Podcasts are amazing because they can entertain and educate, even without your full attention. 

If you are learning English and would like a few podcasts to help, there are loads of choices. Podcasts are just one of many fun and effective language activities you can include in your routine.

We’ve listed the best English podcasts for both beginners and more advanced learners below. We’ve also included some tips for getting the most out of podcasts, so keep reading to find out more about the best podcasts for learning English.

The Learn English Podcast is excellent for beginners. It is aimed at  English language learners from A1 to B1 levels and episodes are discussion-based and cover common everyday situations. Every episode comes with a transcript and a support pack with exercises to test your understanding. There’s even a free app!

If you want to learn British English, this is a great place to start. Not sure yet whether American or British English is for you? Check out our guide to the differences between the two. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

British Council website

British culture

Society

Sport

Science

If you want to learn American English, then Voice of America: Learning English might be a better choice for you. It’s a clear website that offers different podcasts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced ESL learners.

At the beginner level, there are programs focused on basic language skills. Titles include “Let’s learn English,” “Everyday grammar” and “Words and their stories”.

If you are at an intermediate level, however, things get much more exciting. Podcasts cover various topics, including health and lifestyle, science, technology, culture, and news, which can be particularly helpful for chatting to friends in English. All podcasts come with a transcript to help you follow along. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Voice of America website

American culture

Health and lifestyle

Science

Technology

Language learning

Are you short on time? 6-Minute English fits into even the busiest schedules. No excuses! 6-minute English is a news podcast produced every week and is aimed at intermediate speakers. Each episode comes with a list of vocabulary, a thought-provoking question, and a transcript so you can follow along in case you miss some words or phrases. 

The English here is spoken at a slightly slower speed than usual, making it much easier to understand. In addition, there are hundreds of episodes going back to 2014. Try listening to one six-minute episode per day, and your vocabulary will grow in no time.

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

BBC website

British culture

World

Lifestyle

The English We Speak is produced every week by the BBC. This series is even shorter than 6-Minute English, with episodes only 3 minutes long. Each episode focuses on a different English idiom or expression used in the UK, such as “play a blinder,” “take the biscuit” or “to cut a long story short.”

If you are learning English to move to the UK, this program is highly recommended. The vocabulary is a bit more complex and is aimed at intermediate and advanced students.  Most of them are quite weird and will definitely make more sense after three minutes of context! 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

BBC website

British culture

Idioms

Slang

Lifestyle

If you are an intermediate/advanced English learner, and like the idea of “learning weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English”, then English Learning for Curious Minds is another great option.

It covers a wide range of topics, from history to philosophy, politics to technology. Each episode is around 20 minutes long, and comes with a transcript, vocabulary list, and subtitles. Alongside the podcast, Leonardo English also has a thriving community of “curious minds”, participating in different events, challenges, and courses. 

What’s more, the host of the podcast is a passionate linguist himself, and is a huge advocate of the power of podcasts for language learning.

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Leonardo English website (to access transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary)

British culture

Politics

History

Science & technology

Language learning

All Ears English is another great option if you already have an intermediate level of English and want a little more entertainment. Unlike Luke’s English Podcast, All Ears is in American English and is presented by two ESL teachers, Lindsay from Boston and Michelle from New York City. The All Ears team also includes two IELTS specialists, Jessica and Aubrey, who feature in some episodes.

In very short episodes, they discuss American culture, and explain confusing English expressions in a friendly and fun way. Their motto is “connection not perfection” so expect a focus on everyday English as it is spoken in the real world!

Another brilliant feature of this podcast is that Lindsay and Michelle specialize in training people for the IELTS. They produced the show with the IELTS in mind, so anyone about to sit the exam will find it especially useful. If taking the IELTS or moving to the US is your motivation for learning, you might also be interested in our guide to speaking American English. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

All Ears English website

American culture

English Grammar

Idioms

Language learning

The Espresso English podcast is made for beginners and intermediate-level learners. It is presented by Shayna who is the teacher at Espresso English and everything from vocabulary to grammar to pronunciation is covered in the 350+ episodes.

One of the fantastic features of this podcast is the fact that there are so many episodes and they cover many common problems that ESL learners run into, for example staying motivated or how to use phrasal verbs.  The show features American English and if you’re short on time, don’t worry, they only last 5-10 minutes.

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Espresso English website

Language learning

Pronunciation

Grammar

Idioms

If you already have great English listening comprehension, there is a whole new world of brilliant podcast series to explore. If you aren’t sure where to start, these are some of our favorites:

No list of English podcasts would be complete without mentioning Joe Rogan. The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the biggest podcasts globally, and in 2020, the show signed an exclusive deal with Spotify worth a reported $100 million.

JRE is a great learning device for advanced learners because there is such a wide range of topics and interesting English conversations. At the time of writing there have been over 1,660 episodes with subjects ranging from comedy and science to politics and sports. Rogan is also a famous stand-up comedian, so the show is full of cultural references and idioms if you are learning American English.

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Youtube

Spotify

American culture

Comedy

Sports

Science 

Politics

This American Life is a great choice for English learners who want an insight into the culture of the USA. It is a mixture of journalism and storytelling, focusing on real-life tales from citizens of all regions of the country. The stories are varied and original. One episode was taped for 24 hours in an all-night restaurant; another interviewed students at a high school which experienced a mass shooting. It has won a host of awards and is consistently rated among the most popular in the US. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

This American Life Website

American culture

Lifestyle

Politics

The whole world is obsessed with real-life stories about criminals at the moment. Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably noticed! 

There are plenty of podcasts dedicated to the “true crime” trend, but Crime Junkie is the most popular. In each 50-minute episode, the presenters discuss a different murder. They go into gruesome detail and give their theories on any unsolved aspects of the crime. It will make you shiver, but fans say it’s truly addictive. Hopefully, you won’t need to use any of the English vocabulary you learn with this podcast! 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Crime Junkie Website

Crime

American culture

National Geographic is a much-loved American magazine (and TV channel) famous for incredible stories and photography related to science and the environment. Overheard is about the discussions Nat Geo employees have had while taking breaks. Expect crazy stories from explorers, photographers, and scientists from around the world. 

Episodes last around twenty minutes, and topics include zombie mice, the ethics of animal selfies, and underwater pyramids. It’s perfect if you want to be amazed at the strangeness of our planet. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Youtube

National Geographic website

Science 

Nature

If you are more into culture than science, The Writer’s Voice by The New Yorker is a real treat. The New Yorker is a prestigious American magazine, and every week it prints a new short story. 

In this podcast, the week’s story is read aloud by its writer. The published work captures a wide range of life experiences across the United States and beyond. Some of them are quite hard to follow, but most make for very enjoyable listening. 

It’s a great way to enjoy some of the best new fiction in the country. Like a bedtime story for grownups! If you love literature, you might also be interested in our guide to finding free English audiobooks online. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

New Yorker website

Literature

When learning any new language, some people say that jokes are one of the last things you can expect to master. If you want to test this theory, try the Comedy Bang Bang podcast.

It has been running for ten years and very popular pretty much as long as podcasts have existed. Episodes begin as celebrity interviews but soon descend into chaos. Expect sketches, silly catchphrases, and improvisation games. If you are new to the show, the annual review episodes are a good place to start. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Earwolf website

Comedy

American culture

One final mention for one of the BBC’s many English podcasts. Why not start listening to the news in English? It’s a great way to get more English language exposure into your daily routine. 

New episodes of the BBC’s Global News are published twice a day and report on issues that affect the whole planet. As you might have guessed, this show is beneficial if you would like to learn British English. 

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

BBC website

News

World affairs

Business English

To make the most of your time listening to English podcasts, follow these simple steps:

With so many great English language podcasts available, it can be tempting to jump straight into listening to ones created for English speakers. This might be a good strategy if you are already an advanced learner. However, if you aren’t ready yet, this will be an ineffective way to learn. If you get lost, you will probably stop paying attention and won’t take in any new vocabulary.

There are some excellent, free podcasts designed for English language students, as we highlighted above, and these are a much more effective place to start.

Many of the best podcasts designed for studying English come with a written transcript which can also be downloaded. Try reading along to a podcast, and you’ll be learning how to read and pronounce simultaneously.

It is very difficult to tell how English words are pronounced just by seeing them written down. In fact, this is one of the most frustrating things about learning English. Reading along to a podcast is an easy way to get used to strange English pronunciation rules. It’s also great to make sure you don’t miss anything important. 

Podcasts are an excellent way to gain new vocabulary in subjects you are interested in. But these new words aren’t going to stick unless you engage with them. So, simply write down any new words you hear. 

Then, if you aren’t sure what they mean, pause the audio and look them up. Since you have already heard these words in context and made an effort to absorb them, there is a good chance you will remember them.

Native speakers talk so quickly! Everyone learning a second language has been frustrated by this at some point. 

So, another useful feature of podcasts is that they can be played at slower speeds. Even if you only miss a word every few sentences, experiment with listening to your podcast slowed down. This will give you time to write down any new words you hear. You might also gain a better understanding of how each word is being pronounced. 

Take advantage of the option to pause and rewind any sections that confuse you too. Now, if only we could do that with real-life conversations…

Usually, one of the benefits of podcasts is that they do not require your full attention. However, if you are using them as study tools, it’s probably best to forget that. 

If you want to get the most out of a language learning podcast, you have to be fully focused. This means doing something with the information you are hearing. That might be reading along, or just making a note of unfamiliar words. 

After all, rules were made to be broken! 

To get the absolute most out of podcasts as an educational tool, you should give them your full attention. If you are just using them to gain more contact with spoken English, however, you can ignore that advice from time to time. Having a podcast playing in the background will help you get familiar with the sounds and rhythms of the language. 

We hope you are feeling inspired and ready to fill up your phone with plenty of educational audio. If you want even more tips on language learning, check out the Preply podcast, where we speak to expert language learners and polyglots for their top tips. 

If you like learning with podcasts and want to take even more value from them, why not use them in an English lesson with one of Preply’s expert tutors or discover the Preply Business corporate English training? 

With Preply, you find a tutor and can work with them to plan lessons that suit your needs. You can ask your tutor to go through a podcast transcript with you or make a listening exercise based on the most enjoyable podcasts. 

That way, you’ll get to practice all the new vocabulary you learn in the most effective way possible — by using it in a conversation with a native English speaker.

Content Writer at Preply. Miranda is from Thanet, UK, but currently lives in Barcelona, where she's working on her muy mal Spanish. She loves going to galleries and writes about that too in her spare time.

Content Writer at Preply. Miranda is from Thanet, UK, but currently lives in Barcelona, where she's working on her muy mal Spanish. She loves going to galleries and writes about that too in her spare time.