How to start understanding English: 5 tips that really work

“I read – everything is clear. I am listening; a dark forest.” Many people learning English have difficulty recognizing speech by ear. Experts of the Skyeng online school tell you how to learn to understand spoken English.

Stage 1. Train yourself to speak English

At first, the sound of someone else’s conversation instantly triggers a stress response – we get scared, tense, and don’t even try to understand what they’re telling us because we’re sure in advance that we won’t be able to do it. Therefore, at the first stage, it is enough to get used to the sound of the language. You can listen to songs by English-speaking artists or English podcasts on your way to work, or turn on English news in the background. Don’t try to listen and understand everything at the same time. Just get used to the sounds and soon you will begin to catch familiar words in this stream.

Andrey Shevchenko, Skyeng teacher

There are two types of memory: indirect, when we consciously learn something through effort, and direct, when we remember something naturally because we have heard it many times. For example, many people can remember the lyrics of a popular song even though they have never tried to memorize them. Immediate memory preserves information better. This is why English songs are so good for improving listening skills; Nursery rhymes and melody help you remember words and structures. I advise beginners to listen to the Swedes – Roxette, ABBA, JJ Johansson, Kent – their pronunciation is clear.

Step 2. Determine your English level

This is necessary in order to adequately select training materials. If you are at the Intermediate level, nothing good will come of it if you start listening to texts aimed at the Advanced level: too complex material can give the false impression that you will never be able to master English.

Stage 3. Find interesting materials

If you learn from things that stretch you, you won’t get very far. Look for what is interesting and what you need. It’s great if it’s something really exciting: audiobooks from your favorite authors, TV series with subtitles that you’re ready to watch 10 times, podcasts. The main thing is that the sound is accompanied by the text – at first it will be difficult to do without it.

Andrey Shevchenko, Skyeng teacher

Don’t forget grammar as you improve your ability to understand speech. You can speak without knowing grammar – yes you will make serious mistakes but at least you will be understood. But it is impossible to perceive speech by ear without expanding grammar and vocabulary. Otherwise, you will not be able to separate what you hear into elements and you will hear ave bean (hello bean) instead of I was (I was).

Step #4. Develop a strategy

Many people do not understand exactly how they need to listen to learn to understand spoken English. Stop recording every second and translate every word? Listen while reading the text at the same time? Do you ignore unfamiliar words and sentences while trying to understand the main idea? Professional teachers recommend using this scheme: First you need to listen to the recording, catching only what is said. If the recording is long, break it into smaller 3-5 minute segments. After listening to a song, open its transcription and see how words you don’t know or haven’t heard are written and translated. Play the recording again, pausing occasionally and repeating what you hear. When you feel confident, try to copy not only the pronunciation, but also the intonation and tempo of speech during repetitions. This will not only help you develop good pronunciation. By learning to pronounce sink and think, curse and dam, Rather and razor correctly, you will begin to hear the differences between these words and be better able to understand native English speakers.

Yana Sher, Skyeng teacher

Phonologist Richard Caldwell distinguishes 3 types of speech sounds: “greenhouse” (all words are heard clearly, as in old audio recordings of school textbooks: I – AM – A – STUDENT), “garden” (coherent slow speech) and ” forest” (the reality we encounter when people speak at normal speed). “In the forest” all the words and sounds are mixed together. But to survive among them, you need to learn to perceive the spoken language. Listening to public speeches with subtitles is very helpful. As a rule, in such conversations people speak clearly but at normal speed. After listening to a short snippet, you can try repeating it after the speaker and then listen again without subtitles so your ears are more trained in listening recognition.

Step 5. Use various inputs

Students often say: “I want to speak perfectly correct English!” This is a great request, but it’s worth knowing that only TV announcers talk like TV announcers. For your English to be functional, you need to learn to understand different accents, slang, and abbreviations. So listen not only to audiobooks narrated by the perfectly British Stephen Fry, but also to American TV series like Breaking Bad and Friends, where you can hear American English spoken.