The formula for finding a video is very simple:
STEP 1: Open Youtube.com and into the search box write:
KEYWORD (in the foreign language)
+
NAME OF THE LANGUAGE (in the foreign language)
For example “NBA basket + Français” to find French- language videos that are about NBA basketball.
Or “Dirk Nowitzki NBA + Deutsch” to find German-language videos about the basketball player Dirk Nowitzki. For example an interview that I could use for my daily listening.
STEP 2: If you´re a beginner use the help of Google translator to translate the video’s description to ensure that a video is indeed a good choice for you and really a topic that you have knowledge about. The translation will not be word perfect, but that’s fine, as you only need the gist anyway.
Now the most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to watch this video every day for at least 5-7 days in a row, without changing it. We will repeat this point many times throughout this book, because it´s absolutely vital that you give your memory time to get used to the nuances of a certain video, before moving on to another one. There are many scientific reasons for that and we advise you to trust us with this one!
Therefore, always make use of a listening text for a whole week, regardless of whether you´re a total beginner or you´re already at an advanced level in the language.
If you have now found a good video as your first listening material, you have several options of how to start working with it on a daily basis:
OPTION 1: Find 15 minutes every evening to take a nice cup of coffee or tea and watch the video. Or take 15 minutes during your lunch and watch the video from your tablet or from your smartphone with headphones.
OPTION 2: If your sub-dominant learning style is kinesthetic, which is true for the majority of visual learners, it´s important to integrate the daily listening into these moments in your daily schedule when you´re on the move. Therefore, we advise you to watch the video as a part of your day, when you´re in the queue of the grocery shop, when you´re waiting for your child at the kindergarten gate, when you have 5 minutes before the start of your business meeting, when you´re out jogging or walking your dog!
IF YOU’RE AUDITIVE OR KINESTHETIC
You will need a listening text that you can integrate into your daily schedule and the best option for that is to use podcasts in the foreign language. You have two options to find great podcasts for daily listening:
OPTION 1: You can go back to the basics and insert the keyword into the Google search box. Keep in mind that you have to insert the following words, which all have to be in the foreign language that you are learning:
KEYWORD + PODCAST + LANGUAGE
Always use translate.google.com to translate keywords.
If you have now inserted a good keyword together with the other attributes into Google search and clicked “Search”, then you will see many different options that you can choose from.
If you´re a beginner in the language then you won´t understand the context of the search results. Therefore just open the links one by one and put the description of the podcasts into translate.google.com and make sure if the podcasts is on a subject that you...
- Are interested in
- Are familiar with
If you have found a good podcast then there is always a “play” button and a download button available on the page. The latter is usually a sign of an arrow pointing down. We´re confident that you will find it easily.
OPTION 2: Another option is to use Radio archives to find great podcasts. This process is also really easy and here is the roadmap for doing it:
STEP 1: Sign in to the LIVE web-environment at www.
STEP 2: Choose the language that you wish to learn.
STEP 3: Hover over the headphones image in the web- environment and open the daily listening section by clicking “View More”.
STEP 4: You will see guidelines for finding Radio archives in your desired language. Choose one link and click “View More” again.
STEP 5: In every Radio Archive there is a search box that is usually located in the right top corner. If you have found the search box then plug in the keyword that is related to your personal interests. Make sure to write the keyword in the foreign language and use translate.google.com to get the translation.
STEP 6: Once you have clicked “Search” you will see many different results that are all related to your chosen keyword. Make sure which one of these podcasts would be the best by using translate.google.com to understand the podcast description.
STEP 7: If you have now found a great podcast