Listen to language lessons from around the world.
Click on a language lesson in order to listen to the lesson in your default media player. Or subscribe to the lessons as podcasts. Learn more about podcasts. Currently, we offer:- Arabic in Jordan
- Russian in Kazakhstan
- Bambara in Mali
- French in Mali
- Mandarin in China
- Thai
- Ukrainian
Mandarin in China
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–225 KB)
Lesson 1: Introduction to the Chinese Language
Lesson 2: Phonetics
Lesson 3: Basic Grammar
Lesson 4: Greetings
Lesson 5: Introductions
Lesson 6: Numbers and Prices
Lesson 7: Food and Drink
Lesson 8: Some Chinese Dishes
Lesson 9: Useful Phrases
Lesson 10: Sickness and Emergency Phrases
Lesson 11: Direction and Places
Lesson 12: Clothes and Colors
Lesson 13: Time
Lesson 14: Family
Lesson 15: Home Items
Subscribe to the Peace Corps' Mandarin Chinese lessons by pasting the XML file into your podcast software.
Additional Resources:
Slide show: Out With the Old, In With the New
Story and Podcast: Hey, Driver!
Folk Tale: The Legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Lesson: "Running"
Music: Sun Pu Xiao (Liang Tsai-ping)
Arabic in Jordan
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–265 KB)
Lesson 1: Greetings & Personal Identification
Lesson 2: Physical State
Lesson 3: Family
Lesson 4: Useful Expressions
Lesson 5: Communication Difficulties
Lesson 6: Food
Lesson 7: Directions
Lesson 8: Numbers & Money
Lesson 9: Question Words
Lesson 10: Time Sense
Subscribe to the Peace Corps' Jordanian Arabic lessons by pasting the XML file into your podcast software.
Additional Resources:
Video: The Last Drop Project
Lesson: Serious Doodling
Holiday: Eid al-Fitr
Bambara in Mali
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–169 KB)
Lesson 1: The Alphabet
Lesson 2: Vocabulary 1
Lesson 3: Greetings
Lesson 4: Numbers (1…20)
Lesson 5: Introducing Self/Someone
Lesson 6: Leave – Taking Expressions
Lesson 7: Dialogue
Lesson 8: Vocabulary 2—Common Objects
Lesson 9: Vocabulary 3
Lesson 10: Numbers (20…2000)
Lesson 11: Useful Expressions and Phrases
Lesson 12: Family
Lesson 13: Days of the Week and Expressions of Time
Additional Resources:
Podcast: Language Lessons and Flying Canoes
Lesson: "The Death of Old Woman Kelema"
Story: Music in the Fields
French in Mali
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–63 KB)
Lesson 1: Vocabulary—Parts of the Day & Personal Pronouns
Lesson 2: Greetings
Lesson 3: Verbs—To Go, To Be, To Be Named
Lesson 4: Vocabulary—Names of Places
Lesson 5: Hellos and Goodbyes
Lesson 6: Dialogue
Lesson 7: Numbers—1 to 20
Lesson 8: Vocabulary—Common Objects
Lesson 9: Articles and Possessives
Lesson 10: Asking and Telling About Objects
Lesson 11: Numbers—20 to 2,000
Lesson 12: Days of the Week and Names of the Months
Lesson 13: Telling Time
Lesson 14: Where Is It?
Lesson 15: Verb—To Have
Lesson 16: Useful Expressions and Phrases
Lesson 17: Giving and Receiving Directions
Subscribe to the Peace Corps' Malian French lessons by pasting the XML file into your podcast software.
Additional Resources:
Podcast: Water
Lesson: "Do You Really Know What Wealth Is?"
Story: "A Morning of Weighing Babies"
Russian in Kazakhstan
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–348 KB)
Lesson 1: Brief Introduction to the Russian Language
Lesson 2: Russian Alphabet
Lesson 3A: Greetings—Part 1
Lesson 3B: Greetings—Part 2
Lesson 4: Asking About Others, Talking About Yourself
Lesson 5: How to Be Polite
Lesson 6: How to Agree and Disagree
Lesson 7: Working Within Your Language Skills
Lesson 8: How to Ask Questions
Lesson 9: Is It Available?
Lesson 10: Can I? May I?
Lesson 11: How to Express Your Wishes
Lesson 12: How to Express Your Likes and Preferences
Lesson 13: How to React to a Knock at the Door
Lesson 14: How to Count
Subscribe to the Peace Corps' Kazakh Russian lessons by pasting the XML file into your podcast software.
Additional Resources:
Lesson: "The Importance of Being Flexible and Open-minded as a Visitor to Another Culture"
Story: The Train Ride Home
Holiday: International Women's Day
Thai
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–263 KB)
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: Phonetic Alphabet
Lesson 3: Greetings—Vocabulary
Lesson 4: Greetings
Lesson 5: Numbers
Lesson 6: Counting System
Lesson 7: Food & Drink
Lesson 8: Thai Dishes
Lesson 9: How to Order Food
Lesson 10: Expressions about Food
Lesson 11: Family
Lesson 12: Expressing your Wishes
Lesson 13: Useful Expressions
Additional Resources:
Story: She's a Thai
Music: Ruesii Long Tham (Lanna Orchid)
Holiday: Vesak
Recipe: Pineapple Red Curry
Ukrainian
Download the transcript of this lesson (pdf–484 KB)
Lesson 1: Introduction (no audio)
Lesson 2: Alphabet
Lesson 3: Greetings and Farewells
Lesson 4: Useful Phrases
Lesson 5: Getting Acquainted
Lesson 6: Family
Lesson 7: About Myself
Lesson 8: Food
Lesson 9: Apartment
Lesson 10: Numerals
Lesson 11: At the Store
Lesson 12: Transport
Lesson 13: City
Lesson 14: Post-office
Lesson 15: Signs
Lesson 16: Emergencies
Lesson 17: Personal Pronouns
Lesson 18: Professions
Lesson 19: Days of the week and months
Lesson 20: Question words
Additional Resources:
Story: "Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge"
Lesson: "The Importance of Speaking Another Language"
Music: Ukrainian Tune (Dongas Tribe)
What is podcasting?
Podcasts are a type of online magazine, using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to deliver audio to you when it becomes available. This lets you subscribe and automatically download new Peace Corps language lessons.How do I subscribe?
To s
ubscribe, you will need a third-party reader such as iTunes or Juice, or you can listen to the language lessons right here on our website. Benefits to subscribing include being able to follow along with the written transcript and easy management of the lessons.
Copy and paste the XML feed below into your podcast reader's "Subscribe to Podcast" box:
Mandarin Chinese:
Jordanian Arabic:
Malian French:
Kazakh Russian:
Need help? Contact us.
What's New