Learning English using audio book, Your recs?

Uprock M. schrieb:
> As I already googled some staff,

I guess what you mean is "stuff" not "staff". ;)

But sorry, no idea about your question.

ask your boss to outsorce sonme of your activities towards India. You 
then will be the "head of <something>", building the bridgehead to the 
offshore collegues.

that REALLY will train your language (and much more other) skills ...

M.A. S. schrieb:
> Uprock M. schrieb:
>> As I already googled some staff,
>
> I guess what you mean is "stuff" not "staff". ;)

and there is also some difference between "stuffing" and "staffing"

Uprock M. schrieb:
> Hello all Users,
> I'm just trying to learn english in different ways and I want to ask You
> for some advices. As I already googled some staff, i got an idea to
> listen to an audio book which has a content story containing vocabulary
> as much as possible. Classical poethic is very difficult and primetive
> audio learning is just boring to listen to. Have You any ideas?
>
> Regards
> Uprock

Hello Uprock,
I'm trying to learn English in a different way than before, and I wanted 
to ask you for some advice. After I had googled some stuff, I got the 
idea of listening to audio books which tell an actual story while 
containing as much and as diversified vocabulary as possible. Classic 
poetry is too difficult, and primitive audio learning is just too boring 
to listen to. Do you have any ideas?*

Regards
all Users

*Have you got any ideas?

Uprock M. schrieb:
> Have You any ideas?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish

Watch the original instead of the dubbed version of your favorite TV 
shows and movies.

And read. Read as much as possible, read newspapers, magazines ... 
all of them in english.

Just watching movies or TV serials in "OV" doesn't necessarily improve 
your linguistical capabilities, that's because not every actor is 
speaking grammatically correct english. Mostly some kind of vernacular 
is being used, which can severely hinder comprehension.

If you really want to learn english, concentrate on one kind of 
english. Mixing british english with american english or australian 
english won't really improve things, because there are differences, as 
much in vocabulary and pronunciation as in orthography. Choose what kind 
of english you'd like to concentrate on.

Do you want to talk about the colors or about the colours? Does your car 
have a trunk or a boot? Are goods transported by trucks, lorries or even 
artics?
D'you say "ee-ther" or "i-ther" when pronouncing "either"? Is it a 
theater or a theatre? A restroom or a loo? A "rawter" or a "rooter" 
(router)?

English is a language that is spoken mostly by non-native speakers, that 
is, by people who have learned it as a second language -- same as you. 
So you can be quite sure that most english that is spoken or written is 
to be taken cum grano salis as far as linguistical correctness is 
concerned.

So, to repeat my beginning statement - read material written by native 
speakers. And listen to native speakers.

Should you lean towards british english, I'd recommend to listen to 
actors that have been active in the Royal Shakespeare Company, as for 
instance the recently deceased Alan Rickman:
http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/the-late-great-alan-rickman-reads-shakespeare-proust-thomas-hardy.html

Or, for instance, something narrated by Patrick Stewart, Emma Thompson, 
Robbie Coltrane, Geraldine Somerville ...

In stark contrast to that stands what americans treat themselves with; 
try to listen to, for instance, Dustin Hoffman, or Jeff Bridges.

And australian english is something completely different. A well-known 
and ... somewhat difficult example is Dave Jones of eevblog fame.

Sign up for the conversation class at your local Volkshochschule. They 
usually have native speakers as instructors.

Watch movies in English, as said before. If you don´t understand much, 
watch them in German first.

Use the English version of Wikipedia.

Rufus Τ. F. schrieb:
> Just watching movies or TV serials in "OV" doesn't necessarily improve
> your linguistical capabilities, that's because not every actor is
> speaking grammatically correct english. Mostly some kind of vernacular
> is being used, which can severely hinder comprehension.

So he shouldn't talk to people either since they will occasionally use 
wrong grammar too. ;-) -- I felt fine with "just watching" TV shows. :-)

If you're into it, you could also read some of the easier books or those 
meant for children. E.g. the 'Harry Potter' series of books come in 
relatively easy english and are easy to grasp, especially if you're 
familiar with the story from the films or books in your mother tongue.
There are also bilingual books from several editors.

Mikro 7. schrieb:
> So he shouldn't talk to people either since they will occasionally use
> wrong grammar too.

Of course not. But doing so, it would be quite difficult to surpass 
their level. Choose the right people to talk to. Native speakers with a 
sophisticated background are to be preferred over non-native speakers 
(maybe even with a strong foreign accent?) and less sophistication.

That's not to mean that these people aren't worth to talk or to listen 
to, but you won't learn much about the language.

Given a certain level of knowledge (which isn't present here), you might 
begin to enhance your skills by listening to the linguistical 
differences between the various kinds of english spoken by different 
people, you might begin to discern a cockney from a geordie from someone 
from the west highlands, or someone from the west indies (who, living in 
London, would sound not completely different to the cockney, depending 
on social background).

But this level of knowledge definitively isn't present with the thread 
starter; were he after this kind of deepening of his skills, he wouldn't 
have to ask, he'd know.

Have a look at Duolingo, it is also available as smartphone application. 
A personally tailored online language course. Perfect for commuting. And 
Free.

Audio books read by a professional reader have the big advantages that a 
beginner can latch on to that person's way of speaking.

I still think that DVDs might be a better way to train language 
comprehension, since it addresses the visual senses as well.


Matthias S. schrieb:
> If you're into it, you could also read some of the easier books or those
> meant for children. E.g. the 'Harry Potter' series of books come in
> relatively easy english and are easy to grasp, especially if you're
> familiar with the story from the films or books in your mother tongue.
> There are also bilingual books from several editors.

In my eyes H.P. (the books, not the sauce) is a poor choice for a 
beginner to learn good English. In the first books, the language level 
is abysmal (which might be excused in a children's book), but at the 
same time the author randomly invents words to generate that magical 
feeling.

If fantasy is your kind of beef, I'd recommend anything by Terry 
Pratchett. Here's a fun to read author, who really knew his language.

E.g. Discworld is available as audio books. I'd expect them to be pretty 
good, but I have never actually listened to any.

BBC radio plays might be another good step towards listening 
comprehension of multiple actors. I'm still a big fan of HHTTG and, to a 
lesser extend, LOTR.

And regarding technical reading: Try to get your hands on old appnotes 
by people like Pease, Williams, Kester etc.. They're quite often fun to 
read.

Of course, those are just my personal preferences. The trick in learning 
the language is to find material that is fun to you.

So, if you'd share your preferences, we might taylor a recommended 
reading list. ;)

Rufus Τ. F. schrieb:
> Should you lean towards british english, I'd recommend to listen to
> actors that have been active in the Royal Shakespeare Company, as for
> instance the recently deceased Alan Rickman:
> 
http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/the-late-great-alan-rickman-reads-shakespeare-proust-thomas-hardy.html
>
> Or, for instance, something narrated by Patrick Stewart, Emma Thompson,
> Robbie Coltrane, Geraldine Somerville ...

Kenneth Branagh:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Ado_About_Nothing_(1993_film)

For the advanced beginner, but a beautiful example of what actors with a 
classical training can do...

Yep. Branagh. Definitively. At least his earlier works (the point of 
absolute despair in his career was his participation in "Wild Wild 
West").

Worth to see: "Henry V".

Other persons worth to listen to: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie (yep, the one 
of "House, M.D." fame, but there he's using an adopted american accent), 
Anthony Hopkins ...

to be continued.

Rufus Τ. F. schrieb:
> Yep. Branagh. Definitively. At least his earlier works (the point of
> absolute despair in his career was his participation in "Wild Wild
> West").
I think I stopped that movie in midplay...

> Worth to see: "Henry V".
Thanks, I'll give "Henry V" another shot.
I was introduced to Branagh with "Much ado", which IMHO is his best 
movie.

Another one by Branagh which I consider worth watching: "Dead Again" 
(1991). Not Shakespeare, but it even includes Derek Jacobi.

Rufus Τ. F. schrieb:
> Another one by Branagh which I consider worth watching: "Dead Again"
> (1991). Not Shakespeare, but it even includes Derek Jacobi.

You had me there for a second. I thought you suggested:

"What? Dead.. Again?" by Neil Shulman M.D.

For your reference I attached two pictures that are used as bookmarks in 
my copy of the novel.

Marcus H. schrieb:
> If fantasy is your kind of beef, I'd recommend anything by Terry
> Pratchett. Here's a fun to read author, who really knew his language.

Wow, but this anything but easy vocabulary. I've read a lot of them but 
its really not something I'd recommend to beginners.
Depending on the taste, i'd recommend Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin 
Sea Adventures as a compromise between children's english and the London 
Times and Discworld.

Matthias S. schrieb:
> Marcus H. schrieb:
>> If fantasy is your kind of beef, I'd recommend anything by Terry
>> Pratchett. Here's a fun to read author, who really knew his language.
>
> Wow, but this anything but easy vocabulary. I've read a lot of them but
> its really not something I'd recommend to beginners.

"only the hard ones become in the garten"* ;)

My English actually grew through Pratchett and Pratchett grew during the 
quarter of a century I was following his works.
"Reaper Man" had just gone into print, when the books were first 
recommended to me. My English, at that time, was just good enough to 
find Discworld pretty funny.
During each re-read of the books I find more and more innuendos.

Learning something new is all about motivation. I just happen to like 
the author. And the series is available as audio books - which was the 
TOs original request.



Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin -> thanks for the recommendation.
I wonder what made me think "Hornblower"? ;)


*Old German proverb