Radio France has French news podcasts that are spoken a little slower than normal for people who don’t speak French as a first language.  I found them reasonable to understand.  Check it out if you know some French and would like to practice!

If you’re fluent in French, up to a challenge, or just want to listen to their music, check out Radio France’s podcast directory page, featuring music and news.

If your parents or grandparents had a different mother tongue from yours and if you lived your childhood in such a multicultural context, you sure know how I feel.

I was happy when in August 2007, Pili, a Spanish student of Fine Arts in Salamanca, Spain, posted a comment on this blog to tell us about her podcast. It aimed to help improve people’s abilities in the Spanish language.

I listened to Pili’s podcasts as they came out. Throughout the podcasts, Pili would tell her American friend Lucy about her life in Spain.

I particularly enjoyed…

-Her stories about Spanish cultural events like La San Fermín in Pamplona, and hearing about customs like eating tapas, and learning about Spanish movies.
-The fact that she would speak clearly and a little more slowly than the very fast Spanish speech you normally hear.
-The fact that she now and again used colloquial idioms (not naughty ones!) that you might not find in dictionaries and that keep your language up-to-date.

Pili posted until December 2007 and her old podcasts are still available on her site.

Now she’s coming back with a renewed version including free podcasts and more extended material that’s available by subscription. You can check the guide to the podcasts on her website dpili.com, it’s in pdf format, so you can download it for free!

Well, to make a long story short, I’m glad she’s back.

Here’s a recording of him, from 1890. He’s reading from a poem called “America” which has been preserved on a wax cylinder from 1888.

The lines he’s reading can be a little hard to understand. Here’s what he’s saying:

“America

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love…”

I found this to have special meaning on Memorial Day weekend, when America honors her sons and daughters who have died fighting for Freedom.

Fortunately, the good folks at Open Culture have done the work for us. Here’s an updated collection to dozens of language lessons podcasts. In addition to favorites like French and Spanish, you’ll find less popular (in America) tongues like Tagalog and Luxembourgish. There’s even some that cover Latin!

I came upon this poem while looking for French podcasts to brush up on my French in anticipation of a trip to France in the Spring. There’s a whole podcast in French devoted to this poem that you can listen to. It inspired me to come up with my own translation, which you can read below.

Chanson d’Automne is a very sad poem that was written by Paul-Marie Verlaine in 1866. Most French people are familiar with this poem as it’s taught in school. French children are often required to learn it by heart.

Chanson d’Automne

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;

Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.

Autumn Song

The long tears
Of Autumn’s
Violins
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
lethargy.

All suffocating
And pale when
The hour strikes,
I remember
The old days
And I cry…

And I am going away
On an ill wind
That carries me
Here, there,
Just like a
Dead leaf.

Follow the link to hear Chanson d’Automne recited

The first thing you need to record is a microphone. As far as I know, most computers aren’t made with one built in.

Before buying a microphone, you need to figure out where you can plug it into your computer. It sounds so basic – and it might be – but you’ll need that information to know what type of plug your microphone should have (USB, standard microphone jack, etc.).

If you have a free USB port, that’s the best choice. A USB port will give you a digital recording, which makes it easier to produce a clean sound.

The photo below shows what a USB port looks like – it’s the dark one to the right. The red port on the left is a standard microphone port.

Here’s what some microphone jacks and plugs look like. (The two on the left are USB jacks.)

(You should be aware that USB microphones will only work on computers – they can’t be plugged into cassette decks and things like that.)

The microphone I have stands on the tabletop and plugs into the USB port. It costs US $24.00. It’s called Logitech USB Desktop Microphone. (It’s the top microphone in the photo below.)

My husband makes longer recordings. He’s produced podcasts of The Wizard of Oz among other things. So he likes a microphone headset that is worn on the head. It’s called Logitech Premium USB Headset 350. It’s now being sold for US $25 to $35.00. (It’s the lower headphone set in the photo above.)

Once you have a microphone, you’ll need software to record into.

My husband and I usually use a program called Sony Soundforge, which costs about US $52.00 and gives many professional level mixing tools. The truth is, we usually don’t use any of that power!

Yesterday, Paul DeShaw wrote to me about Audacity software. It’s a Free Audio Editor and Recorder. Paul wrote “There is simple software available for all operating systems for recording. Audacity is one such program, freely available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.”

I haven’t tried Audacity yet. But it looks like it will take care of basic recording operations and it looks easy to use.

If anyone would like to share any other information about recording onto the computer and/or recording devices, please feel free to comment below.

-Lisa

Podcasts are one of these tools. Podcasts are audio recordings that are available over the internet. You can either download them in mp3 format and then listen to them from your computer or iPod, or you can listen to them “live”, streaming right from the net.

I’ve been working on improving my French. One new French podcast I’ve found is called Learn French by Podcast. The podcast is “moderated” in English, but a native French speaker talks for a minute or so in French. Then, what was said is often clarified in English. Then it’s repeated in French.

This works well for me as I understand most of what they say, but there might be a word or two I don’t remember. It gives me a chance to recall it myself and sometimes it’s clarified later in the program. They also have a PDF document you can download that goes along with the podcast.

Devon, who works at Knock Knock English, has a podcast that’s geared for Japanese children who are learning English. In the podcasts, Devon speaks in English, and his co-worker Ayako, speaks in Japanese. My guess is that these podcasts would also work well for an English person who’s learning Japanese, as almost everything seems to be said in both languages.

Last, but not least, my husband, Jason Pomerantz of Fiddle and Burn, recently finished recording a podcast of the classic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This is a great tool if you’re trying to learn English. You can download the book at Project Gutenberg and read along while you listen to the story. It’s broken down by chapter, so you don’t have to listen to the whole book all at once!

It’s a great book in its own right, so even if your first language is English, you’ll probably enjoy hearing it.

Feel free to recommend any podcasts you like in the comments below.

Happy listening!

Lisa

Come listen to an MP3 Recording of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Jason says…

I hope you have as much fun listening as I’ve had recording!

Thanks, Jason!

-Lisa

Monsieur Carnaval… is responsible for all the wrongdoing people do throughout the year. At Carnival time in France, Monsieur Carnaval is judged for his behavior throughout the preceding year. Usually he’s found guilty and an effigy of him is burned at the Carnival.

While Monsieur Carnaval is burning, people dance in a circle around the fire singing (in French)…

Adieu pauvre Carnaval. Tu t’en vas et moi je reste pour manger la soupe à l’ail.

Here’s an English translation…

Goodbye poor Carnaval. You are leaving, and me, I am staying to eat garlic soup.

The soup is made with garlic, a vegetable, since, once Carnival is over, it’s time for Lent. Traditionally during the fast, meat was not allowed to be eaten.

There’s a similar song in Occitan called Adiu paure Carnaval (Farewell Poor Carnival). Occitan was the language of the Troubadours. It’s still spoken in some areas of Southern France (and some regions in Spain and Italy.) As the effigy burns, Adiu paure Carnaval is sung, speaking of Monsieur Carnival leaving the singer to eat garlic and oil soup.

Here’s Adiu paure Carnaval, in Occitan, with an English translation and an mp3 recording.

MP3 of Adiu paure Carnaval

Adiu paure Carnaval
(Occitan)

Adiu paure, adiu paure,
adiu paure Carnaval
Tu te’n vas e ieu demòri
Adiu paure Carnaval
Tu t’en vas e ieu demòri
Per manjar la sopa a l’alh
Per manjar la sopa a l’òli
Per manjar la sopa a l’alh
Adiu paure, adiu paure,
adiu paure Carnaval

La joinessa fa la fèsta
Per saludar Carnaval
La Maria fa de còcas
Amb la farina de l’ostal

Lo buòu dança, l’ase canta
Lo moton ditz sa leiçon
La galina canta lo Credo
E lo cat ditz lo Pater

Farewell, Poor Carnival
(English)

Farewell, farewell,
Farewell, poor Carnival
You are leaving, and I am staying
Farewell, poor Carnival
You are leaving, and I am staying
To eat garlic soup
To eat oil soup
To eat garlic soup
Farewell, farewell,
Farewell, poor Carnival.

The young ones are having a wild time
To greet Carnival
Mary is baking cakes
With flour from her home.

The ox is dancing, the donkey’s singing
The sheep is saying its lesson
The hen is singing the Credo
And the cat is saying the Pater.

Many thanks to Monique Palomares, of Mama Lisa’s World en français, for teaching me about the tradition of Monsieur Carnival and for translating and singing the song.

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Occitan Page for more Occitan Songs.

MP3 of the ABC Song in French

L’alphabet
(in French/en français)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y et Z
Maintenant je sais mon alphabet,
Chante avec moi la prochaine fois

ABC Song
(English)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y and Z
Now I know my ABC’s,
Next time won’t you sing with me!

Many thanks to Monique’s class for the wonderful recording of The ABC Song. Merci Beaucoup!

Lisa

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World France Page for more French children’s songs with their English translations and…

Mama Lisa’s World en français for children’s songs around the world with their French translations

and

Mama Lisa’s Blog Entry with the ABC’s in English