german2k01 wrote:Here's a
good channel with real people speaking. What makes is special is that it has subtitles. A perfect training machine.
Exactly. That's how they speak. I will be importing videos to lingQ for reading purposes and listening to them again after studying a transcript. Thanks for sharing the link.
Excellent advice above. This whole question is why I was questioning the value of reading classic audiobooks in the other thread. Not so much that they are entirely useless, but because matching audio with those books will not, as einzelne said, match how people talk in real life. It is
that speech with which you need to familiarise yourself.
However, there are two things to consider:
1. Transcripts will help at first, but at some point you should forget transcripts for this particular purpose.
2. You need to familiarise yourself with certain pronunciation features and of certain words. Also to learn the few repeated slang words and filler they are likely using. This is done by speaking, interacting and asking questions, rather than observing from afar like an ethnologist.
There are still some people I run into here whose accent or heavy dialect catches me off guard and I have been actively speaking Dutch every day for 20 years. In several provinces and two countries in professional and everyday situations. I don't see this changing. Be aware that no matter who you are, foreigner or native, people adjust to the person with whom they are speaking. It is more or less according to who you are, to how much comprehension you initially display.
To get past this it's good to ask what words people are using. Make friends with someone casually and let them talk. Usually they will start by giving you a break and speaking 90% standard language so you understand. They'll ask you questions and you can be pushed into responding as best you can. They will help you. This person (or people) will also assist you in interpreting other people who address you in e.g. the work environment. It means you don't have to fall into that vortex when someone is speaking and they just rattle on and you get into a comprehension deficit. The very best 'shadowing' you can do is to shadow these people talking, to ask them what they are saying, to copy them and reuse it.
Over time, yes, you will become more and more accustomed to the varied sounds and repeated speech patterns and this will break down most of the barrier. It never gets totally eliminated though. This is normal.