phills Posted October 15, 2022 at 08:35 AM Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2022 at 08:35 AM 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 ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realmayo Posted October 15, 2022 at 10:14 AM Report Share Posted October 15, 2022 at 10:14 AM 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phills Posted October 20, 2022 at 12:24 PM Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2022 at 12:24 PM 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Finster Posted October 20, 2022 at 05:58 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2022 at 05:58 PM 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malazann Posted October 20, 2022 at 10:26 PM Report Share Posted October 20, 2022 at 10:26 PM 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 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phills Posted October 21, 2022 at 07:05 AM Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2022 at 07:05 AM 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? ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.