The Need for Podcasts for Learners of Uncommon Languages

If you've ever tried to learn an uncommon language, you know there are few published products available for the self-learner. It's not too difficult to find a grammar book or textbook of some kind, but the most important aspect of learning a new language is to actually hear it. It is very difficult to learn to speak and hear a language from a book.

This is where audio comes in. Some published methods have accompanying CDs which give us an introduction to the unique sounds of our target language. But that is only the beginning. And there are only published audio materials for the most popular two dozen languages or so. If you are looking for something beyond that introduction, or if you're studying a language which has little or no published audio language methods, where can you turn?

The answer is podcasts. They provide a free and continuously updated source of audio for learners. But guess what? The problem largely continues. There are plenty of podcasts for learners of Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese and Chinese. Other than those, there is almost nothing.

What is needed? There are lots of less commonly spoken European languages that have no podcasts for learners. Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Catalan, Occitan, Croatian, Albanian, the list goes on and on. How about Africa or Asia? It is astounding that there are no podcasts (and very few language learning materials at all) for learners of Hindi and Urdu.

At the very least, we need a basic pronunciation guide and some fundamental dialogues and vocabulary. A regular podcast could build from there, adding vocabulary in different situations. It could continue expanding on vocabulary, include some slang and some common regional accents and dialects. The greatest need is for podcasts focused on the beginning to intermediate student of the language.

Who can contribute? Anyone with an interest in helping people learn a language. Teachers and advanced students are the largest source of language learning podcasts.

The interesting thing is that the market is completely open - a power vacuum. There are people who want this product and there is nobody offering it. Some enterprising student or website manager could easily dominate the market just by doing a simple podcast for learners of Swedish or Urdu, let's say.

Hint : If you are a native speaker (or know one) or an advanced learner of any uncommon language and you have the interest or ability to podcast, then here is a great opportunity for you. Whether for credit, experience, exposure or traffic for your website, the door is open for you.

Who benefits? The language learning community benefits immediately. There is such a need for this kind of supplemental learning material that people are screamimg for it. I get more inquiries on my website for this kind of material than for anything else.

Because the market for this is so open, the first podcasters into it will have the most to gain. There is room for lots of different podcasts and learning materials as everyone finds their own angle, but the first few will have the benefit of experience and early exposure.

It certainly won't hurt the publishers of language learning products. They don't make any materials for these languages, so they aren't losing any market share. In some cases, podcasters can pick up where the publishers leave off, providing supplemental material that the publishers don't include. Simply put - the more to learn from, the better. Ultimately, we all benefit as it becomes easier and easier for people to learn each others languages.

The internet gives us the ability to trade information almost effortlessly. In time, I believe language learning materials for all of the worlds 7000 languages will be readily available for free for anyone who wants them. Obviously that day is still far off, but hopefully some intrepid internet surfers will help get the ball rolling and start taking the opportunities presented by providing language learners the podcasts they are so desperately looking for.