Free Podcast and Audiobook Suggestions

[Happyman]

I know what you mean about losing your vocabulary. I wonder if your staff cannot speak any English, or just don't feel confident to use it? It is rewarding to see staff learn English - but this only happens if you give them a chance. An office assistant I worked with for 15 years never spoke English, but understood it very well in the context of the office. The reason he never came to speak English is, sadly, because he did not have the confidence, and because the majority in the office never encouraged him in any way.

Another concern you may not have experienced yet, is losing your English listening skills.

Out of the four people in the office, two can speak English fairly well. The office plan is an open one, so everyone listens in on more or less every conversation, 'less I move it to another room. I alternate between not using English because it excludes people, and using English because it excludes people. We have enough communication problems, though. Any sentence with more than one comma in it is going to be misunderstood at the other end... whichever language we use.

That's why I'm looking for a podcast in bahasa Indonesia! I need that more complicated language like you'd get in the Intelligence2 podcast Rabbit recommends above, not just short sentences for chit-chat. I have to be the one to "convert", as I have the higher chance of real fluency, living here.

Do Over - [FONT=arial]Matt Theriault is a serious trier. This is a personal development podcast for people who want to "start over" is some area of their lives. The guy running it seems like your average Joe, not some polished, professional, "seller of wisdom". That helps motivate me. You might know what I mean if I say, "If that guy can do it, I definitely can do it", or maybe I'm more arrogant than you. [/FONT]http://thedooverguy.com/category/podcast/

[Jaime C]

A spin off of The American Life, Serial started a couple months back, and is quite interesting. Only the first season is out so far, they just posted the last episode this morning.

Radiolab is also quite good. For silly stuff, Car Talk, is pretty good. A few other NPR shows are good too.

[johntap]

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Just in case anyone is wondering if I might be confused about which forum I'm posting in... I found that after a couple of years here, speaking bahasa Indonesia all day long, I started having trouble finding words in English. I couldn't remember the specific terms for things. My vocabulary was going to shit.

I don't really watch much tv, just the occasional dvd. The only person I consistently spend time speaking English with is my wife, and she's not a native speaker, though she is fluent. So, to keep my language, I spend the trip to and from the office every day listening to something in English. I think it has helped. Also, I enjoy it.

I know what you mean about losing your vocabulary. I wonder if your staff cannot speak any English, or just don't feel confident to use it? It is rewarding to see staff learn English - but this only happens if you give them a chance. An office assistant I worked with for 15 years never spoke English, but understood it very well in the context of the office. The reason he never came to speak English is, sadly, because he did not have the confidence, and because the majority in the office never encouraged him in any way.

Another concern you may not have experienced yet, is losing your English listening skills.

[Happyman]

Little Brother - Cory Doctorow A really good tech novel in which the NSA goes mad and individual citizens are left to find ways to defend their own civil liberties. Set in the near future, I'm not really sure it even qualifies as science fiction, and would definitely recommend this to people who don't read sci-fi. http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

Infected - Scott Sigler This is one of those good bad horror stories. It's highly entertaining, but fairly implausible and totally over the top. The writer does good voice work, and I was able to forgive rather a lot of grammatical errors. It's free, who's gonna to do the editing? There is a sequel. http://podiobooks.com/title/infected/

Just in case anyone is wondering if I might be confused about which forum I'm posting in... I found that after a couple of years here, speaking bahasa Indonesia all day long, I started having trouble finding words in English. I couldn't remember the specific terms for things. My vocabulary was going to shit.

I don't really watch much tv, just the occasional dvd. The only person I consistently spend time speaking English with is my wife, and she's not a native speaker, though she is fluent. So, to keep my language, I spend the trip to and from the office every day listening to something in English. I think it has helped. Also, I enjoy it.

[rabbit_39]

intelligence2 (Intelligence squared) : http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podca...siteId=7457039
Usually a good, reasoned debate on a pretty controversial topic; with both sides being quite civil.

[Happyman]

Oh, anyone out there willing to recommend an Indonesian language podcast (that is not a radio DJ)?

[Happyman]

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts these days. There are so many free ones online that I am in no danger of running out, but thought I might share some of the joy. I'm going to list a couple of the things I have listened to recently here, and add more below as I have the time.

This American Life - Very interesting and entertaining show about average people. One of the most popular on the radio. "Each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme." (they admit this is a terrible description, but have been unable, in more than a decade of broadcasting, to come up with a more suitable one.) http://www.thisamericanlife.org/abou...our-radio-show

Freakonomics - You may have read the book (the authors have written three). The show usually takes some every-day occurrence and views it through the eyes of an economist. This is way more interesting than it sounds, as the "everyday occurrences" they choose could be cremating a cat, or trying to kill off all the cobras in an area by paying a bounty for them (led to an increase in the cobra population). They also ask strange questions like, "What Do Medieval Nuns and Bo Jackson Have in Common?". http://freakonomics.com/radio/freako...dcast-archive/

[SIZE=4]Audiobooks[/SIZE] - I won't really vouch for all of the books on this list, as my taste in fiction may be different than yours, and this is not a list of the best, it's a list of audiobooks in my phone now. FYI - I like Sci-fi and Fantasy. Oh, I use Podcast Addict to download all this stuff to my phone. It's a decent app, and I think any failings are due to my phone ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....podcastaddict ).

Podiobooks.com This isn't a book, it's a place for people to "publish" their free audiobooks, It has some really good stuff, and some crap stuff. You can see what is the best rated. It is free. (A tip, if the second or third book in a series is well rated, it's usually a great series!)

Underwood and Flinch - A novel about a vampire and his servant, set in modern times. It has very good voice acting and good production quality. http://podiobooks.com/title/underwoo...vampire-novel/

The Arwen - About space ship making an unfortunate first encounter. http://podiobooks.com/title/the-arwen-season-1-regal/

The Secret World Chronicle - Similar to the "Wildcards" series of books edited by George R.R. Martin, this is a revisionist-history, superheros exist, modern times, multiple viewpoint action-fest. It does have a long story arch, as well. which, is why I'm a bit disappointed there has been no new podcast for a long time now. Oh, the author if this one is Mercedes Lackey. http://podiobooks.com/title/the-secr...-one-invasion/

Trader Tales - A series of six books feeling a bit similar to the Horatio Hornblower series, but with less violence, and set in space. It has wonderful user ratings. I am disappointed to have run out of these. http://podiobooks.com/title/trader-t...quarter-share/

I'll post more when I can remember some of my favorites, and have the time to find links.