How To Learn English With Podcasts

Podcasts are the best thing since sliced bread.

Before learning English I had never heard about podcasts, at that time they weren’t popular in Brazil.

I started listening to podcasts about how to learn English: how to increase vocabulary, how to overcome shyness, how to write in English, and the list goes on and on. After getting sick and tired of this subject, my vocabulary in this field was good, I could understand what speakers were saying. So, I thought to myself it was time to take a step further, thus I looked for other subjects of interest. I came to listen to self-development podcasts about motivation, mindfulness, time management, and so on. Again, when I felt tired of listening to it, and I was able to understand it well, I moved to other types of podcasts, this time was about healthcare (exercises, nutrition, and mind-body self-care) and finances (stock market, saving money, and so on).

So, through my experience, I can say that it has helped me a lot to understand native speakers, not just on podcasts but also in movies and TV series. The compound effects are fantastic.

How to learn English with podcasts?

Training:

Shadowing: it consists of pausing after every speaker’s sentence and repeat after that.
1. Outcomes:
  1. Boosting your pronunciation;
  2. Practicing connected speech, rhythm, and intonation
  3. Training your mouth muscles;
  4. Increasing your confidence in adding words into your active vocabulary;
2. Duration: it depends on how long you can keep a quality focus. In my case, I work better with 7 to 10 minutes (more than that, I lose focus and quality of learning).
Subvocalization: it consists of listening to a podcast and repeating after the speaker mentally. You can practice it during your downtime, driving, doing the chores, and so on. (Read here to get inspired How To Find Time To Learn English Effortlessly).
1. Outcomes:
  1. Changing passive vocabulary into an active vocabulary: you feel more confident in using words when you are speaking,
  2. Sharpen your awareness: as you’re focused on what you’re listening to, you’re likely to notice the usage of action verbs, words, and expressions. I’ll get familiar with them and in which circumstances you must use them.
  3. Recalling words, verbs, and expressions faster. It potentializes your chances to use them in the future, If you are an Anki user (or any other spaced reputation system) you will remember words, verbs, and expressions that you added on the program and vice-versa.
2. Duration: this is tiring work, worthy though. So, don’t push yourself up so hard. I focus for one minute, then I rest, then focus again, and repeat it a couple of times throughout the show.
Following the transcription: it consists of reading and listening at the same time. There are some podcasts that I love with transcription such as The Science of Success, Psychologists Off The Clock, Health Model Show, and Think Fast Talk Smart (For sure, there are many others out there. If you have any recommendations, please give me a word in the comments below 🙂). I learn English with podcasts following the transcription on my computer. I browse a podcast, listen to it on the page, and follow the downloaded transcription. But you can also use your phone, either to listen to a podcast or read the transcription. However, using only a phone might be a long grind, it’s going to be hard to pause and switch screens all the time. There are two free apps you can use to do both, reading and listening on-the-fly RealLife: Speak & Listen to RealLife English and English Podcast & Audio Books Listen by Subtitles
1. Outcomes:
  1. Improving your vocabulary;
  2. Boosting your pronunciation;
  3. Practicing connected speech, rhythm, and intonation
  4. Training of your mouth muscles;
  5. Increasing your confidence in adding words into your active vocabulary;
2. Duration: as you’re listening to, reading, pausing, and repeating, it’s more dynamic than the first case (shadowing), so you can take a bit longer. What works best for me is 20 minutes because I also copy and paste some excerpts to my Anki, for increasing both active and passive vocabulary. (I’ve written some articles on how to learn English with Anki, you can check it out here)

Where to listen to podcasts?

Podcast Addict (for free)
Spotify

What kind of podcasts to listen to?

First, find podcasts about things you like in your native language, things you’re familiar with. For example, if you like football and you’re used to reading, watching or listening to it in your native language, it’s a good starting point to listen to them in English, after a while, you’re going to be familiar with the vocabulary in English too.

If you find it hard to understand it, I recommend you find podcasts with transcripts then you can check the unknown word, learn it, and next time you come across this word it’s no longer a challenge for you.

I’d love to hear from you. Do you believe that podcasts are a way to learn English? Why?

Thank you for reading.

See you on the next radio station. 😃