Advanced English Listening - Secrets to Understanding Native Speakers and FAST English

Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com. And thank you for watching this video. Thank you for passing by the channel. And today, we are going to talk about how you can improve your English listening, how you can understand native English speakers when they talk. So, we're going to cover things like why listening is such an important skill, why this is such a vital part of your English learning journey. We're also going to talk about the two reasons why you might be struggling in this area, why you might be having problems listening to people. Then, we're going to talk about how you can improve your listening skills, the methods that work. And then, at the end, I have a question for you. And I need your feedback, so please stick around until the end. Now, before we get into all of this, I would like to thank our sponsor for today's video, and it is italki. Now, italki is a platform where you can take English lessons online. But the key part to italki, I think, is being able to connect with a teacher who's going to be right for you. So, if you go to the link in the description, click on that, you'll be able to learn more about the offer that italki has at the moment, which is going to give you $10 in credits after your first purchase. But you can also learn more about the teachers on the platform. And the key part to this is finding a teacher who's going to be right for you. So, if you want to focus on business English, you can find English teachers in this area. Or if you want to work on your pronunciation, you can find teachers who will do this for you. So, again, just click the link in the description to learn more about this platform, and know that everything is done online. So, you can find lessons online, and you can take the lessons online, too. Go to the description and check it out. Now, let's talk about listening. Listening, for me, is probably the most important skill when it comes to learning English. Now, there are four skills, listening, speaking, reading, writing. Those are the four skills, to our input, to our outputs. So, thinking about listening, I think it is the most important skill, because it allows you to understand people when they talk. And when you're having a conversation, you can control what you say, but you can't control what the other person says. I mean, you can in certain ways, by asking them certain questions, but the type of vocabulary and grammar they use is up to them. But when you speak, you can use basic phrases to explain what you mean. But in order to understand the other person, you need to understand exactly what they're saying. So, listening is a vital component of your English learning journey. And also, just think about trying to understand TV shows, movies, music, podcasts. Anything that you listen to, you want to be able to understand this. So, it's important that you work on this skill, and that's what this video is going to be about. Now, here's something that you might find interesting or surprising. Native speakers struggle to understand everything that they hear. I'm gonna give you some examples. When I listen to the radio, I find it very difficult to understand what people are saying in songs. Now, some songs are easier than others, but I find it very, very difficult to understand popular songs. For example, Marine 5, What Lovers Do. Okay, I can't play this song because of copyright, but part of the chorus, I had no idea what he was saying. And it's actually wishing for you. I had no idea. I thought he was swearing. I thought he was saying something else. So, with lyrics, I find it very hard to understand. The same with certain movies. So, when I'm watching a movie at home, I have to turn the volume up really loud in order to understand what people are saying. It's difficult. I remember watching Dunkirk, and I couldn't understand what they were saying because they speak quietly or they speak quickly. There's music and other things in the background, and sometimes the audio quality isn't very good. Now, native speakers especially struggle when it comes to understanding people on the telephone. I've seen some comments recently on the channel telling me that people find this difficult, and it is hard. When people are talking on the phone, it's not always easy to understand what they're saying. So, know that everyone struggles in this area, but what you want to do is to improve so that you can understand a lot more than you can now. But know that you're never going to understand everything that you hear. So, don't feel down. Don't feel disappointed if you watch a movie and you don't understand what people are saying. So, let's now talk about the two main reasons why you don't understand what someone is saying. The first one is just not knowing the words or the grammar. So, if somebody says something using a word you don't understand, then you're not going to understand this person. I know that sounds simple, but a lot of people think that they just need to get listening practice in order to understand everything. But you need to know the language in order to understand people when they use it. For example, if I say, it's cracking flags out there. It's cracking flags out there. You probably don't know what this means. Now, this is actually a term used in Lancashire, England to say it's really hot outside. It's cracking flags. But you wouldn't know what that meant because of the idiom, the vocabulary being used. So, in order to understand people, you need to improve your vocabulary. Now, the second reason isn't because of the vocabulary, but you just can't comprehend what that person is saying. So, if you saw the sentence written down, you would understand it. When this person is saying it, they're saying it in a way that you just can't understand. You can't comprehend what they're saying. For example, if somebody says, I'm going to want to go soon. You can follow that. But if they say it like this, I'm gonna wanna go soon. Then, you might not be able to understand this because this person is using relaxed pronunciation and they're linking the words together. I'm gonna wanna go soon. Another reason is that somebody uses an accent that you're not used to. So, they're using different sounds that you just don't really understand because their accent is too difficult for you or you're not used to their accent. For example, when I say water in America, people don't tend to understand me. Some people do, but if I'm in a restaurant and it's quite loud and I say, can I have a water? They don't really understand that because here they say water, water. And if I say water, then they don't understand the way I'm saying water. Therefore, knowing the vocabulary that people use and the vocabulary that people are going to use when you speak to them, and also getting used to the way that English is spoken is going to help you in this area. It's going to help you improve your listening skills and help you understand people when they speak. So, with that in mind, let's now go through the ways that you're going to improve your listening. The first tip is to learn words and phrases. Learn the vocabulary that people use when they speak English. Now, I know this is probably obvious to you, but it's still important. It's still vital that you do this. Now, there are many ways you can learn new vocabulary. It could be through input. It could be through the repetition of sentences. And what I'm going to do is, instead of explaining that here, I'll link to a video I made on a technique that you can use so that you can internalize and acquire new vocabulary in the most efficient way. So, I'll link to that video in the description. But know that you are going to have to commit to this, to learning new words and phrases so that you can understand when people talk. The next tip, and I think the most important part of this lesson, is this, A-B-L. A-B-L, always be listening. Always be listening to English. Listen as much as possible. Now, there are ways to make this more efficient, and we're going to talk about those soon. But again, if you just take one thing from this video, it's to be listening as much as possible. Now, when I started learning Spanish at university, it was really difficult for me to practice my listening because I didn't have access to unlimited Spanish audio and I couldn't listen on the go. But these days, as you know, you have access to unlimited amount of audio, the audio that you want to have as well. And you can do this from anywhere if you have a smartphone and some earbuds. So, listen as much as possible and listen while doing other things. I'm sure you're doing a bit of this already, but maybe you can do a little bit more. So, think about listening to English before you go to bed or while sleeping. Listen to English on the train, when you're commuting, when you're doing the housework, when you're out walking, maybe while you're at work. But any time that you can listen to English, do it. And while listening to anything in English is going to help, I want you now to think about what types of things you're going to listen to to make it more effective. Because our time is limited, and even though that we're listening to English as much as possible, we want to make this as efficient as possible. So, I think there are three main things to think about when it comes to selecting the audio for you. You want to find something that is enjoyable. You want to find something that is specific to you and something that is comprehensible. Let's talk about the first one, enjoyable. So, find something that you're going to enjoy. Because when you have access to unlimited audio, you don't have to listen to something that's in your class, that's like a typical English listening exercise. You can listen to anything you want. Make it enjoyable, make it fun and interesting. Because if you enjoy listening to it, you're going to listen to it more. And you're also going to be more open to acquiring the language that you listen to. This is such a key part to it. Make it fun, make it enjoyable. The next one is specific. And you can think about this in a few ways. Maybe it's about the language that you're listening to. So, going back to a recent lesson, Sarah, who was living in Spain, wanted to learn financial English because she wanted to work in the stock market in New York City. So, in this case, Sarah should find podcasts that are related to stocks and finance and the markets in general. So, find audio that is specific to you. Now, it can also mean about your level. When we go into the resources later, I'll mention graded readers. And I think these are a great resource. But find something that is related to your level. And speaking of which, what I think is one of the most important parts is to find something that is comprehensible. And this just means that you can understand the general meaning of what is happening. And this is based on the input hypothesis by Stephen Krashen. And here is a quote on this from Wikipedia. Acquisition of language is a natural, intuitive, and subconscious process of which individuals need not be aware. One is unaware of the process as it is happening. And when the new knowledge is acquired, the acquirer generally does not realize that he or she possesses any new knowledge. According to Krashen, both adults and children can subconsciously acquire language. And either written or oral language can be acquired. The process is similar to the process that children undergo when learning their native language. And here's an important part. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language, during which the acquirer is focused on meaning rather than form. So it's saying that it's important to understand the general meaning of what you're listening to. I love that last part. Focus on meaning rather than form. And this just means being able to understand what you're listening to. Not focusing on the grammar and the little parts of vocabulary and trying to focus on the language. Instead, you're focusing on the general meaning. And it's important that you can comprehend and understand the general meaning of what you're listening to. This way, you will better acquire language and also better understand when native speakers speak. And this should help you find the right type of audio for you. Because if you focus on doing this and doing this correctly, then you're going to find audio that is specific to you, that is comprehensible. And also, remember, make it enjoyable too. So, for example, graded readers are a fantastic resource here. Graded readers with audio versions. So, look for graded readers for your level. Because these are books that have been adapted with you in mind. They have taken a book and they have adapted it so that it is more comprehensible for your level. If you're an intermediate speaker, you can find graded readers at the intermediate level. If you're advanced, you can find them at the advanced level. But, obviously, we're looking for audio. So, search for graded readers, level, intermediate, with audio, okay? Another good example of a resource that is comprehensible is a TV show that you already know. Maybe a TV show that you've already seen in your native language. Because if you know the general story of what is happening, it's going to help you so much more when it comes to learning English. So, for me, when I was really focused on learning Spanish, I watched Friends in Spanish. Because I had seen the episodes in English many times before. And I knew the story of an episode. I knew what was going to happen. So, when people were speaking, I could understand the general meaning of what they were saying. And, therefore, I acquired much more Spanish than if I had just watched a TV show that I've never seen before. So, think about TV shows that you've seen before, movies from a book that you have read, or anything that you've just seen in the past that allows you to understand the general meaning. Another example is to listen to the news when you already know the stories. So, maybe you read the stories in your native language, but then listen to them when you are on YouTube, for example. And then, you already know the language that's being used, the vocabulary that might come up, and it just helps you understand what is going on. So, be strict here. Take your time with this, and find resources that you're going to enjoy that are specific to you, and also that are comprehensible. And then, you're going to listen as much as possible to these, and you're going to see a big difference. You're going to acquire new language, and you're going to get used to the way that people speak. Now, talking about getting used to the way that people speak, that's my next tip. It's to learn things like relaxed pronunciation, linking words, stress, and intonation. And to get better at this, because if you can produce this type of speech, then you'll be much better at understanding it when you hear it. And at this point, I just want to share some of the answers that I got when I asked this question. I asked, what do you find most difficult about listening in English? And the two top comments were, linking sounds and reduction. It's really hard to listen to. And then, what seems most difficult for me are some words that are not pronounced entirely because of the accent. So, it's a bit confusing sometimes. So, the two top answers already understood this, that a big problem when it comes to understanding English is linking words, reductions, stress, and intonation, like I talked about before. So, once you know the vocabulary, it's all about getting used to the way that people speak. Listening as much as possible is going to help you with this. But also, working on these forms, linking words, et cetera, that's going to help you too. Now, I have a full course on this inside the To Fluency program. And if you don't know what this program is, again, I'll leave a link in the description so you can learn more about it. But I just want to give you an example here. Now, look at this sentence. Pass it to me. Saying this slowly, I'm sure you can understand it. But if I say this at my natural pace and I link it together and I also change a vowel sound, it might be a bit more difficult. So, listen to this. Pass it to me. Now, what you can notice here is I just link it all together. Pass it to me. There's no pause. Things just get linked together. And also, notice that to changes to the schwa. To, pass it to, to me, to me, to me. To, to, to. So, this happens a lot in English. So, it's important to know about this area and also for you to practice this too. Because again, if you can make these types of sentences, if you can produce these sentences where you're using the schwa sounds and linking things together, then you'll better understand when people do this too. And again, if you want a full tutorial on this, then join the To Fluency program. Now, one of the best ways to get listening practice too, and just to put all of this together, is to have conversations in English. And again, most people think that when they get speaking practice, it's all about them practicing their speaking. But a huge part of this is acquiring language from listening to people. So, when you're having a conversation, you can listen to the way that people speak. And I think this is the best type of context to get. It's the best listening practice to get because it's such strong context. And you're really focused and switched on here, okay? Because you're having that conversation and you need to understand what the other person is saying. And also, you're getting everyday English. So, when you're having these conversations, you're getting the everyday English that you want to learn. So, definitely make some time to get natural practice when it comes to speaking. And again, check out italki. There's a link in the description for you where you can find a teacher who is right for you. But you can also find friends to practice with or get language exchanges. So, there it is. We've covered a lot in this lesson. Before I summarize it, here is the question for you. What resource do you recommend for other English learners? So, tell me your level and tell me the resource that you love when it comes to getting audio in English. Leave links in the description. Tell me where you find it. Tell me what podcasts you like listening to, what TV shows are best, just so that other people can find resources here. And I'll also link to my favorite resources on my website. If you go to tofluency.com slash listening, then I'll leave my favorite resources for you. Now, in summary, listening is such a vital skill. It's important that you practice this. And there are two main reasons why you can't understand people. Because of a lack of vocabulary or because you just can't understand what people are saying when they say it. Then, get lots of listening practice. Find things that are specific to you and comprehensible. Get speaking practice, too. And then, work on your pronunciation. Okay, so, thank you so much for watching this video. If you have found it useful, then please like it and then share it with your friends. And then, while you're here, check out another one of my lessons that'll be on your screen now. Oh, and if you're new, subscribe and turn on the notification bell. Okay, thanks for watching. Bye-bye.