Will listening while falling asleep help you learn a foreign language? Nope. But it still may be helpful.
In fact, never thought of writing on this eternal controversial topic — learning while sleeping. That’s just like “Is there life on Mars?”. Or kind of that.
But have read today How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour and could not refrain from covering the slippery subject myself.
Can you learn a new language while sleeping? The short answer is “No, you can’t”.
Does it make sense to listen to spoken foreign language before going to sleep? The short answer is: “Yes”.
And what is the help from listening?
The effect is improvement of your listening comprehension skills.
Basically, the more you listen to foreign speech (at a suitable for you level, of course; that is, you need to know most of the vocabulary you hear) — the better and easier you can discern spoken language. In a relaxed state, just before falling asleep, your brain apparently is receptive to sounding of what you are hearing. Read more
ESL podcasts vs traditional listening statistics — part 1
I’ve calculated these pretty simple figures based on ESL links collections at the UsingEnglish.com web site. Some of you may disagree or think that this is trivial, but for me it looks impressive. BTW, I do also think that the term “podcast” may be indeed a bit repelling for non-techies and those who prefer visual or reading channels. Read more
One more podcast for English learners
This one is great: The Bob and Rob Show.
A good chance to improve your conversational language skills in process of listening to authors’ cracks (accompanied by a funny laugh track — to make it easier to get the joke).
How to start learning French for free?
You could try one of these options — depending on your lifestyle and preferences:
- An entry level on-line course. A good one is the “French Steps”. Each lesson includes listening, reading, speaking and even writing tasks along with easy quizzes to help learn vocabulary and grammar. This is a great option to start if you can allocate approximately an hour at your computer for each lesson.
- A free beginner level podcast. The most comprehensive one so far is “French For Beginners”. It’s simple enough for newbies to start listening to even with no knowledge of French at all. The host is an experienced French teacher and her lessons are very easy to understand and remember.
Of course, combining the two options will give additional effect.
How to improve writing skills?
Easy: write daily.
Here is a bit longer advice.
Use every chance to write, for example:
- Emails — at work and personal
- Posts on internet forums, boards and blogs
- Your own blog
Aim at writing half a page texts — this should save your efforts (not necessary to start writing a long novel!) and make you concentrate on the subject matter. Read more
How to improve your English in a few months?
Easy: listen to podcasts.
To get the best effect, choose a combination of topics including English learning materials and any other you are interested in (e.g., business, career, entertainment, sports, cooking, technologies, etc.). Read more
