Tips for Listening

[Pirate]

Hello everyone,

This is one part of the series "Tips for learning English". The series is today created in the sake of collecting and assembling tips which come from English learners. Post your own tips which really work Other members can learn from them, and if necessary we could discuss

You are in LISTENING section (8).

The Wise Owl
A wise old owl
Sat in an oak.
The more he saw,
The less he spoke.
The less he spoke,
The more he heard.
Why can't we be like
That wise old bird?

English Listening lessons: http://www.englishclub.com/listening/

[tikay]

Hi...that is a great saying! I had a blacklight poster of that when I was a young child...well when I was ten...and it was with me for a couple of years at least...on those deep purple walls,in the seventies...and then other walls (we moved a lot), so I know it well.
I still use this other poem I learned in my youth too.
Early to bed,
Early to rise...
Makes a man
Healthy
Wealthy
and Wise!
The meaning has changed for me...before I thought it meant that you should go to bed around nine (early) and get up at six or seven...now I think it may mean...the later you stay up, learning about important things (to you) thus staying up til early in the morning like one or two, and then still getting up at six or so, will make/give you more time (awake) to meet goals...less sleeping ...but I am the kind of person who likes my sleep so i try to get in seven or eight hours at night and one or two during the day (I come from napping folk)...for my optimum best
so maybe the first way of looking at it is correct!

heres one that helps with days of themonth, or calender:(hope i get it all right)
THIRTY DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER
APRIL,JUNE,AND NOVEMBER
ALL THE REST HAVE THIRTY-ONE
EXCEPTING FEBUARY,WHICH HAS TWENTY-NINE
....and possibly
(BUT ON LEAP YEAR, HAS ONLY TWENTY-EIGHT!)

if anyone knows it better please do correct it!
PEACE ALL!

[justinlan]

but how to improve listening efficiently

[tikay]

I was leaving the answer to someone else for a bit but since no one answered I will say how I have come to be a good listener.

I think first of all you must have a compassion for the speaker...any speaker and put yourself in their position, if you were the one talking to (you) would you want to see a person who was just waiting for you to hurry up and finish speaking or would you want to see genuine interest and attention to the talk?

I will always use the technique when I find my mind trying to wonder and if the person is telling me something thay have already told before that is easy to do. Lots of people repeat themselves and it gets harder to listen again and again. So I have adopted a thing (system of better listening skills) where I tell them they already told me... but I do it very, very kindly with a soft voice and with a smile, and maybe a touch to say, no problem, but then they might move on to something new which is easier to listen to....old storys are hard to focus on again and again...so the mind tends to go somewhere else.

Most of all if it is someone I find boring i think that maybe I am the therapy for the person...that they just have a great need to express and I act as a good doctor would and try to pay attention because we all need someone to talk to as the world can be very cold sometimes.
To pay attention to what they are saying is a gift of your time but if you are not really there for them you are not really giving so....they will feel that on some level, know this, and decide if you will tell them something like ..."sorry I am a little bit caught up in my own thoughts/problems right now...but I will try to listen to you better"...then maybe they will want to hear more about you and the conversation will become one you are engaged in, more fully...maybe?
I love people very very much and this makes it easy for me to be interested in what they have to say, some folks may have to work harder than I do to concentrate on the person who is speaking but people have always been there for me so I am happy to be there for people too when they need me. I keep in mind how many others I may have bored... with my conversations too. That helps as well.
I hope this has helped a little. Others sholud add to this thread it is a very good question.

[passionatelo]

Hi friends,

To me listening skill is extremely difficult. And I think that hard-working is still the solution. But I wonder of the method to practise listening skill efficiently. There are two people who told me two tips.
One said that I haven't to read the paragraph in textbook before listening, I have to try to listen and from obtained words I'll guess the whole meaning of the sentence.

The other said to me that I should read the text before or together with listening because there're usually some new words in the paragraph what make listening skill to be difficult.

So which method is better, which method should I choose? Or should I combine two methods?

Thank you so much!

[TuanAnVu]

Hello Passionatelo.
My listening skill is extremely bad. But from the tips I collected, I think you can apply both two methods. May be you should "hear" English without thought. You can hear English like a child. Besides that, you should "listening" English carefully with a good-preparedness. Glad to share my experience to you.
Sorry if "my English" make you confuse. Is it bad?

[hoanggia]

Hello Passionatelo.
My listening skill is extremely bad. But from the tips I collected, I think you can apply both two methods. May be you should "hear" English without thought. You can hear English like a child. Besides that, you should "listening" English carefully with a good-preparedness. Glad to share my experience to you.
Sorry if "my English" make you confuse. Is it bad?

NOT REALLY !
E IS FOR COMMUNICATION GUYS.SO,IF YOU RE MAKING YOURSELF UNDERSTOOD ;THAT MEANS YOUR ON THE WAY .
LISTENING IS HARD! YEAH,MAY BE THERE IS ONE PROBLEM WITH THIS STUFF; IT REQUIRES TOO MUCH PATIENT ANH THAT 'S IT.

[maythet]

Listening makes me sick.
I'm really pity for myself when i watch movie.
I don't understand thoroughly if i close the subtitle.
I'm happy to watch series from Disney & Nicklodian channel.especially cartoons & series for teenage.Of course,I can understand what they talk in these series.I catch up Tyra banks show from etc channel. I try to improve my listening skills by watching these TV channels.I'm 23 years old but i can understand english movies for children. i'm upset about that.

What should i do to improve my Listening skills?

[babara]

I'm not skill in listening and trying to find a way for improving it but still have problem about it much...hmmm I think It will be better one day

[ash]

Hellow,

Every day I am trying to pracise listening , listening songs , watching movies and also I compare between the translations below screen and what I have understood , but I think it is better if i have chance to hear native speaker directly.