Reading or listening: what’s the best way to learn?

CC subtitles available in multiple languages.

Can listening to books be as effective as reading them for learning? In this video, I'll explain why you don't have to choose just one.

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Is listening as effective as reading?
0:27 Is reading better?
1:32 Audiobooks
3:10 To read or to listen
4:07 How reading and listening reinforce each other
6:39 Literacy strategies

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[Thelinguist]

❓What do you prefer: reading or listening? Let me know in the comments!

[solange.moraes]

Read first, look up the new words, then read and listen at the same time. If you do that consistently, you'll learn a new language much faster.

[minhnguyen-dwkv]

When I learn a new language, I always feel listening much harder than reading and so I will put a lot of effort into listening. That's it!!!

[charlesm]

Combining reading and listening at the same time is a game changer, even in your native language. I'm able to get through really long books faster by listening to the audio book at 2x or 3x speed as I read along with the book. For foreign languages, I listen at 0.5x or 0.75x speed and read a little bit ahead and listen to confirm the pronunciation of words.

[dimitrifyodorovickaramazov]

Hey Steve, thank you for the video.

I am a Turkish guy living in St. Petersburg, Russia. I am more of a reader and a grammar guy. I can tell you this: as I do not consume audiovisual content like I read and study grammar, I feel like my understanding of the language on the street level is just pathetic.

Of course, as an intermediate Russian speaker, I understand when people talk to me, I reply to them, no problem. People basically lower their speaking level when they talk to me because I am a foreigner, obviously. In addition, nobody speaks on the street the way I read, they swallow the sounds, words, use slang, etc. Even those language learning podcasts are different than what people actually speak. It is just another level, and I don't think you can get there without consuming audiovisuals that the native speakers themselves consume.

Thank you for encouraging listening as well as reading, it made me realize I need to focus more on audiovisuals. Thank you!

[abeer]

I'm in my 20s but the way you sustain your curiosity and keep on making an effort is how I want to live my life! I'm learning korean and have started to move onto chinese. I've been following you for a long time and really love your content, app, and mindset! Love from Pakistan!

[Hellenicheavymetal]

After getting about 14, 000 words I decided to start listening more. You have to get used to hearing the words over and over again in different contexts and to get used to the speed people talk. I don't want to go to the country and have to ask people to please slow down.

[chrisbunka]

Whichever we do first LATER, we have to LISTEN to Steve’s videos first!

[mateuszgogowski]

What I found really uplifting in Steve videos is the thought of not worrying about forgetting words over and over. It just puts the pressure and frustration off of one shoulder. And the second thought is that you can not control your brain speed in terms of learning pace - just allow it to take you a couple of years 😂

[XICE_Xice]

Im From UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿 in central Asia . Your videos are very usefull, thanks a lot

[summertime]

Hi, Steve, a new subscriber here! I'm an Uzbek 🇺🇿 linguist currently living in the States and raising a trilingual child. I'd long been following your son's fascinating research and then I found out about your amazing channel! What an incredible family you have!
If you ever decide to dabble into Uzbek (perhaps after Turkish), I'd be delighted to help you with finding high quality reading and listening materials that might help.
In any case, good luck and I'm really hoping your interest in Central Asia leads you to one of the languages spoken in the region!!

[alanguages]

Do them both. Strongest when reading, listening and speaking is done at the same time. Two input and one output simultaneously.

[ms.andrea]

Depends on what you prefer. If I have to read a boring book, it's not going to happen. Audio and taking notes works best for me.

[anthonymedina]

I use LingQ so I do both at the same time, also I increase the speed of some courses just to exercise my brain to get better understanding of different accents and conected speech.

[Buxeyjo]

I always found reading first to be best, as when I read first I have learned what the person is going to say. Then I listen to what they say to improve my listening comprehension.

[blotski]

I like both but I prefer listening. I don't know why but when I hear a new word or phrase I can not only remember it better but often remember the context in which I learned it. If I come across a new word in a text I struggle to remember it and if I do where I came across it.
But it's important to also remember that written language is nearly always more complex and has a greater range of vocabulary than unscripted speech. Which is why understanding films and plays can be hard because a script is just written language performed.

[TheCompleteGuitarist]

Both are important and have their place and of course negotiating spoken langauge with real communicative context is the most important step in creating meaning in your language skills. Nonetheless, I would say that reading and listening to audio are very similar. If you are reading at a level appropriate to your competence, and it is essential that you understand what the words you read sound like, your inner voice will read to you and you can slow down and speed up the reading pace as necessary to your needs. So I would place reading over listening to audiobooks in terms of being able to negotiate the language. Being able to adapt the tempo of your reading and repeated reading of passages that you don't understand on first reading will help comprehension emerge. Listening is linear event based (meaning related to the passing of time) and it is harder to repeat listening events than it is to reread something in a book.

I live in the country of my target language and it is really hard to learn from speakers who expect you to understand like adults, never adapt their speech to enable you to understand, just expect you to understand. Asking someone to repeat several times becomes embarrasing after a while. This was my reality as an adult learner learning from scracth so it took longer than I expected or hoped for. Reading is massive. Inner voice is essential here!!!

[robertgloverjr]

Today I am on page 96 of the 1, 250 page Kindle edition in Spanish of Harry Potter book 5 (of 7). I read at the same time I listen to the Audible Book of same. This system guarantees I hear correct pronunciation. A 40 minute chapter takes maybe 120 minutes because I frequently ask chatGPT to explain coloquial expressions or definitions of magical incantations or biographies of characters (Sirius Snape, Ojoloco Moody, Ron & George Weasley, etc etc). And of course Google translate is indispensable. The Harry Potter series is perfect because each successive volume has more advanced vocabulary and grammar.

[jechnde]

always find something new and useful in your lessons. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us!

[umar.]

Primarily, listening to a foreign language ebook will help to improve pronunciation and accent...!