Listening to Audiobooks

[phills]

On 10/3/2022 at 5:25 PM, realmayo said:

Let's not forget that audiobooks are an extremely unnatural type of language exposure - humans can normally see who is speaking to them!! In my experience attention will wander far less if I can see the speaker.

 

I actually think audio books are quite natural form of language exposure, at least if you're listening to children books or mass-market fiction rather than high-brow literature. 

 

Children love to listening to bed time stories, and having gone through the adult equivalent, I think that's a big part of their language acquisition process.  It's not just for learning about human behavior or narratives -- I think it's for learning language!  That's why kids don't mind repeats (just like I mind repeat audio in Chinese much less than repeat audio in English).

 

Also, going to lectures, listening to radio or instructions broadcast over the loudspeaker, and even eaves-dropping are all very natural and common parts of everyday life.  It's a common way for how information is acquired.

 

I never quite appreciated the ability to eaves-drop as I now do ?

[Guest realmayo]

On 10/15/2022 at 9:35 AM, phills said:

I actually think audio books are quite natural form of language exposure, at least if you're listening to children books or mass-market fiction

Listening to stories is extremely natural, I agree, but it's not normal for humans to do so without being able to see the speaker. As well as being not normal, it's also a bit more difficult, is all I was really suggesting.

[phills]

I recently discovered the 一口气看完 video format, which you can find on youtube & bilibili. 

 

They talk pretty fast on it, and I don't think I was good enough to understand it before.  But now I can understand it (even without subtitles and casually, not spending much energy). 

 

With streaming TV, there's a bunch of media that I don't have enough time to watch, and now I can catch up on it in 30 minutes to an hour.  E.g. Ring of Power, which I just caught up with. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMj4QRRTWrU

 

I don't know what gets popular enough to be recapped in Chinese but I'm going to google around and see what else I can find. 

[Jan Finster]

On 10/20/2022 at 2:24 PM, phills said:

I can understand it (even without subtitles and casually, not spending much energy). 

That is pretty impressive. 

[malazann]

I have heard of audio dramas before but never listened to one. But I just started listening to my first one and it is fantastic!

I download the 猫耳FM app on google play store and my first audio drama is called 《社交温度》， and finally i have found engaging content that is at a level where I can enjoy it without too much effort (didn't need to pause or replay anything). A

why are audio dramas kind of a perfect bridge to audiobooks?

•  There is a LOT less descriptive language and its basically all dialogue (inner dialogue, diary writing, conversations etc) which significantly lowers the amount of vocab you need to know
• The app shows the dialogue on screen! 
• The extra information in the sound design of the show (car engine, texting sounds, easily noticable audio in voice messages/ irl convos/) + voice acting makes it so engaging!
• this will probably help with your TV show viewing as well, very similar format and you can't use subtitles as a crutch
• and of course the audiodrama probably has a text/novel version online so you can add that in somehow if needed

[phills]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:58 AM, Jan Finster said:

On 10/20/2022 at 8:24 PM, phills said:

I can understand it (even without subtitles and casually, not spending much energy). 

That is pretty impressive. 

 

Thanks!  I improved a lot even in the last month, ever since I started being able to "eavesdrop" / "overhear" things.  That's when listening started to feel casual rather than work.

 

I think eavesdropping/overhearing is a big part of language acquisition.  Kids love to eavesdrop and I used to think that was just kids learning how to be nosy.  But maybe it's also partly for language learning.  Understanding things you just over-hear must be a big part of language immersion.

 

When I get in trouble listening now, I pretend to eavesdrop on myself, and I sometimes find my audio feels clearer and comprehension sharper all of a sudden.  Maybe just a psychological effect? ?