Improve English listening skills

[Oliver Watsica]

Hello,

I am an Asian and really like learning English. In my country, English is highly emphasized. We participate in many clubs to exchange knowledge about English. Even though our grammar is quite good, hearing native speakers speak English is difficult for us. Do you have any effective methods to listen well in English?

Thanks in advance!

[Mr Greg]

Native speakers have their own accent and slang, so it really depends where you are in the world.

Though the difference between those speaking naturally and to others as their secondary language is the speed and transition. It cannot be picked up unless you immerse yourself in the language in a native setting.

For example, a lot of my students in the past have moved to England to get that environment. The way they talk changed within a year as it became increasingly natural to them.

[brendacolson]

Hello, I advise you to increase the speed of whatever you're listening to.

Most people, when they're trying to learn a language, listen to things that are slower than standard spoken speed for that language. And that's necessarily when you're learning, but in the long run it puts you at a huge disadvantage because you're not used to parsing what is said at a normal rate.

Most podcasts and many streaming sources have the ability to change the playback speed. If you can get used to following a story at 1.25x or 1.5x, you'll be golden.
Moreover, 6 minute English podcast from the BBC is great, lots of topics and not too long. Also, you can follow on the website with the script.

[alexthompson]

Native speakers have their own accent and slang, so it really depends where you are in the world.

Though the difference between those speaking naturally and to others as their secondary language is the speed and transition. It cannot be picked up unless you immerse yourself in the language in a native setting.

For example, a lot of my students in the past have moved to England to get that environment. The way they talk changed within a year as it became increasingly natural to them.

I agree that only with native speakers can you reach a good level of proficiency! But I personally started and continue from simply listening to English speech in headphones from a recording in various situations! And of course I try to communicate with natives (who know English well in reality as often as possible)!