Is Passive Language Listening Helpful?

Passive listening is something you hear being talked about in language learning and is often something that is suggested you should do.

However, there are plenty of counterarguments to this, saying it is a total waste of time. So is it actually helpful for your studies?

Honestly, it’s not really. It can have some small benefits, but mostly it is not going to push you forward in your language in the way you would want and you would be better off spending your time doing other things.

What Is Passive Listening

We should first just go through what passive listening actually is, and really it’s rather simple. As the name suggests, it is when you listening to something passively. This means you are not really putting your attention on it and its just sort of background noise.

If you think about when you have the TV or radio on in the next room but you can still hear it. You are not really listening to it, but maybe they mention something that interests you and your ears will perk up and tune into what is being said.  Once you tune in, you are actively listening, but before then, it was passive.

The sounds are still going into your brain and they are being filtered by your brain on a subconscious level, you are just not giving them your full attention.

Passive Listening Is A Waste Of Time

We know passive listening is a waste of time because if this actually worked then we would all be fluent in a number of languages very easily. You could just leave the radio on in the background and away you go. After a while you would be fluent …but that’s not how it works.

You actually need active study to learn a language. The idea of being able to do it passively is very appealing to people, even me, but sadly it is not how it works.

Language learning is hard and you can’t escape this. The idea of doing it passively is just not real.

Why Does Passive Listening Not Work

There are a few problems with passive listening, which I will go through now, to show you that it is not a viable method to learn a language.

No Comprehension

The biggest issue with passive listening is that you have no understanding of what is being said, you cannot comprehend any of it.

It’s all noise and you cannot learn this way, you need some sort of context or it is going to be meaningless. To learn you need to be able to notice patterns in the language, such as grammar structure and you need to know some vocabulary, which you will not get passively.

You could maybe listen passively non-stop for 50 years and slowly start to notice some patterns and start to comprehend some things, but as languages are so big, it may be too hard, if not impossible.

(You can read more about – What Is Comprehensible Input In Language Learning?)

There Are No Visuals

Passive listening is just listening, so there is no visual input which could maybe have helped give you some context.

If we look at kids TV they do this a lot. They will say the word “cat” and show a picture of a cat. This helps the kid slowly understand that the word cat means cat, without really having to explain it as such.

Their little brains work slightly differently than our adult ones, but the same principle applies, the visuals give more context and help them understand, which is just not there when we are passively listening.   

Passive Listening Is Never Good As Active

Really it comes down to the fact that passive listening is nowhere near as effective as active listening.

Even if you do have some comprehension and can partly understand the material, you still need to actually listen to it for your study to be effective.

If you just have something on in the background, it’s pretty pointless as most of it is going in one ear and out the other.

We can passively listen in our native language as we are so comfortable in it, but this won’t happen in a language we do not know very well. Our brains are able to filter our native language quite easily, but as we do not have much knowledge in a language we are learning, it means that pretty much everything is going to be seen as white noise by our subconscious and it will all be ignored.

You would be far better off actually trying to listening actively, and engage with the language than let it go in one ear and straight out the other.

(You can read more about – Is Listening The Best Way To Learn A Language?)

You Need To Learn The Language In Other Ways

If you actually want to learn a language you need to do so much more than just passively listen.

You need to actively listen, but you also need to be reading, writing and speaking. You need to focus on all these areas, actively and consciously. If you do this you will make progress.

This is how you learn; you cannot just hope it slips into your brain when you have it on in the background. This is why you are not able to learn in your sleep. Many people think you can just let the language fall into you as you sleep, but this will not work as you are not engaging with the language on a conscious level.

What Can Passive Learning Actually Do?

Passive listening isn’t all bad. It can have it place in language learning, even if its role is small, it should not be ignored totally.

When you are very new to the language, passive listening can help you get used to the flow and intonation of the language, but that’s about it. However, even here I would suggest that you actually pay attention to what is being said, rather than having it on just in the background.

You will not learn anything new from doing this, it really only helps you get used to the sounds, your ears can start to adjust and try and tune in to what you are now hearing.

I sometimes do this just to warm myself up for a study period. I maybe watch the news in my target language for 10 minutes and then start the lesson. It probably has no effect, but personally I feel it helps me warm up.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Listening In A Language You Are Learning)

It Can Be Used As Practice

If you are quite advanced, you can kind of passively listen to something in your target language in the way you would with your native. However, it still not ideal and you are always going to better off giving your full attention to anything you are still learning.

(You can read more about – What Are The Common Challenges You Will Face While Listening To A Second Language?)

Conclusion

As you can see passive listening is pretty ineffective and not quite the magic bullet we all hope for in language learning. Sadly you have to sit down and study and put the effort in. There is no way around it.

Passive listening will just not help you acquire the language and really it does not give you any benefit. You will only see results when you actively put effort in your language. 

(You can read more about – How To Improve Your Language Listening Skills)