I’m curious to hear opinions on when is the right time to start listening to material outside the program (podcasts, etc). I know it probably doesn’t hurt at any time, but when did it start to be a productive use of time? I’m currently on Blue Belt in Romanian and, although I’m definitely feeling the structures of the language coming alive, listening is very weak. Is it better to wait until much later to start trying to activate those abilities?
Thanks,
I would say, the sooner the better. It’s not a matter of listening and understanding (which feels ‘productive’), it’s more a case of subconsciously tuning in, and getting used to hearing natural rhythms and speed even if you don’t understand what you’re hearing (which often doesn’t feel ‘productive’). If you can listen to your target language in the background whilst doing other things (rather than making a specific effort to stop and concentrate), that helps override the feeling of it not being productive. Doing this is actually a very productive method, but it does take time - usually you’ll not notice any benefit for ages then suddenly you realise you heard and understood a chunk without trying, and those chunks get bigger and bigger if you stick with it.
Absolutely agree, the sooner the better.
And you can make it “more productive” by just spending a few minutes noting how many words you recognise in that time (without trying to understand or translate them, eg you could note down W for a single word and C for a chunk etc), you will be able to track approximately your progress.
The other activity I found useful (especially at the beginning of learning a new language) is to listen out for the techniques we all use when speaking in our native language but ignore such as hesitation, repetition, self-correction, re-wording/re-phrasing and those filler sounds we use to give us thinking time.
It’s a good reminder that fluency doesn’t mean never hesitating, and helps to take the pressure off from being “perfect”.
I agree with the comments above, listen from an early stage, don’t try to understand, just let it wash over you.
I use the VRadio app to listen wherever and whenever is convenient (and has a data connection). It has radio stations from all around the world grouped together in one location. I just checked for Romania and it offers 240 stations, so you should find something that’s to your taste. It works well in the car with Android Auto and Apple Car Play.
Thank you all for the wonderful responses. In your experience, is it really just a matter of doing a ton of semi-passive listening while also learning the language?
I’ve learned a couple languages to decent conversational levels, but I’ve never seemed to be able to break through that barrier of being able to listen to native material at full speed.
This go around, I really want to shore this up.
Thanks again,
Yes, that’s absolutely what it is, and it can be different for different languages. I went from understanding nothing in Welsh, to picking out a few words here and there, to realising I’d understood what a conversation was about, to understanding virtually everything, but it took a few years.
I live in the Basque Country now and I’ve been doing that with Basque radio almost every day for the past 3-4 years, and I’m still at the picking out words stage. It’s frustrating, but I know from the perseverance with the Welsh that it does come!
So hang in there and after a while you’ll realise that you’re understanding. You may not even be able to repeat the words back to anyone, but it doesn’t matter. You will have understood IN THE LANGUAGE and that’s what you’re aiming for.
The only thing I’d add to this is that we’re doing a lot of work on a new approach to listening which is designed to help you get over the jump to content for first language speakers - everyone is absolutely right that this sort of passive listening is extremely valuable (and ultimately pretty much the only way to get to the higher levels of ability) but it also takes determination and/or real comfort with the process of not understanding much for a long time.
I don’t know if they’ll be in the Romanian course yet, but I’m absolutely delighted with the new listening content that we’ve got coming through in the Croatian course, and it’s already made a really valuable difference for me with the early functional stuff that we’ve never previously done (hello, what’s your name, how are you, that kind of stuff).
When we’ve finished nailing down exactly how we want the current stuff to work, we’re going to build the next layer which focuses on exactly the kind of vocabulary widening that you need to go from B2 to C1 - can’t wait to test that out 
Just echoing what others have already said but I started listening to the radio, podcasts etc almost straight away. Passive listening is very helpful especially when combined with active listening and learning.
I went from only understanding the odd word, to following the gist of a conversation to understanding all (or nearly all) of it, almost without realising.
I would say, don’t fret too much about understanding too much to begin with but do try and spend some time, at least, trying to listen closely and take in as much as you can.
Thank you all very much.