As we’ll mention in an upcoming piece, European languages dominate the list of most popular educational podcasts. So we thought that we’d highlight the key podcasts that will teach you the major European languages — Spanish, French, Italian and German. Meanwhile, if you want to learn English online, please see our piece below. Bonne chance.
For our complete collection, see How to Learn Languages for Free: Spanish, English, Chinese & Beyond.
French
- French for Beginners iTunes Feed Web Site
- Fun, effective lessons for beginners. Provided by the French Ecole.
- Le Journal en français facile iTunes Feed Web Site
- Nightly news from RFI presented in slowly spoken French to assist you with your comprehension.
- Learn French by Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
- A well-reviewed series of lessons for beginners and those who want to brush up on their French.
- Learn French with Daily Podcasts iTunes Feed Web Site
- These lessons are brought to you by French teachers from Paris. They are best suited for those who already have some beginning French under their belts.
- The French Pod Class iTunes Feed Web Site
- A very popular collection that teaches students the French language and different facets of French culture.
- The Verbcast — French Verbs by Relaxation iTunes Feed Web Site
- A four-week series of lessons that will allow you to refine your knowledge of French verbs.
German
- Deutsch — warum nicht?
- Slowly Spoken News iTunes Feed
- Deutsche Welle provides a nightly news broadcast in German that’s spoken slowly so that you can work on your comprehension.
- GerGermanGrammar iTunes Feed Web Site
- German grammar lessons aimed at American students.
- Lernen Wir Deutsch iTunes Feed Web Site
- Presented in video, these “vodcasts” get high marks for being not only educational but also very entertaining.
- MyDailyPhrase.com iTunes Feed Web Site
- Learn German phrase by phrase over a course of 20 weeks. The podcasts will cover all the language you need to know to get by on a visit to a German-speaking country. This series is put together by the same people created the popular series “Coffee Break Spanish.”
Italian
- LearnItalianPod.com iTunes Feed Web Site
- A series of Italian language lessons that will get you up and running. I have personally used them and found them effective.
- Let’s Speak Italian iTunes Feed Web Site
- This collection will help you learn Italian in small, manageable 5‑minute bites.
- MyDailyPhrase.com iTunes Web Site
- Learn Italian step by step over a course of 20 weeks. The podcasts will cover all the language you need to know to get by on a visit to a Italian-speaking country. Created by the same people who put together the popular series “Coffee Break Spanish.”
- World Languages Podcasting — Italian Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
- It’s admittedly a bit of an untraditional way to learn Italian. This podcast lets you listen to conversations about Australian culture in Italian.
Spanish
- Coffee Break Spanish iTunes Feed Web Site
- Learn Spanish in a low-key, effective way. Currently the #2 overall favorite in iTunes’ podcast collection. They must be loaded on iPods everywhere.
- Finally Learn Spanish — Beyond the Basics iTunes Feed Web Site
- If you’ve had some Spanish classes and you need experience listening to and speaking the language, then Finally Learn Spanish has a collection of podcasts for you.
- Insta Spanish Lessons iTunes Feed Web Site
- Weekly comprehension and grammar exercises for students of all levels. One of the more popular podcasts on iTunes.
- Learn Spanish Survival Guide iTunes Feed
- If you’re planning a trip to a Spanish speaking country, and if you don’t know the langugage, this will help get you up to speed.
Hi there
trying to start a learn irish podcast for those who are interested can be found over at http://www.learnirish.ie
If you are interested in learning Japanese check this out
http://www.learnjapanesepod.com/
Also, we have put all our podcasts in one easy place to listen to and download. http://learnjapanesepod.com/all-podcasts/
You should try the best podcast to learn english:
English as a Second Language Podcast
http://www.eslpod.com
is there anything for welsh? i’d be very grateful if anyone was to find one!
Learn French guide, all about how to learn french and how to speak french.
mmmm I been on http://www.babbel.com
and its pretty good, I am learning Dutch.
and I think I am getting the hang of it.
try it and contact me ‑chickensoup-
There are a whole range of language podcasts in addition to the ones mentioned, which can be found on http://www.podcastalley.com or within the podcast education section of iTunes.LearnItalianPod is not bad — bit more variation in levels would be great. For Spanish, I use http://www.spanishpod.com, which has seemed to grow extremely fast since it began a few months ago. For German and French, I do not use anything, but if I did the first place I would go would be iTunes.
welsh
Hi good team, i need you help what happed its that my wife she speak French and the fact its that i want her to learn Spanish, but i don’t know were to find a French podcats to learn Spanish. Am Spanish and right know we are in Colombia in a island Name San Andres, its really cute we speak creole English but at the same time the language of Colombia Spanish.
Can any one help me, he***********@gm***.com please help me.
Hey! Nice blog
Your blog is very helpful for those who wanna learn different types of languages. Links are great and interesting.
[…] 20 Podcasts That Will Teach You Spanish, French, Italian and German | Open Culture (tags: Spanish/pod French/pod Italian/pod German/pod) […]
i really like to study italia, but i have not still got any lesson in my email; please help me !
thanks so much !
i still don’t know how to speak french and i am going to a place it speaks french tomorrow and if guys can help me please I’m begging you just teach how for free and i will try not to bug you guys again so please will you help me and i don’t want look stupid there at all so just help me and i will try to find another website that can help me
oh if anyone needs help with any other language i can help you
well since no is talking to me back i well just leave well than goodbye forever (crying)
i still don’t know how to speak french and i am going to a place it speaks french tomorrow and if guys can help me please I’m (begging) you just teach how for free and i will try not to bug you guys again so please will you help me and i don’t want look stupid there at all so just help me and i will try to find another website that can help me
[…] but I find them much more interesting and practical than lesson style podcasts. Here’s a resource with links for Spanish, French, German and Italian and […]
nice site…such a great help for those who wants to learn this languages because you give specific languages to be learn in this site :) you should try http://learnitalianonlines.com .…
learnitalianonlines.com
http://learnitalianonlines.com
I am looking for the best way on how to learn the
Spanish language. I do hope so that this podcasts could help a lot in my
problem. I will have the time to use this soon.
I just did a huge post on how to choose the Italian language program that’s best for you. If you’ve got time, check it out.
http://www.speakoutitalian.com/how-to-choose-an-italian-language-program/
Also, the travel insurance company World Nomads has free language courses for your ipod. They are basic but pretty good if you want to learn travel phrases. Sorry, don’t have a link.….just Google it!
Cheers!
Jason
It is so great to see so many people teaching languages these days! I wouldn’t know what I would do without people like you I really wouldn’t. I’m currently using http://www.little-linguist.co.uk/french-for-children.html to try and teach my little girl French, so far so good!
Hi, congratulations for a very useful and interesting collection of podcasts. For Italian, I would suggest you also add Italiano ON-Air, a completely free Italian podcast useful for learning or practicing the Italian language.
Every week we publish a new episode that talks about Italy and the Italian language, dealing with current topics, or events, or sports or playing on idioms. You can find the site with links to the various podcast services here: https://podcast.scuolaleonardo.com