Language Learning Through Passive Listening

[@sunnybotumanchi]

Well , Repetition is the key. Just passive listening wont help and we sometimes even listen to audio while doing dishes or walking and realize our thoughts wander and miss the train of thought or sometimes fall asleep during transport listening to a podcast. Listening what you enjoy really helps . I learned a lot of Japanese watching Anime and before my first Japanese class i probably knew lot of vocabulary and Grammar just by watching Anime. Repeatedly watching and imitation dialogues helped in Accent improvement and vocabulary . Listening to 20 times is an amazing feat and looks like yours is more active listening in this case.

[@fi3m]

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on passive listening. Using materials you enjoy is definitely a good strategy!

[@JonathanOlelo]

Learning a language through passive listening is great for developing passive skills = better understanding of the language. But without active practice, it's impossible to develop active skills (speaking, writing). The most preferred way to improve speaking skills is by speaking with native speakers. If you can't do that, you can speak to yourself, read books aloud, and even talk to Siri/Google Assistant in your target language. The bottom line is that you can't expect to be able to speak without practicing speaking, it's like learning to drive by only reading about it.

[@fi3m]

Thanks for sharing! You're right. Speaking practice is necessary to gain a speaking skill!

[@funnnnnnnn3442]

oh my god her eyes, so bright and beautiful. they're hypnotizing

[@andymounthood]

When I do repetitive listening, I spread it over weeks rather than all in a row. Otherwise, my brain is guaranteed to rebel and stop listening and tune it out (not so different from when I'm having a conversation with a person who won't stop talking). So, for me, it's more active than passive. When I do passive listening, it's generally things like KZbin videos and radio that I don't expect to understand anyway. Just doing a lot of passive, non-repetitive listening from before I even start learning the language helps me to get a feel for how it sounds (which is sometimes enough for me to fall in love with it!) and to start getting a little bit used to hearing it spoken at native speed.

[@fi3m]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I know Shannon, our Challenge coach, does the "get a feel for it" stage as well and it works really well for her.

[@CBBMachineGun1988]

I've been curious about the Do's and Don'ts of passive listening. For example, you said that you listen to your target language while doing the dishes, brushing your teeth, folding laundry, etc. What about other activities like reading a book or magazine in English while having the radio, TV, or a podcast playing in my target language? Some other activities in question are activities that also engage your brain like word puzzles, number puzzles, coloring, drawing, painting, etc., while having your target language playing in the background. What is your take on activities that are ok to do while passively listening to a language, and what activities should be avoided or not recommended while passively listening to a language?

[@fan1008]

You don't translate any words? How does passive listenting help if you don't know the meaning of the words?

[@s4b3lz]

Old comment, but I would assume you could learn new words by looking up the meaning of more frequent words. For example, if I kept hearing a word many times but I still can't guess what the meaning to the word can be, then that's probably an appropriate time to look up the word.