Finding Content in Foreign Languages
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Finding Content in Foreign Languages

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Usually I don't write posts in my native language, however, the topic of Podcasts, unfortunately for me, is an "English" one. I enjoy listening to Podcasts when I go for walks or take a quick trip to the grocery store, however, I've noticed that a lot of my entertainment is in English (Podcasts, YouTube, Netflix, Video Games, etc.). I personally am a fan of listening/reading content in its original language (with Disney films as an exception), however, I have noticed that I am particularly bad at finding content in foreign languages.

I recently graduated from my Bachelor of Arts in French Studies in June, and with this being the first September in my life where I am not a student anymore, I've realized that I relied heavily on my studies for content in all the languages that I have learned. My question to the Journaly community is, where do you look to get the ball rolling for finding content in a foreign language? I'll share some of my methods below:

Goodreads: I recently signed up for goodreads this year because I got back into reading. I haven't used it extensively to find new content (yet), however, I use the "shelf" feature to sort my books by language and get recommendations for books based on my interests in each language - kind of like Journaly!

Podcast Addict: This is the app that I use to listen to my Podcasts, it was actually recommended to me by someone in a YouTube comment when I asked for methods to find new content in response to one of Robin's videos. What's great about Podcast Addict is that you can filter your search results by language or browse the "new podcast" page to get some general recommendations.

Netflix: This is probably the most popular streaming platform for finding movies and shows in foreign languages. Much like goodreads, I hope to get recommendations for series and movies in other languages, however, I find that Netflix is very English based and even if I try to search for a show to watch that's has audio in one of my languages, the top results are English shows/movies with Portuguese/French dubbing.

YouTube: I haven't had much luck finding YouTubers that I like in foreign languages, however, I do know that YouTube is an excellent resource for finding information about virtually anything in any language of my choice.

TedTalk: I am a TedTalk volunteer translator and I've discovered a lot of books and YouTube channels through translating. Of course, translating in itself is a good language exercise, however, alongside YouTube, TedTalk is another great place to learn about new things in foreign languages.

Despite all the resources I've mentioned above, I still feel like I don't have enough daily content in French and Portuguese. In a sense, I feel like I'm always discovering new books/series/YouTube channels in English, but I don't have this same "wave" of content in my other languages. So my question for you is, how to you find new content in the languages you're learning and what platforms do you use?

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