Learning to Understand Spoken Foreign Language Online

Okey doke. So you have been working for awhile at learning a foreign language online. You have built up a hearty vocabulary and have a basic understanding of grammar. Now what? Eventually you will run out of new vocabulary to be learned in the programs (although I have been using the programs for three years and have not yet hit the limit). You may find, as I do that you are pretty good at reading and translating in the foreign language but as soon as a fluent speaker begins to talk to you….your eyes cross and you are lost.

In my past two posts, Learning a Language Online and Advanced Online Learning of a Foreign Language, I helped you get started on learning a language online. Now to practice listening and comprehending native speakers!

I use two programs to build my comprehension of spoken foreign language, News in Slow Italian (since I am learning Italian. It is available in other languages.) and Netflix (yep, Netflix).

News in Slow Italian

News in Slow Italian is as described, a weekly news broadcast in Italian. You can adjust the speed of the spoken language and the complexity of the language can be adjusted a bit. The text is also available in written form so you can follow along if you , like me, are better at reading than listening.

I use the News in Slow Italian app on my Ipad. It is easy to access the Free portions of the weekly news broadcast. Only portions of the broadcast are free, but it is plenty for me to practice.

The online program also has lessons in grammar and other bells and whistles that I have not used. I am accessing it primarily to practice listening comprehension.

FREE for basic; Subscription for the Full Program

Netflix

I use Netflix frequently for entertainment in general, but now I use it for a bit each day to watch an Italian Language movie, tv show or documentary. Just do a search for Italian Language. The program, of course, is spoken in Italian but you can also set the captions to be in Italian. This helps me learn new vocabulary by pausing the program and looking up a new word on Google Translate (more later on that). I pick up new vocabulary, the caution being that you can pick up some pretty inappropriate vocabulary in many of the movies and tv shows. I can swear in Italian now and insult you with the best of them!

It is a very entertaining way to practice. I can watch for a few minutes and pick up where I left off at another time.

SUBSCRIPTION

GOOGLE TRANSLATE

I keep a tab open on my computer and Ipad all the time for Google Translate. the feature can be used to look up an unknown word when I am practicing comprehension. I also find myself using it in the middle of the night a lot. My brain seems to practice Italian at night, so I find myself waking up trying to remember a vocabulary word that my brain needs to complete a sentence it is composing. Or the old brain will practice naming everything it can think of in a category and it makes me look up an unknown vocabulary word (last night it was the word for dresser in the furniture category…)

You can also reverse it and type in the Italian word and get the English translation when you are watching a show in Italian. Handy.

FREE

So…

So, that is the way I have taught myself Italian by accessing online resources. I am just entering what I would consider an Intermediate level and have a long way to go to attain fluency, I have enjoyed the process and plan on continuing the efforts. 

Do you have any resources you use in learning a foreign language? I would love to hear from you about your ideas!