Conversations in English

Practice listening to these conversations. Each one has a transcript to read if you have trouble hearing the words.

MP3, NORMAL SPEED, WITH TRANSCRIPTS

For conversations, go to the list below. Speeches are different, but they help you learn how to listen to speeches. A large collection lets you click on PDF to see the text, and MP3 to hear the speech: Top 100, Important 49, Obama, or Bush.

Terry Gross - US English, radio shows. Click any link below. You will reach a new page with a ►triangle at the top. Click the ►triangle to listen, or click "Download" to save it and listen later. You can also print or save the transcript. There may be a short advertisement in the sound, before the transcript starts. Then the Interview and transcript start:

​These are large files: about 1 megabyte per minute of audio file.

MUSIC

1. 2017/06/30/534878830/nigerian-drummer-tony-allen-revisits-his-jazz-roots-in-a-salute-to-art-blakey - 6 minutes
2. 2017/07/14/537035178/ode-to-billie-joe-was-a-surprise-hit-that-prompted-dozens-of-jazz-versions - 8 minutes
3. 2017/07/28/539989187/an-archival-interview-with-ray-manzarek-keyboardist-for-the-doors - 11 minutes
4. 2017/06/02/531230288/fresh-air-interviews-with-beatles-ringo-starr-and-paul-mccartney  Beatles - 38 minutes
5. 2017/07/04/534883348/50-years-later-producer-remixes-sgt-pepper-to-bring-it-into-the-modern-world - 44 minutes
6. 2017/07/03/534887214/rhiannon-giddens-speaks-for-the-silenced - 37minutes
7. storyId=131334322  Rap musician Jay-Z - 45 minutes
8. 2017/07/28/539997870/for-jazz-pianist-dave-frishberg-music-and-wit-go-hand-in-hand - 28 minutes

 
OTHER ARTS

1. storyId=538609475  On Jane Austen - 6 minutes
2. 2017/07/18/537916519/film-and-notfilm-showcase-the-collaboration-of-buster-keaton-and-samuel-beckett - 7
3. storyId=529820189  6 books - 9 minutes
4. 2017/07/20/538319066/fresh-air-remembers-oscar-award-winning-actor-martin-landau 17 minutes
5. storyId=531735345 Arctic+Antarctic photographer Paul Nicklen - 44 minutesminutes
6. storyId=536434340   Ballet dancer Wendy Whelan - 36 minutes

 
OTHER CURRENT EVENTS

1. 2017/05/11/527934032/celebrating-30-years-of-fresh-air-as-a-daily-npr-program - 7 minutes
2. storyId=165272652  Mumbai slum Katherine Boo - 13 minutes
3. 2017/06/13/532594281/journalist-ventured-behind-the-lines-of-jihad-to-interview-the-worlds-most-wante - 36 minutes
4. 2017/04/17/524348264/largely-forgotten-osage-murders-reveal-a-conspiracy-against-wealthy-native-ameri - 37 minutes
5. storyId=535757103 American Muslim memoir Haroon Moghul - 36 minutes
6. storyId=533515895 memoir of trying to reduce weight - 44 minutes
7. storyId=511507434  rich survivalists - 43 minutes
8. 2017/07/05/535626109/the-end-of-loyalty-and-the-decline-of-good-jobs-in-america
9. storyId=526655831   Racial segregation in USA - 35 minutes
10. 2016/12/14/505547295/fake-news-expert-on-how-false-stories-spread-and-why-people-believe-them - 36 minutes

 
COMEDY

1. storyId=528936208  Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj - 43 minutes
   
2. storyId=530810011   Comedian David Sedaris - 43 minutes

 
SCIENCE

1. 2017/07/24/539005688/inside-the-global-seed-vault-where-the-history-and-future-of-agriculture-is-stor - 35 minutes
2. 2017/07/26/539520353/looking-back-at-the-most-powerful-earthquake-ever-to-strike-north-america - 32 minutes
3. 2017/06/22/533951389/experts-suspect-russia-is-using-ukraine-as-a-cyberwar-testing-ground - 34 minutes
4. storyId=541124579   Al Gore on climate change - 43 minutes
5. 2017/06/29/534868012/what-happens-when-the-heroin-epidemic-hits-small-town-America - 25 minutes

 
POLITICS

1. 2017/07/20/538312605/the-insecurity-of-americas-old-and-underfunded-voting-systems - 20 minutes
2. storyId=541278161  Lobbying Congress in 1965 - 36 minutes
3. 2017/07/11/536642560/is-the-justice-department-shying-away-from-to-prosecuting-corporations - 37 minutes
4. storyId=533711528   US government plans for continuity after major attack - 37 minutes
5. 2016/02/02/465257993/who-are-americas-homegrown-terrorists - 37 minutes

 
POLITICIANS

1. 2016/03/17/470806232/opening-the-books-on-donald-trumps-business-deals-in-atlantic-city - 34 minutes
2. 2017/02/02/513041005/exploring-the-nationalistic-and-christian-right-influences-on-trump - 43 minutes
3. wlrn.org/post/how-white-nationalist-groups-found-their-candidate-donald-trump - 39 minutes (18 megabytes)
4. storyId=537885042  Trump+Bannon - 37 minutes
   
5. storyId=321313477   Hillary Clinton, 2014 - 44 minutes

​MORE TERRY GROSS RADIO SHOWS (most do not have transcripts)

United States Supreme Court​ - US English

1. ​Oral discussions and transcripts 1955-present. Beautiful presentation highlights each paragraph in yellow, while it is spoken. In the left column, choose the year, or "View by: Issue". Click the title of the case, and "Oral Argument" will appear in the left column for cases from 1955 to last year. Click those words, then click the black triangle to start the recording. You can also read the opinions to find who won and why.
   
2. ​Opinions by the court, deciding each case
   
3. Summaries: Click the title of any case. Also shows dates when decided, argued, and permission to appeal was granted.
   
4. For Australian, Canadian and British courts, see videos below

Bill Moyers​ - US English

1. 155 television shows: April 25, 2007-April 30, 2010: transcripts, and MP3, also has video

​Australian Broadcasting Corporation

1. ​10-30 minutes each: abc.net.au/transcripts/  or  abc.net.au/radionational/transcripts/

​
Radio New Zealand

1. 3 to 40 minutes: radionz.co.nz/search/results?utf8=✓&q=transcript&commit=Search

World Health Organization - British English

1. about 10 minutes each: who.int/mediacentre/multimedia/podcasts/en/​

Business Management​ - British English

1. about 5 minutes each  emeraldpublishing.co.uk/learning/podcasts/index.htm?cat=2

British Library 

1. Six talks on religion, about 10 minutes each: bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/sacred/audiocuratorschoice.html

BBC 

1. "In Touch" most shows since 30 May 2017: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxww/broadcasts/2017/06
2. Assange: news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9309000/9309320.stm​

US President Eisenhower

1. Most famous speech to nation, 17 January 1961, warning about military-industrial power: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Eisenhower%27s_farewell_address_(audio_transcript) or video: youtube.com/watch?v=OyBNmecVtdU

VIDEOS, SLOW, WITH SUBTITLES 

1. 2,600 shows: youtube.com/user/VOALearningEnglish

VIDEOS, NORMAL SPEED, WITH TRANSCRIPTS 

Thousands of subjects

1. ​Ted.com with transcripts and subtitles

​Courts​

1. Australia High Court hcourt.gov.au/cases/recent-av-recordings
2. Canada Supreme Court has videos without transcripts: 
   scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/webcasts-webdiffusions-eng.aspx
3. United Kingdom Supreme Court has videos without transcripts (type "watch" in the search box): https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/index.html#addsearch=watch,f=1

​Indian voices

1. 19 videos: ndtv.com/topic/full-transcript

​Tavis Smiley + Amy Goodman

1. pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/democracy-now-host-amy-goodman/
2. pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/journalist-author-amy-goodman/

Obama

1. npr.org/2016/12/19/504998487/transcript-and-video-nprs-exit-interview-with-president-Obama
2. bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33646542

Professors and others

1. archives.gov/presidential-libraries/events/supreme-court/presentations.html

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Audiobooks and others

1. transcriptvids.com/v/HuoMHA6XXqY.html
2. youtube.com/user/CCProse
3. youtube.com/user/MysticAshes1