how to improve listening for english?

[jimmy]

I think my english is good at reading. it is so so at speaking ,but listening is bad and I do not know how to improve it?
I don't like watching films but if it is mandatory,then I will. here,I am unsure whether it is the most correct way watching films. my complaint is that they speak very fast in films.

thank you

[iguanamon]

All native-speakers speak fast in comparison to our own languages, especially when we are learning. Listening is hard for you because you haven't given it as much effort as you have given to reading. Yes, it's hard and it's going to take time, perhaps months to get good at it. The good news is that with time and regular, concentrated effort, you will improve.

I find that, for me, I need to practice listening daily when learning a language. In the beginning stages, it helps to have a transcript available (or subtitles) to read along with while listening so you can associate sounds with words. Of course, this is just to help you get accustomed to knowing what you are hearing, ultimately you will need to stop using subtitles or transcripts.

Films are probably not the answer because they only last for an hour or two and then they're finished. You don't have enough time to get used to actors' voices. Series with multiple hours are better for this because you have the opportunity to get used to the actors voices and situations often repeat. The video can help fill in clues when you may not understand the language at first. Popular American series may even have been dubbed into Turkish or Kurdish and you can find both English and Turkish/Kurdish subtitles online to make your own parallel texts for further study.

Anything with audio and a transcript will help- unabridged audio books, the news, podcasts wit transcripts etc. The key to improving listening is regular, daily listening over a period of time- months. Remembering that you'll need to let go of the transcript/subtitles in order to really be able to listen. Good luck, and welcome to the forum, jimmy!

[aokoye]

Listening is probably my strongest skill in German. I credit that to my having spent a lot of time just watching shows in German that I liked. Almost none of these were shows that I've ever seen recommended for German language learners, rather they were shows with topics that I found interesting. Sometimes I would put on German subtitles, but the majority of the time I didn't. I also rarely followed along with a transcript in the rare times that one was available.

I don't think watching films is mandatory but you do have to watch or listen to something. I also agree with iguanamon, the vast majority of anything aimed a native speakers is going to involve people speaking faster than you may be used to. That said, you'll eventually get used to it.

[Axon]

Fellow forum member leosmith has written about how working on every skill regularly tends to have better results than just trying to improve one at a time. I suggest that you practice your English pronunciation and vocabulary as well. If you have good pronunciation, then when you read you can imagine how the words really sound. If you're missing vocabulary words, it can be hard to understand native speakers even if they're speaking clearly.

I agree with iguanamon's point about finding material with transcripts. I think one of the biggest things that has helped me learn to read languages well is watching videos with accurate subtitles.

This is one of my favorite channels because they interview ordinary native speakers and provide accurate subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCuNIIV ... xOVoo9dOtw In this playlist, they've accidentally included a few Easy Spanish videos, but most of them are Easy English.

https://www.youtube.com/user/sirionn/playlists This is a guy who's published books and other resources about language learning. He has lots of videos that help people understand how to accurately pronounce languages - including American English and Received Pronunciation.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey This YouTuber adds subtitles to his videos. They're very popular and informative, though he speaks pretty fast sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhX3W ... VHPyup8jkQ So does this YouTuber. He talks about languages in a very clear and detailed way. I wonder if he's done anything on Kurdish...

Actually, you can find a lot of really interesting subtitled English content on YouTube for just about anything you want. When you do a YouTube search, you can click Filter and then click Subtitles/CC in order to see only the videos that include subtitles. And the automatic subtitles are getting better and better, usually with only a few mistakes per video these days.

[DangerDave2010]

Just listen to some shows whenever you you are commuting, cleaning the house, or doing anything that does not require your full attention.


https://www.npr.org/podcasts/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/podcasts/

After a few months your listening will be great.

[DaveBee]

Librivox.org has a lot of free to use audio books, with links to the texts used.

[Cavesa]

I think my english is good at reading. it is so so at speaking ,but listening is bad and I do not know how to improve it?
I don't like watching films but if it is mandatory,then I will. here,I am unsure whether it is the most correct way watching films. my complaint is that they speak very fast in films.

thank you

Hi Jimmy,

it is not unusual to be worse at listening than at speaking. It is a clear sign that you haven't practiced it enough. You most probably know the stuff you are listening to (the words and grammar appear in written texts too), but you can't catch it in the speed.

The usual cure: practice. Don't expect miracles from one or two hours of practice, you'll need dozens and later hundreds of hours. Fortunately, it can be fun.

Movies are useful, as they are much closer to normal language used in the real life, than tv news, documentaries, or audiobooks. Tv Series are better than movies, as you can spend much more time with the more or less stable group of speakers talking about a limited amount of subjects.

What I'd recommend:
1.Start with easier and not so fast stuff. Audiobooks are very good, as the speaker is usually someone with nice clear style, and the pace is meant to be comfortable for listening. Documentary movies and tv series are awesome. The point there is transmitting knowledge. The explanations are usually not too fast, and the language used is not too complicated. An average documentary is made for a wide spectrum of public like retired people (who may already be hard of hearing), people with diverse education background (including people with lower education, who might find too complicated language discouraging), or older kids. As a side effect, documentaries tend to be accessible to intermediate learners.
2.Continue to a tv series. Yes, it will be fast at first. Use the English subtitles for the first few episodes, if you must, but get rid of them as soon as possible. Of course it will feel as if you understood nothing, but you will get through this, if you persevere. You are very likely to improve during the first season. And keep improving after that. When you are done with a longer tv series, try a new one. Add movies from time to time, if you want, but I think the tv series bring much better results.

If you dislike movies and tv series for other reasons than just the speed, you might still find some exceptions. Tell us what genres and types of content are you interested in. We are a very diverse community, I am sure some of us will be able to recommend you something you might like. Fiction or non fiction, art or entertainment, there is a fan of anything among us