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Does Listening To Radio Help?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
languagefreak
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Speaks: Russian, English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 1 of 5
15 February 2011 at 7:14am | IP Logged 
I am learning German currently. I put a lot of time into learning new vocab, grammar, etc. Would listening to radio
in German, like Deutsche Welle, be useful? Some people say it is but some say it is not. Certainly it can't hurt, but
can it help?
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ellasevia
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 Message 2 of 5
15 February 2011 at 7:59am | IP Logged 
I don't see any reason not to try it if it doesn't bother or distract you. I regularly listen to Swedish radio while I'm studying Swedish and I find that having the language constantly being spoken in the background really helps me with getting the correct prosody when I myself try to speak or read aloud. I also have found that it helps somewhat with listening comprehension, but veeeeeeery slowly -- I've been using Swedish radio for a long time (for at least a year, on and off), but am only now feeling the benefits in my comprehension.

Edited by ellasevia on 15 February 2011 at 7:59am

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Matty
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 Message 3 of 5
15 February 2011 at 2:49pm | IP Logged 
I think it's helpful. But I think it's especially helpful to listen to the same thing over and over again, until you know and understand it well. That is one good thing about Deutsche Welle - you can download everything that they have on the radio from their website.
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Bao
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 Message 4 of 5
15 February 2011 at 3:36pm | IP Logged 
It depends on the when and the how.
You can listen extensively and intensively. The right content for listening intensively is something that is slightly above your current level - if your listening comprehension is especially bad, something that is at your current level. You can try out the following exercises: Just concentrate a lot, listen for each and every sound, speak along under your breath, speak along loudly, speak along loudly while walking, jot down everything you understand, jot down everything you don't understand and look it up, read a transcript, make your own transcript and have it double-checked. To do this, is is good to have a recording that you can rewind, loop, slow down and speed up.
The right content for extensive listening is - well, it's not the content, it's the form. You should like the way it sounds. The right time for this is while doing anything that doesn't occupy your full concentration and that doesn't primarily use the verbal part of your working memory. While doing chores, getting exercise, things like that. The reason why I say this is that even if you were able to interpret two streams of language at once, you are much more likely to ignore the one that's less important for your current activity. As long as you're listening to something you do not understand at all it doesn't really make a difference, but once you understand fragments and then entire sentences, listening to the language while concentrating on something else is likely to teach you to ignore what you're hearing. I love listening extensively and think it helps me a lot, but I always, always switch to music or turn off the audio altogether when I start to do something else that uses my verbal processing because I can feel how doing otherwise devides my attention and wears me out. There are people who say thay can do that. Nobody stops you from trying it out, and maybe you can make use of the short breathers one usually takes when concentrating on something and not experiencing flow. (I can't.)
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darkwhispersdal
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 Message 5 of 5
20 February 2011 at 9:36pm | IP Logged 
I find it helps me enjoy the language and breaks up the monotony of verb tables and grammar study.


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