8 Reasons Why Listening to Podcasts with Transcripts Improve Your English

by | Last updated Oct 13, 2022 | Published on Feb 26, 2021 | Podcast Transcription

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Listening to podcasts can help you learn English, but when it is combined with transcripts and subtitles your learning goes well and will pass to the next level. When you decide to learn English through podcasts, it is best that you have transcripts of them. A reliable transcription service provider can provide you accurate podcast transcription and help you learn the language very well. It is because learning with transcripts and subtitles has many benefits. It enables you to improve your English in the following ways:

  • Listening Comprehension: Obviously, listening to anything in English helps to improve your English listening comprehension. Here, you are just listening without transcripts or subtitles, so you may miss some words and get only one source of input. If you have transcripts or subtitles along with it, it allows you to join the dots and to connect the English you are hearing with the transcript or subtitles in front of you. It improves your ability to understand and follow what is being said. When just listening, you may have to pause and rewind the podcast several times to understand what was said, and this may be disrupting and annoying. With the transcripts or subtitles, you will see what is being said. You will be able to know how a word is pronounced and used in a sentence.
  • Spelling: Reading articles and books in English is one way of improving your English spelling. Another way of improving your spelling is referring to transcripts or subtitles when listening to English podcasts. When new words come, you will learn how to spell them along with learning them. For already known words, seeing them again reminds you of the spelling and reinforce your learning. So, there is less chance of you making mistakes when you write them down.
  • Grammar: For many people, English grammar is boring, often irregular, difficult and confusing, but if you are using podcasts with transcripts or subtitles, you can improve your grammar while not actually working on improving your grammar. It is like a free grammar lesson that doesn’t even need you to spend any time working on English grammar. With the text written under the audio, you can see how the sentences are constructed, and how certain verbs are used in context. It is beneficial when it comes to reproducing English, like speaking or writing.
  • Vocabulary: In schools, vocabulary lists are given to students to learn. It is not only tedious, but also not the right way to learn vocabulary. In the real world, you learn vocabulary in context; you learn words through hearing them in a sentence when other people use them. Without transcripts or subtitles, sometimes you can guess a new word just by hearing it, but it is not possible always. With the transcripts you can immediately see what the new word is. You have to recognize it and know how to spell it and you can look it up in your dictionary to understand the meaning.
  • Pronunciation: When you read, you get the word’s spelling, but you may not understand the right pronunciation of the word. Here, listening to podcasts along with the transcripts and subtitles helps you know the word and how it is pronounced. To make sure of the pronunciation, you can pause and rewind the podcast and listen to it again. Repeat it and then compare it with yours.
  • Reading Speed: If you are using the transcripts or a subtitle at the same time when you listen to the audio, you are forced to read it in the same speed as the narrator speaks. If you want to stop in between, you have to pause the podcast. Not pausing in between and reading along with the podcast means you want to train yourself to read more quickly. You might miss a few words, if you want you can rewind and read it again, but using podcast with transcripts or subtitles in this manner is an excellent way to improve your reading speed.
  • It is the Perfect Companion for Shadowing: Practicing shadowing is an effective way of improving your pronunciation. Shadowing means, using a transcript and speaking out loud while you listen to the original audio. It is a technique used by serious language learners and polyglots because it is very effective to improve pronunciation and fluency within a short period of time. With an audio and its transcript, anyone can do it.
  • Helps to Understand the difference between Written and Spoken English: Written English is always not the same as spoken English. Listening to a podcast along with transcripts and subtitles lets you see these differences. It is especially crucial if you need to write English as well as speak it, knowing the differences between spoken and written English is a vital part of your journey to fluency.

People who live in non-English speaking countries don’t have many ways to learn English. They can use podcasts and depend on reputable audio transcription service to get the transcripts and subtitles of the podcasts. As many people start learning through the internet, transcription has proven a useful and effective learning aid. With accurate transcripts in your hands, you can learn or improve your English language very well.

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