I’m an enthusiastic podcast listener. I find that after reading all day at work, it’s nice to switch to some audio media for some down time. I listen to podcasts while I’m exercising, when I need a mental break during the work day, while I’m keeping my daughter company during homework time, when I’m lying around before bed and sometimes even while doing mindless household chores like folding the laundry. I also find that listening to French podcasts is a good way to keep up with French current events and to work on my French listening comprehension. Here are a few of my favorite podcasts, and I’d love to learn about yours! I subscribe to all of these on my iPod using iTunes, but I’ll give you their websites n case you just want to listen to them online!
- I’m only slightly obsessed with This American Life, a public radio show that features weird and wonderful stories on a different theme each week. The show is professionally produced but focuses on regular people and their interesting experiences. For example this week’s episode is entitled “The Right to Remain Silent,” and profiles people who had the right to remain silent, but didn’t.
- When I feel like something a little more cerebral but still fun, I listen to Freakonomics Radio. This podcast is hosted by the authors of the Freakonomics books, who look at “the hidden side of everything,” but in a very engaging way. The most recent episode asks what would happen (in economic and social terms) if the 50 wealthiest Americans each gave $50,000 to 50 low-income families.
- Another good one in the “nerdy but fun” department is NPR’s Wait Wait…don’t tell me news quiz podcast.
I also subscribe to a few French podcasts. If you’re learning French (or any other language), there are lots of great language-learning podcasts out there. One that I would particularly recommend for intermediate French learners is The News in Slow French. If you’re fluent in French, this podcast will drive you crazy (because…it’s…very…slow), but if you’re somewhere between beginner and fluent, I think it would be great. The hosts cover one important news story, then discuss a few grammar points.
For those proficient in French and wanting to keep it up, I recommend:
- RFI’s Le journal en français facile. Despite the name, the French in this podcast is pretty normal, but just read at a slightly slower speed than the regular news. In addition, RFI provides the script for each show, so that you can read along if you want to. A very good podcast for improving your listening skills.
- My favorite French podcast is probably France Inter’s Le téléphone sonne. It’s very similar to NPR’s now-defunct “Talk of the Nation.” The host picks a topic, invites various commentators into the studio and then takes live phone calls. I love this podcast because it combines a current event with the challenge of listening to a lot of different voices and accents. For example yesterday’s show focused on the new school schedule in France: moving from four days to four and a half, and adding extra-curricular activities to the week. Various parents and teachers called in on the pro and con sides, and then the commentators responded.
- I also subscribe to France Inter’s La revue de presse. I like it because it’s short (under 10 minutes) and covers a lot of material in that time. However because it’s so fast-paced, it’s often challenging to follow if you don’t know the background to all of the stories. But definitely worth a listen!
Anyone else have favorite podcasts that you’d recommend? Language-related or otherwise?
I’m going to hunt around for some podcasts in Chinese. I’d love to find a Chinese version of slow news. Great idea! Thank you!
Yes, let me know if you find “slow” podcasts for other languages. I think that they fill a good niche for people who are beyond beginning language instruction but not yet ready for full-fledged foreign language podcasts
BFM radio for French business news (at blistering speed). Their Saturday morning broadcast (Paris time) covers current events with a panel of commentators. I tend to listen in real time, but they’re available as podcasts, too.
Thanks Chris! Sounds like a great subscription to add! Maybe the opposite of Slow French!
I have recently added Ask Me Another to my list of NPR game shows that I listen to. Very fun and I do learn new (weird? useless? facts too. I also listen to French podcasts for kids (with my kids) where kids ask questions and get responses. Totally French approach and interesting for me too! (Le petits bateaux and then also FranceInfo Jr for kids). I also listen to The Moth podcasts. Fascinating look into people’s lives (though, often, they are not “regular’ people but professional public speakers like comics or whatever). But, really great stories that will have you crying and laughing (and I do not consider myself sappy). Heard a great one yesterday on English language vocabulary (high-level words, not basic vocab) that is called Just Vocabulary. More for non-native EN speakers, but interesting anyway. Am hoping to find something like that in French! If either of you (Chris/Corinne) know of one, let me know! I also LOVE A Way with Words. Great show for word nerds by two experts. Lingua Franca out of Australia also very good. And, Patrick Cox of The Word (radio) a great podcast on all things language. I also like Backstory (by American history professors from UVa – my alma mater – relating history to today – duh). Also, Grammar Girl – quick discussions of sticky grammar issues -LOVE! Also, Travel with Rick Steves. He is kind of a nerd (REALLY), but has a HUGE archive of podcasts on very interesting travel topics. Recently subscribed to Feuilleton – French books read out loud (this one is for Jenn Mercer!) Okay, I have now revealed that I am obsessed with podcasts…I could go on (but I won’t). Great topic, Corinne, thanks!
Thanks Eve! That is a gold mine! I just added A Way With Words; I agree that Rick Steves is the good kind of travel guy: nerdy! I’ll definitely check him out too!
THANK YOU for these suggestions, Corinne and everyone else! I am constantly looking for podcasts in French. Is there anything similar to Stuff You Should Know (if you’re familiar with that one)?
Thanks Andie! Chris might have good ideas on that one? Of the French podcasts I listen to, I’d recommend La Revue de Presse if you just want to get the basic current events in a few minutes. or La Telephone Sonne if you have more time.
I don’t listen to podcasts per se, but do listen to Belgian radio in French all the time with the TuneIn Radio app on my phone. Not only can you discover musical artists that do not necessarily make it on US airwaves, but also cultural, current events commentary and the like by local reporters.
Yes, thanks Valerie for that tip! TuneIn is great: you can do the website or the app, and especially if you’re from/interested in a more “niche” country, it’s a great resource because there are stations from nearly every country.
For those interested in listening to podcasts in (British) English (whether as an expat like me, or as a non-native speaker of English) the BBC has a whole host of podcasts; you can find the complete list at http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts.
Two of my favourites are From Our Own Correspondent (insight and analysis from BBC journalists around the world), and Documentary of the Week, which as the name says is the best of the week’s documentaries from BBC Radio 4.
I like to download podcasts onto my smartphone and then listen to them in the car. The advantage of the smartphone is that you can listen to them at double speed – useful if you’re behind in listening and have some catching up to do!
Thanks Catharine! BBC is a great resource and I had not even thought of it. Those podcasts sound excellent! And I agree, if you have the ears for it (which I don’t!), being able to speed podcasts up to 1.5x or 2x can help you plow through your backlog!
I, too, like This American Life and Wait, Wait… but also love NPR’s
– Car Talk (which still aires even though the two hosts retired last year. They air the show’s both old and new episodes: recorded but never aired),
– Fresh Air
– Radiolab and
– PRI’s The World: The World in Words which Eve might have had in mind (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=98206657).
I download them all off of iTunes.
Thanks everyone for your great hints!
Thank you!!
Some great programs/ podcasts that we listen to:
–Le masque et la Plume– a very famous show on France Inter, where a group of people talk about and critique the latest movies, sometimes books too. Interesting perspective of american films! But a challenge as sometimes they all talk at the same time.
–For scientists and researchers: la tete au carre, all the latest scientific developments
–for those who love good old spy stories, and have a hard time with French radio where they speak fast or all at the same time, there is the lovely program : Monsieur X–an old French spy (Monsieur X) is interviewed each week about big events, either in the past (Iran hostage crisis) or now (Iran’s nuclear program). He talks nice and slowly, using proper French and not slang, very elegant, and easy to understand–and quite a different view of events that what we read or hear in the papers!
Happy Listening!
Thank you so much Cynthia, those sound great! I especially want to try out Monsieur X!
Thanks for this very interesting post and for sharing links.
I am also a huge podcast enthusiast :-). I’ve been listening to podcasts since 2005 as far as I can remember.
I listen almost only to IT/Tech podcasts (FR/DE/EN radio for other topics).
In my opinion, specialized, industry-specific podcasts (in target/source languages) are also useful to keep up-to-date and increase knowledge in areas of specialization.
On the computer (Windows), I like the open-source, cross-platform podcast application Juice. Straightforward & basic. On Android devices, BeyondPod, Podkast & Podkicker.
At home, podcasts are retrieved and stored on a NAS, so I can access them with any device (PC, tablet, set-top box hooked up to TV — for video podcasts).
For those who like tech & IT, here are some of my favorite podcasts (I don’t listen to all episodes of course!):
– Appload (FR)
– Computerclub Zwei (DE)
– Das Computermagazin – B5 Aktuell (DE)
– GigaOM podcasts (EN)
– Know How (EN, video)
– Le Rendez-vous Tech (FR)
– Mobile TechRoundup (EN)
– NipTech (FR)
– PC-Welt TV (DE)
– De quoi j’me mail (FR)
– On refait le Mac (FR)
– Tech News Today (EN)
– Tekzilla (EN, video)
– This Week in Computer Hardware (EN)
– This Week in Enterprise Tech (EN)
– This Week in Startups (EN)
– Windows Weekly (EN)
– Security Now (EN)
of course, there are many others (Verge Podcasts, NPR Technology…)
happy listening!
Thanks Fred! This is a gold mine of tech podcasts!!
A bit tech-centered I must admit! I could also add CNET podcasts.
I also used to listen to several “corporate” IT podcasts (Dell, HP, …) but it seems most IT companies stopped them a few years ago (cost reduction?).
Will check which ones are still active.
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions.
Great topic; thanks Corinne. Here are some of my faves:
Popular culture:
The Slate Culture Gabfest. Smart, funny and very articulate.
For bookworms:
Bookclub, World Book Club and Open Book on BBC Radio 4.
The Slate Audio Book Club.
In French, for serious literature buffs: “Ça peut pas faire de mal” on France Inter, hosted by a brilliant young French actor called Guillaume Gallienne, with extracts beautifully read by him and his fellow thespians at the Comédie française (French books as well as foreign literature in French translation).
Language related:
Word of Mouth on BBC Radio 4.
Slate’s Lexicon Valley podcast.
Enjoy!
Thank you Lakshmi, these look great! I love audio books but I don’t have the patience/attention span to listen to entire books, so the literature podcast sounds fantastic.
ARTE radio in France has a variety of great on-line listening and downloadables. The occasional reportages generally have a “This American Life” vibe. I’m not entirely fluent and so don’t catch everything, but even so I find them quite enjoyable.
Thanks Wendy! Anything similar to This American Life is certainly worth a listen!
Great post! I usually listen to Radio 24 (in Italian) with a variety of programs about economics, politics, sport and so on.
Also, I just found News in Slow Italian, for intermediate learners of Italian. They have podcasts on iTunes and here is the link to their website: http://www.newsinslowitalian.com/
If anyone knows about News in slow Greek, please let me know 🙂
Thanks Silvia! It looks like the News in Slow franchise includes French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. I say send them your suggestion for Greek!!
Thanks for the podcast recommendations! I particularly appreciate News in Slow French! I get *most* of the words from RFI’s 24h en France (their news update that happens midnight Paris time, released as a podcast for the rest of us), but I think Slow French will be invaluable for practice.
I am a giant podcast nut so I will not list everything (my app says I am subscribed to 43 podcasts right now), but I have some recommendations:
– First, for iDevices, I love the app Downcast. It manages everything very neatly and in ways that make sense to me.
– Scientific American has a series of podcasts called “60-Second ___” (Science, Space, Tech, Health, etc) that are just as they sound- one minute reports every couple days on new and interesting studies that have been published. Usually on the quirky side and always interesting (and short!)
– For serious film discussion in English, filmspotting is the first place to go.
– RFI releases several of their normal segments as podcasts. I like Accents d’Europe for a kind of broad overview on individual stories around Europe and Grand Reportage, which is a 15-minute in depth story by a single reporter (per segment) on an topic somewhere in the world.
– La Marche de l’Histoire, also by France Inter. It’s a 30-minute podcast every weekday on a single historical topic, usually in conjunction with an interview with someone who’s just written a book on that topic (or similar).
I also second the recommendation for Slate’s Lexicon Valley, but will add that it often has lots of profanity.
Thanks Samantha! Those are all great suggestions, much appreciated!!
First or all, thank you so much for this blog in general where a newbie like me can find a lot of precious tips ! I was surprised and delighted to see you like “Le téléphone sonne”, my parents and I have followed that show since I’m a kid. If you like History, I strongly recommand the excellent “Au coeur de l’Histoire”, Europe 1 http://www.europe1.fr/MediaCenter/Emissions/Au-coeur-de-l-histoire/
Franck Ferrant is absoluely passionate about History in general and small stories, his French is very clear and elevated. His show is divided into 2 parts, one story and an interview with a writer or a professor.