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?
What types of videos do you normally watch on YouTube? I go through periods where I really enjoy watching daily vlogs or art journaling videos (in English). The style of videos that I like seem to be popular in Korea & Japan so YouTube would recommend those channels to me. The problem is that most of them only have subtitles with no speaking, which doesn't help my listening or speaking skills. I've used Tofugu for some of their Japanese learning resources but they also do a quarterly roundup of interesting new/improved Japanese resources.
@cjwun I usually watch language learning content and video game content (lets plays and informative), however, I'm trying to expand my interests because I enjoy learning about new things!
I would say the best way to regularly consume foreign language content is to consume it in the same way you consume English content. For instance, I listen to a ton of music so adding German music to my collection was really easy as it didn't change anything about the way I was consuming it. However as someone who tends to put YouTube videos on in the background (like a podcast) I have struggled a lot more to implement them into my input because I don't have the comprehension to half listen to them and still follow. So if you can find something you can swap the language of without losing any enjoyment then I think that's the most likely to stick. I realise this is a little tangential but hopefully you get my point and it's helpful! :)
Hi Emily! I feel like I am also constantly looking for new content while I totally forget to use the stuff I already have, but I definitely know what you mean. As for YouTube once somebody in the language learning community said that it is helpful to create a new channel where you subscribe to content that is only for that specific language. This way your recommendations won't get confused with ones in your native language, Think this could be a good approach, but I didn't try it yet. For Portuguese I can only recommend European Portuguese content. In Portugal there is this TV program that also offers podcasts (RTP). And after I put them into Google Podcasts (my podcast app) I got a lot of recommendations, also Brazilian Portuguese content. So maybe you could type in the search topics of your interest in Portuguese and you'll receive by a chance of say 95 % Brazilian Portuguese. The same should work for YouTube. For French I found the channel "Innerfrench" very helpful as Hugo is speaking French all the time, even though slower than native pace. HD also has a podcast. "Kevin abroud" is a French guy living in England and learning languages like Japanese. He also has some videos entirely in French.
@Alongtimeago Ah, I forgot to include Spotify to my list of resources for music! I haven't been listening to much music recently and your comment reminded me to look more into the playlists I've already created! I also have the same problem where I like to have YouTube in the background. I have a radio show that I like to put in the background that's in Portuguese because I find I can tune in and out of the program depending on which topics catch my attention. @LindasLinguas I also feel like I have more content than I think, I'm working on making content lists so that I know where to direct my attention in a day rather than to just keep sticking to English content. Even after writing this post, I've found a new program that I'm interested in watching in Portuguese! As far as "InnerFrench", I listen to his podcasts! It's one of my favourite podcasts and I've listened to all of the episodes. I tried getting into his YouTube videos, however I felt that I couldn't get into them the same way I could his podcasts. I'll check out "Kevin abroad", he seems like someone I'd be interested in watching. Thanks for the recommendations!
Bonjour Emiy, je suis française et je comprends que vous ne trouviez pas de contenu français satisfaisant. Notre langue est peu parlée dans le monde et le nombre de youtoubers français est minuscule comparé à celui des youtoubers anglophones. Avez vous essayé les émissions télévisées ou bien les cours des universités française. Avez vous essayé "daily motion", un mini youtube français ? Bonne continuation !
YouTube is the best for finding new and cool content for foreign languages! Although it definitely is a bit of a pain to get started with training the algorithm to send you stuff in your foreign language, it is possible though, I'll write a post about it soon!
Hello there, Emiy!
As Robin does, I tend to go back to the newbies lesson's, even if I consider I do have a good level in a language (or not that good at all too! kkk). You might be surprised, but sometimes you do not completely understand certain things unless you review them with a higher level!
Ricardo! It's been so long! How are you? I also enjoy reviewing basic level things, it's really helped my French come a long way!