Great Literature = Better Listening Skills?

[Spoonary]

For French, reading comprehension does not instantly translate to listening comprehension, at least in my experience. It gave me a great starting point, but it wasn't enough by itself. My big listening breakthroughs involved buying DVD box sets of easy French TV series (starting around ~40% comprehension), watching season after season, and seeing significant improvements. I think TV helped me so much because I could use the images for context, and because the actors and the vocabulary mostly stayed the same. That gave me enough of a boost that I could hook up the spoken form and the written form pretty well. I still have work to do, though, on listening. I can channel surf, but hard series and many movies still cause problems.

I too can vouch for the usefulness of TV series. A few years ago, I started watching the Spanish sitcom Aquí no hay quien viva and while in the beginning I very much had to use the images to understand what was going on, only picking out the odd word here and there, after several seasons I could understand the majority of the not-so-simple jokes the series was full of. Of course, this isn't the only thing I was doing during that time, but it was definitely the thing I spent most of my language study time on and the improvement was amazing.

[Takra jenai]

I've never read any great literature (I never went to school and only became relatively literate some five years ago) but I did notice one thing about listening and reading.
When a few months ago I decided to upgrade my lousy lower intermediate English to a slightly less lousy intermediate English, I grabbed an issue of 'The Economist' that I found in a dustbin. Boy, wasn't that difficult! Fortunately, a friend of mine told me that I could also listen to 'The Economist in Audio' and that I did. My English improved in bounds and leaps. I didn't have to look up in a dictionary how to pronounce unknown words, what a relief!

Edit
I forgot to add that my speaking and writing significantly improved as a result. Writing anything was bordering on the impossible, and now it's much easier, even though it's still difficult. It's somewhat surprising, because I hardly ever wrote anything.
And one more thing, I don't have to translate in my head, I just write. I'm never sure weather it's correct or not, though. But I don't bother. Let the reader rack his brains, or, as Serpent would put it, their brains.

[issemiyaki]

@Takra - thanks so much for sharing.

The Economist magazine is in a league all its own!

[issemiyaki]

Le Petit Prince.jpg

Hey guys - trying not to let my enthusiasm wane.

Just this morning, I started reading Le Petit Prince. I made it through the first three chapters without too much trouble. Lots of words to look up though ... avaler, égaré .... but I also picked up some great phrases ... des tas de.

However, when I went to listen to the audio book - AHHHHHH - it was pure hell. I'm really struggling. I can't untangle the words fast enough. I feel like I have to keep pushing though. I'm going to listen to chapter 2 a few more times.

@EMK - again, the DVD of the TV series of Clem is on the way. LOL. Can't get her fast enough.

[issemiyaki]

Okay - this is the latest.

I purchased the audio book through iTunes and it's much clearer.

I was listening to it on YouTube.

[emk]

However, when I went to listen to the audio book - AHHHHHH - it was pure hell. I'm really struggling. I can't untangle the words fast enough. I feel like I have to keep pushing though. I'm going to listen to chapter 2 a few more times.

Le Petit Prince can be a surprisingly difficult book for a high-B1/low-B2 student. It definitely beat me up a bit. But later, a while after passing B2, I went back to read it and it was light and easy and a sheer pleasure.

If the audio book is beating you up, here's one thing you could try:

1. Read through a section using an ereader (if you have one), using the built-in dictionary to quickly look up unknown words.
2. Listen to the section while reading along, maybe twice if you need to
3. Try listening to the section without book in front of you.

Of course, it helps to have a really awesome book, because then you won't get sick of it as fast!

@EMK - again, the DVD of the TV series of Clem is on the way. LOL. Can't get her fast enough.

Good luck! You said that you already had close to 50% comprehension, right, and that you already enjoyed watching an episode? If so, it's probably a good first series to try out. But if it doesn't work for some reason, no worries. You can try something else in the meantime and put it on a prominent shelf as a goal to reach soon!

You're right in the "intermediate flailing around period", I think. It's normal to have good luck with some books and media, and horrible luck with others. But if you just keep looking around for stuff that's fun, and cheating as much as necessary, then things should keep getting easier and easier. Just finding the right book, or the right TV series, can sometimes be enough to start things rolling.

Difficulty-wise, there's a range of materials out there:

"This is too simple and easy to be interesting" -> "Hey this is fun!" -> "MUST. FINISH. THIS. SOMEHOW. OH. THE. PAIN."

I've always gotten excellent results by aiming for "fun." Plus, it's much easier to put in the hours if you're having fun.

So don't beat yourself up if you're not quite there yet!

[issemiyaki]

@EMK - I have the Kindle app on my iPad and I downloaded the French-English dictionary.

(Debating whether to purchase Le Gran Robert Dictionnaire - someone said it would be a good investment. Especially when I start getting to advanced "collocations" that don't always appear in your regular dictionaries.) Already have a used Le Petit Robert paperback.

The link on "cheating" is great - will read tonight!

As far as suggestions 1, 2 and 3 ... I will do them all. I figured I was cheating that way, but I need the help. So, I'm going for it. Thx!

[Takra jenai]

I understand much better when I listen, reading is much more difficult. It might be due to the fact that I was illiterate practically all my life and written texts are still somehow mysterious and awe inspiring.
I also noticed two other things.

I understand English native speakers better than foreigners.
Understanding is a lot easier when I know the subject/matter/topic thoroughly.

Some time ago I was trying to read ‘I Am Malala’ by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb (the ghost writer) and it was painful. But when I listened to it, it wasn’t exactly a piece of cake, but definitely easier.
And one more thing. Speaking and writing about something is much easier after I listened and understood than when I only read and understood.

Edit
I understand English native speakers better than foreigners.
I thought a little bit about it. It's probably because I never listened to non-natives when I started to learn English. All the recordings I listened to were by native speakers.
The other thing is that natives make no pronunciation mistakes, hardly any grammar mistakes, and the vocabulary they use is natural. On the other hand, foreigners are all original sinners as far as their languages go. You can expect anything, any nonsense.

[robarb]

I think it's important to add that the benefits of reading for language learning do not require the literature to be great.

Great books are not great because they're good for language learners! Translated Harry Potter works great for a lot of people. In general, whatever books are most engaging to you will probably get you to learn the fastest, assuming the language is still moderately challenging. Personally, I gravitate toward recent bestsellers that aren't too obviously crime thrillers or romances, because they tend to be engaging, the language is usually relevant and up to date, they are easy to read, and they are usually not totally devoid of literary interest.

This is hard to achieve with the great literary canon, in my experience. Those books may be worth it for the literary or cultural experience, but they offer few language-learning advantages before (passive) C2.

[issemiyaki]

@robarb - very true.

I'll show you what I'm using. It's a VERY old book, but the stories are short and engaging.