Self-instruction manual in English audiobook. Free programs for learning English download

26.09.2019

“Unread books know how to take revenge,” wrote Ray Bradbury. But how modern man with a frantic pace of life, do not make yourself "avengers"? There is a way out - listen to audiobooks, and if you do it in English as well, you will get a double benefit. We will tell you how to learn English from audiobooks, why you need to listen to them and how to work with them. And at the end of the article you will find links to 7 great sites with audio books in English for children and adults.

Which audiobook to listen to in English

If you know English not high level not all books will be equally useful. Let's see what materials can be found on the Internet and what audiobook to listen to in English. Types of audiobooks:

1. By type of recitation

Books dubbed by a professional speaker (native speaker) of English language), are ideal for those who want to listen to competent English speech and learn to speak like a native speaker. If you are going to repeat words after the speaker, learn the correct intonation and correct pronunciation, then this type is “shown” to you. Books read by a professional announcer are versatile material that is suitable for any listening purpose. They have only one drawback - they are not easy to find in the public domain.
Books voiced ordinary people(native English speakers) - such books are well suited for people with a level of knowledge and above. If you want to get used to the different accents in English and want to improve your listening comprehension, these are the books to choose from. The most important advantage of this type of audiobooks in English is that they are easy to find in the public domain. However, if your level of knowledge is below average, then it will be difficult to perceive the speech of native speakers. In addition, the audio track is most often recorded in a normal home environment, so the sound quality leaves much to be desired.
Books voiced by Russian-speaking teachers or linguists are another good option for people with a low level of knowledge. Audio is usually recorded in professional studios, all words are pronounced clearly, you will easily understand them. On the other hand, the intonation and pronunciation of a Russian-speaking speaker is still slightly different from the intonation and pronunciation of a native speaker.
Books created with special computer programs(Text-To-Speech), - not the best option for learning English from audiobooks. The program is not able to voice the text in such a way that a natural coherent speech with intonation characteristic of native speakers is obtained.

2. By complexity

Children's fairy tales and stories are the simplest material that adults should not neglect. Children's books, as a rule, are read by professional announcers at a measured pace. At the same time, the texts are easy to understand also due to the vocabulary: children's books use a limited set of the most frequently used words.
Audiobooks with supporting text are good material for those who find it difficult to understand foreign speech by ear: you can listen to a book and follow the text with your eyes. In addition, such materials are convenient to use if you are going to learn new words: you can see their spelling in the text.
Standard audiobooks are materials for people with an Intermediate level and above. These are common entries for native speakers, so they are not always easy to understand. On the other hand, you can easily find lyrics for almost any audio on the Internet, and this will help you understand the book.

In addition, we advise you to try listening to an audiobook, the text of which you have read in Russian more than once. Surely every person has a favorite work of an English-speaking author. If you remember it very well in Russian, then it will be easier for you to understand the audio recording in English.

Benefits of audiobooks in English

One of the most difficult skills in learning English is listening comprehension. To learn to understand foreigners, you need to listen to them often. Therefore, if you do not live abroad and do not communicate daily with native speakers, you need to look for affordable ways to practice listening. Best helpers in this case, podcasts and audiobooks. Read about. And now let's find out how useful it is to learn English from audiobooks:

1. You improve your English listening comprehension

it main reason, according to which audiobooks in English are very popular among students. The more we listen, the faster we get used to foreign speech and begin to understand it. And if you consider the fact that most free audiobooks are voiced by native speakers who are not professional speakers, then you can also listen to people with different pronunciations. Some will lisp, some will lisp, some will speak too fast - this is a great workout for your listening skill.

2. You get used to the sound of coherent speech

The announcers do not pause between words and pronounce each phrase with natural intonation. You will gradually get used to live speech, and subsequently it will be easy for you to understand what a foreign interlocutor is saying.

3. You learn new words and phrases in context

If we are sometimes too lazy to find and learn words from podcasts or educational texts, then an unfamiliar word that plays an important role will certainly cause a desire to find out what in question. Words that are important for understanding the meaning will be easy to remember, because you learn them in context and understand how they are used.

4. You listen and remember how grammar is used in live speech

In theory, you know perfectly well when to use Present Perfect, but when it comes to using this tense in speech, do you get confused and do not know if it is appropriate to use it? Listening to audiobooks in English will help you understand how any grammatical construction "works" in practice. If you not only passively listen to the recording, but also think about how this or that tense is used, you will understand the principle of English grammar not in theory, but in practice.

5. You study English where it suits you

Audiobooks in English are portable educational materials. You can take them with you wherever you go by downloading them to your smartphone or tablet. So if on the way to work you are not interested in listening to others, listen to an audiobook. Find out how else you can use your gadget for learning from the article "".

6. You develop

Those unread books that could take revenge on you now pose no danger, because you will listen to them. If it is not always possible to devote time to reading, then even the busiest person can afford to listen to an audiobook. And you can read not only fiction, but also professional or self-development books, then you will also engage in self-education without spending a minute of your free time on it.

7. You enjoy exercising

We all understand that we need to "accustom" ourselves to the sound of foreign speech, but not everyone likes podcasts. Some people are not interested in them. Audiobooks are just as addictive as coffee in the morning. If you choose interesting book, then you will be carried away by the plot so quickly that you will look forward to listening to the next excerpt of your favorite work.

How to listen to audiobooks in English

You can just listen to the audiobook and have fun, it is suitable for those who understand English well by ear. And what about those who find it difficult to understand English speech? For them, there is a technique that, with regular use, will significantly improve your listening skills. How to do it? Use a simple technique:

Listen to a short excerpt from a book, for example, take one chapter. It's okay if you don't understand every word, at this stage try to catch common sense said.
Take the text of the book and turn on the recording. Listen to the speaker and at the same time follow the text with your eyes. Do not focus on unfamiliar words, try to guess their meanings from the context.
If you want to replenish your vocabulary, then highlight unfamiliar words in the text with a marker, then write them out from the text and learn them.
The next day after learning new words, listen to the audio recording of the chapter again, do not use the text, try to understand as much information as possible by ear.
Want to improve your pronunciation with your favorite book? Then listen to the speaker and repeat the text after him, trying to copy all the sounds and intonation of a native speaker. If you decide to use this technique, you need to find an audio recording read by a professional announcer with the correct pronunciation.

Where to Download Audiobooks in English: Top 7 Sites

Children's audiobooks

Storynory.com is a site with children's stories in English. Ideal for those who do not understand English well by ear: a native speaker with clear diction recites simple children's stories. The text of the recording is located right there, and all audio files can be downloaded for free.
Bookbox.com is a site with children's fairy tales. There are no texts for the recordings, the possibility of listening online too. But you can download any audio story for free and listen to it in free time. The text uses simple vocabulary that you can easily understand.

Audiobooks with lyrics

Etc.usf.edu is one of the most user-friendly audiobook sites out there. Each work is conveniently divided into chapters, and text is attached to the audio recordings. You can listen to audio and follow the text on the site, or you can download Mp3 recordings and text in PDF format. It should be noted that audio recordings are presented in professional quality, so you may not need the text.
Nikolledoolin.com is a resource with a small selection of audiobooks, but all of them have text, so it's convenient to work with if you still find it difficult to understand an audio recording without text.

Audiobooks in English of various genres

Librivox.org is a resource thanks to which there are more and more free audiobooks in English every day. By clicking on the link, you will see two buttons: Volunteer and Catalog. The Volunteer button will take you to a page for volunteers - people who read books in English and post them on this site. The Catalog button will take you to the book catalog. You can easily find the audio recording you need by using the site search. Any book can be listened to online or downloaded for free.
Loyalbooks.com is a resource with over 7,000 free audiobooks in English. All audio files are conveniently divided into chapters, they can be listened to online or downloaded. Most of the recordings are read by professional speakers, the sound quality is good, so it will be easy for you to make out the words.
Thoughtaudio.com - site with free audiobooks in English. Entries are presented in good quality, divided into chapters of the book, they can be downloaded for free or listened to directly on the site.

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life”.

Books can be dangerous. The best of them should have a warning: "This book can change your life."

Helen Exley

We hope you enjoy our tips on how to learn English with audiobooks. In this article, we have presented 7 great resources, and in one of the following articles, we will tell you about 10 more cool sites with free audiobooks. Want to be the first to know about them? Then subscribe and get valuable advice from our teachers and useful links once a week!

The main advantage of an audiobook is the possibility of independent full-fledged study of a foreign language. Audiobooks for learning English for beginners are a multi-level course designed specifically for teaching the language from zero to freehold English speech.

Audiobooks are the perfect combination multimedia and the possibility of distance learning. Thanks to interactivity, translation into Russian, the ability to plan classes on their own.

These books provide fast and effective assimilation of the training material and in many ways replace the services of a tutor, but not in everything. For setting the perfect pronunciation, it is still better to turn to a professional.

Another advantage of a multimedia book is its portability. This book will not take up much space in your bag or backpack. You just write down sound file to a flash drive, player, phone or disk and you can start learning when and where it suits you. Audiobooks are intended primarily for the development of communication skills.

I have prepared for you a list of the best, in my opinion, audiobooks for beginners learning English:

Audiobook by T. A. Morozova "English audio course for beginners" Audiobook by T. A. Morozova "English audio course for beginners" is designed for teaching children aged 6-8 years, but adults who are just starting to learn the language can also use this book. This audiobook will help you learn basic vocabulary, phonetics and grammar.

To date, this manual is one of the best tutorials that fully meets all the requirements of the education system. And thanks to this unusual format, training will be not only high-quality, but also very interesting.

English in 1 hour

English in 1 hour Another popular audio course for beginners, which lasts exactly 60 minutes. Several short lessons in audio format can be listened to and repeated everywhere: On vacation, at home, in the car, in the subway. This book will help you accumulate the necessary practical minimum so that you can feel confident when communicating with native speakers.

This is one of the Living Language bestsellers with a parallel Russian translation, which contains over 400 of the most necessary words and expressions. Just listen and repeat conversations following the speaker on various everyday topics, from polite words to questions that will help you explain yourself in a restaurant. There are also sections on dating meetings and nightlife.

English language. Intensive course for beginners

An audiobook that will help you learn a language in a very short time a short time. Covers almost all topics of daily social and household cultural spheres communication between modern British and Americans. The user is offered to memorize 2,500 words and phrases, training will take 150 academic hours.

The MP3 book by Tatyana Latysheva is clearly aimed at developing the student's practical skills and knowledge, does not contain unnecessary information on little-demanded topics. Only the necessary and sufficient minimum.

English step by step

Recently popular PDF textbooks have been voiced. Now this is an initial audio course, which is based on a completely new principle language learning. The exercises are built on modern speech samples colloquial speech native speakers. The audiobook is intended for all beginners who start learning a foreign language from scratch.

The record of the book can be used by students of secondary schools and universities, in group courses. Also for learning English on your own. The course is recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for students of non-linguistic higher educational institutions.

English for holidays abroad

English for holidays abroad An audiobook for those who are going on a trip or vacation abroad in the near future. English is known to be the language of international communication. Therefore, wherever you are going on a tourist trip, this course will be very useful for you to improve your knowledge in this area, expand vocabulary and improve pronunciation.

The MP3 file contains many topics that can be useful on vacation - courtesy, arrival, hotel check-in, transport, food, service, attractions and museums, money, telephone conversations, shopping, health care. Be sure to take this book with you when you travel!

famous English audio lessons radio station "Voice of America" (Voice of America "VOA"). Free English audio lessons are audio files various topics, from simple to complex. English audio lessons very useful for learning spoken English. Here you can download English audio lessons absolutely free. English audio lessons for free- a great learning tool for everyone with different levels language proficiency.

Audio lesson 1. You will learn how to greet each other and say your name in English.

Audio lesson 2. You will learn to introduce other people by their names and professions.

Audio lesson 3. You will learn to ask your new acquaintances what they do, what work they do, learn the names of professions and a few pronouns. Repeat the words and expressions used when meeting.

Audio lesson 4. You will learn to ask the question “Who are you?”, “What is your name?”, and also repeat the words and expressions used when meeting.

Audio lesson 5. In this lesson, you will learn how to say goodbye and thank your interlocutor.

Audio lesson 6. You will learn how to ask for directions and explain how to get or drive to a certain place.

Audio lesson 7. The question "Where are you from?" - Where are you from? and the answer to it.

Audio Lesson 8. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about where you live and work.

Audio Lesson 9. Learn to respond to requests and polite orders. Learn the expressions you can use to make a request or give an order.

Audio lesson 10. In this lesson, you will learn how to make inquiries about the road using the map.

Audio lesson 11. You will learn how to tell who you are by profession and what kind of work you do, as well as how you can find out the names of unfamiliar objects.
Audio lesson 12. Acquaintance with different professions, types of work and stories about it.

Audio lesson 13. You will learn how to talk about the work that different people do, as well as point to nearby and distant objects.

Audio Lesson 14. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about the place and time of the work performed. You will also learn how to ask questions with the question words where and when.

Audio lesson 15. Plural nouns. Names of various enterprises and institutions.

Audio lesson 16. You will learn to talk about houses and apartments, as well as ask general questions that require a positive or negative answer.

Audio lesson 17. You will learn to answer questions about your home and what you can (can) do.

Audio lesson 18. In this lesson, you will learn about the terms used to refer to family relationships and learn how to answer questions about family members, where they live and what they do.

Audio lesson 19. Introduction to new terms family relations. Introducing family members and answering questions about the family.

Audio lesson 20. Questions and answers in the past tense and their difference from questions in the present tense. Answers to questions about the family.

Audio lesson 21. You will learn to talk about what you like, mainly what kind of music you prefer.

Audio Lesson 22. Description of various actions in the present and past tense and answers to questions about one's past.

Audio lesson 23. You will learn to ask questions about what your acquaintances are going to do in the future.

Audio lesson 24. You will learn how to ask questions about modes of transport and give answers to them.

Audio lesson 25. You will learn to ask questions about the time of your work and rest in the past tense with the question word when and give answers to them.

Audio lesson 26. Filling in the questionnaire (application form) during the interview.

Audio Lesson 27. You will learn to ask questions about your favorite activities and sports and talk about them.

Audio Lesson 28. You will learn to talk about and ask questions about things that people usually don't like to do.

Audio lesson 29. You will learn to talk about the things you want to have in your wardrobe or buy.

Audio lesson 30. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about events and activities in which you would like to participate.

Audio lesson 31. Tell what you don't like and what you don't like to do.

Audio lesson 32. You will learn to understand the timing of certain events and talk about your schedule.

Audio lesson 33. We will continue to look into the timing of certain events, as well as talk about our schedule. You will learn to see the difference between the circumstances of approximate and exact time.

Audio lesson 34. We will continue to look into the timing of certain events, as well as revisit our schedule.

Audio lesson 35. In this lesson, you will learn how to ask questions and give answers about the exact time of various activities.

Audio lesson 36. Questions and answers about the timing of various events.

Audio lesson 37. You will learn to understand the description of appearance different people and answer your own questions.

Audio lesson 38. Description of the appearance of different people and answers to questions about their appearance and the appearance of their friend.

Audio lesson 39. Continuation of the theme "Appearance". Description of the physical data of different people.

Audio Lesson 40. Description of your appearance - "How I look."

Audio Lesson 41. Description of the appearance of older people.

Audio Lesson 42. Description of buildings.

Audio Lesson 43. You will learn how to describe your property.

Audio Lesson 44. Oral story about different cities and areas for those who do not know anything about them.

Audio Lesson 45. You will learn to describe different objects and tell what functions they perform.

Audio lesson 46. Description of different places and regions.

Audio lesson 47. Repetition: information about the road - how to get or drive to a specific place.

Audio lesson 48. Description of the items of clothing you want to buy.

Audio Lesson 49. Repetition: a conversation about things you want or need to buy. You will also learn new words - food names.

Audio Lesson 50. Conversation about the cost of vegetables. Questions about market prices.

Audio lesson 51. Repetition of phrases and expressions from previous lessons. You will also learn how to ask for help in the store.

Audio lesson 52. Repetition of phrases and expressions from previous lessons.

Audio lesson 53. Repeating greetings, as well as expressions with which we say goodbye and introduce ourselves and other people.

Audio lesson 54. Repetition of expressions with which we introduce ourselves and other people and say goodbye. Exercises with these expressions.

Audio lesson 55 . You will learn to recognize the names of your new acquaintances and tell them your name. You will also be introduced to some new types of interrogative sentences.

Audio lesson 56. You will get acquainted with the different terms and titles used when addressing, and practice their use.

Audio lesson 57. You will learn how to talk about your age, give your address and the addresses of various organizations.

Audio Lesson 58. You will learn to apologize for your actions and respond politely to other people's apologies.

Audio Lesson 59. Learn expressions to politely interrupt someone you are talking to.

Audio Lesson 60. Learn expressions that indicate the belonging of objects, and repeat different forms of interrogative sentences.

Audio Lesson 61. You will learn how to talk about the weather, learn useful expressions and questions to use at the beginning of a conversation with strangers.

Audio Lesson 62. You will learn how to ask for permission, follow orders and commands, and learn new vocabulary related to Home.

Audio Lesson 63. Repetition of old and acquaintance with new words and expressions on the topic "Family".

Audio Lesson 64. Relationships between people at work. Words and expressions on this topic.

Audio Lesson 65. You will learn to ask questions about different professions work and a small family business.

Audio Lesson 66. You will learn more about different professions and occupations and learn how to ask questions about the topic.

Audio Lesson 67. You will learn how to approach your interlocutor with a request and give permission.

Audio Lesson 68. We will continue to practice how to ask and how to give permission.

Audio Lesson 69. We will talk about the use of the verb could to express the possibility (probability) of performing an action and compare it with the verb can.

Audio Lesson 70. You will learn to ask questions and give explanations about unfamiliar objects and actions.

Audio Lesson 71. You will learn to ask for explanations and give examples.

Audio lesson 72. You will learn to understand conversations about health and life experiences.

Audio lesson 73. You will learn to express your feelings, mainly joy and good mood.

Audio lesson 74. You will learn to express your feelings, mostly sadness and bad mood.

Audio Lesson 75. You will learn to ask questions about the location of various objects and objects.

Audio lesson 76. You will learn how to answer questions about the location of various objects and the venue of events.

Audio lesson 77. In this lesson, you will learn how to ask questions about the venue various works at the construction site.

Audio lesson 78. Learn to describe the appearance and physical characteristics of people.

Audio lesson 79. You will learn to understand and give descriptions of different objects, their size, color and shape.

At the moment, there are already a great many different audio courses designed to be listened to in the car.

Leaving aside the question of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of this technique, we have compiled for you a selection of several such audio materials. Listen and improve your English on the way to work.

Before downloading this or that course, we highly recommend that you at least briefly understand what English audio courses are in a car, what you can expect from them, and what you should not.

Let's start with the fact that, in our opinion, such audio courses can never replace a full-fledged teaching of the English language. Let's be honest, in our teaching practice we have not yet met a single person who would learn to speak English only by listening to such courses in the car on the way to work.

"Classes" in English using this method are severely limited by several obvious factors.

Firstly, due to objective reasons, you cannot concentrate 100% on learning English, because forced to drive a car in parallel, assess the situation on the roads, etc. Therefore, from time to time you will be forced to “give out” the process for a couple of minutes and then return to the material you listened to again.

Secondly, by doing this, you activate only one of several channels for perceiving information, namely, the auditory one. That is, even when you hear a word, you don’t know how it is spelled, you don’t see its transcription, and you probably won’t be able to write it on paper without errors later. This no longer allows us to talk about an adequate process of learning a language.

Let it not seem to you that we are only opponents of such courses. It must be admitted that the methodology of English courses in a car has its undeniable advantages:

1) You can listen to the material every day for at least 30-60 minutes, without additional organization of time for classes. It's objectively convenient.

2) Listening to the material several times in the car, you willy-nilly begin to memorize it. The material is, as it were, recorded in the subcortex of your brain.

Practice shows that the most effective result from such courses can be obtained in addition to the basic teaching of English in a language school or with a teacher (in any case, such training should be basic!).

That is, going through a topic with a teacher, you then fix it by listening in the car. In this case, with a certain system of training, a good result is guaranteed.

Here is a selection of some of these courses that can help you learn the language. Go ahead, try it, download it to your flash drives, listen. Perhaps for you it will become an indispensable support in English classes.

1) 1C. Driving English (audio course)

1C English driving - Part 1

1C - English driving - Part 2

Hello my most amazing readers.

You have no idea how it hurts me sometimes to hear that students do not pay due attention to the development of their listening comprehension skills. Of course, this is not so important when entering. And in life?

But still, I am sure that most of you are among those who do not neglect this part of the training. And for you I have madly interesting topic- audiobooks in English for beginners. Downloads for several of them and tips for working are below.

What to listen?

Well, I have books for you from private collections that I'm sure you'll love. You can download mp3 for yourself and start listening right now.

In the archive you will find 4 folders with my favorite works: Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Princess Diaries. All except Alice are given with texts.

Probably, you have heard more than once about English language courses according to the method of Ilona Davydova. Now, for a very affordable price, you can listen to her quality courses in audio format. For example, here is one of the disks ( Conversational English. Course 1. Disc 1. In the city ), a fragment of which you can listen to right now. Buy these helpful courses (or other audio and electronic literature) you can on the site Litres. There I often listen to and read books myself when I am on the road or doing household chores. Very comfortably!

Great Audiobook Sites Online

Of course, now it is not always so necessary to download audiobooks. You can simply listen to them online. I have for you my personal top sites that you can use to improve your audio experience.

http://www.loyalbooks.com- one of the best foreign sites that have collected an excellent collection of a wide variety of books. From adventure stories to science fiction and love stories. Whatever you want, you will see on the pages of this site.

http://www.storynory.com/- a very interesting site where you can listen not only famous stories but also little-known stories of people from all over the world.

http://www.librivox.org- a site created exclusively by volunteers who, out of the kindness of their hearts, share with the records. Moreover, among the catalog you can see those that are not so easy to find.

Why do it?

Let's be honest, you can't expect your foreign language will get better solely on knowledge. So, listening gives you not only new vocabulary, but also improves your perception oral speech, thereby making it more diverse, lively and interesting.

How to use it?

Of course, you can’t just take and dump an audio recording on your head. She needs prepare. I have some tips for you that I hope will help you.

Choose according to your level.

For language learning, this training option will be incredibly useful. already owning basic knowledge you can confidently listen to adapted recordings and practice from them. Moreover, on initial stage I do not just recommend, but I insist that you listen to the adapted recordings.

No need to look for records with translation.

Yes, it would be much easier to download the recording with the translation. But in this case, you slow yourself down, because you will concentrate less on speech, and wait more for the subsequent translation.

Choose for the soul.

Now you can and, and download your favorite works for free. Choose the ones you already like. Or those that you have dreamed of reading for a long time. Do not believe it, but you will understand b about most of the text, if the book is extremely interesting to you.

Well, have you already chosen your first books that you will listen to? Share in the comments what. Maybe I'll take something for myself.

And remember, my dear ones, that with me you can improve your English step by step. Subscribe to my blog newsletter and receive regular portions of usefulness.

Until we meet again, my dears.