The Linguist - language learning should be fun

Audio books can improve literacy

Il Narratore is a wonderful source of Italian audio books. It is headquartered in Zovencedo, a quaint village on the hillside, overlooking Vicenza. Maurizio Fulghera is the voice of Il Narratore and is passionate about Italian literature and the many ways in which audio can be used for enjoyment and for learning. I spent Saturday with the Il Narratore family, Maurizio, Cristiana, Emma and Sol.

Maurizio, Cristiana and I share many views on the power of audio books, and their use in the cause of raising literacy levels.

Here is our discussion about audio books.

Pay for a a good unabridged audio book

I do not mind paying for an audio book. It is a good investment. The people I know who are involved in developing or marketing audio books like Il Narratore in Italy, or Livraphone in France or even Solutions by Heart in Portugal are dedicated to what they are doing and struggling to survive. I wonder if Paulino, a school teacher, who is so keen on volunteer narrators of books, is equally keen on volunteer teachers in his school.

There is nothing wrong with volunteering. But I do not think it is in any way morally superior to people working and expecting to earn a living from their work. It is a matter of choice on the part of the volunteer or professional, and on the part of the consumer. I do not make a moral judgment.

If a person creates audio and text content for LingQ and wants to share it free. That is welcome. If a person would like to be compensated for their effort, that is equally welcome. In both cases I appreciate the dedication and constructive effort of the person producing the content. I am happy to use things free of charge and I am happy to pay.

A book, as well as an audio book, is good value. I get a great deal of long lasting enjoyment from each.

Audio books - a richer reading experience

Seth Godin likes audio books and sees a future for them. So do I. Literature used to be distributed primarily orally, to listeners, since most people could not read. The great works of literature, mythology, philosophy, religion and morality were all intended to be read out loud and listened to. Writing was developed as a convenient way of recording all of this literary production. Now portable and inexpensive digital technology is going to bring back the narrator as an important source of information and entertainment, not to replace writing and reading, but as an alternative and even an enhancement of written literature.

Research has also shown that reading skills are closely connected to listening skills. so audio books can help in the fight to improve literacy.

For those who have not tried audio books, I recommend that you do do. First of all audio books are portable (MP3 players) and convenient. You can listen to audio books while doing other tasks.

There is a richness to a well narrated story or book that is deeper and more vivid than the written page, and, as Godin says, it appeals to a different part of the brain.This is precisely why audio books are so effective for language learning. Most of the audio books I listen to are in a foreign language.

I have always appreciated Seth Godin's marketing insight since I saw a video of his recently on the following list of interesting videos. I was interested to read that his  books are now available in audio book format. As soon as LingQ is up and running commercially we will approach Godin or his publisher to see if we can make them available at  LingQ so our learners can gain his insight about marketing and improve their English at the same time.

Our globalized world will be a multilingual world. We will be looking for an array of informative and entertaining audio books in many languages to make available at LingQ for our members to learn more about the world around them while they learn the languages of their choice.