Take a book you’ve read before, whether it’s Harry Potter, the Da Vinci Code, or a self-help book you’ve really enjoyed. Instead of trying to listen to brand new content, the best way to get into reading in a foreign language is by reading stuff you have already read in your native language. It’s a frustrating linguistic Twilight-zone that can be hard to escape. You know, when you’ve outgrown the simple audio scenarios that come with most language learning methods, but you still aren’t quite fluent enough to be able to read an entire book. When you are learning a foreign language, you often hit that awkward stage where you kind of know the language, but not really. Daily routineīuilding on the previous point, the most important thing about language learning is that you are consistent, and because you can listen to audiobooks while partaking in other activities, it’s very easy to make it a part of your daily routine. He ended up buying an audio course for German, and instead of just listening to music on his way to work he was able to actually use that otherwise wasted time, and through this small adjustment to his daily routine, he ended up actually achieving his goal. That’s 1.5 hours a day, 7.5 hours a week, 30 hours a month and 360 hours a year you spend doing practically nothing.
In his case, it took him 45 minutes to get to work. It might not seem like much, but using those moments to listen to something in your target language might actually be the thing that ultimately makes you fluent.Īs Stephen mentions in his TED talk – think about all the time you spend commuting to work. This can be a good or a bad thing, but overall I find myself getting less distracted because the narrator simply carries on with the story, and I find myself catching up to the story in a more natural way without getting frustrated all the time. However, an audiobook just runs whether you want it or not. I rarely have the patience to sit down with a book and read something, and things get even harder when I don’t actually recognize all the words and have to put down my book to translate things.
These are the perfect moments to start listening to an audiobook to pick up a new language. Whether you are cleaning the house, commuting to work or brushing your teeth, your day has tons of tiny moments where your brain isn’t doing anything but your body is.
However, there is always time for an audiobook. With everything else that’s going on in your life, it can sometimes be hard to keep up your language learning. Sitting down to read a book in a language you don’t quite understand yet can be challenging and difficult to do on a consistent basis. But I’d argue audiobooks might actually be more beneficial.
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