Introduce students to books above their reading level and bilingual audio books benefits

Posted by Amelia Whitehart on March 4, 2020 in Publishing

How to learn languages the easy way with bilingual audio books : Going into new situations can be intimidating, particularly when you don’t understand what’s being said around you. Knowing more than one language can give your child a boost of confidence. Whether you travel or not, it will give them a better understanding of the world around them. And there’s always the added benefit that those who are bilingual will have an easier time picking up a third language.

Bilingual books are typically formatted so one page or passage of foreign language reading is paired up with the corresponding English language translation of that material, and e-books can make bilingual formatting even more practical. For example, sometimes the translation is accessible on a paragraph-by-paragraph or even line-by-line format and appears when the reader clicks or taps on what needs to be translated. Other times, pages are divided into columns with both languages represented. And some books present translations following the foreign text, so you can swipe or click back and forth between the two languages.

As you know (perhaps after a distressing experience) when a well-meaning person tries to explain to someone in which way their beliefs are false, even dangerous, the good-willing person is coming up against a more and more solid wall. The more numerous and well documented his arguments, the more the listener will become deaf to his reasoning. It is a psychological fact that you must not fight, since the fight strengthens it. You have to bypass it.

Audiobooks Keep Reader Focused. Different streams of thoughts are running in the mind of modern man. That is why reading a print book has become a difficult task than it used to be. Listening to audiobooks is a proper solution to the problem. Listener focuses on the words and understands the story, poem, or narration. People believe that voice makes the characters alive. The individual feels that all the characters of the book are performing on the stage. Find extra details on Bilingual audio books English/Chinese and English/Hindi.

Audiobooks have traditionally been used in schools by teachers of second-language learners, learning-disabled students, and struggling readers or nonreaders. In many cases, audiobooks have proven successful in providing a way for these students to access literature and enjoy books. But they have not been widely used with average, avid, or gifted readers. Varley (2002) writes, “Uncertain whether audiobooks belong to the respectable world of books or the more dubious world of entertainment, elementary and high-school teachers have often cast a fishy eye at them, and many have opted for the safe course of avoidance.”

Develops grade-level appropriate content knowledge. Giving students access to grade-level materials by providing an audiobook accommodation improves their self-esteem and increases their participation in class and peer discussions. They are now able to work alongside their peers and get hours of time back. Just because a student can’t read the words in the same way as their peers, doesn’t mean they aren’t developmentally ready to learn this information. Listening to audiobooks brings the information to the student when they are ready for it, not when they can read it.

The children listened…. and their parents too. Listening was not felt as a chore but as a delight. So, we decided to prepare bilingual audiobooks from “classical” works. Then, we thought we should publish contemporary short works in at least 2 languages (by the way, if you are the happy author of a work up to 25.000 words, prepare to submit it.) We propose mostly human voices, because to listen to synthetic voices feels… synthetic. But, whatever their accent, the synthetic voices offer a faultless pronunciation, which is important for the student. So, we prepare some sound files with synthetic voices. Find more info at Language Learning for the Blind.