The Best English Podcasts for Beginners in 2024

Are you an English as an additional language and looking for the best English podcasts for beginners?

You have come to the right place.

As a learner, you should probably know how important it is to be exposed to the language you are learning – in this case, English – as much as you can.

Podcasts are a great way of doing that because you can listen to them almost everywhere. Additionally, you don’t need to stop everything you are doing to listen to podcasts in English. You can listen to them while doing a lot of other things.

All of this makes podcasts in English a great resource for your learning.

If you are at a basic level of proficiency in English you must keep reading this article to find out what the best English podcasts for beginners are.

What Podcasts Are

If you don’t know what podcasts are yet, here’s a brief and simple explanation: podcasts are digital audio files made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.

So, when you subscribe to a show you will receive all subsequent episodes when they are released. Podcasts vary greatly when it comes to how often they publish new episodes and how long these episodes are. Some release new episodes daily, some weekly, and some monthly. Some shows release episodes that last about 5 minutes, others release episodes that last more than 1 hour.

In terms of topics, you can find almost everything you may be interested in. And this is one of the many reasons why podcasts are great to help you learn English. You can find shows about movies, music, pop culture, the latest news, society, health, lifestyle, comedy, arts, education, business, government, history, leisure, sports, technology, and so on.

Podcast Players

There are a lot of podcast player apps available online. 

If you use an Android device, Google Podcasts may be already installed on it. If you use an iOS device, Apple Podcasts may be already installed on it.

If you want to try other good apps to listen to podcasts, here are some options: Podbean (for Android; for iOS), Castbox (for Android; for iOS), Overcast (not available for Android; for iOS), and Pocket Casts (for Android; for iOS).

How Can I Learn English with Podcasts?

Podcasts are a great resource to help you learn English or take your current English language skills to the next level. A lot could be said about how podcasts can help you achieve your proficiency in English. But long story short, here’s a list of some of the amazing benefits they can provide you with:

• You get used to the rhythm of the language.
• You get used to a lot of different accents, which is an essential skill in our contemporary, globalized world. Don’t believe the myth of the native speaker anymore!
• You learn how the real-life language is used in different contexts. Forget decontextualized sentences and mechanical repetitions.
• You learn collocations (which words go naturally together and which don’t).
• You learn new vocabulary all the time. There’s always a word you don’t know out there.
• You learn not only the language itself but also different topics you are interested in.
• You end up learning a lot of things naturally, unconsciously, without effort, just by listening to them.
• You review all the grammar you already know and get exposed to new structures all the time.
• You end up improving your speaking skills. The more you listen, the more you speak.
• And many more!

Best English Podcasts for Beginners

First, try listening to different episodes from each of them to get to know them better. Then, select the ones you liked the most to follow!

• Brains On

Brains On is a science podcast for curious kids and adults.

• Espresso English

Basic English grammar, vocabulary, phrases, idioms, and more.

• Learning English Broadcast – VOA Learning English

30-minute episodes with limited vocabulary and short sentences.

• Moment of Um

Short episodes aiming at answering those questions that pop up out of nowhere and make you go… ummmmmm.

Enjoy the Best English Podcasts for Beginners

Now that you know what the best English podcasts for beginners are, we encourage you to start listening to them right now. Of course, we also encourage you to explore the podcast player you have chosen to use and discover new shows that are interesting to you. At the end of the day, this is what matters the most!

Listen to the podcasts you choose as much as you can. Listen to them while doing other things. Maximize the time you use to learn English.

When you get comfortable with the podcasts you first chose, change them. Make it a little bit more difficult and start the process all over again. You will see how much faster your proficiency in English will increase.

If you want to find out what good podcasts for intermediate and advanced levels  are too, check out our amazing article on the best podcasts to learn English!

Keep up the good work!