Glisten · The Language Player 4+

Learn by listening to podcasts

Drew McCormack

    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Description

Now you can learn by listening to podcasts in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and many other languages.

Glisten stands for “Good Listen”, and it's an app which helps you immerse in a language, on the path to becoming fluent.

Those who have achieved fluency in a foreign language all have a secret — they listen a lot!

The key to taking a step beyond the introductory apps is to start listening to real native speakers.

Glisten can help immerse you in a foreign language, which is what you need to reach the next level, and have fun doing it!

So how does it work? Glisten brings difficult conversations into focus. Instead of just pushing ahead, causing you to lose the thread, Glisten repeats each sentence. You get more time to digest what you hear, which helps you understand, and keeps you interested.

Glisten is full of great foreign content from Apple Podcasts. Browse or search for a podcast, download an episode, and start a playback routine. It is like going to a gym for your ears!

As your podcast episode plays, Glisten helps you understand the language. It might repeat a sentence a few times, then slow it down for you, and finally play it back at full speed, before moving on. You choose the level of support you need.

You can also read along in the text, because Glisten automatically generates a transcript. There is no need to go searching on the internet for a PDF, Glisten produces the transcript for any piece of spoken audio.

FREE FEATURES
- Use Glisten on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Vision Pro
- Study a language hands-free when on the bus, driving, or walking the dog
- Search for foreign podcasts on Apple Podcasts
- Follow podcasts to get the latest episodes
- Automatically transcribe text for any episode
- Follow a playback routine, with sentence repeats, pauses, and slow downs
- Translate text into your own language with DeepL
- Read along with the extracted text as you listen
- Challenge yourself by having the text gradually appear as you listen
- Check you daily listening time, current streak, and other statistics
- Sync podcasts and progress between all your devices using iCloud
- Learn a language using a state-of-the-art approach (comprehensible input)

PRO FEATURES (SUBSCRIPTION)
- Choose from all of the playback routines
- Practice speaking with specialized playback routines
- Import and transcribe any audio file
- Follow any podcast using a feed link
- Follow along with text in the Apple Watch app

GLISTEN PRO
Glisten can be downloaded for free and used for listening to podcasts. The free version includes unlimited downloads, and a few playback routines to get you started.

To unlock all playback routines and other PRO features, you can purchase a subscription inside the app. There are free trials available, so you can try out the PRO Features before you are charged.

GLISTEN TERMS OF USE (EULA)
Please visit: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

What’s New

Version 1.5.1

Fixed crash when playing in the background, and when coming to the foreground

Ratings and Reviews

wordsummit ,

Useful tool

Glisten essentially does two things: first, it creates realtime subtitles for podcasts you might be using for language study— you basically get to read along as you listen (you can search the Apple podcast ecosystem from with the app, or import via a feed’s URL); in addition, the app gives you the ability to adjust the speed of playback and (automatically) insert pauses and repeat loops for sentences. The developer calls the different settings « listening workouts » but I think of them more like « gears » that you use to adjust the settings as appropriate….. much as a cyclist will gear down a little before a steep hill. For example, I just played a most of a podcast at regular speed— wanting to focus on a particular passage, I changed settings so it slowed playback down a bit and briefly paused between sentences. This is a useful tool for any language learner—I’m using it with French podcasts and definitely recommend. I’m happy enough to change from a monthly to a yearly subscription. 👍🚴

Developer Response ,

I really like the analogy of gearing down. It's a great way to describe what Glisten does. I also like to think of it is Augmented Audio. Augmented Reality is generally about what you see, where Augmented Audio is the same thing, but for listening. The device changes the audio in various ways, and can insert content, to make it more understandable.

Events

App Privacy

The developer, Drew McCormack, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

  • Usage Data
  • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supports

  • Family Sharing

    Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when Family Sharing is enabled.

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