The Jiveworld App is designed with the intermediate or advanced language learner in mind, say, someone with a year or more of serious study.
We don't offer structured lessons that teach basic vocabulary and grammar. Rather, we focus on training your ear to understand real-world language, spoken at native speed in a variety of accents, and broadening your colloquial vocabulary as you hear words and phrases in non-contrived contexts.
If you are an "advanced beginner," there are ways of using Jiveworld. Try this:
- Keep the speed at 0.7x
- Show all the transcript (keep the "abc" button on)
- For the first listen, read along the translation so you get a good feel for the story
- Listen at least three times to each chapter — for the final listen, increase the speed a little and use partial redaction (with only some words showing in the transcript)
The key is not to get hung up on trying to understand every word. You'll understand the story from the translation, and you'll pick up a lot of useful common vocabulary and expressions on the way — but you want to keep some momentum.
It's not for everyone, but many language learners embrace authentic content early on so they can develop a natural ear. There's no harm trying Jiveworld with the free trial content provided: you may be surprised at what you can handle, and how rewarding it is learning with true stories told by real people.