How Glisten Puts the 'Comprehensible' in Comprehensible Input

When I arrived in Holland 25 years ago, I barely spoke a word of Dutch. I know plenty of expats who live here who never bothered to learn the language, because you can easily get by on English alone.

I wasn't like that. I wanted to be a part of the local culture, and that meant learning the language. I enrolled in one of the standard government-endorsed courses, and found myself in a class with immigrants from all over the world, some in Holland for professional reasons (eg art restoration), and others fleeing war as refugees. It was a rich mix.

I took the classes for 4 hours a week in the evenings, and kept it up for about 18 months. What I loved about those classes was that they were entirely in Dutch. No English was allowed, not least because a good portion of the class couldn't speak it. (I wish more language courses took this approach: I find it jarring moving between two different languages when learning.)

I guess I was at about A2 level when I stopped, which means I knew the basic grammar, could understand slow Dutch, and could construct basic sentences. Nothing fancy.

You may expect that when I stopped going to class, my Dutch would have dropped off over time, but quite the opposite happened. Without actively studying, my ability grew, and here I am now completely fluent in the language.

The path to fluency is through listening

This is not a unique experience, because there are many, many people who have learned languages by immersion, ie, living in a country and just picking it up. I would even go so far as to say it is the only way to learn a language to fluency.

I don't mean you necessarily have to live in a country where the language is spoken, though it certainly helps a lot; what I mean is that ultimately everyone uses the same approach to reach that end goal — they listen a hell of a lot.

In my opinion, listening is the key to attaining fluency. A baby learns a language solely by listening. They can't read, and certainly don't know any rules of grammar, but they still learn to understand what is being said, and later they start to mimic what they hear in speech.

It's often thought that adults learn language differently to babies. There is some truth to this, but it is not the full story. Most adults think they need to study vocabulary and grammar to learn a language. Fact is, though many start off this way, you can't really attain fluency in this manner.

At some point, the ones who succeed all step over to the same methodology that the babies use: they immerse themselves in content, by listening and reading extensively. Not textbooks or exercises, but real native content. Ultimately, it's the only way forward.

Comprehensible Input

The idea that you learn by listening extensively to content in your target language has gained a lot of traction in the language learning community, and been the subject of many studies.

The term 'comprehensible input' is often tossed around in this context. 'Input' is anything you take in, either by listening or by reading; the 'comprehensible' refers to the fact that the content should not be too far beyond you. You should be able to follow what is going on, even if you don't know every aspect in detail. It is generally advised to choose content that is just a little above your current level.

Glisten amplifies comprehensibility

What does all this have to do with Glisten? Well, the app was designed purposefully to facilitate comprehensible listening, and make it fun.

But it goes beyond just providing you with an interesting selection of podcasts to listen to. The listening workouts in Glisten are central to the app, and they push comprehensible input to the next level.

One problem you will find with a lot of content, particularly content for native speakers, is that it moves very fast, and the words roll into each other. Listening to a full news report or podcast episode will usually have you left in the dust after a minute or two, and that is no fun at all!

Glisten uses repetition, pauses, slowdowns, and automatically generated text transcriptions to lower the barrier.

In other words, it makes content that would normally be way beyond your ability more accessible — more comprehensible. Glisten is not just a playback tool for comprehensible input, it's an amplifier of comprehensibility!

Repetition brings focus

Often when you first hear a sentence spoken at full speed by a native speaker it sounds totally foreign.

If you stop the playback, skip back 10 seconds, and listen again, you start to hear some words, and maybe can guess at what you are hearing. Repeat the playback again, and you start to string together more, perhaps understanding short phrasal units.

If you then take a look at the transcript, you probably realize you actually know most of the words being spoken (...which comes as a total shock initially!) If after reading the transcript, you listen a few more times, you will be horrified how easy it is to understand what is being said.

It's like what you are hearing comes more and more into focus with each repeat.

This exercise shows that understanding what you are hearing is enhanced by repeated listening, slowing down the playback, and reading the transcript.

In short, what is comprehensible in the context of 'comprehensible input' is not fixed; there are techniques you can use to make content more comprehensible, and to make comprehensible what previously was not.

A new world of language

These days I'm learning Spanish. After the usual initial frustration with traditional learning techniques, I happened upon the ideas of comprehensible input, and started to read and listen extensively to Spanish content.

I developed Glisten in my spare time, and now use it daily when I walk my dog. I follow podcasts and other imported audio which would otherwise be beyond my ability, and I've discovered a new found enjoyment of language learning through comprehensible input, and Glisten in particular.

This approach can open a whole new world of language learning for you too, one in which you aren't restricted to just watching children's TV and listening to podcasts for language beginners.

Instead, you can consider listening to more advanced podcasts which would be beyond your ability upon first listen, but with repetition, transcripts and other listening workout tricks, come within reach.

And at some point, you can even step over to full native content, which is when it really gets fun. Sure, you may need a little help from Glisten to make it comprehensible, but look at you! You are listening to the same talkshows and news streams as native speakers!