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. :D

[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.

[KuteSophia]

I see that there are more questions than answers on listening skill. I myself have met a lot difficulties with Listening too. I try several ways to improve this skill but until now to me, it remains the weakest skill. Below are several methods I did try

-Hearing without attention by playing audio news almost day. it bores me sometimes.
-Listening with high attention with tape scrip. (Without reading scrip first, I can understand the general idea only. I just catch the details when i read the scrip). Sometimes I understand exactly every word in the sentence but i still cannot catch up with the idea of the speaker.
-Watching film with/without subtitle. With subtitle, it's so easy. However, without is so funny because with this method I seem to forget all the dialogues in the film and focus on actions on the screen only. Sometimes I try to listen, but almost details i get about the film are via eyes than ears.

Are there any effective methods you did try?

[luckylock]

I have ever read some skills of improving English ability of a book written by a Korean. I try it, and I feel his way is good. That book's name is "Not study, but learn".

1.Choose a English tape. Be careful! It cannot have any other language but English. And it's not too difficult to you.

2.Listen it again and again. Don't look up any words in dictionary. Don't care about understand or not. Just listen. Until you can "hear" every words or sounds.

3.Change another tape and repeat the ways above.

His methods have five steps. I mentioned above is one of them. The first step is just only to promote your listening ability. My process is second step now and I feel greater. I think you can try it.

[Bambang]

I have been trying to watch any English program on tv without looking at the subtitle. It was hard at firts, but my listening skills are getting better now.

[ahmedxzxz]

HI EVERYONE,,I THINK THAT LISTENING AND SPEAKING ARE IN ONE CIRCLE,,IF YOU SPEAK WELL(IMEAN IF YOUR PRONUNCIATION IS WELL)YOUR LISTENING SKILL WILL BE WELL,TOO.

[BenWizard]

I have ever read some skills of improving English ability of a book written by a Korean. I try it, and I feel his way is good. That book's name is "Not study, but learn".

1.Choose a English tape. Be careful! It cannot have any other language but English. And it's not too difficult to you.

2.Listen it again and again. Don't look up any words in dictionary. Don't care about understand or not. Just listen. Until you can "hear" every words or sounds.

3.Change another tape and repeat the ways above.

His methods have five steps. I mentioned above is one of them. The first step is just only to promote your listening ability. My process is second step now and I feel greater. I think you can try it.

My native language is Spanish and I want to improve my English language skills. Could you tell me or any body where I can get that book "Not study, but learn"?. I couldn't find it in Amazon.com. Thanks a lot friends.

[vinhtruong]

Listenning skill is really difficile. Although I listen English everyday, but my skill isn't improve. I think my methodology isn't right. Therefor it's so great if you show me the best way to improve listenning skill.

[denvinbo]

I listen to English news 2 hours a day...so my listening skill is better now.... :D :D :D but not only listening to the news, but also listening to English lesson or a lesson in magazines................

[lovecindy]

:) Hello, everyone. I'm from China. And I'm an English learner.
I've kept listening news of CNN or AP for nearly half a year, about an hour per day.
But I find that I'm still not very good at some accents or dialects, as well as some connected speeches. And I'm not familiar with the cultures of both UK or USA.

[forum]

Yes, learning the culture is very important!

I have seen some students who can speak English well, but because they don't know the culture, they do not know WHAT to talk ABOUT!

One great way to learn culture is reading online newspapers. Don't just read the news articles, but also read the opinion articles (these days many online newspapers have blogs and other opinion based articles).

I also write about culture at my site: http://askjohn.seesaa.net/

[emilykorea]

thanks for sharing..:)

[nat]

One of the best way to improve listening is listening to English and American songs.Begin with songs of Madonna, Beatles.Their songs are quite understandable for learners of English.Listen and try to put down words.Listen one and the same song until you understand and put down every word you hear.It's not so difficult and moreover it's not boring!Good luck!

[Bambang]

My favorite way to improve my listening skilll is listen to the radio in english!

I like doing this, too.

[Cossette]

To improve my listening skill, I keep on watching news on TV such as the BBC and CNN. I also watch English movies.

[Krisha]

I have difficulty in listening especially if i watch british english movies like harry potter. The intonation and the accent is hard to comprehend.

[MattNickson]

yup yup thats way way better ,meeting a native english speaking person .
But watching movies and listening to songs also helps a lot .

best Of Luck :)

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[kasunsilva]

The best thing is to practise with a native speaker. If you can't, watching DVDs with subtitles will help, and BBC/ CNN news if you can get it (if you video a TV programme, you can watch it slowly and it will be easier to understand.)

[frdsmth]

Listen for name

Repeat a person’s name when you first meet him or her. This will make you listen first and talk second. You want to have a mental set to become a better listener, and repeating a person’s name will help you do that.

Don’t hesitate to ask a person to repeat the name the second time, especially if the name is unusual. You are showing concern for the other person, which is an important aspect of listening.

[Jessica]

1. Ask the speaker to speak more slowly. The person speaking wants you to understand, so they are happy to slow down - but you need to ask them.

2. Ask people to repeat what they have said if you didn't understand. Again, the speaker is trying to have a conversation and will do what they can to help you.

3. Watch English television programs and movies aimed for children and teenagers. They use a level of English that is good for learners. Most countries offer cable television from other cultures.

[englishhelps]

You have to avoid external distractions. If you're practicing your listening skills by talking to someone, do it in a quiet room that doesn't have that many distractions like paintings or appliances.

If you're going to practice using songs, settle for the slower songs first.

[englishhelps]

You can also play a game to practice your listening skills. This should be done in groups. This is a game called "pass the message". Form a line and the one in front should write down a paragraph. Then he should read the message to the person behind him. He should whisper the message to him. Then the 2nd person should whisper whatever it is that he remembered from the message passed to him. It is important that the others don't hear what you're saying. Then this goes on until the last person and the last person should go up front and write down what he heard. Then compare notes to see if you did well.