Do you find it hard to understand native English speakers, and still need subtitles to watch TV? Wannalisn is the best app to solve the problem of listening comprehension.
Wannalisn is named after the way the words ‘Want to’ + ‘Listen’ are normally pronounced in spoken English. Learners of English around the globe are still unfamiliar with key differences between the spoken and written forms of the language and therefore have difficulties understanding everyday informal English. As a result we have created an innovative «edutaining» course to encourage people to learn the fast English of native speakers that we hear in movies, TV series, and, of course, in real life.
The best app on the market to improve English Listening skills
The “Edutainment” concept
Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment and a term used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. According to the article «Walt Disney: Master of Laughter and Learning» Walt Disney believed in education through the entertainment of film and television. Combining education with entertainment seeks to improve learning by making it not just painless but also pleasurable.
App features
- Completely interactive and 100% audiovisual
- Built to feel like a game
- Free content daily
- Content includes listening and vocabulary exercises. Correct answer keeps you moving forward
App highlights
- Available for both iOS and Android devices
- In-app purchases and subscriptions
- Flexibility to add new game modes
- Ranking -Premium section
- Share exercises with friends
Wannalisn is effective for listening skills because:
- English from movies is very close to the English of first language speakers
- Audiovisual clips help you remember what you are learning
- Make emotional connections with familiar actors and scenes
- Hear how things are really said
Improve your listening comprehension with 60 simple words!
«Function words account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of your vocabulary but make up almost 60 percent of the words you use.»
(James W. Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns. Bloomsbury Press, 2011)
Here’s the secret!
The 50 most common words and their combinations make up 50% of spoken English.
Train your ear
To help you train your ear to become familiar with how these high frequency clusters sound when said quickly, we offer you free interactive listening exercises on Wannalisn Play:
As with Duolingo, unlock the levels on the homepage and win ‘Wannas’, our virtual coins. Use Wannas to progress through the levels and to ask for hints.
If you run out of Wannas and can’t wait until the next day to receive more, packs of Wannas are available as a Premium offering.
3 types of listening exercises
Our listening exercises include 3 speeds (fast, medium, slow) with feedback and phonetic spelling to help with your pronunciation.
Select the words
Listen to the clip and select the corresponding words with one finger. This exercise is fun, fast and easy to do.
What’s the word?
This exercise will make you pay attention to every single word you hear and is excellent practice for listening comprehension
Dictation
Put your fast listening skills to the test with our challenging fill-the-gap exercises. This type of exercise also provides you with some useful writing practice.
Vocabulary: Common words, expressions and phrasal verbs
A strong vocabulary base will greatly benefit the 4 main skills– listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Research shows that academic and professional career success is very much dependent on our communication skills. According to Researcher Johnson O’Connor, “a person’s vocabulary level is the best single predictor of occupational success.”
Wannalisn helps you build your vocabulary and learn the most common expressions and phrasal verbs in spoken and written English. The best thing is that you are more likely to remember new vocabulary and the correct pronunciation of words by learning the fun way with clips from movies, TV series and songs.
Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are extremely common in everyday spoken and written English. Learning more phrasal verbs will improve your ability to understand English speakers. Note that most phrasal verbs can have more than one meaning!
Common expressions
English expressions and idioms are used all the time in everyday English. Because they don’t always make literal sense, you need to become familiar with their meanings. With mini clips from movies and series you’ll learn new vocabulary super-fast.
Mispronounced words
Are you sure you know how to pronounce words like:
- Buried
- Choir
- Mayor
- Women
- Aren’t
- Says
- Course
We guarantee that you are saying a number of these words (and many more!) incorrectly. Discover what you’ve been saying wrong for all these years!
Track your progress
Compete with other users on a global leaderboard to measure your progress.
Free vocabulary features on Wannalisn
Daily shows
Our app offers you free daily shows designed as «bite sized» content pills for those daily micro moments on-the-go to fit anyone’s schedule.
Blockbuster Expressions
With an Instagram story format, watch 6 different clips of an expression and deduce the meaning. This is by far the best way to learn and remember vocabulary!
Wannalisn Premium
Go Premium to unlock our entire catalogue of content (6000+ clips, 3000+ exercises), or buy a pack of Wannas to advance on Wannalisn Play.
Start using Wannalisn, the best app if you want to become an expert, proactive English listener. With Wannalisn you’ll make progress from day 1. It’s fun, fast and effective. All that’s needed is a few minutes of ‘Edutainment’ every day to make you addicted to learning English. You’ll soon feel a lot more confident interacting with native English speakers and you’ll also finally be able to enjoy your favourite movies and TV series without… subtitles!
Download Wannalisn for free on iOS or Android, and practise your listening anytime, wherever you may be! You can also follow us on our blog and on social media for daily and weekly tips on how to improve your fast listening abilities and build your vocabulary base.
Get Wannalisn now and finally take your English listening skills to the next level! And remember, real life doesn’t have subtitles!
