LANGUAGE TRAINING CENTRE - GERMAN | ENGLISH | FRENCH | CHINESE | SPANISH | SWAHILI | KENYA SIGN LANG
Title: LANGUAGE TRAINING CENTRE - GERMAN | ENGLISH | FRENCH | CHINESE | SPANISH | SWAHILI | KENYA SIGN LANG
Secret Tips to Drastically Improve Your English Listening (ESL)
English Fluency - Listening Comprehension Secrets
or most learners, listening comprehension is one of the most frustrating parts of the English learning process.
People all around the world work hard to learn to read, write, and speak, but for a number of reasons, listening is something they never get the hang of (learn to manage). Actually, it’s something most people totally ignore, or don’t know how to deal with.
As we discussed in part I of this text, Secret Tips to Drastically Improve Your English Listening, the best way to do this is through consistent, engaged, firsthand experience of the English language.
The ability to listen in English demands a special set of skills that cannot easily be taught.
Fortunately, with dedication and good strategies, listening skills are relatively easy to develop, and it’s one of the quickest and surest ways to upgrade your English fluency. It will also open the door to the vast world of English speaking media.
The good news is that although it’s one of the most frustrating parts of English, it’s one of the easiest to fix. With a few small adjustments, you can drastically improve your listening comprehension in just a few months.
RLE’s objective is to provide you with a roadmap to make English listening a fun, natural, and convenient part of your daily life. This is key to lifelong fluency.
In part one, we explored some important tips and strategies:
- Making Listening a Fun Daily Habit
- Taking Advantage of Convenient Moments (Transit, Exercise)
- Podcasts & Online Radio
- Online Listening Resources
- Reading Along with Transcripts and Audiobooks.
Today we’re going to go deeper.
Try to Understand the General Idea: Accept That You Won’t Understand Everything
Whether it’s a real life interaction with another person (or a group), or you’re listening to a podcast, or watching TV, try your best to focus on the general idea. Accept that you probably won’t understand everything. It will get easier with time and consistent effort.
A common myth that language learners have about the target language is that fluency means that you understand 100% of what is being said. Well, I’m a native English speaker, and there are times when I don’t understand what other people are saying. Does that mean that I’m not fluent?
My advice to language learners is to be patient with your listening comprehension, relax and try to understand the main idea. The more consistently you make the effort to just stay present and listen, the stronger the context for understanding the details will be.
Pay Attention: Be an Engaged Listener in Your Native Tongue
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” –Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The cold hard truth is that most people are not very good listeners in their native tongues. If you aren’t able to deeply listen to what others are saying in your native language, how can you do it in a second language?
In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey explains this perfectly in Habit 5: First understand, then be understood.
“Communication is the most important skill in life. You spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. But what about listening? What training have you had that enables you to listen so you really, deeply understand another human being? Probably none, right?”
