreign language, even not especially interesting podcasts can be wonderful tools. They provide the hardest thing to get outside the native country: native speach, as it's actually spoken. That they're stupid at times may even be an advantage: I for one say (or at least hear) plenty of stupid things in English and fluency is being able to say and understand the same stupid things in the target language. Literary language audio or news have long been easy to get (thanks to the various international amazons), they may more stimulating to the mind but not to the ear and tongue. A mix, of course, is best. It's not either or.

The languages I'm learning right now are German and Hebrew (I know, I know, odd combo). Unfortunately there's nothing decent in Hebrew yet (not that my Hebrew is good enough to be able profit from it) but there's some excellent stuff in German. My favorites are 1st Intergalactic Podcast by Ralf and Annik Rubens' Schlaflos in München (ah the didactic power of a sexy female voice...).

Annik's podcast has turned me onto an English language podcast which is interesting even though I already know English (or thought I knew it). It's called the Word Nerds, and it reminds me a little of "Car Talk" (there are two brothers, they are funny) except here the talk is about words.

For those of you who don't remember what the "audiodidact" in the subject of this discussion refers to, look here (toward the bottom, I no longer hate the name).

I think podcasting has enormous "audiodidactic" potential, and not just for learning foreign languages. In fact I think I may start a podcast called audiodidact: a (short) weekly(?) sound recording about using sound recordings to teach yourself stuff. I've been talking to myself into my microcassette recorder for ages now, it shouldn't be that big a transition. We'll see, no promises yet.

User avatar
gratefuldeb67
Posts: 6256
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
Location: Great Neck, NY

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:02 am

Do one now Reinhard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a 15 second take so we can all hear your amazing voice!
Say something stupid so foreign language students can learn stupid stuff..
You don't even have to sound sexy..... LOL....
Anything!!!!!!!!!!

Now!!!

Love,
8) Deb
ps.. Why Hebrew now??? Are you converting and getting Bar Mitzvah'd?? :wink:

redwinger
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:30 pm

Post by redwinger » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:32 am

thanks for the link to word nerds. There's also one called "a way with words" which is similar to what you described. They are really cool podcasts!

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:09 pm

Glad you like them! I'm way behind and probably never going to get caught up, but that's just because there are too many great things to listen to...

I don't think I'm every going to find the time to get together a podcast myself, but I am going to put up an audiodidact everyday system page desribing a bunch of audio-autodidactic techniques I've been using for the last few years.

Reinhard

afeman
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:32 am

furrin podcasts

Post by afeman » Wed May 14, 2008 1:37 pm

Reinhard,

I just started listening to SiM and will probably make it a regular thing, to get me off the NPR treadmill.

My question to you: how did you find these German podcasts? I'd like to find something in Czech, and googling has provided pretty random results. Do you know of a guide or something?

Some of the national broadcasting organizations have regular podcasts, esp. now that they don't bother with reaching N. America with shortwave. Deutsche Welle comes to mind, and RFI has news broadcasts in simplified French (well, that's what they're claiming!) under their "learn French" section.

User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

Post by reinhard » Wed May 14, 2008 2:36 pm

SIM was mostly luck. I honestly can't remember what I did, though I think it involved searching the itunes podcast directory. The podcast world was much smaller back then (I found SIM just a couple months after it started). I think there was a directory in itunes that just listed all German language podcasts, that no longer seems to exist (it would be too large).

podster.de might be a good place to start now.

Annik also has a list of her personal recommendations here:

http://www.podsitter.com/wordpress/anniks-hoertipps/

Deutsche Welle does a ton of podcasts (easy to find in itunes or http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,9541,00.html)

If you're interested in French, this is a great site:

http://www.learnfrenchinboston.com/

There is a ton of great free audio. Camille has a great voice and a fantastic sense of what's appropriate for different levels of French learners.

Can't help you with the Czech, though searching itunes for some terms might get you something better than google.

Reinhard

User avatar
fkwan
Posts: 399
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:04 pm
Location: middle of nowhere, Texas

Post by fkwan » Thu May 22, 2008 1:07 am

Ah, Reinhard, bitte, ich möchte ihre Stimme auf Deutsch hören. That's about all I can remember from my year of college German, which I took because I wanted to read Nietzsche and Rilke (strange bedfellows) in the original... :) TV and movies are another good way to learn--at least I can follow along with about 30% of German movies. Sad to say, even though I can read and write and speak survival level Spanish, I can only understand about 3 words of the novelas on Univision. :(

Y'ever want to tutor me in Hebrew, let me know. I can't teach myself languages with non-Roman alphabets or bizarre grammar rules that change with the position in a sentence. I tried Hebrew and Arabic with no luck. I did, however, teach myself the above Spanish and Portuguese on line, plus a little Swedish and the smattering of German, but unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere and will probably never have an opportunity to converse using any of them.

In terms of language learning, my "autodidact" system is pretty good. I get a dictionary and a grammar book and literally start writing stuff down from my head. I keep doing this until I have enough vocabulary and grammar to read, then i keep reading and writing until I can think in the language, and voilà!

f
One must know his limitations. -- John Milius
Beginning weight: 115
Currently: Haven't a clue

Post Reply