Find solution
How To Learn Spoken English Through Telugu?

Best apps, podcasts, and audio files for a Cantonese-speaking woman to learn spoken English?

  • My girlfriend and I have bought her mother an iPod Touch. At her request, we're loading it with things to help her learn to speak better English. What are the best apps, podcasts, audiofiles, etc. for a Cantonese-speaking woman who wants to improve her English by herself? Right now her English-speaking capacity is functional but not super high. Overshooting her abilities at this point probably wouldn't be helpful. For example, we're starting off with someone good audiobooks of good children's books, entertaining ones written in a conversational style; something like The Wind in the Willows would be too literary and old-fashioned to get much value out of for now. Also, we would much prefer things in American English, just because switching things up with British English might be unnecessarily confusing. In case it's relevant, she also speaks Mandarin, but she's not fluent in it. We're genuinely not sure if having a Mandarin-English program would be any more or less confusing than the alternatives. We've looked at the Rosetta Stone program for iOS, but it looks like you have to pay a monthly subscription for that, and we've all determined that we hate the very idea of that on general principle. Please don't recommend that she just take classes. She doesn't have the time right now.

  • Answer:

    Okay, so it turns out that her Mandarin proficiency is better than predicted. Consider Mandarin-English options back on the table. Hopefully this will expand the universe of options.

Sticherbeast at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

I'm sure others can recommend specific programs, but would it be crazy to turn her loose on Youtube? People learn language from watching soapoperas, why not youtube videos? Obviously it wouldn't be the only source of English, but it would let her to take words as she learns them and search for related content. Or will the comments section put her off?

Wretch729

http://www.pronuncian.com/Podcast/Default.aspx? http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/podcasts/ and they have online resources for Chinese language speakers of ESL. Lemony Snicket's http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807219908/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ series are excellent children's books that include lots of vocabulary words that are explained/defined as part of the story.

shoesietart

You'll probably find some good choices if you search the App Store in Chinese rather than using English search terms. I typed "learn english" into translate.google.com, took the result (学习英语) and typed it into the app store, and found matches. I don't read Chinese, so I don't know how suitable the answer is going to be.

blob

re: shoesietart - Been a long time since I read a Lemony Snicket book but iirc the author tends to give definitions of words that, while not exactly incorrect, could be confusing to someone who is not fluent. For example I think "daunting" was defined as "full of incredibly difficult words." In context this was accurate, and maybe the OPs MIL will get the humor, but it seems like a convoluted way to teach definitions.

Wretch729

I love Lemony Snicket myself, but I don't think she herself would appreciate the humor, especially taken out of its cultural context.

Sticherbeast

Public radio streaming & podcasts from the US and Canada - NPR and CBC. Listening to clear speakers talking about adult things will definitely help. I believe the CBC also has some website info for ESL

Heart_on_Sleeve

I have ESL teens. Young Reader QuickReader is very good if she's struggling with fluency, and comes pre-installed with quite a few out of copyright books that are good at different vocabulary levels. You set the speed and it pushes you gently to read faster. There are a lot of vocabulary building apps on the iphone/ipad. I like the "4th-6th grade vocabulary" at the moment, but they're all relatively cheap, so look for a couple and let her decide. Consider something like this too: http://www.geekalerts.com/electronic-dictionary-bookmark/. We bought one for our dyslexic son and the rest of the siblings squabbled over it. If it's vocab, sometimes just having immediate access helps a lot.

viggorlijah

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.