Audiobook in English. Audio books in English for all levels: why, what and how to listen and read

Listening to audio books is a good method of learning English, which helps to combine business with pleasure. At the same time, you develop listening skills (listening comprehension of English speech), expand your vocabulary, get acquainted with the masterpieces of world literature.

People who dub audiobooks, as a rule, are announcers with a pleasant correct pronunciation.

How can I work with audio books?

You can listen to audio books in English: on the road, in the morning, before bedtime, during housekeeping, preparing dinner, or you can set aside special time for this.

There are people who say that you need to follow along the text, so you will remember more words, their correct pronunciation. Others prefer only to listen, citing such arguments that when you arrive in an English-speaking country and go to a store / pub / museum, you will not have the opportunity to peek at a script to understand what is being told to you. So while listening to audio recordings, you need to try to understand the meaning, without looking anywhere. It seems to me that you can watch the text. It will not hurt at the initial level, especially if the announcer reads quickly and you do not catch the whole sentences.

Some they don’t try to translate absolutely every word from an audiobook and study one book for a long time, listening to it many times. In order to translate words and expressions of the English language from passive to active, they do the following: they read aloud, recording their speech on audio media, in order to compare their pronunciation with the pronunciation of the announcer. There are those who try to manually record everything the announcer says.

I advise learn English with interest.  Therefore, if you really like the book and you yourself want to learn it and know every word, then your desire to sit with it for hours is understandable. At the same time, remember that women need to listen and repeat after a female narrator, a man to listen to the pronunciation of male readers, and do not forget about age! However, you should not dwell on one book or reader. The more you listen to English, the more diverse are genres and storytellers - the better you will perceive English by ear.

Where can I find audio books in English?

Today there are several good foreign sites that provide free audiobooks in English for download:

  - one of the best collections of audio books.

  - short audio tales.

  - volunteers (native speakers) read books and send files to the site. Absolutely free audiobooks with good sound quality and texts.

  - classic audio books.

  - Free audiobooks and videos for learning and self-development.

  - an interesting resource, free modern audiobooks, often read by the authors themselves, mostly with music. You can read reviews from those who have already listened to books.

About four years ago, the site was  a magical place from which you could easily download audio books in English. But, unfortunately, now you can download something from there for free only in terrible quality. The cost of full audiobooks is $ 5-8

You can choose a book:

• by categories - fiction / for children / non-fiction,
• according to the narrator - woman / man,
• english - American / British,
• by additional parameters - without killing, without swearing, not adapted, without marking “only for adults”,
• after listening to the passage.

Of course, there are Russian-language sites that offer to download audio books in English, but, unfortunately, there are not so many books there and they are repeated, and sometimes instead of audio books there are either VOA broadcasts (Voice of America radio stations), or, much less often, BBC

What do you need to remember?

Perhaps the most important thing is to regularly engage in audio books in English. Do not stop at the fact that you have downloaded a couple of books. Set aside listening time and do it every day. Remember that little by little, but often listening to audio books in English is better than a lot, but rarely. Engage with interest! I wish you success!

On our site you are given a unique opportunity to take a full course of learning English online. Audio lessons  made in such a way that everyone who wants to learn English can for a certain period of time get communication skills that will help you quickly find the key to many grammatical concepts and conversational skills. In addition, audio learning English words, phrases and dialogs for people of any age and with any level of knowledge in this area is completely free.
You can listen to the presented audio lessons directly on our website. We recommend the submitted entries to a greater extent for those who have just decided to start their studies. We think that no one will dispute the fact that the study of spoken English by ear is the main component of the entire learning process.

The main advantages of audio lessons

We offer a unique opportunity - learning English for free, without leaving home. Audio lessons will teach you how to communicate in English as naturally as a child who, in the early years of his life, began to master his native language. Our site for learning English has a number of advantages:

• you can start training at any time convenient for you;
• you don’t have to pay a tutor, teacher or download the following lessons for a fee after listening to the demo version;
• you can always go back to repeating the material you've covered.

Thanks to our audio lessons, you will not only be able to significantly replenish your vocabulary, but after a while you will completely master conversational English and will be able to easily understand a native speaker.

  Lesson Audio Recordings  mainly intended for those who want to independently understand the basics of this subject. People who came to the site probably understand why they need such knowledge. But we will nevertheless explain the benefits that anyone who doubts that the English language is useful in his life will get it.

• English will help you in your travels communicate freely in any country in the world, as today it is an international language of communication.
• The second advantage is that after completing the training course, you can decide for yourself whether you should continue the training or your knowledge is enough for you.
• Audio materials lay a certain foundation through which you can take further training, pass an international exam, get a certificate, without which no higher educational institution can accept you into the ranks of students.

Set a specific goal and go towards its achievement. First you need to decide what you want to get, what level of knowledge, then decide on the time that you can devote to learning the language. Many users think that after listening to the whole course in a day or two, on the third day they should speak pure literary or spoken English. But be reasonable - how long does it take to master the simplest profession - cook, turner, baker, sweaty? And believe me, it will take no less time to master a foreign language, and in the end, in any case, you will get a positive result. We can confidently say that everything is in your hands and everything depends on your desire.

The method of learning English using listening to audio books is no less effective than other basic methods. Do not put off audiobooks in the long box.

If you have at least minimal knowledge of the language, then, by all means, start listening to audio books of an initial level of complexity.

Audio books in English are of different types:

• Books voiced by native speakers - professionals.  This is the best and best quality version of audio books. Text, pronunciation, pace, clear pronunciation, intonation will meet all standards. Undoubtedly, this version of the book for listening will be useful to absolutely everyone. However, such books are not so many and at the same time they are often paid.
• Books voiced by native speakers.  These are collections of audio files that ordinary people in English-speaking countries put on the Internet. Records can be of various quality, as most often people make them at home, and not at recording studios in a team with the masters of this matter.

  The main problem may be reading the text by people with different accents, therefore the same text read by different people will be perceived differently.

  But such books are widely used in the public domain and are useful to listen to in order to get used to and learn to understand live English. Choose your favorite books and enjoy and benefit from such listening.

• Books voiced by Russian-speaking experts. These are, as a rule, good quality audio books that you can use for classes without any fear of memorizing mistakes or something like that. But it is worth remembering that no matter how well a Russian person speaks English, he is not a native speaker of this language. At the initial stage, such books are recommended for compulsory listening to everyone who studies English and wants to achieve results in this difficult matter.

  Audio files are recorded in professional recording studios on good equipment, which makes them quality. All words are pronounced clearly, clearly, legibly. The pace is usually a little slower, so that it is easier for beginners to parse words and understand the meaning.

• Books voiced by special programs.  Such books are not widely distributed, but they are still found on the Internet. The quality of such records is good enough, but it’s good for robots, as the text is read unemotionally, at the same pace, with one intonation. Although all words are pronounced according to the transcription in the dictionary, listening to such audio is very boring.

Why is it better to learn English from audio books?

Everyone understands that you need maximum practice and various kinds of exercises in order to learn English successfully. The most difficult thing is communication and understanding of native speakers.

You can thoroughly learn the rules of grammar, have a huge vocabulary, speak monologues in English well, but at the same time do not understand native speakers. Live English cannot be understood unless you practice listening to it.

When you first hear the speech of a native speaker, you immediately feel the difference from the speech of a Russian-speaking person in English. In order to understand the British, they must be listened to.

Vocabulary expansion

Undoubtedly, when listening to books in English, almost every sentence contains new words or new combinations of already known words. Even if you do not write the words in a separate notebook or notebook, do not look for the translation of words in dictionaries, new words will still fall into your passive vocabulary.

Of course, it will be very useful if you immediately transfer such words from a passive to an active reserve, but for this you need to remember it and try to use it in speech in the future, at least until the word passes from short-term into long-term memory.

It is not necessary to remember all unknown words from an audiobook in English, select only those that you use in your native speech, with which you are used to expressing your thoughts.

If you do not feel the word in Russian, are not used to using it in everyday life, then it is unlikely to become useful to you at the initial stage of learning English. Perhaps when you learn a foreign language at a fairly high level, you will return to these words.

Learning Oral Grammar

Grammar of the English language is a very complex aspect, since it has many times, turns, structures, constructions and exceptions to all rules.

In English classes, all the rules and cases in which you need to use one or another time are analyzed in detail.

But in a living speech, we do not always have time to catch which particular point of the rule a person was guided by, used a certain time, design.

However, if you listen to similar sentences several times, then this will not cause confusion, it will just become an automatic habit to speak and hear just such an option.

When listening to audio books in English, an inductive study takes place, that is, for certain similar sentences, you can logically understand the rule.

That is, on private examples, you can build a general rule.

English Speaking

Many argue that without immersion in the language environment it is impossible to learn the language of its native speakers. But where to find so many native English volunteers to surround them with all interested students?

Of course, anyone who has the opportunity to travel will be able to plunge into the English-speaking environment at least for a while. But this is not subject to all.

In order to simulate such a useful environment in any way, it is necessary to listen to at least the recordings made by the British. And this is just the audiobook. By listening to English speech regularly, you can develop good listening and speech recognition skills of English.

You can learn anytime, anywhere

The availability of teaching English using audio books is a very attractive advantage. Most people have mp3 players, phones that support audio playback, tablets and other modern devices.

To start listening to audio books, you only need Internet access to listen online or download your favorite book. You can use audio books to learn English at any convenient time and in any place convenient for you.

Someone in such a useful way takes a break at work, someone listens to books on the way home in public transport, someone from the habit of childhood listens before bedtime, and someone helps audio books to relax and distract from problems.

There would be a desire to listen to audio books in English, and the time and place for this can always be found.

How to choose the right audiobook for beginners?

• The main rule that should be followed when choosing an audiobook is that the book should be liked !!!

The book should bring you, first of all, pleasure. Perhaps it will be your favorite book, which you have repeatedly re-read in Russian, or the book that your friends recommended you to read for a long time, but you still haven’t reached it.

The main thing is that it arouses your interest and desire to know its contents, a new sound in English.

• The book should match your level of English.

Countless disputes are on the topic: What is better to listen to adapted books or originals? Of course, listening to the originals is very useful. But can a beginner learn English to listen and understand Shakespeare in the original and will it bring him as much benefit as an adapted text? ..

For beginners, it is still better to choose what will be, as they say, in the teeth. Therefore, choose a book of the desired level from the total number of adapted audio books and combine pleasant listening with useful.

• The book should be of the volume that you can master.

You should not choose a book that you will listen to for three years, and in the end you will not be able to remember how it all began.

If you do not have a lot of free time to listen to audio books, then it is better to choose a small story that you listen to in a few days or a week, but at the same time you will not forget anything and get good motivation.

Pride in overcoming an audiobook will encourage you to listen to another one.

Where can I find audio books for beginners in English online?

On the Internet, a huge number of audio books in English of different levels and quality, so any search engine will give you, if not thousands, then at least hundreds or dozens of useful sites with audio books for any such request.

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

What kind of audiobook to listen in English

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

1. By type of filling

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

2. By complexity

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

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

The benefits of audio books in English

One of the most difficult skills in learning English is listening comprehension. To learn to understand foreigners, you need to listen to them often. Therefore, if you do not live abroad and do not communicate daily with native speakers, you need to look for affordable ways to practice listening. The best helpers in this business are podcasts and audio books. Read about. Now let's find out what is useful in learning English from audiobooks:

1. You improve your listening comprehension

This is the main reason why audio books in English are very popular among students. The more we listen, the faster we get used to foreign speech and begin to understand it. And given the fact that most of the free audiobooks are voiced by native speakers who are not professional speakers, you can also listen to people with different pronunciation. Someone will be lisping, someone - making fuzzy sounds, someone - talking too fast - this is a great workout for your listening skill.

2. You get used to the sound of coherent speech

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

3. You learn new words and phrases in context

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

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

In theory, you understand very well when you need to use Present Perfect, but when it comes to using this time in speech, you are confused and do not know if it will be appropriate to use it? Listening to audio books in English will help you understand how any grammatical construction works in practice. If you will not only passively listen to the recording, but also think about how this or that time is used, then you will understand the principle of work of the English grammar not in theory, but in practice.

5. Do you study English wherever convenient for you?

Audio books in English are portable training materials. You can take them with you anywhere by downloading to your smartphone or tablet. So if you are not interested in listening to others on the way to work, listen to the audiobook. Find out how you can still use your gadget for training from the article "".

6. You are developing

Those unread books that could take revenge on you now do not represent a danger, because you listen to them. If reading is not always possible to devote time to, then even the busiest person can afford to listen to an audiobook. Moreover, you can read not only fiction, but also professional literature or books on self-development, then you will also be engaged in self-education, without wasting a minute of free time.

7. You do it with pleasure

We all understand that we need to “accustom” ourselves to the sound of foreign speech, but not everyone likes podcasts. They are uninteresting to some people. Audio books are no less addictive than coffee in the morning. If you choose an interesting book, you will be carried away by the plot so quickly that you will look forward to hearing the next passage of your favorite work.

How to listen to audio books in English

You can simply listen to an audiobook and have fun, it is suitable for those who understand English well by ear. And what about those who are not easy to understand English? For them, there is a technique that, with regular use, will significantly improve listening skills. How to do it? Use a simple technique:

1. Listen to a small passage from a book, for example, take one chapter. It's okay if you do not understand every word, at this stage try to catch the general meaning of what was said.
2. Take the text of the book and turn on the recording. Listen to the announcer and at the same time follow your eyes for the text. Do not focus on unfamiliar words; try to guess their meanings from the context.
3. If you want to replenish your vocabulary, then select unfamiliar words in the text with a marker, then write them out of the text and learn.
4. The day after learning new words, listen to the audio recording of the chapter again, do not use the text, try to understand the maximum of information by ear.
5. Want to improve your pronunciation with your favorite book? Then listen to the speaker and repeat the text behind him, trying to copy all the sounds and intonation of the native speaker. If you decide to use this technique, you need to find an audio recording read by a professional announcer with the correct pronunciation.

Where to download audio books in English: 7 best sites

Children's audio books

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

Audiobooks with texts

3. Etc.usf.edu is one of the most convenient sites for working with audio books. Each piece is conveniently divided into chapters, and text is attached to the audio recordings. You can listen to audio and follow the text on the site, and you can download MP3 recordings and text in PDF format. It should be noted that the audio recordings are presented in professional quality, so you may not need the text.
4. Nikolledoolin.com is a resource with a small selection of audio books, but there is text for all of them, so it’s convenient to work with it if it’s hard for you to understand audio recording without text.

Audio books in English of different genres

5. Librivox.org is a resource thanks to which there are more and more free audio books in English every day. Following the link, you will see two buttons: Volunteer and Catalog. The Volunteer button will lead you to a page for volunteers - people who read books in English and put them on this site. The Catalog button will send you to the book catalog. You can easily find the audio recording you need by using the site search. You can listen to any book online or download for free.
6. Loyalbooks.com is a resource where you can find more than 7000 free audio books in English. All audio files are conveniently divided into chapters, you can listen to them online or download. Most of the recordings are read by professional speakers, the sound quality is good, so it will be easy for you to make out the words.
7. Thoughtaudio.com is a site with free audiobooks in English. Records are presented in good quality, divided into chapters of the book, they can be downloaded for free or listen directly to the site.

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

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

Helen Exley

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

Reading is the most important foreign language skill, as its development helps to improve both writing, speaking and listening in parallel. That is, work on it allows you to close several goals at once. But what if your linguistic base is not enough to read or listen to the original literature? Here you will come to the aid of adapted audio books in English. Next, we will tell you what are the advantages of this training format, what audio materials should be chosen for one or another level - from beginner to higher, and also we will offer a lot of interesting stories recommended for study.

Why are adapted audio books good?

• improve your reading skills
• to train pronunciation;
• learn new grammatical constructions and structures;
• increase vocabulary, supplementing it with frequently used words of various subjects;
• immerse yourself in the exciting world of new stories.

In the library you can find not only audio books in English for beginners, but also stories for elementary, threshold and even advanced levels. Classical and modern, artistic and documentary - you can choose a work to your liking.

Move in stages and each new level will bring you new results:

1.   - 250 words
2.   - 400 words
3.   - 700 words
4.   - 1000 words
5.   - 1,400 words
6.   - 1800 words
7.   - 2500 words

To your attention the best adapted stories on the levels that we recommend to use in training:

A1: Starter (for beginners):

1. Police TV
2. Red roses

A1-A2: Beginner:

1. Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings
2. Love or money? (Love or money?)
3. London (London)

A2-B1: Elementary:

1. Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe)
2. Anne of green gables
3. Voodoo island (Voodoo Island)
4. The eyes of Montezuma

B1: Pre-Intermediate:

1. Love story
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Portrait of Dorian Gray)

B1-B2: Intermediate:

B2: Upper-Intermediate:

B2-C1: Advanced:

How to work with adapted audio books?

To achieve serious success in learning a language with adapted audio books, beginning students should follow some simple rules:

1. 1. Write in the dictionary unfamiliar vocabulary.
2. 2. Learn the features of the construction and use of grammatical constructions.
3. 3. Read the texts aloud and repeat the words behind the speaker.
4. 4. Use the English-Russian dictionary.
5. 5. Engage in audio materials daily for 20-30 minutes.

So, you want to reach a new stage in the development of your language? Then you definitely need to listen to audio books in English - they will help in an interesting format to achieve any linguistic peaks!