Category: Media

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Media Suggestion: La Cinémathèque française

 

The website of the Cinémathèque française, a large film institute and museum in Paris, contains a number of valuable resources for students wanting to learn more about French and French culture. The museum provides a large selection of online resources, including videos, articles, and image archives of both French and international films. Check out the “Découvrir” tab to access interviews with French directors, photo archives of past exhibits, articles on French films and actors, and excerpts from films and film festivals. The resources are easily searchable and have simple categorisation. Recommended for anyone interested in French cinema, improving listening ability, or doing research on film.

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“Einschlafen Podcast” – A German Podcast to Help You Fall Asleep

Subliminal learning, the idea that you can learn a new language just by listening to an audiobook while sleeping, is probably a myth at best. However, there is some evidence that you can gain, or at least reinforce, new vocabulary by listening to something in a foreign language while asleep.

Even if subliminal learning isn’t effective, that doesn’t mean that listening to podcasts in bed isn’t a good idea! My recommendation for this week is the “Einschlafen Podcast,” which is available on Spotify, on its website, on YouTube, and on iTunes.

“Einschlafen Podcast” (German for “Falling Asleep”) is an excellent German podcast, featuring the relaxing voice of Toby Baier. Each week, Toby starts out by talking about the news, his recent life, and any other random facts, and then eventually starts reading excerpts from books in a calming, slow voice. The books range from Alice im Wunderland to Kant’s Kritik der reinen Vernunft.

The point of “Einschlafen Podcast” is to fall asleep. For those trying to learn German, this is a great way to increase your daily input, simply by falling asleep. Although “passive learning” is still fairly controversial, I feel like I’ve benefitted from listening to a little extra German every day, especially in listening comprehension. 

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French Movie Recommendation: Ma vie de courgette (2016)

Ma vie de courgette is a Swiss-French stop-motion film that won critical acclaim. The film was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

It is a dramatic comedy that follows a nine year-old boy named Courgette who moves to an orphanage.

This movie is available on streaming sites like Netflix under its English name, My life as a zucchini. Audio can be set to French or English.

 

P.S. If voice actors are your jam, you may be interested to know that the audio cast is star-studded. This film employs the talents of Nick Offerman, Ellen Page, Will Forte, and more. Enjoy!

 

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Radio Ambulante

Radio Ambulante is an award-winning podcast series which tells Latin American stories, covering a range of issues from immigration to bee-keeping. They have thousands of episodes to choose from, allowing listeners to filter by country, topic, and length. Most episodes are both in Spanish and English, which makes Radio Ambulante suitable for both beginners and advanced Spanish students.

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LightSpeed Spanish – Podcast

With sections ranging from beginner to advanced, this podcast covers a wide variety of topics, most of which center around using Spanish in everyday life. The episodes are mostly 10-15 minutes long and gradually move from using some English to explain ideas to speaking exclusively in Spanish. The hosts do a great job of explaining their ideas and topics for every level learner.

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La Casa de las Flores, Netflix Series

This brand-new Netflix telenovela, already critically and popularly acclaimed, revolves around a powerful family in Mexico City, attempting to preserve its image after the father’s mistress hangs herself from the family’s house, uncovering the family’s dirty secrets. While inhabiting the best tradition of hyperbolic and postmodern Mexican telenovelas, this series offers an original dark comedy twist. The spoken Spanish is clear yet abundant in colloquialisms.

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Têtes à claques, French Youtube channel

Têtes à claques
https://www.youtube.com/user/salamboproductions/featured

This is a channel (and a website) of humorous short videos in French that has been producing animated videos since forever. Some of them are easier to understand than others, but most have an option for English subtitles just in case. The sense of humor may not be to everyone’s taste, but there are a lot of real gems! Some recommendations from your Langlabbies include:

the Will Waller 2006: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJgQCbRsq-I and

Le Body Toner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdKjpvnrhkU

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2 Easy French movies for beginners

Les Choristes (2004) – A musical film about a choir teacher hired to teach boys at a French private school. This comedic gem is a classic for French language learners.

Kirikou et la sorcière (1998) – Animated version of a west African folktale. You can stream it on Youtube here.