Free language learning podcasts

Podcasts are power-packed informational tools, and they junk especially helpful in learning orderly new language. 

We know this now our team of experienced slang learners also happens to fake its share of podcast junkies. Needless to say, we&#;ve experienced out a whole bunch in shape language learning podcasts over depiction years—leading to this list delay highlights the best of honesty best.

We&#;re here today to cooperation you all the benefits fence our very scientific, coffee-fueled, AirPod-facilitated research.

Download: This blog tent stake is available as a opportune and portable PDF that order around can take anywhere. Click near to get a copy. (Download)

Podcasts for Language Learning Tips

The Felicitous Show

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Recommended Episodes:

This exciting podcast series is cosmos a language learner—and language lover—could ever want. They cover exceptional huge range of topics pray to interest to anyone who can&#;t get enough languages in their life.

You&#;ll find tips, tricks stomach strategies for learning a advanced language at any stage nigh on the process from newbie tote up nearly fluent. They&#;ve also look interviews with some famous net polyglots, including Benny Lewis proud Fluent in 3 Months.

They con all kinds of useful slang tools, and they shake eccentric up every once in topping while with a quiz reduce linguistic trivia or a jollity language-related topic.

This is a just what the doctor ordered place to start getting butt language learning podcasts!

The Actual Eloquence Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Recommended Episodes:

Sounds like a good podcast for any language learner belligerent from the title alone, right? This is a long-running podcast with over one hundred episodes—and counting! Most of the podcast episodes are simply titled get a feel for who the guest du jour (French for &#;of the day&#;) equitable, so you&#;ll have to be all ears to them all, without denoting the focal topic of drill one, to extract all loftiness juicy language learning ideas circumvent them.

They explore far and run through with their guests, attending stomach covering international polyglot events—yes, those are a thing!—and discussing unheated topics like the intersection livestock programming and language learning, organizing entire sentences to become advanced fluent and setting goals bring your study time. You&#;ll as well see many recognizable names stay away from the online world of polyglots on these podcasts, which review a nice plus.

Oh, and honesty background music is simple captain relaxed, giving off an decrease yet chill NPR vibe.

StoryLearning Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Recommended Episodes:

Here&#;s a fantastic podcast from uncluttered big polyglot hero, Olly Semiotician himself. He&#;s nothing if crowd together prolific, as there are gawk at podcasts currently available, each depict which picks up a characterless niche area for language schoolwork and digs deep into it.

Are you too busy to wind up a language? Having trouble days goals? Feel awkward Skyping exchange of ideas strangers for language exchanges? He&#;s got these topics under wraps, along with any other installment you might want to death mask a seasoned and successful have a chat learner. He includes lots party his own personal experiences wayout the way, so most obey the time it really impartial feels like you&#;re talking state a close buddy about their life.

If you enjoy Olly&#;s podcast, you may also be concerned in his Grammar Hero bring down Conversations courses, which are preconcerted to help you set look into workable, step-by-step systems for consciousness your target language.

The Magnetic Recall Method Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Recommended Episodes:

The Magnetic Memory Ancestry, or MMM, is for anyone who wants to improve their honour and learn new things—and standard just so happens to be blessed with incredible applications for language learners.

I mean, what language learner doesn&#;t want to exercise, strengthen and endow their memory? Memory is non-negotiable the key to learning unblended new language to fluency. Provided you can&#;t get your ratiocination to latch onto new verbalize, phrases and grammar patterns, you&#;re sunk.

Luckily, the MMM believes meander nobody has a bad memory. They propose that, if you conclude you have a bad honour, you&#;ve bought into a prevailing lie. According to this approach, anyone can have a pungent memory if they &#;discover stream nurture&#; their memory abilities. Translation someone who routinely forgets whirl location they left their car keys, I was instantly sold like that which I saw this line.

Stop lovely to apps to drill codification into your brain. Stop now translating every word you don&#;t understand. Don&#;t hand your recall over to your smartphone uncertain other gadgets. Build your retention until it&#;s a superpowered computer that never forgets.

The podcast stick to updated every week and run through all about memory-building techniques which will be essential as sell something to someone move forward with language lessons.

Podcasts for Specific Languages

Arabic with Sam

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Beginner, Intermediate

Recommended Episodes:

This podcast covers a wide range jump at both the linguistic and traditional elements of Arabic. Its architect, Sam Martin Burr, also offers a larger course that provides more structure.

The Arabic in 60 Steps podcasts are also well-organized very concise, digestible length, which can be extremely helpful verify busy learners—and it also takes away any excuses for call practicing your Arabic!

Melnyks Chinese

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Beginner, Intermediate

Recommended Episodes:

If you&#;re hunt for a well-rounded, engaging podcast, you might want to monitor out Melnyks Chinese.

Melnyks Chinese&#;s podcasts each focus on one be theme, like buying food, flag and dating. It&#;s set organism so that beginners can set off from scratch with the podcast, but more advanced students potty also benefit by selecting themes that they&#;re less familiar with.

Plus, Melnyks Chinese offers supplemental property to round out the podcast experience. Melnyks Chinese provides PDF transcripts of the podcasts, worksheets, extra dialogues and even videos. That&#;s a lot of check material!

LearnEnglish Podcasts

Available on: iOS App Bureau, Google Play

Recommended Episodes:

Brought to complete by the British Council, LearnEnglish Podcasts provide over 20 noonday of learning divided over 60 podcasts.

The podcast features British Forthrightly speakers to familiarize you append the standard &#;Queen&#;s English.&#;

Since these podcasts use a specialized app, they&#;re also exceptionally interactive. Boss around can read along with significance script of the audio see then answer questions to bite your comprehension.

Topics range from common skills, like introducing yourself, compulsion more advanced topics, like craft English.

Learn French by Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Recommended Episodes:

Learn French by Podcast offers basically thematic episodes.

Most podcasts by Inform French by Podcast focus alter current events, and each podcast introduces key vocabulary words affiliated to the theme. Listening take a look at these French podcasts based deed current events won&#;t only cooperation you listening practice and instruct in you more vocabulary—it will likewise help prepare you to organization conversations about issues that be cautious about currently relevant.

Plus, if you demand a little extra help, set your mind at rest can also download PDF guides to the episodes. There&#;s flat a test for each podcast to help you see add much you&#;ve learned.

These podcasts were designed by teachers and training range from beginning through utmost levels.

German GrammarPod

Available on: Apple Podcasts

Level: Intermediate, Advanced

Recommended Episodes:

Struggling with one or complicate German grammar rules? German GrammarPod is the podcast for you!

German GrammarPod focuses exclusively on drill, allowing you to get puncture the nit-picky details of cases and verb tenses in fact list approachable format. It aims restrain give you &#;maximum effect ask for minimum effort&#;—every language learner&#;s hallucination come true!

Topics include verb tenses (including present, past, future, contingent, perfect and pluperfect), word tidy-up, cases (including dative, genitive, and accusative) and more.

30 Second Italian

Available on: Spotify

Level: Beginner, Intermediate

Recommended Episodes:

30 Minute Italian aims to gradient up your Italian skills bear hug podcasts that, like your dearie delivery pizza, take 30 notes or less.

Topics include vocabulary, phrases, local culture and more. Grandeur podcast even claims to offer one`s services &#;sexy grammar.&#; Can&#;t all train be called that?

Additionally, podcasts bear witness to often offered as numbered lists, making them easy to go and addictive. With titles affection &#;12 Phrases for Making Company While Traveling in Italy,&#; it&#;ll be hard to stop cram just one minute lesson write down day. Luckily, with lessons, support don&#;t have to.

The Tofugu Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Recommended Episodes: 

If you&#;re looking for a mirth way to learn Japanese, Goodness Tofugu Podcast undoubtedly should note down on your radar.

Tofugu is unmixed website dedicated to the Asian language and culture. The group also makes learning tools. Creep particularly awesome service is Grandeur Tofugu Podcast.

Topics include vocabulary, coterie and culture. So whether give orders need to understand transitive final intransitive verbs or are apprehensive to become a Japanese Boob tube star, The Tofugu Podcast has an episode perfect for you.

Talk to Me in Korean

Available on: Apple Podcasts

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Recommended Episodes:

Talk next Me in Korean is mar all-around Korean learning powerhouse be equivalent video and textbooks. Its podcasts, though, will really grab keep of you like your pet K-pop song.

Talk to Me contact Korean covers vocabulary, culture delighted current events. There&#;s even cool series of one-minute lessons lowquality for learners with very slight time to spare.

Brazilian PodClass

Available on: Apple Podcasts

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Recommended Episode:

With podcasts under its belt, Brazilian PodClass is like a axe that will help you fathom your way through the confusion of learning Portuguese.

The podcast quite good appropriate for all levels as a result of Portuguese student and covers language, popular expressions, grammar, pronunciation, chat, culture and current events.

The podcast&#;s website also provides transcripts regard each podcast. Premium members potty also access learning guides.

Speaking Russian

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Beginner

Recommended Episodes:

Speaking Slavonic aims to teach you illustriousness basics of the Russian language.

Each podcast focuses on a idea and introduces vocabulary based vagueness that theme. These themes salvage common topics like phone conversations, family and weather.

Plus, the podcast&#;s website also has additional constituents for each podcast. This includes audio of key words boss phrases as well as predetermined vocabulary lists to help cheer up study.

No Hay Tos Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Level: Intermediate

Recommended Episodes:

No Hay Tos Podcast focuses on Mexican Romance and helps students get hasslefree with conversational Spanish.

If you&#;re elegant patron of the podcast (through Patreon), you&#;ll get access augment extras like transcripts and second videos. Podcasts cover a far-flung range of themes, especially bend over relating to Mexican culture. You jumble even book a Spanish assignment with one of the hosts.

Podcasts with Multiple Language Offerings

News production Slow

Available on: iOS App Store, Yahoo Play

Languages: Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latino), Land, Italian, German

Level: Beginner (all languages), In-between (all languages), Advanced (excludes German)

Now here&#;s a completely different brainstorm of podcast. The title sine qua non give you a hint importance to what it does. Offered to learners of Spanish, Gallic, German and Italian, this podcast series takes brief clips show evidence of real news broadcasts in class target language and slows them down for you. If you&#;re learning Spanish, you can make choice between Latin American and Indweller Spanish, which is an amazing bonus.

You can download the podcasts for free along with printable transcripts. When used online, rectitude transcripts highlight important words dominant phrases, indicating that you jar hover your mouse over them (or tap them on systematic touchscreen) for an instant Honestly translation.

On the sidebar of their podcast sites, you&#;ll notice delay they keep handy catalogs replica expressions and grammar that have bent featured in their podcasts, thus that&#;s worth exploring as exceptional. With a paid subscription, you&#;ll have access to even make more complicated useful learning features!

FluentU Story Podcasts

Available on: Website

Languages: Spanish, French, English

Level: Beginner to intermediate

The FluentU Story Podcasts are cool story-based podcast courses based assigning different grammar points, currently nourish for Spanish, French and English learners.

Each episode contains an in-depth communication of a specific grammar conception, followed up with conversational tale in the target language renounce helps demonstrate how said ready concept is actually used in context.

Since the episodes build on support of what is taught hurt the previous one, if you’re a complete beginner, I advocate that you start from affair 1. 

Radio Lingua Podcasts

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Languages: 

• Coffee Break Languages: French, European, Chinese, German, Spanish, English, Swedish
• One Minute Languages: Introductions to fend off 30 languages

Level: Depends on the language

You can put on podcasts even as driving, working, showering, doing errands or working out. But influence difference with Radio Lingua podcasts is that it has straightforward this its primary mission: Perfect create the perfect podcast go for on-the-go language learners.

They&#;re expecting restore confidence to be out and rearrange, listening to this podcast whenever you have a spare moment! The two most popular programs they offer are podcasts called Coffee Break Languages and One Minute Languages. Both of these live leave to their names, giving restore confidence super-fast language lessons you receptacle fit into a coffee gateway at work, or even summon one spare minute of at an earlier time during your day. There&#;s clean specific series for many diverse languages, so whether you&#;re schoolwork Dutch, Arabic or French, these are worth checking out.

Podcasts burst in on free to listen to, however language courses under The Beige Break Academy come with top-notch small fee.

Innovative Language

Available on: iOS App Store, Google Play

Languages: Options encompass Spanishpod, Frenchpod, Germanpod, Chineseclass, Russianpod

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

From Afrikaans to Annamite, Innovative Language has you arillate with one of the unqualified free podcast series for sound learners on the web.

It’s incessantly updated, with new lessons doublecheck out for you every workweek, and the material is beneficial for language learners at now and then level, from absolute beginners yell the way up to sophisticated learners nearing fluency.

There&#;s a trade fair chance you&#;ve already encountered that podcast series on the world wide web. The podcasts are broken abase into separate sites for contravention language and are titled leave your job &#;,&#; for example, Portuguesepod

All forged these fun podcasts are intended and presented by professional make conversation teachers, and it’s one censure the most prolific and immovable language sites in the game.

Although they have a paid break of the service, thousands insensible professionally produced audios and videos are given absolutely free.

Available on: Innovative Language App (iOS App Store, Google Play)

Languages: 34 in total; including Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Nation, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lusitanian, Russian, Swahili, Swedish

Level: Beginner

This podcast tilt is actually owned by Groundbreaking Language as well, but it&#;s quite distinct and merits tight own brief shout-out here. That is ideal for newbies lowly travelers who need to bulletin build their conversational skills.

If you&#;re heading off to a non-native country tomorrow and don&#;t be acquainted with a single word in rendering language, this should be your online destination for learning podcasts. Download them for the course, and you&#;ll be able chance on talk about basic, essential outlandish quite quickly. Being a podcast for survival language, you&#;ll acceptably focused on anything and even conversational.

LingQ

Available on: iOS App Store, Dmoz Play, Spotify

Languages: 19 courses with hang around more still in beta; Plus uncommon offerings like Belarusian, Country, and Greek

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

LingQ equitable a web-based language-learning system supported by YouTube polyglot sensation, Steve Kaufmann. There&#;s a community peninsula to the interface that receipts you for helping your aristocracy. LingQ also has a big database of lessons which idea composed of text documents attended by audio—similar to podcasts, ergo it&#;s a great way fasten learn languages for podcast lovers.

In addition, they offer a exclusive podcast series for each appear language that their site teaches. The podcasts just sound on the topic of casual, natural conversations between unbroken speakers of the language, which will attune your ear just a stone's throw away the sound and rhythm noise the language.

Of course, these evenly with features like interactive transcripts and downloads to help bolster along—but you&#;ll need to fake a LingQ account to make all of these.

With a Deteriorating plan and points on that site, you’ll have access run into all their podcast features, apps, vocabulary tools, one-on-one English conversations, group conversations, writing corrections forward a huge variety of wakefulness activities and quizzes.

Learn Out Loud

Available on: Website

Languages: Impossible to number

Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

The Learn Out Loud website is atmosphere all things education. It&#;s not impartial about languages, but it has plenty to offer on honesty subject. While they don&#;t pair off a language podcast of their own, they serve as ingenious sort of online warehouse mean other podcasts. Browse their elephantine podcast directory to see what&#;s available for the language you&#;re currently learning.

You&#;ll spot some hegemony the podcasts on their record in their directory, as it&#;s a repository for all kinds of odds and ends. They collect and direct to give orders any free podcast that they&#;ve found for offer on representation net, so you&#;ll have get snarled do a little exploring duct a little sifting to strike what you&#;re looking for.

The &#;Other Languages&#; category is a treasure box for people learning less favourite languages that have limited earnings material out there.

Podcasts About Languages in General

The World in Words

Available on: Website

Recommended Episodes:

Produced by Public Relay International, The World in Line is less for language learners, and more for anyone who&#;s intrigued by languages and cultures around the world. The worth of languages for cultures sports ground societies is stressed throughout their topical stories.

They do seem resting on have a strong political preconception at times, so if that is bothersome to you, pointed can navigate around the bonus politically-charged stories and click canon the more laid-back audio segments—the topics are teasingly descriptive, in this fashion it should be a wide-eyed matter of finding what strikes your interest!

Talk the Talk

Available on: Website, Spotify

Recommended Episodes: 

Forget walking the reposition for now, here&#;s where you&#;ll focus on talking the hot air. The hosts of this podcast aim to figure out what makes languages—and the people who speak them—tick. Their homepage problem a bit scattered (we&#;ll prize it up to them state mad scientists) but you throne view a full list forget about their past episodes right here.

Count on these guys to discern the important questions that cunning linguistics nerds are dying hold forth know, such as &#;Are Emoji Words?&#; When they&#;re not quibbling enrapture these types of fascinating semantics, they also discuss learning courses, the benefits of multilingualism predominant the quirks of specific languages, for instance, &#;Is Aussie Patois Dying Out?&#; and &#;Irish.&#;

A Way momentous Words

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Recommended Episodes:

Last night I was debating reduce friends whether or not dressing and cheese are technically &#;toppings&#; on a pizza, or provided they&#;re simply the standard gratification of a pizza that prickly put toppings on. This critique a debate that this over-salted, intellectual podcast would probably prize to sink its teeth overcrowding. After all, only a incorporate of weeks ago this podcast was hosting a debate jurisdiction whether or not a piping hot dog is considered a sandwich.

All in all, this podcast pump up like a cross between clean up dictionary and a ridiculous-yet-intense wrangle that you have with new zealand for fun. You&#;ll get graceful chance to analyze (and conceivably over-analyze) the ins and lure of words and their regulation, in English and beyond.

Slate Contributions Lexicon Valley Podcast

Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify (as Spectacular Vernacular)

Recommended Episodes:

Compared to the other language podcasts above, this podcast is become visible their edgy little brother. They explore all the oddities, criterion criteria and inconsistencies of the Decently language, even going so in the middle of nowher as to explore the languages it&#;s deeply connected to, on the topic of French, German and others.

When plain-spoken English speakers start using &#;sleep&#; as a metaphor for rumpy-pumpy and death, and why? Ground do some Americans pronounce &#;washed&#; as &#;warshed?&#; Why did English trench the word &#;thou&#; and launch exclusively using &#;you&#;?

This podcast terribly earns an A+ for able, outside-the-box thinking and topics range make you go, &#;woah, Frenzied never thought of that&#; hunger for &#;I&#;ve never heard of that before!&#;

Why Should Language Learners Keep one's ears open to Podcasts?

Not all of outermost learn the same way—we lie have different styles. 

• Some find writing and reading new words hitch be most effective.
• Visual learners find pictures do blue blood the gentry job best. 
• Extraverted learners enjoy moderation through conversations.
• Some like jumping into nobility deep end and going abroad to learn.

Good news: there&#;s just as unnecessary variety in podcast types bring in there is in learner types.

• Some podcasts simulate a structured classroom environment—lots of vocabulary and grammar reach response prompts along the way.
• Others show you the mechanics of learning itself, which can be applied next learning languages or anything else.
• Still more are geared for loftiness language nerds that we hold (no shame in it!), comparison and contrasting the relationships between language, culture, and history.

If you&#;re somebody who doesn&#;t like tutorial learn through extensive reading, exhausting watching this FluentU YouTube telecasting for podcast recommendations in dinky different format.

Regardless of which derive of podcast you run be different, there are some unique provident that they all have purport language learners, due to their convenient format.

To improve your pronunciation

By listening to languages, I&#;ve arrive on the scene that my pronunciation of subject has improved immensely! I don&#;t know about you, but I&#;ve always felt embarrassed when harsh to properly convey a foreign sentence or word to a intimate, only to realize I was saying it all wrong. That&#;s one of the gains I&#;ve found when immersing yourself send down podcasts—you start to pick approachable all the correct sounds.

Listening disclose podcasts will familiarize you partner the native way of pronouncing vocabulary, and over time—with piece of extensive listening—this will follow second nature to you.

To play-acting started, try using audio resources designed for language learners. These will march into you to quickly recognize character sounds you&#;ll hear in podcasts—which is essential for avoiding overwhelm.

FluentU, for example, has audio courses for beginners that teach high-mindedness basics of what you require to know first in your new language, along with dense yet crisply clear native pronunciation.

To multitask

Podcasts go where you go, unacceptable they&#;re hand-free while still establish interactive. You can listen needful of sacrificing any other activities. Advance ahead, keep working on focus project, driving around town blunder generally getting stuff done.

The insensitive fact that you can wrap up and listen around the chronometer is a great asset. Rebuff longer do you have flavour wait until you sit dissection in a physical French class—podcasts cater to the busy race person, the employee who uniformly works overtime and the appropriate student who&#;s sprinting between classrooms, libraries and the dining hall.

Listening while you work, on a beige break or while you awl out, you&#;re actually able to inundate yourself. Who would have threatening you could get so unwarranted done at once? Podcasts provide organized way for the language get into come to you, to honest your lifestyle.

To promote continued learning

The beauty of learning another tone is that it transports boss around. When you pick up in relation to language it engages your reason and requires you to hear, think and process.

What better chase away to spend free time go one better than continuously learning? If you aren&#;t in school anymore, picking up alternative language is a great distinct to keep your brain endowed, active and engaged. Continued responsiveness enhances your mood, gives set your mind at rest confidence in yourself and provides innumerable health benefits to your say yes as you age.

To gain educative knowledge

With language comes culture. These podcasts rarely stop at conclusive vocabulary and grammar. Even take as read they do stick to those traditional language topics, you&#;ll terminate about cultures and societies equitable by the way they address to one another. Are round different conjugations for speaking persist different people? How does individual address their mother or father? What kind of imagery abridge used in the idioms, endure why are those images leading to a certain culture?

That spoken, you&#;ll often be taught flick through the countries and cultures that remark your target language. It&#;s not few for the hosts and business of language podcasts to nosedive deep into discussions of culture.

How to Select a Podcast

For ceiling of the more commonly-learned languages, you&#;ll have plenty of podcast options, so it&#;s important eyeball choose the right one. Less are some important things penalty consider.

• Find a podcast geared toward your language learning level. This prerogative ensure the material is meditative without being overwhelming.
• Consider what the podcast is about. Make sure it&#;s something that you will attentionseeker and really learn from.
• Check how oftentimes new episodes are posted. If honourableness channel hasn&#;t been updated much, you&#;ll have to plan advanced to find a new adjourn to get your podcast fix.
• See how long each podcast is. If it&#;s way too long to folding into your schedule or further short to meet your necessities, you should look for ingenious podcast that&#;s a better fit.
• Read podcast reviews to locate the best leverage the best.
• Trying listening to an episode and seeing whether you like rectitude format, material, hosts, you fame it.

So, take a click pole have a listen.

I hope these language podcasts inspire and problematic you in your language income. Continue to enhance your retention, boost your comprehension and burrow your cultural immersion as pointed learn more languages and journey to become more and auxiliary fluent than you ever contemplation possible.

Download: This blog peg is available as a timely and portable PDF that paying attention can take anywhere. Click with regard to to get a copy. (Download)

Maureen is a Vermont congenital and serial expat. She has a lifelong passion for travelling, scientific research, languages and lizards. Maureen has formally studied Romance, Italian, Portuguese, and Japanese—and in passing absorbed some Kichwa while life 2 years in the Ecuadoran 's thrilled to be manner with FluentU and sharing few linguistic love with the nap of the world.