If you want to download free English conversations, you’ve come to the right place.
First, I’m going to introduce you to some English-language podcasts. (Podcasts are audio conversations you can download for free.)
Then, I’ll share some YouTube channels you might want to check out. (YouTube is a great place to find English conversations.)
Contents:
- English Conversations for Beginners
- English Conversations for Intermediates
- How to Listen to English Podcasts on Your Phone
- How to Download Podcasts as Audio Files
- YouTube: The Place to Get Unlimited English Conversations
- Frequently-Asked Questions
English Conversations (Podcasts)
for Beginners
If your listening isn’t so good, it’s a good idea to listen to podcasts for English students (because they are easy to understand). Below are a few ESL podcasts that I recommend.
This podcast is hosted by a group of English teachers. What I like about this podcast is that the teachers talk about a variety of topics (not just English learning). So, listening to this podcast is a good way for beginners to learn new vocabulary.
Effortless English Podcast (by AJ Hoge)
Another podcast to help you improve your English. AJ Hoge, the host of this podcast, is a knowledgeable English teacher. His podcast is easy to understand and interesting. I highly recommend it!
This podcast is pretty unique. It’s hosted by Jennifer from the USA and Dan from England. If you listen to this podcast, you’ll get to learn American and British English at the same time. This is a great way to improve your English listening!
An award-winning audio show for English learners. The show is hosted by Luke, an English teacher from London. One thing beginners might like about this show is that some of the episodes have transcripts!
If you’re a beginner, please listen to the podcasts above as much as possible. Once your listening improves, you’ll be able to understand other types of podcasts (ones that aren’t made for English learners).
English Conversations (Podcasts)
for Intermediates
If your listening is at an intermediate level (or above), it’s easier to find podcasts to listen to. (You are not limited to podcasts for ESL students.)
Below are some interesting podcasts I’ve found. The conversations in these podcasts are real spoken English.
If you like scary stories, this one is for you. The podcast compiles several short, horror stories inside each episode. They are well-crafted, with expert narration, and scary music to enhance the stories.
This podcast educates listeners on a wide variety of interesting topics like how the placebo effect works, how natural selection works, how online dating works, and so on. This podcast is for everyone. No matter what your interests are, you’ll likely find some episodes that interest you.
A podcast for movie lovers. On this podcast, the hosts discuss the latest films, movie reviews, film news, television shows, and entertainment. Many English students love learning English through movies. If you’re one of them, this podcast is for you.
Do you love inspiring stories? On this podcast, the host interviews some of the greatest people on the planet: from brilliant business minds, to world-class athletes, to some of the most influential thought leaders out there.
If so, enter your email address to join my English speaking course:
How to Listen to Podcasts
on Your Phone
To listen to podcasts on your phone, you need a “podcast player.”
Just go to your app store and search for “podcast app,” and pick one with good ratings. (Or just install Pocket Casts. It’s the most popular podcast app.)
Once installed, open the app and search for podcasts by entering a podcast name or a search term.
Some podcast apps (like Pocket Casts & Podcast Addict) will let you download episodes to your phone.
If your phone has limited Internet data, I recommend that you download a lot of episodes ahead of time over a WIFI network. This way, you can listen to English conversations without using your phone’s Internet data.
Don’t forget to delete old episodes every now and then otherwise your phone will run out of memory.
How to Download Podcasts
as MP3 Files
If you don’t want to use a podcast app for some reason, you can download the conversations directly onto your computer/phone as MP3 files. Here’s how:
First, go to the podcast’s website. You’ll see a list of episodes, click on an episode’s title to open the page for that episode.
Step 2: On the page for that episode, locate the download link or icon and click on it.
Note: Different websites will have different layouts. But the steps for downloading audio files are pretty much the same.
Make sure you download a lot of audio files so that you don’t have to do this very often.
YouTube: The Place to Get
Unlimited English Conversations
Watching YouTube videos is an excellent way to practice your English listening.
The amount of content on YouTube is crazy. New content is being added every single minute.
The best way to get started is to subscribe to YouTube channels that interest you. Personally, I love horror stories and mysteries, so I’m subscribed to channels like:
- Mr. Nightmare (scary stories)
- Buzzfeed Unsolved (unsolved crimes & supernatural stuff)
- Lazy Masquerade (scary stories)
- Kendall Rae (true crime & unsolved mysteries)
Other than scary channels, I’m also subscribed to channels that cover other topics like pets, movie reviews, etc. (Basically, things that interest me.)
Here are some more channels I’m subscribed to:
- The Dodo (positive, uplifting stories for animal lovers)
- Chris Stuckmann (movie reviews)
- Ted Talks (interesting stories and ideas shared by experts)
- History Buffs (reviews of popular historical films)
If you don’t understand the content, you can enable captions (see the screenshot below). Although most captions aren’t 100% accurate because they’re auto-generated by computers, they still give you an idea of what is being spoken.
One thing I like about YouTube is how it keeps recommending interesting videos that I might like. This makes it easy to listen to English conversations all day long.
If you’re not using YouTube to improve your listening, you’re missing out a lot. So, create a YouTube account now and start subscribing to some interesting channels!
Frequently-Asked Questions
In this section, you can find my answers to the most frequently-asked questions.
What should I do if I don’t understand the podcast I’m listening to?
Most podcasts don’t have transcripts. So, if you don’t understand some parts of the conversation, what should do you?
Well, there are a few things you can do. You can read about them in this article. It explains how to overcome this problem.
The podcasts and YouTube channels you recommend don’t interest me. Do you have other recommendations?
In this case, I suggest that you search for interesting podcasts or YouTube channels yourself. People have different interests, so it’s impossible for me to know the kind of content you’ll like.
The easiest way to do this is to open your podcast app (or YouTube), and enter a term related to topics you’re interested in.
Note that, if you’re a beginner, it can be difficult to find content that’s easy to understand. So, I suggest that you search for podcasts or YouTube channels for English students because the hosts of these programs tend to speak slower than usual.
To find these programs, just search for phrases related to learning English.
How can I download YouTube videos onto my computer?
I don’t think you have to do that. You can simply watch videos directly on the YouTube website or the YouTube app.
But if you really want to do it, you can use a free program called 4K Video Downloader. This program is easy to use. And you can choose whether to download the whole video or just the audio track.
It’s Time to Start Improving
Your English Listening Skills!
Podcasts and YouTube.
I believe these two mediums are the best resources for improving your English listening skills.
English conversations in these two mediums are real spoken English – the type of English you hear in English-speaking countries.
And unlike audiobooks, podcasts and YouTube are FREE. Which means you can listen to conversational English without spending money.
I hope you find this page useful. Now is the time for you to start subscribing to various YouTube channels and podcasts!
