Improve my own English understanding with LibriVox

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sebu
Posts: 4
Joined: October 23rd, 2018, 9:28 pm

Post by sebu »

LibriVox offers stories, poems and lyrics as text (html) and voicefile (mp3). Thus, this system is well suited to improve the English for interested foreign language speakers. The learner can read the text, remembering the spelling while listening to the pronunciation and the accentuation. And, if necessary, look up unknown expressions to finally understand the meaning. Then the whole thing can be repeated until everything works smoothly.
The problem is to make an appropriate choice among the countless English stories and then capture them in a separate collection. This collection could be provided under the criterion [Gernre / Subject] eg as "EasyEnglish-Collection".
Well suited would be shorter stories with simple colloquial language and as accent-free pronunciation.
Since I listen almost exclusively to German issues, I need the help of an English-speaking partner as well tips for further actions.

Paul Soltermann
moniaqua
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Joined: April 11th, 2013, 4:48 am
Location: Somewhere in the south

Post by moniaqua »

sebu wrote: October 26th, 2018, 5:32 am The problem is to make an appropriate choice among the countless English stories and then capture them in a separate collection. This collection could be provided under the criterion [Gernre / Subject] eg as "EasyEnglish-Collection".
Well suited would be shorter stories with simple colloquial language and as accent-free pronunciation.
Since I listen almost exclusively to German issues, I need the help of an English-speaking partner as well tips for further actions.
Irgendwie wird mir nicht ganz klar, was Du genau willst. Zu Texten lesen, ja, finde ich eine gute Idee. Aber was soll die collection? Willst Du eine Sammlung machen? Was ist "Akzentfreies Englisch"? Oxford, American, Australian? Wieso liest Du Probleme? (issues) ;) Ok, Du meinst, bisher hörst Du nur deutsche Hörbücher?

Es gibt hier einige hervorragende native speakers und auch gute ausländische, die Englisch sprechen (zum Lernen würde ich aber die natives bevorzugen). Die Texte, hmm, müsste man schauen. Nesbit dürfte verständlich sein und nicht zu kompliziert, z.B.


Somehow I don't quite understand what exactly you're looking for. Reading a text while listening to it is a wonderful idea in my opinion. What I don't understand is the part with the collection. What you you want to collect? And, what is accent- free English? Oxford, American, Australian? Until now you did listen to German audio-books exclusively?

There are a couple of excellent native speakers around here, also ESOLs (English speakers of other languages; I'd prefer the natives for learning the language though). On texts, Nesbit might be easy to understand, for example.
GrayHouse
Posts: 638
Joined: October 6th, 2012, 3:27 pm

Post by GrayHouse »

Hi Paul,
I'm sure that librivox can be very useful for people learning English and other languages. But as you say, it's hard to choose which text to read, and very few are intended specifically for language learners.

Obviously I don't want to deter you from using librivox! But have you considered other resources on the internet that are specially for learning English? In particular, I'd suggest the British Council website. They have lots of very good resources. If you want something to listen to, there's an excellent series of podcasts. Each episode has the full text to follow, there are quizzes and exercises, and they also explain about the colloquial language they use in each episode. There are lots of other things on the website too which you may find useful.

Hope that helps,
-Ian
sebu
Posts: 4
Joined: October 23rd, 2018, 9:28 pm

Post by sebu »

Ja, ich kenne die englischen Beitraege zu wenig, aber einem bestimmten Leser (interpreter) zu folgen ist sicher eine gute Idee und damit waere das Problem schon fast geloest. Fuer deutsch wuerde ich Hokuspokus oder Hans Hafen auswaehlen, aber es get mir ja um englische Texte welche ich nicht kenne. Eine Colletion waere meines Erachtens sinnvoll, damit andere Benutzer dem Beispiel folgen koennten. nb) Ich bin in China zuhause und habe Bekannte, welche dem Beispiel gerne folgen wuerden. Es geht ihen um den Ausbau ihrer Sprachkenntnisse auf angenehme Weise.

Thank you GrayHouse! i will check the suggested web!
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
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Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

sebu, via Google Translate wrote: October 26th, 2018, 6:54 am Yes, I know too little about the English contributions, but to follow a certain reader (interpreter) is certainly a good idea and that would almost solve the problem. For German I would select Hokuspokus or Hans Hafen, but I get it to English texts which I do not know. A colletion would be useful in my opinion, so that other users could follow the example. nb) I am at home in China and have acquaintances who would like to follow the example. It is about improving your language skills in a pleasant way.
A flag option for good "learning" recordings would be too subjective to be useful. What one person thinks is suitable for language learners would be disputed by another. It would probably grow meaningless after a while, or would not be used (people would not add the flag to newer projects).

If you are looking for clear readers, three readers that come to mind are Cori Samuel, Ruth Golding, and Martin Geeson. They are all British readers, but they all read fairly slowly and clearly. I cannot say that what they record is all easy language, though. Mil Nicholson reads a lot of Charles Dickens' works in a slow, clear manner.
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
sebu
Posts: 4
Joined: October 23rd, 2018, 9:28 pm

Post by sebu »

Ja Monika,
ich hoere deutsche Hoerbuecher und bin auch ganz neu in diesem Forum und es ist gut moeglich, dass mein Ansinnen entweder unrealistisch oder bereits 1000-fach realisiert worden ist. Aber Du gibst ein guter Gedanke d.h. wir muessen eine gute native Interpreterin (die haben ja auch ihre Favoriten) auswaehlen um die Auswahl zu reduzieren. Danach kann man sich noch auf kuerzere Geschichten und zum Schluss noch auf den Inhalt konzentrieren.
Ein neues Subject wird man auf diesem Web wohl auch irgendwie erfassen koennen.
Gruss Paul
sebu
Posts: 4
Joined: October 23rd, 2018, 9:28 pm

Post by sebu »

Hi TriciaG

I forget the option "learning" and choose Mil Nicholson with one of Charles DICKENS stories for my adventure.

Thanks to all who replied!
kayray
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Joined: September 26th, 2005, 9:10 am
Location: Union City, California
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Post by kayray »

Viel Spass beim Zuhören! :)
Kara
http://kayray.org/
--------
"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)
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