April 21st, 2023
The Ultimate Guide to Language Learning Podcasts
Podcasts are going through a revival. With new language learning podcasts appearing all the time, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start and knowing what’s worth your time. That’s where this post comes in. I’ve spent hours scouring iTunes so you don’t have to. Enjoy the Ultimate Guide to Language Learning Podcasts!
How to Use Podcasts for Language Learning
Before we dive right into the list of the best language learning podcasts, maybe you’re thinking “Yeah but why? How the heck am I supposed to use podcasts for language learning other than just listen on my commute?”
There’s quite a few useful ways you can use podcasts for language learning…
Find language learning podcasts or native ones
As well as the language learning podcasts created specifically with learners in mind, as your skills begin to improve, you can also consider podcasts created for native speakers. Podcasts are such a great place to look for real speed audio about a whole host of topics. There’s bound to be something you love in the language you’re learning.
Slow things down (or speed them up)
A real benefit of podcasts over other audio such as language audio courses or clips you find online is that within the Apple Podcast app, it’s very easy to slow down or speed audio up.
Why would you want to do this? Well, one of the biggest complaints of people struggling with listening in the language they’re learning is that it’s too fast. So the ability to slow down what you’re listening to (or speed it up if you’re after a challenge!) is golden.
Here’s how to do that in the Apple Podcasts app:
Passive or active listening
No matter what type of listening practice you’re after, podcasts are great. Whether it’s passive listening you want while you commute or work or wash up, or whether it’s active listening you want while you’re in some serious focused study time, you can use podcasts.
Unlike listening to radio in your target language, you can revisit podcast audio really easily as many times as you like. So maybe you’re listening passively on your morning commute but taking some time to re-listen and focus at lunchtime.
Sometimes there’s transcripts
I don’t know about you but one thing I find really helps me when I’m listening to content is reading along at the same time. Well, you might just be in luck! Some podcasts (especially the language learning specific ones) provide transcripts if you head over to their connected website. Yay!
How to Find The Right Language Learning Podcasts for You
If this list (we’ll get there in a moment. It’s huge, I promise.) doesn’t have what you’re after there are a few ways you can find new podcasts.
Player.fm
This website (and app) is basically a huge database of podcasts from different sources. You can search via topic (including ‘International’) and then filter results via language.
I did notice when I got a bit too specific that the language filter didn’t work too well as I still got some English results, but that said, it’s still very useful.
Change your country on iTunes
Open iTunes on a computer and click the flag icon in the bottom right-hand corner to change your country. Make sure you’re searching in ‘Podcasts’. It will look a little like this:
You’ll then be presented with either a very similar looking page or a page full of podcasts in the language you’re learning. Podcasts are more popular in some languages than others, so you might notice a huge difference and get lots of options, or you might just get the podcasts you’re used to seeing on the homescreen in English.
Click related when you’ve found one you like in Podcasts
Once you’ve found one new podcast within the Podcasts app, click the ‘Related’ tab on this screen:
This can become a bit of rabbit hole as you can go deeper with each new podcast you find so be prepared!
The List
Ok, you ready? Time for the serious stuff. Roll up your sleeves…!
General Language & Linguistics
Let’s start with a great selection of podcasts about languages, language learning and linguistics. There’s some really interesting stuff in this section so don’t skip past just yet!
Average length: 30 minutes
This one is my podcast where I discuss the most relevant topics that affect how we learn languages – I’m especially interested in the stuff we often ignore or don’t think about! From time to time, I bring on guests to share how they learn languages too.
Language Stories
Average length: 20 minutes
Language Stories is my podcast and video series discovering languages around the world and meeting the people who speak them. So far, seasons 1 and 2 have taken us from The Americas across to Southeast Asia.
The Fluent Show
Average length: 1 hour
Ok, so I can’t not mention this one! What started as Kerstin Cable’s podcast alongside her blog Fluent Language became our joint venture to discover and share all things language.
A Way With Words
Average length: 50 minutes
Radio show with call-ins about language curiosities. They also have a regular Quiz Guy who you will love if you love to play with language.
Average length: 30 minutes
With a mixture of guest and solo episodes, Hedvig brings a great enthusiasm and knowledge to the ‘how to’ of language learning. I was even interviewed myself on the show! You can check out that episode right here.
Accentricity
Average length: 20-30 minutes
What a discovery! Accentricity is a podcast from Sadie Ryan all about…yep, you guessed, accents. It’s a podcast about people and the way we talk. A great one to subscribe to.
Actual Fluency
Average length: 1 hour
I remember back in early 2014 when I started Lindsay Does Languages and I discovered this equally new language blog (and podcast!) called Actual Fluency. Kris Broholm focuses on interviews with this podcast. Interviews with language learners you know, some you might not, and an open and friendly view on this thing we call language learning. If you’re looking for somewhere to start here’s my most recent appearance!
The Allusionist
Average length: 20 minutes
Well-made and light-hearted look at unusual words or interesting aspects of language and linguistics. Very enjoyable.
Anthony Metivier’s Magnetic Memory Method
Average length: 30 minutes – 1 hour
If you find yourself knowing what to use to learn a language but always asking “but how can I remember what I learn?!”, then this one’s for you. Anthony’s podcast goes beyond just languages to share different memory techniques from memory palaces to how art galleries will improve your memory.
Because Language
Average length: 45 minutes
One of my absolute favourites on this list. Formerly Talk The Talk, Because Language is a radio style show from Western Australia with a fun and approachable look at current language news and interesting (and sometimes controversial) topics. If you subscribe to only one podcast on this list, make it this one. Really good stuff.
Bunny Trails
Average length: 30 minutes
Another one for etymology and word history buffs! Bunny Trails explores English phrases and how they came to be.
Conlangery Podcast
Average length: 50 minutes
Not only does this podcast discuss conlangs (constructed languages, Esperanto for example), but there’s also a mix of native language episode discussions, interviews, and episodes focusing on specific aspects of language. A tad academic in comparison to some other podcasts on this list.
En Clair
Average length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Have you heard of forensic linguistics? Well, you’re about to discover all about it. En Clair is (in their own words) a podcast about forensic linguistics, literary detection, language mysteries, cryptography, codes, linguistic crime and more. If you love language podcasts but get distracted by the murder mystery ones, you’ve just found your happy place.
Expand Your World – Be Bilingual With Queenie Kawabe
Average length: 45 minutes
Queenie’s podcast has a great mix of interviews and back catalogue of bitesized Japanese and Chinese lessons. Check out episode 128 with me(!) where I discuss how to use social media for language learning.
Field Notes
Average length: 40 minutes
If all this talk of linguistics has got you curious, then here’s another one to subscribe to – Field Notes. Field Notes is a podcast about linguistic fieldwork, with stories shared from linguistics who’ve been out there documenting language.
Language Chats
Average length: 30 minutes
If you like podcasts where you get to hear two friends talking about things that interest you too, then this one’s for you! Penny and Bec both live in Melbourne, Australia and share their language learning stories and tips on this friendly podcast.
Language Hacking
Average length: 40-60 minutes
Hosted by Benny Lewis and Shannon Kennedy of Fluent in 3 Months, Language Hacking features interviews with language learners to help you discover smarter, faster ways to learn a language.
Hear my episode on Language Hacking discussing my love of dabbling with languages.
The Language Mastery Show
Average length: 1 hour
John Fotheringham is an experienced language learner himself, which makes for great conversation when he brings his gusts on. I’ve even featured on the Language Mastery Show myself on a previous episode.
The Language Revolution
Average length: 30-40 minutes
As language uptake at GCSE falls in the UK, Cate Hamilton has decided to do something about it. When language learning in the UK matters more than ever, listen as Cate interviews scientists, linguists, wordsmiths and other guests.
Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann
Average length: 15 minutes
Known for co-founding LingQ, a great resource for language learners, Steve Kaufmann has years of experience to share with you about his language learning. Well worth a listen.
Lexicon Valley
Average length: 30 minutes
Often looks at current aspects of the English language.
Lexitecture
Average length: 20-60 minutes
Lexitecture is presented by Ryan and Amy, and is an interesting look at words, exploring origins, use, and how and why we use the words we do.
Lingthusiasm
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Presented by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne, this podcast is a must for any language and linguistics enthusiast. There’s a great back catalogue to dig into too…enjoy!
Linguistics After Dark
Average length: 1 hour
What drew me to Linguistics After Dark (despite the cute logo and fun name) is their description: a little like CarTalk for language: call us if your language is making a funny noise, and we’ll get to the bottom of it. I’m in!
New Books in Language
Average length: 1 hour
Speaking of academic language, if that’s your thing, this one is for you. The podcast is released sporadically and the host chats about new language and linguistics books with the authors.
OnWords
Average length: 1 minute
Short episodes each focusing on one word, often a current word present in the media..
Something Rhymes With Purple
Average length: 40 minutes
Hosted by Susie Dent (Countdown Queen!) and Gyles Brandreth, Something Rhymes With Purple is an enjoyable delve into language and word origins each episode. Oh, and it’s won awards so you know it’s a good one.
Subtitle
Average length: 20 minutes
A great podcast for all interested in languages. They tend to focus on various situations with different native and immigrant languages across the USA. One of my favourites!
That’s What They Say
Average length: 4 minutes
Bite-sized episodes asking the language questions we’ve always wanted to ask but have been to afraid. For example, why do we say “you can have your cake and eat it?” Surely if you have cake, the fact that it’s going to get eaten is taken as a given, right? That’s What They Say will give you the answers.
The Vocal Fries
Average length: 40-60 minutes
The Vocal Fries is a podcast about linguistic discrimination. It’s one part linguistic curiosity, and one part how to be a better human through being aware of what they share here.
Words For Granted
Average length: 20 minutes
Interesting podcast looking at how words change over time.
Word Of Mouth
Average length: 30 minutes
Exploring words and the ways we use them, this podcast from the BBC digs into everything from ‘Words Used About Women’ to ‘Communicating Climate Change’ and everything in between. Oh, and it’s normally hosted by Michael Rosen, so that’s a plus too.
Word Up
Average length: 5 minutes
Fascinating insights into indigenous languages across Australia from ABC Radio.
Average length: 1 hour
Elle interviews her multilingual guests about their experience with languages and culture.
The Language Confidence Project
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Emily discusses motivation to help boost your language learning confidence.
Bilingual Avenue
Average length: 20-45 minutes
If you’re raising your children bilingually or want to, Mariana Du Bosq has you covered. The Bilingual Avenue Podcast deals with questions from listeners, detailed tips episodes, and interviews with a range of people with great stories to share for parents. Check out episode 93 where I join Mariana to share 15 tools to help children learn languages.
News Feeds
One thing I do almost every working day is listen to news podcasts in different languages. It’s weird. You know, I don’t actually listen to/watch/read much news on a regular basis in English, but I get that it’s important to be filled in and up to date on the goings on in the world. Listening to news podcasts in different languages helps twofold: firstly, it gives me some passive listening practice and secondly it gives me an overview of the important stories globally beyond my little social media news bubble.
News in Slow…
Languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain or Latin America), Japanese, Russian (Japanese & Russian from different company)
Average length: 10 minutes (1-2 minutes for Russian and Japanese)
Level: Beginner, intermediate
One of the first podcasts for language learning that I discovered. This is a great beginner podcast if you’d like to use news to learn languages. You’ll need a subscription if you want the transcripts and full episodes, but the podcast feeds have a shorter version of each episode, which is useful too.
SBS
Languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Bangla, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Croatian, Dari, Dinka, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hakha Chin, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Karen, Khmer, Kirundi, Korean, Kurdish, Lao, Macedonian, Malayalam, Maltese, Mandarin, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Rohingya, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese
Average length: Between 5-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
I couldn’t quite believe the range of languages when I found this for Indonesian and searched back to where it came from. Great short bursts of listening practice, but be aware that it’s from Australia so there are short interview clips in English. Still, with this range of languages, who cares?!
NHK
Languages: Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
My daily staple. Normally I start my work day listening to the latest episodes of these podcasts in various languages. What’s great about this is that the format is the same across different languages, so if you’re using it for multiple languages you can start with the more difficult ones and then “check” with your easier languages. Woop! Note that the news tends to be Japan and Asia focused.
BBC
Languages: Arabic, Burmese, Cornish, Jerriais (& Polish and French!), Persian, Russian Scottish Gaelic, Welsh (linking to one of many here!)
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
An interesting mix of languages from the BBC. It’s worth noting that I could only find a handful of languages on the Apple Podcast app, but I didn’t try searching with different writing scripts. By the way, if you’re learning English, the BBC has a huge range of podcasts you’ll want to explore right here.
VOA
Languages: Burmese, Dari, English, Indonesian, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, Spanish, Thai, Tibetan, Urdu, Vietnamese
Average length: Varies podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
At first, I thought VOA had a reasonable range of languages…then I used iTunes on my computer to double-check my language list and discovered there’s loads more I hadn’t found on the app! There’s some short episodes for some languages and longer ones for others. I’ve added a couple of their Indonesian feeds to my regular week’s podcast listening.
RFI
Languages: Chinese, English, French, Fulah, Hausa, Khmer, Mandinka, Persian (Farsi), Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Vietnamese
Average length: Varies podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Great range of language podcasts from RFI, and of course, plenty in French if that’s a language you’re learning.
Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Lots of well organised shows available in different languages from KBS, the Korean broadcaster.
Multiple Language Series
Radio Lingua – Coffee Break
Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swedish
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner
Probably one of the longest running language learning podcasts. The Coffee Break series is always very popular and recommended when people tell me about the podcasts they’re using to learn a language.
Radio Lingua – One Minute
Languages: Catalan, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Slovak, Swedish, Ukrainian
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner
If you’re learning a language beyond what’s on offer in the Coffee Break series, Radio Lingua also have their One Minute podcasts. There’s only 10 episodes in each series and they’re not updated anymore but they’re such a useful resource that I’ve used to get the basics in the past that I wanted to mention them here.
Innovative Languages – Survival Phrases
Languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese
Average length: 1-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
A bit like the One Minute series from Radio Lingua, the Survival Phrase series is no longer updated, but is still very useful for getting to grips with a new language.
Language Transfer
Languages: Arabic, English (for Spanish Speakers), French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Brilliant project that reminds me of Michel Thomas style audio courses. A great collection of complete language courses.
Innovative Language – LanguagePod101/Class101
Languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese (mostly affiliate links!)
Average length: 5-15 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
Another of my favourites and normally the first place I look when I’m starting a new language. You might think that because of the range of languages on offer, that dilutes the quality, but not so. If you want to go further and get access to everything (we’re talking transcripts, quizzes, full video and audio content) then you can subscribe to the Pod/Class101 series for your language. Click the individual language links above to find out more about this and sign up for a free trial.
If that’s not what you’re after, they’re still got a huge range of free lessons in podcast form. Woop! Click here to go to the iTunes page for Innovative Language.
Language Specific Podcasts
Afrikaans
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Conversations discussing what Afrikaans is and what it means to be African, often with Afrikaans speakers living abroad.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
There’s always a true crime podcast! Ha! This one hasn’t been updated since 2022 at the time of writing but features a few episodes of true crime in Afrikaans.
Albanian
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short lesson style episodes.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Radio style show, ideal for intermediate or advanced listening practice.
Amharic
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A mixture of grammar lessons and story style episodes.
Arabic
ArabicPod – Learn Arabic (not updated)
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
A podcast aimed at learners but with a more natural style than some typical language learning materials.
Anything from Al-Jazeera
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
A huge selection including lots of video podcasts.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Order the podcast from oldest to newest to start from the beginning (this is a useful tip for many language specific podcasts!).
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Stories in Levantine Arabic to help you boost your listening.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Probably best for intermediate learners who already have a rough grasp on the language.
Learn Levantine Arabic with Livi
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Conversations for great listening practice.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: All
Episodes for various levels if you’re studying Levantine colloquial Arabic.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022 but a decent archive of useful beginner lessons.
Khaled Nassra Method – Learn Arabic On The Go
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Mostly labelled episodes for different levels.
Astafeed – Gain Arabic (MSA/Tunisian)
Average length: 5-8 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Good all rounder but also has a focus on Tunisian Arabic.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Handy for beginner lessons.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Good back catalogue of over 200 episodes, all reasonable length.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2022. Huge archive of dialogue episodes.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Teaching Levantine Arabic.
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This feed shares news bulletin episodes in Ukrainian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Farsi or Spanish. Sometimes the description says the language…mostly it doesn’t – pot luck!
Armenian
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Good listening practice for intermediate or advanced learners of Armenian.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Armenian children’s stories podcast.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Readings of audiobooks in Armenian.
Aymara
Average length: 30 seconds(!)
Level: Beginner
Short lessons and dialogues with brief teaching via Spanish.
Balinese
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
There’s a mixture of Indonesian and Balinese lessons on this feed. Scroll the archive to find the Balinese lessons.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
The feed hasn’t been updated since 2022 but includes episodes uploaded in both Indonesian and Balinese.
Bangla
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Stories read in Bangla.
Basque
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since early 2023 but each episode is uploaded with two versions – original (in Basque) and dubbed (with Spanish).
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022. Decent archive of beginner Basque lessons. Taught in Spanish.
Anything from Euskadi Irratia (EITB)
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
There’s a few to choose from. I’ve linked to just one above but search ‘Euskadi Irratia’ to find more. Enjoy!
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Episodes completely in Basque.
Magazine en Euskara – France Bleu Pays Basque
Average length: 50 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Magazine style episodes from France Bleu.
Bengali
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Classic stories read in Bengali.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
‘Personal diary’ style podcast in Bengali.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
There’s always true crime/thriller style podcasts! This one’s in Bengali.
Bengali Story for Kids and Children
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022 but an archive of children’s stories for listening practice.
Bosnian
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Start from the beginning with episode one.
Breton
Le P’tit Cours de Breton – France Bleu Breizh Izel
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short bitesize lessons in Breton, taught through French.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022. Stories of Breton people and Brittany in Breton (with some French).
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Stories and tales in Breton. Again, with some French.
Bulgarian
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short regular episodes to help with your Bulgarian.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not a lot of episodes in the archive, but hopeful it will continue to grow. Great for beginners learning the basics.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Official podcast feed of Bulgarian National Radio.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Conversation based episodes to give you listening practice.
Burmese
Learn Burmese from Natural Talk
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A great mix of episode styles for a language with not a lot of resources.
Cantonese
Speak Cantonese on Day 1. Be Fluent in Year 7.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great archive for beginner to intermediate learners. Also obsessed with the honest title!
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great podcast for building Cantonese vocabulary.
Miss Winnie Daily Cantonese Small Talk
Average length: 5-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Regular episodes mostly in monologue style, so great for listening practice.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Teacher & student conversations.
Learn Cantonese Better with Betty
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Culture as well as language topics.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Slow news for intermediate and advanced Cantonese learners.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Children’s books read in Cantonese.
Catalan
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Catalan and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Another podcast feed from the Easy Languages team! Such enjoyable conversations, highly recommend these.
Learn Catalan with Couch Polyglot – Your morning sip of Catalan
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Ideal if you have some basic Catalan already under your belt.
Catalan for Beginners – The Lazy Linguist Podcast
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Beginner
My favourite format – teacher and student style!
Average length: 5-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
News in Catalan, typically published at least once daily.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short episodes helpful for beginner to intermediate learners.
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A good range of podcasts fully in Catalan.
Cornish
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner
At the time of writing, just a handful of episodes but hoping this one grows!
Croatian
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great for general phrases and brushing up on your Croatian.
Average length: 6 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Transcripts available via Patreon. Episodes about Croatia, Croatian food, and Croatian culture.
Average length: 6 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Episodes for learners from SBS Croatian and the Croatian Studies Centre at Macquarie University.
Czech
Anything from Český Rozhlas
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
A range of podcasts from the public radio of the Czech Republic/Czechia.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A decent archive of episodes that would work well for listening practice for Czech learners.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Super short episodes so easy to fit in as you need. Plus, a huge archive of episodes covering a specific point per episode.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate & advanced
Irregularly updated episodes for listening practice talking about Czech life, culture and traditions.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Says it’s a great podcast for Czech learners around B1, B2 and C1 level.
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Advanced
A range of shows that would make for great listening for more advanced learners.
Danish
Anything from DR
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Huuuge choice of Danish audio for you right here. There’s also a selection for children, which could be a great place to start of you’re not feeling too advanced yet.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Good short episodes that would suit intermediate learners.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Self-proclaimed intermediate Danish podcast. Entirely in Danish and looks to cover a range of interesting topics.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate
Long form podcast for Danish learners based around easy speed conversations.
Average length: 6 minutes
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Nice length episodes for A2-B2 Danish learners.
Dutch
Echt Gebeurd
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
I was really surprised to see how many podcasts were in Dutch when I checked out the iTunes Podcast page for the Netherlands. Yay! This is a new addition to my subscriptions. Each episode shares a true story about someone’s life. Interesting stuff.
Parel Radio Podcast
Average length: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Nice mix of well-produced stories and documentaries.
Anything from NTR
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Range of podcasts from short science news updates with De Kennis van Nu to documentaries with Radio Doc and my favourite Michiel – Specials which has popular musicians share 5 of their essential tracks, there’s a bit of English in that one though.
Select ‘filter’ and then check the ‘podcast’ box to see the podcast range.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Short and sweet episodes about interesting Dutch topics. A great podcast for Dutch learners. It includes a transcript too.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner and beyond
Quite new at the time of writing but looks like a great podcast for Dutch learners as it starts from A1 level short stories.
Average length: 45 minutes
Level: Beginner
Complete set of 12 sessions podcast for non-native beginner Dutch learners.
Learn Dutch with The Dutch Online Academy
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: All
What I love about this feed is that the episode titles tell you what level to expect that episode to be suitable for. Really handy podcast for all Dutch learners!
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Like you’d expect from the title – straight to the point Dutch dialogue lessons to help you get better with pronunciation and listening.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Dutch and English stories ideal across levels.
English
Happy English Podcast
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
If it’s quick and useful English lessons you’re looking for then the Happy English Podcast has you covered. Michael often compares commonly confused words and phrases, which is a great thing to get to grips with at any level.
The English We Speak
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Weekly podcast focusing on a relatively new term of vocabulary in English each episode. Recent examples include ‘mansplaining’, ‘photobomb’, and ‘cyberchondriac’.
6 Minute English
Average length: 6 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Not one for beginners, but a great range of topics for advancing your English, especially if you’re not sure what topics to turn to next.
All Ears English
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Join Lindsay (great name) and Michelle as they teach you useful nuggets of English in their almost daily 20 minute episodes.
The Feel Good English Podcast
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Combining English learning with productivity tips and TED Talks, Kevin’s podcast is a great way to multi-task your English learning with useful and inspiring content. Check out episode 65 for an interview with me about a very interesting book… Not updated since 2018.
Luke’s English Podcast
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
One thing I love about this podcast is the range of topics. There’s nothing worse than a boring repetitive “range” of topics on a podcast. Luke’s English Podcast is quite the opposite. Also, he’s a Brit so it’s a great choice if you’re looking to learn British English.
English Outside The Box
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Jennifer brings conversations about how to learn English successfully to the podcast. Formerly the English Across The Pond podcast, so lots of episodes in the archive discussing British and American English too.
The Aussie English Podcast
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
If you’re learning English to speak with those down under, then Pete’s podcast is what you want.
I actually spoke with Pete back in 2016 to discuss some differences between Aussie and British Englishes. Check out our conversation here.
Esperanto
Arkivo de 3ZZZ Radio
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
I was amazed when I found this! A whole hour of Esperanto?! Worth listening if you’re curious about the language or if you’re already at a strong level.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Short episodes so great listening practice on the go. Plus pretty regular uploads so you’ll never run out of stuff to listen to!
Average length: 40 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate
Esperanto conversations between Carlos and Pietro from Mexico and Brazil.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
I love the premise of this one! The 20 lessons guide you through a conversation between a King of West Africa and the Defending King of North Iceland in Esperanto. Sounds totally random but ties in with the idea that Esperanto is a world language that facilitates communication.
Average length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Conversation podcast between Rafa, Brandon and Hans. They discuss lots of topics from literature, politics, history and more.
Esperanto Programo – Radio Vaticana
Average length: 8 minutes
Level: All
Regular short episodes from Vatican News in Esperanto!
Estonian
Raadio1 Digitund
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Advanced
A little faster paced than some of the other podcasts I’ve sampled for other languages I don’t actually speak but that’s just an excuse to make use of that speed changing tool.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
From the Estonian Language Institute, this podcast discusses questions like ‘How difficult is it to learn Estonian?’.
Average length: 1-2 hour(s)
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Global Estonians has 100 episodes speaking with Estonians and friends from around the world. Great to learn more about the people and place!
Average length: 35 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This is a must if you’re interested in health, medicine and happen to also be learning Estonian!
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This one is all about current pop culture. Great for insight into Estonian cultural trends at the moment.
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Love to travel? Want to hear about places all over the world in Estonian? ‘Footprints on the Globe’ discusses adventures and exciting places across the globe.
ERR – Estonian Public Broadcasting
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Lots of shows available but not too many for beginners unless you want exposure and extra listening practice.
Faroese
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Typically uploads a couple of episodes a month to get you confident with the basics.
Finnish
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
This podcast for Finnish learners is hosted by Hanna who aims to speak easier Finnish than you’d hear with most audio resources designed for native speakers.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This is a funny show featuring conversations between two friends Tiia and Anna sharing embarrassing stories.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
Features news stories in plain Finnish. Great for building confidence at an upper beginner to intermediate level. Transcript provided on the website too.
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Hosts a range of podcasts. Ideal if you’re intermediate or advanced with your Finnish and looking for interesting listening about topics you enjoy.
Average length: 45-50 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A podcast in Finnish about languages! If you love languages and language learning, this one is a must for you.
French
Louis French Lessons
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Regular short episodes for beginners with short dialogues and explanations.
Français Authentique
Average length: 5-20 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Super regular episodes with natural spoken French focusing on topics from grammar through to culture.
French Voices & French Your Way
Average length: 10 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Beginner, intermediate
A little different to most podcasts out there for French learners. In French Voices, Jessica interviews French speakers. There’s transcripts and more on the website too.
French Your Way is more for beginners and intermediate learners.
French Blabla
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Good range of topics covered on these short episodes.
Learn French With Daily Podcasts
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate
How much can you learn in 5 minutes each day? Quite a lot it seems!
Le Vignoble
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
Short podcasts sharing an original story in French from the lovely Léa.
Apprendre à Apprendre une Langue
Average length: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate
Podcast from Céline, often interviews, about learning languages. I was invited to chat with Céline for an episode too! Hear me talk about about how to learn a language in our French interview here.
Anything from France 24
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Anything from RFI
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Anything from Radio Canada
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Anything from France Inter
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Anything from France Culture
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Anything from RTL
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Anything from Collège de France
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
The title kinda says it all. Conversations about a range of interesting topics, all spoken in slow French. Ideal for upper beginners and beyond.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
If you love Duolingo for learning French, their podcast is a great addition to your resources. Easy-to-follow French with English as needed to help you get context.
Average length: 25 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
There’s a wonderful back catalogue of videos from Easy French on YouTube. Now there’s some podcasts too!
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate
The great thing about InnerFrench is the range of interesting topics that (in their own words) matter. Ideal for intermediate learners.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
A great, digestible podcast for French beginners!
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Real life interesting conversations to give you extra listening practice and exposure.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Great variety of themes and topics on this French podcast for intermediate learners.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
Literally, one thing a day in French. There’s well over 2000 episodes in the archives of this one so…wow!
Average length: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A Spotify Original podcast in French, this show focuses on feminist topics and conversations. The best thing? Many episodes have been recorded or dubbed in English too. That’s a great help for confirming what you think you heard!
Average length: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A must-listen if you love travel and adventures! This French podcast features conversations about adventures and misadventures outdoors.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
A mixture of discussions on interesting topics and French lessons, this is a great podcast to subscribe to for French learners of all levels.
Average length: 10-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
This podcast has so much going for it! There’s episodes for all levels – beginner, intermediate and advanced. There’s free French transcriptions provided. And there’s French, English, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles on the YouTube versions of the episodes.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great podcast to practice your intermediate French listening. Yasmine also brings guests on from time to time – myself included! Check out my episode discussing my journey learning French here.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual French and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in French.
Average length: 15-45 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Interesting interviews and solo episodes in French.
Vive L’apprentissage du Français
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Over 100 episodes covering grammar, common errors and more.
My Polyglot Life by Cathy Intro
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Cathy talks about language learning, francophone culture and language.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Dialogues and French structures for learners.
Fulah
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not a huge archive and no updates since 2022. Listed as it’s a low resource language.
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great range of language podcasts from RFI, and of course, plenty in French if that’s a language you’re learning.
Galician
Average length: 15-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Pretty much daily news episodes in Galician. Headlines are in the description so you can read along with that bit!
German
Slow German
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Does exactly what you might think from the name.
Anything from Deutsch Welle
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Linking to one here but try searching ‘Deutsche Welle’ where you get podcasts.
Anything from DRadio Wissen
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
With a mixture of topic based podcasts, there’s bound to be something here to interest you from history to film.
Christian Bischoff – Der Mindset Podcast
Average length: 10-30 minutes
Level: Advanced
Motivation and self-improvement auf Deutsch. The audio is nice for a learner – slow and clear.
Anything from ARD
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Anything from Bayerischer Rundfunk
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Handy if you’re into using stories for your German listening practice.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Another podcast feed from the Easy Languages team! Such enjoyable conversations, highly recommend these.
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Anything from Deutschlandfunk
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate to advanced
There’s a lot of different channel feeds for this one for various topics. They include Life & Society, Knowledge, Time to Listen, Politics, Literature, Arts & Culture, and Kids.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Short episodes focusing on German grammar and vocab.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate
I love that the episode titles give an indicator of what level each episode is for.
Average length: 25 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Conversation style episodes with Virpi and Sandra discussing current and interesting topics.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual German and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in German.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Made for both native speakers and learners, this gives good German listening practice for intermediate and advanced learners.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Short episodes ideal for intermediate learners.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Each episode shares topics, vocab, grammar and pronunciation.
Greek
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Another podcast feed from the Easy Languages team! Such enjoyable conversations, highly recommend these.
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022. Short episodes for beginners.
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Beginner and intermediate friendly episodes.
Average length: 15-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Ideal for intermediate learners.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Slow Greek podcast for learners.
Guarani
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner
10 episodes uploaded in 2020 teaching basic Guarani through Spanish.
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Short episodes uploaded infrequently about Paraguayan musicians.
Gujarati
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Quite new at the time of updating this so I hope this one continues! Great for intermediate learners.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022. Discusses findings from books etc in Gujurati.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A podcast of children’s stories in Gujarati.
Haitian Creole
Learn Haitian Creole / Aprann Kreyòl Ayisyen
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2022 but a great archive of beginner lessons for a low resource language.
Hausa
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great range of language podcasts from RFI, and of course, plenty in French if that’s a language you’re learning.
Hawaiian
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
A super useful show about learning Hawaiian. Especially useful if you’ve got kids you want to learn the language.
Hebrew
Hebrew Podcasts (updated infrequently)
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Dialogue-based lessons posted roughly once a month.
StreetWise Hebrew (+ TLV1 Radio for Israeli culture)
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
Interesting podcast even for non-Hebrew speakers like me. Bitesize lessons about bitesize aspects of the language.
Hebrew Podcast by Ulpan integraliah Tel Aviv
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
Well labelled levels for each episode. Super short to give you good audio for focused and active learning.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Episodes about a range of topics with full dialogues in Hebrew.
Aleph with Beth – Free Biblical Hebrew
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
If you’re learning for religious reasons, this podcast uses biblical Hebrew for their lesson-based episodes.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Weekly podcast for intermediate Hebrew learners.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Hebrew and English stories ideal across levels.
Hindi
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Short regular episodes for various levels.
Neend – Bedtime Stories in Hindi
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
You know when people talk about learning a language while you sleep? This is kinda the closest thing to that!
Hokkien
Penang Hokkien Podcast
Average length: 1 hour 30 minutes
Level: Advanced
A really interesting find! This podcast is in the Chinese Hokkien dialect spoken in Penang, Malaysia. If you’re learning this or interested in Chinese languages, definitely check out the episode of Language Stories where I interview the team behind the Penang Hokkien Podcast.
Learn Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Beginner
If you’re interested in Hokkien as well as other Chinese languages, this feed is worth checking out. Although it’s not regularly updated, there’s a decent archive sharing how to say things in all three languages as spoken in Singapore.
Hungarian
Hungarian with Sziszi
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Sziszi speaks at a natural pace in this show, but clearly labelled each episode at thew top of the description with a rough guide for levels.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Audio lessons, transcripts, quizzes, video lessons. Such a useful resource!
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Stories about Hungarian language and culture.
Külföldre Mentem Majd Jövök Szórakoztató Talk-Show
Average length: 2 hours
Level: Advanced
A podcast about (according to Google Translate because I don’t know Hungarian yet!) Hungarians living and working abroad – covering stories, life, money. Could be a good listen if you’re living abroad and learning Hungarian yourself!
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Hungarian and English stories ideal across levels.
Icelandic
Víðsjá
Average length: 50 minutes
Level: Advanced
This podcast seems to have quite a wide scope of what it covers within arts and culture. I don’t understand Icelandic but it was very calming to listen to.
Í ljósi sögunnar
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Advanced
This one is a little easier than Víðsjá because it’s mostly one voice. It’s another history podcast so prepare to learn stuff.
Average length: 2 hours
Level: Advanced
Podcast about the past with episodes on everything from Nickola Tasla to the Haitian Revolution.
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Just a handful of episodes but worth listing here as each episode is uploaded in both English and Icelandic.
Igbo
Average length: 20-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Not updated since 2022 but a great archive of episodes teaching Igbo language and culture.
Indonesian
Podcast Awal Minggu
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Weekly chat format podcast sometimes with guests, sometimes just about a certain topic.
Subjective
Average length: 15 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Taking a break as of January 2023, but archive of short and long episodes to enjoy.
Bahasa Indonesia Bersama Windah
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Great episodes for intermediate learners. Each episode title also gives you an idea of the formality level to expect in the episode.
Learn Indonesian (from Jembatan Bahasa Indonesian Language School)
Average length: 3-10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Ideal for beginners and intermediates, this podcast helps guide Indonesian learners through interesting topics and conversations.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Although there’s no new episodes at the time of updating this article, there’s good reason this gets a place on the list. Each episode is uploaded with Indonesian and English audio. Perfect if you’re early in with your Indonesian.
Do You See What I See? – Indonesian Horror Stories
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Advanced
Big fan of true crime and horror story podcasts? Also happen to be learning Indonesian? Here’s the one for you!
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not being updated as of June 2022 but a good mix in the archive of slow reading, conversation and lesson format episodes.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Very old feed and unlikely to be updated but a great set of 48 intro lessons. Ideal podcast for Indonesian beginners.
Average length: 5minutes
Level: Beginner
A selection of conversation based episodes. Each episode uploaded with English & Indonesian, and Indonesia only.
Irish
Bitesize Irish Gaelic Podcast
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
Discussion podcast sometimes in English and sometimes in Gaelic, which makes it a good one for beginners too to help learn about the culture.
Blas – Irish Language Magazine
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Average length: Varies
Level: Intermediate, advanced
91 shows available at the time of writing this! Plenty to choose from.
Average length: 40-50 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Chat style podcast.
Average length: 12 minutes
Level: Beginner
Functions like a beginners course, so well worth starting from episode 1.
Learn Irish with daily podcasts
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Sure enough, there’s a daily episode sharing a sentence with English translation. A super easy one to fit into your daily routine!
Italian
30 Minute Italian (not updated)
Average length: 30 minutes or less
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Cher shares tips about the Italian language and culture. Sadly not updated anymore but a good back catalogue to go through.
Italiano Automatico
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Good mix of topics from grammar to culture.
Maxmondo Incontro Italiano
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Really short lessons released regularly.
Anything from Rai Radio
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Anything from Radio4
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Anything from Radio Deejay
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A range of interesting topics with the option to subscribe for transcripts and extra episodes too.
Speak Italiano – Pensieri e Parole
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Linda Riolo’s podcast for Italian learners includes story-based episodes to help you discover more about Italian culture.
She also brings guests on from time to time – including me back in 2020! Listen to that episode and me speaking Italian here.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Simone makes a great podcast focused on comprehensible input so you can get the listening practice you need.
Check out my Italian interview on the show here.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Barbara Bassi brings monthly stories in Italian to her podcast.
Learn Italian with Joy of Languages
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Katie and Matteo share bite-size episodes teaching the basics of grammar and useful phrases.
Average length: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Beginner to intermediate
I love that this one is bilingual (with Italian and English). Great if you’re in the early stages with your listening.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Interesting podcast episodes to practice your Italian listening. Also definitely worth checking out Lucrezia’s YouTube channel too!
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
If you love music and you’re learning Italian, this is a must. You’ll probably also love my mini course, Music Maestro, which is all about combing your love of music with language learning (without it getting boring!)
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Italian and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in Italian.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
From the lovely Easy Languages team – check them out on YouTube too!
Jamaican Patois
Average length: 3-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Not updated since 2022 but listing as it’s a low resource language.
Japanese
Learn Japanese Pod
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginners, intermediate
Good stuff but posts infrequently.
NHK Podcasts
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate, advanced
10 shows to choose from on this channel in Apple Podcasts.
Average length: 2 hours
Level: Intermediate, advanced
As the name might suggest, bilingual news podcast in Japanese and English. Daily episodes.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
I love the speed of these episodes!
Let’s Learn Japanese from Small Talk
Average length: 20-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Links available for each episode with vocab lists, which is a great bonus!
Average length: 40-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Great mix of conversations both teaching Japanese and discussing related topics, such as language exchange and where to buy Japanese e-books.
Average length: 4 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
I love the speed and length of these episodes. Super easy to fit into a walk or a commute.
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Another with a giveaway title! This podcast features news read in slow Japanese (no surprises there!)
Easy Japanese Podcast (with Masa & Asami)
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Ideal for JLPT N3 level learners, spoken in easy and natural Japanese.
The Bite Size Japanese Podcast
Average length: 8 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Layla hosts this podcast for Japanese learners to improve their listening. There’s subtitles on the YouTube versions and the option to get transcripts via Layla’s Patreon.
Learn Japanese with Masa Sensei!
Average length: 6-12 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
This podcast does a great job at starting from scratch. So if you’re brand new to Japanese and want to easily start speaking, try this one.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A podcast for beginner to intermediate learners. Lots of topics in slow Japanese to help you grow in listening confidence.
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Short monologues on a range of topics in Japanese. Vocab lists and more available via their Patreon.
Everyday Japanese Podcast by Sayuri Saying
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A really interesting range of topics discussed. Transcripts and more available on their website.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
The titles of this one give you an idea on which level it’s most suited to.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Japanese podcast for beginner to intermediate learners using grammar from Genki 1 and a bit from Genki 2 textbooks.
The Miku Real Japanese Podcast
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A mixture of conversations with guests and solo episodes. Another great intermediate option.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Great focus on grammar and casual speech.
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Channel on Apple Podcasts with a good range of shows on different topics such as society & culture and TV & film.
Easy Japanese: Conversation Lessons from NHK World
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Super helpful podcast series (no longer updated) with all the essentials you need in the first stages of learning Japanese.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Japanese and English stories ideal across levels.
Javanese
Average length: 15-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
The audio is sometimes a little quiet, but excited to have found a podcast for Javanese learners!
Jèrriais
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
An interesting mix of languages from the BBC. It’s worth noting that I could only find a handful of languages on the Apple Podcast app, but I didn’t try searching with different writing scripts. By the way, if you’re learning English, the BBC has a huge range of podcasts you’ll want to explore.
Korean
Talk to Me in Korean Podcasts
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
Great range of content not only on the podcast but also on their website and YouTube channel. They have a choice of podcasts covering natural conversation for listening practice, grammar lessons, beginner lessons and more.
SpongeMind Podcast
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Not uploading since 2021, but a great archive so keeping here. 2 episodes posted at a time – one in Korean and one in English so you can listen in English after if you’re struggling with the Korean episode. Great resource.
Choisusu’s Easy Korean
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Each episode is labelled with the level so you know if it’s right for you before listening.
Tayoni’s Korean Podcast
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Short listening practice on a range of topics.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A mixture of topics making for short listening practice with a Korean teacher.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner
This podcast from Kay, a Korean teacher covers the nuances of Korean grammar and essential words and phrases.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Transcripts available via their Patreon. Episodes cover a range of topics.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Korean-English conversation podcast between English-speaking Jacob and his Korean speaking daddy!
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Episodes cover lots of useful basic words and phrases.
Joayo Korean by Learn Korean with Gillian
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Great podcast for beginners with useful sentences and phrases for certain scenarios.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Korean and English stories ideal across levels.
Kurdish
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Mixture of story and grammar exercises.
Latvian
Kā labāk dzīvot
Average length: 45 minutes
Level: Advanced
Radio show format with good quality audio. The name roughly translates to ‘How Better to Live’.
Tauta
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Advanced
Interviews of Latvians living in the UK. Not updated since 2022.
Anything from Latvijas Radio
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Shows include Krustpunktā, Divas puslodes, Šīs dienas acīm and more.
Average length: 1 hour 45 minutes
Level: Advanced
This podcast is all about conversations to inspire and improve your quality of life. Great for advanced learners.
Average length: 45 minutes
Level: Advanced
A conversation between three Latvian comics.
Lithuanian
Lithuanian Out Loud (rarely updated)
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate, advanced
I love it when language learning podcasts are hosted by a native speaker and a non-native speaker. It gives a nice dimension and makes it more relatable as a learner.
LRT Knygų klubas (or anything else from LRT)
Average length: 50 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Book club podcast from LRT. Be sure to search ‘LRT’ on your podcast player to find the full list of shows.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Not undated since 2021 but a worthy back catalogue of episodes. Good listening practice.
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Again, not regularly updated since 2021 but a good collection of old episodes to enjoy.
Conversations at the VMU World Lithuanian University
Average length: 5-30 minutes
Level: Advanced
Short episodes ideal for advanced learners.
Luxembourgish
Average length: 7 minutes
Level: Beginner
Each episode is uploaded twice – teaching through English and French.
Macedonian
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Podcast from SBS about Macedonian food.
Average length: 20-50 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
‘Common People’ is a podcast about Macedonian life stories.
Malagasy
The Secrets of a True Entrepreneur
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2021. Short episodes fully in Malagasy.
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2021. Radio style show in Malagasy making for ideal listening practice for intermediate and advanced learners.
Malay
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Not updated since 2022 but a decent archive to enjoy.
Malayalam
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short episodes to get you started with the basics. Not updated since 2021.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022. Archive of fairy tales read in Malayalam.
Average length: 2-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Malayalam stories for children.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
More than 50 episodes of short stories in Malayalam to enjoy.
Mandarin
I Love Learning Chinese
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Good back catalogue taking you from beginner onwards. Not updated since 2022.
Melnyks Chinese
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Easy to follow podcasts. Highly recommended by Chinese learners.
Learn Chinese Insights Podcast
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Interviews with Chinese learners in Chinese. Double whammy. Not updated since 2016.
Learning Chinese Through Stories
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Stories in Chinese. As you might have guessed from the title.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Great listening practice for intermediate learners.
Average length: 7-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short daily lessons, often with guests, teaching one focus per episode.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
I love how this and the next two podcasts divide their episodes into different stages of beginner learner – newbie and elementary.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A good range of episodes for different stages of intermediate learner.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Advanced
A good range of episodes for advanced learners.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Another good option for intermediate learners discussing a range of topics.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
The show features both a teacher and a learner, so you get insights from both sides in each episode.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
As you might expect from the title, this podcast shares stories in Chinese.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Conversations about interesting topics, as well as some vocab and grammar too.
Average length: 5-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Start from episode one and you’ll soon pick up your first Chinese phrases. Already know a bit? Jump into the feed later on!
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Tom & Ula use Chinglish (Chinese & English) to teach you Chinese in this podcast.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Great podcast for intermediate learners.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Beginner to advanced
Mostly in English focusing on the ‘how to’ of learning Chinese and languages in general.
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Beginner
As you might imagine, each day means a new episode teaching you a new word in Chinese.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Thorough Chinese course with 6 levels of lessons. Start at whichever level feels right for you.
Average length: 8 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Great podcast for real Chinese stories, read by Grandma Lao Lao.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Daily expressions episodes. Great for all levels.
Average length: 1-15 minutes
Level: Beginner
Really useful podcast for beginner Chinese learners who want drills for words and common phrases.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Three Chinese teachers discussing lots of relevant and interesting topics in Chinese.
Average length: 1-2 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Weekly stories for in Mandarin Chinese for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Mandarin and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in Mandarin Chinese.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Each episode teaches a commonly used Chinese phrase.
Taiwanese Mandarin
Bite-size Taiwanese Mandarin
A few different feeds including Newbie, Pronounce It, and Elementary.
Learn Taiwanese Mandarin Podcast
Talk Taiwanese Mandarin with Abby
Learn Taiwanese Mandarin with Miss Lin
Learn Chinese, The Taiwanese Way
Mandinka
Average length: Varies between shows
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great range of language podcasts from RFI, and of course, plenty in French if that’s a language you’re learning.
Manx
Adrian Cain’s Manx Language Podcast (not updated since 2015)
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Although it’s not updated, it’s still a useful resource for a language with not many resources.
Average length: 50 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Weekly radio show in Manx.
Māori
Everyday Māori
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great episodes dedicated to teaching you useful Māori.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Grant shares some useful episodes amongst the promo for Te Reo Bootcamp, which you might be interested in if you’re learning Māori.
Average length: 40-50 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A mixture of Māori and English to help you learn in a relaxed and enjoyable way.
Average length: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Level: Beginner to advanced
This one talks about the language and culture, but a great addition to understand more on that front.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Super short series from 2018 but worth a mention if you’re right at the very beginning!
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Another short series that no longer publishes but it useful for common phrases.
Learn Cook Islands Māori with Kuki Learning
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
A podcast for beginners in Cook Islands Māori.
Daily News in Cook Islands Māori
Average length: 6 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Short digestible podcast sharing news in Cook Islands Māori.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Archive of 30 minute episodes in Māori.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
The podcast has sadly ended but in the archived episodes, the hosts translate topical content from English to Māori.
Average length: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
100% in Māori, this podcast archive features interviews with Māori speakers prominent in their fields.
Average length: 3-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Not just Cook Islands Māori, but also regular news bulletin episodes in Tongan, Samoan, Pidgin, French, and Niuean.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
This podcast is great for Māori learners who want to learn through stories.
Marathi
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A group of grandmas who enjoy storytelling share stories in Marathi!
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Another storytelling podcast for Marathi learners.
Mongolian
Average length: 1-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Super short episodes teaching a focus point each lesson.
Nahuatl
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short lesson episodes in Nahuatl. Taught via Spanish. Not updated since 2022.
Neapolitan
Speak Napolitano and Survive in Naples
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022, but a few episodes in the archive. Taught via English.
Nepali
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Short episodes ideal for intermediate listening practice.
Norwegian
Anything from NRK
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
133 shows to choose from! Bound to be something that interests you.
Norsk for Beginners
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Great range of episodes about interesting topics.
Average length: 5-20 minutes
Level: Beginner
No longer updated but some useful lessons in the archives.
Practice Norwegian Intermediate!
Average length: 8 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Same as above – no longer updated but useful archive. This time, for intermediate learners.
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
If you enjoy ASMR and are learning Norwegian, this one’s for you!
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Great podcast for intermediate Norwegian learners.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual stories in Norwegian and English.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Lesson and topic based episodes on a range of great topics.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Grammar and language taught in the fun way with Camilla.
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Karense talks about news and other topics on this podcast, ideal for intermediate to advanced Norwegian learners.
Persian
Chai and Conversation
Average length: 15-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Conversational Persian taught in a much more casual manner than most language learning podcasts.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Conversation lessons for beginner to advanced level.
Average length: 30-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Hosted by both a teacher and learner, so you get supportive episodes.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022 at the time of writing. This podcast has a decent archive of Persian poems, making for great listening practice.
Delnevis Persian Poetry & Iranian Poems
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This Persian poetry podcast is currently updated!
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022 at the time of writing, but a decent archive of short episodes.
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This feed shares news bulletin episodes in Ukrainian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Farsi or Spanish. Sometimes the description says the language…mostly it doesn’t – pot luck!
Polish
Real Polish
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Conversations with native speakers and learners in Polish to help you improve your listening skills.
Learn Polish with Anna
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great episodes for beginner and intermediate learners.
Polcast
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
English language podcast about Poland and Poles. Because language learning is also about culture.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Polish and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 15-25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not a huge back catalogue, but I’m a sucker for music being brought into language learning so had to include this one!
Average length: 20-40 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Covering a range of topic from phrases, grammar, culture and history. Great podcast across levels.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Another teacher and learner format podcast – such a helpful format!
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Updated infrequently, but listing here because I love that they include the levels in the episode titles.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Regular updates with short Polish monologues.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Transcriptions available. Good listening practice.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Weekly episodes in simple Polish on a range of topics.
Prosty Polski Podcast (Simple Polish Podcast)
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short monologue style episodes on interesting topics.
Portuguese
Café Brasil Podcast
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Variety of topics posted weekly.
Conta-me Tudo
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
This storytelling podcast is a really good resource for your listening skills. Not updated since 2022 but a solid archive.
Até Tenho Amigos Que São
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Interview format. The samples I listened to were really relaxing. Not updated since 2022.
Practice Portuguese
Average length: 5 minutes – 1 hour
Level: Intermediate, advanced
European Portuguese focus. Not updated since 2022.
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Dialogues and articles in European Portuguese from the Practice Portuguese team.
Anything from RTP
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Different channels listed on Apple Podcasts for Antena 2, Antena 3, Rádio Zigzag for children (or beginner learners!). Have a look and see what you find!
Brazilian Portuguese Podcast, by RLP
Average length: 5-25 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
A mixture of short episodes covering expressions and longer conversation episodes. Not updated since 2021.
Carioca Connection
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Similar to the last one but broken down into shorter episodes.
Time to Learn Portuguese Podcast
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Brazilian Portuguese focus.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2021 at the time of writing, but a great archive with lots of lesson focused episodes.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Brazilian Portuguese for intermediate learners. Often features interviews.
Average length: 10-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
European Portuguese podcast fully in the language.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2019, but a great archive of lesson style episodes for beginners.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
No messing around with the name! Conversations between native Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Great listening practice.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Dani shares grammar lessons and episodes on interesting topics.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Worksheets available for every episode with transcript and exercises. European Portuguese focus.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Lesson based episodes for European Portuguese.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Weekly lessons for Brazilian Portuguese learners on grammar, vocab, and pronunciation.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Mia makes great Portuguese courses* for European Portuguese learners. (In fact, I like them so much I’m an affiliate for them!). Her podcast is equally as helpful.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Stories in Portuguese – for learning and relaxing and getting to sleep!
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in Portuguese.
Punjabi
Punjabi Learning with Ritu Mann
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short episodes with vocab clearly pronounced.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Over 100 episodes in the archives to learn the difference between textbook and conversational Punjabi.
Quechua
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner
Short episodes teaching Quechua via Spanish.
Average length: 30 seconds(!)
Level: Beginner
Vocabulary based episodes teaching via Spanish.
Romanian
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
More than 400 episodes so lots foe everyone learning Romanian here!
Learn Romanian with Amanda Podcast
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Last updated in 2022. A decent number of archive episodes for listening practice.
Podcastul de limba româna – The Romanian Language Podcast
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Useful listening comprehension for intermediate and advanced learners.
Russian
Speaking Russian
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginners
Short episodes covering the basics. Not updated since 2022, but a good archive.
Slow Russian
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Good range of topics from pop culture to history spoken in slow Russian – no need to slow this podcast down! Yay!
Native Speaker – Russian Language
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Not updated since 2021, but a decent archive.
Russian Progress Podcast
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Spoken Russian podcast about interesting topics.
Russian Twist
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
For levels B2 to C1. Transcripts available via Patreon.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in Russian.
Russian Podcast by Tatiana Klimova
Average length: 3-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Over 300 episodes to help you with your Russian listening.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Episodes for all levels from beginner to advanced. All clearly labelled.
Comprehensible Russian – Learn Russian With Max
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Over 200 episodes on a range of interesting topics. Transcripts available.
Learning Russian Through Stories
Average length: 2-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Great if you want story based learning for your Russian.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
20 episodes from 2019 with a focus on understanding spoken Russian (as the title might suggest!)
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner
30 lesson episodes to help you get started.
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner
From the same company as the previous two. Series of 20 episodes uploaded in 2019 focusing on pronunciation.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Interview format ideal for A2 to B2 level.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Good listening practice for intermediate learners.
Learn Russian! Russian with Sasha
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Intermediate level podcast on a range of topics.
TPRS Russian – Effortless Russian
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
From Daria, behind the Slow Russian podcast. Story based episodes.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Ideal episodes for beginners.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Enjoyable episodes from the team behind Easy Russian (of Easy Languages) on YouTube.
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
I love that the levels are really clearly labelled for each episode.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short bitesize episodes for beginner to intermediate learners.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Such a unique concept with fun stories…and cats!
Samoan
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Regularly updated news bulletin feed in Samoan.
531 PMN Samoa Language Program
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Bilingual radio show added to this feed regularly.
Scottish Gaelic
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner
Probably one of the longest running language learning podcasts. The Coffee Break series is always very popular and recommended when people tell me about the podcasts they’re using to learn a language.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
An interesting mix of languages from the BBC. It’s worth noting that I could only find a handful of languages on the Apple Podcast app, but I didn’t try searching with different writing scripts. By the way, if you’re learning English, the BBC has a huge range of podcasts you’ll want to explore.
Serbian
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022 but a decent archive of beginner episodes.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Hosted by the same people as the previous one. I hope these feeds get updated again. This one hasn’t been updated since 2022, but still useful archive.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Advanced
A handful of episodes from the same people for advanced learners.
Average length: 15-40 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Lots of great episodes about Serbian language and culture.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A handful of episodes sharing stories in Serbian.
Average length: 10-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Comprehension episodes for various levels.
Sinhala
Araliya Tutors – Learn Sinhala
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not many episodes, and not updated since 2021. However, listing as it’s a low resource language.
Slovak
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
45 episodes last updated in 2022 teaching Slovak.
Average length: 25-30 minutes
Level: Beginner
Over 4 seasons of episodes teaching Slovak.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Around 30 minute interview episodes.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Ideal for intermediate learners who want to improve their listening.
Slovenian
Anything from RTV Slot
Average length: Varies podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
Dave’s Challenge: Let’s Learn Slovene
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2022 but at great archive of episodes. Featuring Dave learning Slovene, it’s an encouraging one for learners!
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A podcast about places in Slovenia. Not updated since August 2022.
Somali
Average length: 2-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Quite a big archive of grammar and lesson based episodes for Somali learners.
Spanish
Notes in Spanish
Average length:10 minutes
Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Although this one isn’t updated anymore, it’s always highly recommend and they have podcast feed lessons for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners.
Spanish Obsessed
Average length: Varies
Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
One of my favourite podcasts! Conversation format between a native and non-native speaker couple and feeds split by levels.
Alt.Latino
Average length: 30 minutes
English language podcast sharing songs from Latin America. One of my favourites.
SpanishPodcast.net
Average length:15-20 minutes
Level: Beginners, intermediate
Not updated since 2021, but a good archive.
Español Automático
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Español con Juan – 1001 Reasons to Learn Spanish
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Anything from Podium Podcast
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Intermediate, advanced
I looove this podcast network! Story podcasts are always welcome. I’ve started listening to El Club de Terror, which is very interesting.
Radio Ambulante
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Advanced
Story podcast completely in Spanish.
Juego de Tronos: Cosas de Casas
Average length: 2 hours
Level: Advanced
This is why I love podcasts. When you get lucky, you can find something so niche! If you love Game of Thrones, this is exactly what you probably think from the title: a podcast discussing each episode of Game of Thrones. Not updated since 2022.
Anything from RTVE
Average length: Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Spanish and English stories ideal across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
LingQ* is a super useful resource for learning lots of languages (again, I’m an affiliate for them too!). Their podcast series features interviews in Spanish.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Interesting topics for intermediate and advanced learners.
Average length: 10-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Ideal for intermediate learners.
Average length: 25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A podcast in Spanish about Spanish.
¡PALABRAS! El podcast sobre…palabras
Average length: 25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A Spanish podcast about Spanish words. Yay!
Speak & Learn Spanish in The Natural Way
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Short lessons ideal for intermediate learners.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Weekly podcast covering expressions in Spanish.
Average length: 15-25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
News in Spanish about Latin America.
El Podcast de Español Con Maria – Learn Spanish the Tropical Way
Average length: 5-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A mixture of topic and grammar based episodes.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Lots of interesting topic-based episodes.
Average length: 5-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Interviews and comprehensible stories for intermediate to advanced level learners.
Learn Spanish: Intermediate Spanish
Average length: 35-45 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Weekly episodes in Spanish on interesting topics.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A mixture of grammar, interviews and more.
Average length: 7 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great choice if your focus is learning Mexican Spanish.
Average length: 20-25 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Tamara releases weekly conversations and Spanish lessons with a focus on Latin music. If you enjoy learning languages with music, definitely take a look at my mini course, Music Maestro. And if you’re learning Spanish, Tamara has a great course* that I’m an affiliate for.
Take a listen to my conversation with Tamara about my travels in Latin America.
Conversations in Spanish & Other Languages
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Joel is such a hardworking podcaster! This is his main podcast, and as you might have guessed, it features conversations in Spanish. Check out one of my episodes in Spanish with Joel here.
Argentalk: Stories in Argentine Spanish
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2021, but a small archive of episodes. Listing as it’s useful if Argentine Spanish is your focus.
Intermediate Spanish Podcast – Español Intermedio
Average length: 20-25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Great archive of listening practice for intermediate learners. Check out my Spanish conversation with Cesar all about how to learn languages here.
Average length: 7-15 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
If you love TED Talks and you’re learning Spanish, this is an easy must-subscribe!
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Transcripts available, which makes it good listening practice across levels.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Latin American Spanish conversation podcast for intermediate to advanced learners.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
From the Easy Languages team. Great conversation podcast.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Grammar lessons style episodes with a focus on memory.
Chill Spanish Listening Practice
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Relaxed episodes for beginner to intermediate learners.
Average length: 3-60 minutes
Level: Advanced
It’s great when there’s resources available specifically for advanced learners. Unsurprisingly from the name, this is that!
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Practical lesson based episodes to help you have your first Spanish conversations.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Tips in Spanish about how to learn Spanish. Love the concept!
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This feed shares news bulletin episodes in Ukrainian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Farsi or Spanish. Sometimes the description says the language…mostly it doesn’t – pot luck!
Swahili
Average length: 2-10 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Storytelling to help you learn Swahili.
Swedish
Traningspodden
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Advanced
If fitness is your thing and you’re pretty nifty at Swedish already, this is for you.
Historiepodden
Average length: 1 hour 15 minutes
Level: Advanced
But if you prefer history to fitness then this one is for you instead.
Anything from Sveriges Radio
Average length:Varies from podcast to podcast
Level: Advanced
70 shows to choose from.
Learn Swedish for free with Say It in Swedish
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Not updated since 2022 but a great archive of lesson episodes, including lessons for absolute beginners in Swedish.
Average length: 15-30 minutes
Level: Intermediate
Perfect for intermediate learners. Dive in and start with any episode.
Average length: 5-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A great option to start from the beginning with if you’re pretty early on with your Swedish.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner
Great paced podcast for beginner with lesson style episodes.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Slightly slower than usual Swedish. Ideal for beginners to intermediates but possibly useful for more advanced learners too.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Clear and slow Swedish to improve your listening comprehension.
Tagalog
Go Filipino: Let’s Learn Tagalog
Average length: 30-60 minutes
Level: Beginners to intermediate
Not updated since 2022 at the time of writing. a good archive of lessons for beginners to start with.
Average length: 15-30 minutes
Level: Beginners to intermediate
A mix of paid for subscriber and free episodes on the feed. Mixture of topics but mostly for intermediate learners.
Average length: 1 minute
Level: Beginners to intermediate
Super short episodes so great material to listen, re-listen, slow down, repeat and do lots of listening activities with. If you’re stuck on ideas for how to take listening further in fun ways, check out my helpful 100 Creative Ideas for Solo Language Learners.
Average length: 3-20 minutes
Level: Beginners to intermediate
Great episodes for beginners.
Average length: 25-60 minutes
Level: Beginners to intermediate
Not updated since 2022. Fun archive designed to help you remember words.
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Level: Advanced
Fun episodes totally in Tagalog. Great for advanced learners.
Average length: 40-60 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Coaching session style episodes.
Kwentong Takipsilim Pinoy Horror Stories Podcast
Average length: 30-40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Simple – horror stories in Tagalog!
Tamil
Average length: 25 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
All about film & cinema, in spoken Tamil.
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Your obligatory thriller/crime/detective podcast…in Tamil!
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Not updated since 2022. A ‘daily life’ style show.
Timepass with Das – A Tamil Self Help Podcast
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
If self-help is your go-to podcast genre & you’re learning Tamil, this one is for you.
Telugu
Average length: 5 minute
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Short episodes with Telugu stories. Not updated since 2022.
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Beginner
Audio lessons to accompany a book fro ‘CP Brown Academy’. Probably still useful without the book.
Thai
Bangkoknoi Book Review
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Advanced
Book reviews in Thai? Yup.
Learn Thai GluayGluay from BananaThai
Average length: 15-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2022. Super helpful grammar and phrases lessons in the archive.
Learn Thai for Motivated Beginners
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Transcripts and more available via Patreon.
Thai Listening Practice by Teacher Byu
Average length: 1-2 minutes
Level: Intermediate
A useful podcast for intermediate Thai learners who want to improve their listening.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Teaching simple words and phrases each episode.
Average length: 20-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great Thai podcast for beginners and intermediate learners.
Tigrinya
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This feed shares news bulletin episodes in Ukrainian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Farsi or Spanish. Sometimes the description says the language…mostly it doesn’t – pot luck!
Tok Pisin
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Radio show episodes in Tok Pisin, Solomon Islands Pidgin & Vanuatu Bislama Pidgin languages.
Tongan
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
The volume is a little quiet (except for the jingle!) on the episodes I previewed but hopefully still useful for a low resource language.
531 PMN Tonga Language Program
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Regularly updated feed with radio shows in Tongan.
Turkish
Metro FM – Aragaz
Average length: 40 minutes
Level: Advanced
Morning radio show broadcast during rush hour. Not updated since 2021.
Average length: 30 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to advanced
Another podcast feed from the Easy Languages team! Such enjoyable conversations, highly recommend these.
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Upper beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2021, but a decent archive of useful lessons.
Average length: 5-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short episodes focused on a simple topic, word or phrase.
Average length: 3-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Weekly news based podcast for Turkish learners.
Average length: 2-7 minutes
Level: Beginner
Conversation and vocabulary focused podcast.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Mostly C1 level episodes but a few lower level episodes too.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Each episode title gives you an idea of the level.
Ukrainian
Ukrainian Lessons Podcast
Average length: 20 minutes
Level: Beginner
Dialogue based podcast aimed at learners, good audio.
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Bilingual Ukrainian and English stories ideal across levels. Not updated since September 2020.
Average length: 30-45 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Not updated since 2021 but 200 episode strong archive of useful lessons from absolute beginner.
Learn Ukrainian with Viktoriia
Average length: 20-60 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Enjoyable vocab, dialogue and song lesson episodes for Ukrainian learners.
Ukrainian for Language Enthusiasts
Average length: 1-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Conversation and scenario based episodes.
Average length: 1-5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Great for intermediate Ukrainian learners.
Average length: 3 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This feed shares news bulletin episodes in Ukrainian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Farsi or Spanish. Sometimes the description says the language…mostly it doesn’t – pot luck!
Urdu
Average length: 2 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
A handful of short poetry episodes. Not updated since 2022.
Vietnamese
Average length: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
YouTube episodes uploaded to the podcast feed. Not updated since 2022.
Average length: 5 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Conversations and stories to give you some listening practice. Not updated since 2022.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
A great mixture of episode styles for beginners.
Welsh
Pigion: Highlights for Welsh Learners
Average length: 15 minutes
Level: Beginner, intermediate
Regularly updated feed for Welsh learners.
Average length: 1-10 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Short episodes to give you focused listening practice.
Average length: 25-30 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Not updated since 2017 but a hugely useful archive of lesson based episodes.
Average length: 45 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Fully Welsh language podcast interviewing Welsh learners.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Beginner to advanced
Regular podcast episodes about Welsh music. Mostly in English but some great recommendations for Welsh music.
Average length: 20 – 40 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Interview format with Welsh learners and speakers.
Average length: 1 hour
Level: Beginner
A podcast for beginners just starting with Welsh.
Wolof
Average length: 45 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Fully in Wolof. Good listening practice for intermediate or advanced learners.
Apprendre les Langues Africaines par l’écoute
Average length: 5-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to advanced
Episodes teaching a lot of languages including Wolof. Full list is Wolof, Basaa, Douala, Ewondo, Twi, Chichewa, Nufi, Fe’efe’e, Medumba, Yemba, Nguiemboon, Ghomala’, Nda’Nda etc. (They say etc in the description – I didn’t add that!)
Yoruba
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to intermediate
Good focus for each lesson. Super accessible.
Average length: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner
This podcast from the Yoruba Learning Centre starts from the very beginning. Ideal for beginners.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Stories told in Yoruba.
Average length: 10-20 minutes
Level: Intermediate to advanced
This podcast is great for intermediate to advanced learners looking to add some understanding of proverbs to their Yoruba.
More from my site
How to Learn a Language with Duolingo (& Actually Remember It)
How to Stay Home, Learn Languages and Exercise
How to Use Spotify for Language Learning in the Best Ways
How Long Does It Take and How Much Does It Cost to Learn a Language?
12 Reasons to Learn 20 Languages in 2020
Practising 8 languages in 30 minutes with Tandem