How to understand english speech

How to quickly improve your understanding of spoken English

Are you afraid of listening to natives too?

How well do you understand English from listening? I have never met an adult learner in 15 years who would say it’s a walk in the park for them. Really. Never.

‘Boy, this is the hardest part, because you not only need to understand what the other person is talking, which is hard due to all the different accents there is, but you also need to comprehend what they are talking!’

‘But listening, oh boy, that’s the tough one. You have to face native speed of speech, accents, intonation… I always thought English as a “hungry language”, its speakers “eat” a lot of letters we were taught they were pronounced. And you seem to say full sentences without moving your lips. We just hear a mumble.’

These are just some answers I received when I asked which skill is the hardest in learning English.

Listening is a difficult skill to master. We can’t deny that.

In a situation like that, we usually end up blaming ourselves (I am hopeless, I have no language talent, learning languages is not for me) or native speakers (they ‘eat’ words and they speak too fast – crazy language, crazy people).

The thing is English is no exception in that. It’s equally hard for any other foreign language to master. The French speak incredibly fast and so do Spanish speakers. Try to listen to a German native speaker when you are a complete beginner. I will not even mention Chinese with their tonic system.

What you need to know about listening and understanding

As I said, listening is hard to master. But not because there is something wrong with our ears. It happens because people try to learn listening using the same methods they learn reading. But how is it possible? They are so different, reading and listening.

When you read a text, you can see it in front of your eyes. It means two things:

What happens when you listen?

In fact, a listener very often hear something like:

Extract from JJ Wilson’s ‘How to teach listening’

So, you just can’t learn to listen like you have learnt reading.

Another popular myth: you will learn to understand what people say if you listen a lot. But again, just listening to a lot of stuff in unadapted English is a long (and frustrating) way. It’s not focused learning. Without strategies, it will take you years.

It’s a bit funny how most listening tasks you will find on the Web or in the textbooks are tests.

So, somehow you learnt to listen already (when? where?) and now you check yourself. But when was the actual learning happening? If you just hear a lot of text in English, it doesn’t mean learning. If you don’t understand what’s going on, how would you learn?

Even if you come to a teacher for help, it is not always productive. First of all, teachers try to speak comfortably for you, even native speakers. That’s why many people say they understand their teachers well, but can’t understand people in the streets.

I remember one colleague of mine who just came back from her internship in the USA and started teaching English to adults. She used to be saying: ‘I spent so many years learning English. I don’t want to spoil it by speaking unnaturally. I will show my learners how real English sounds’. Well, intermediate and advanced students loved her. Elementary students hated her. At first. But somehow, after a month or so, each of her students developed a better listening understanding of English than mine, for example. Guilty on the spot. I DO speak too comfortably for my students. I can list you many explanations for this, but I won’t. This is just a reality.

So, the first takeaway from this article: Don’t be afraid of being exposed to original listening material. I also vote for variety. Listen to the texts of different difficulty and of different origin. The more accents (both native and non-native) you hear, the more prepared you will be for real life. Learn which TV series you can start with.

The key thing in this process: LEARN to listen, don’t just wait for a miracle to happen one day.

What kind of strategies could help you improve your listening skills?

I will switch now from general linguistics to English. What exactly do you need to know about English to hear it better?

First of all, ‘what you see is not what you hear’. Don’t expect the words will be separate like you see them in this written text.

Let’s take an example.

You see a phrase: ‘half an hour ago’. If you could hear it the same way it is written, the sound would be something like that:

In reality, even in slow pronunciation, the words won’t have pauses between them.

If this phrase is a part of a longer text, it will be pronounced even faster.

The phrase from the example: ‘half an hour ago’. It means 1 unit of information. All the words here constitute 1 meaning. The speaker will pronounce them together, in 1 unit, to serve the meaning. The non-stop speaking all the time is not possible: we need to breathe. These breathing pauses made between short ideas constituing a bigger one.

So, in the sentence: I came home half an hour ago (7 words) there are actually only 3 tone units: I came // home // half an hour ago. They will say it: /aikeim//heum//havenaueegeu/. Just 2 pauses.

Of course, it is not:

Nobody speaks like that. You don’t speak like that.

Here is your first step in improving listening: your brain should get used to the fact that it hears not words but tone units containing one idea. Train yourself for that.

Some practice.

How many tone units can you identify in these sentences:

– When are you going on holiday this year?

When // are you going // on holiday // this year? (4 tone units)

– What kind of books do you prefer?

What kind of books // do you prefer? (2 tone units)

Practise with this ‘difficult’ piece. This one should be hard:

Even in this fast talking, we can hear some small pauses the speaker does between the tone units:

‘Thanks // for coming back on//. – How is it going? (one tone unit, that’s why so fast) – It’s going awesome! (again one tone unit – they all seem to be stuck together). We’re gonna // have // some fun today…’

I recommend you to practise this way: listen to some short extracts (up to 1 minute long) with the transcript to hear how sentences are divided into tone units in natural speaking. Let your brain learn to hear it differently from what he reads. Listen to the same extract several times until you can hear which small groups the words are organised into in every sentence.

You can use listening materials from the web or some podcasts.

Here are some example resources I always recommend my students:

It’s crucial that you practise listening to very very short extracts, as I said, not longer than a minute. Also, always practise with the text in front of your eyes. You will need some time to re-wire your brain from trying to listen for single words to listening to tone units. They are logical. After listening to 10 or 15 sentences (not at once, every day or every other day), the whole listening process will become different.

Inside the tone unit, words will be organised hierarchically (what a word, hah), so to say, by their importance. Your next step will be to learn the hierarchy of these words and ways how they are connected together. If it seems like a lot of work, no, it isn’t. It’s, again, quite logical. It’s focused work and it is some work, yes. But it is much better than just ‘listen to as much English as possible for a long time’ without any control of what’s happening with your English skills.

Divide this ‘stream’ you hear into into units and then learn how words work together inside each unit. This way, you will focus and start improving. And you will start understanding English, even the films, quite soon (of course, if your vocabulary is good enough 🙂

So, the key takeaways from the today’s post are:

– listening is a skill to train; you can’t learn to listen the right way just by random listening;

– don’t be afraid to vary the difficulty of your listening material;

– expose yourself to as many accents, both native and non-native, as possible;

– develop a simple short routine to learn listening using short (up to 1 minute long) extracts to train yourself for the right focus;

– learn not to expect to hear single words (like they are written in the page) but tone units where words are grouped around 1 small idea.

In the next post, we will continue re-focusing your brain from what it reads to what hears. Stay tuned!

Please share this article with your friends if you find it useful.

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How to understand english speech

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The lesson is held online by a school methodologist: local-language-speaker or native-speaker. During your class you will study some topics, practice your Speaking skills and complete a few tasks. As a result you will get:

Understanding of the efficiency and comfort of lessons conducted on the interactive platform Assessment of your English level in accordance with Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Proposal on your individual training program with the date of your goal to be achieved

The lesson is held by a school methodologist: local-language-speaker or native-speaker. During the class you will study some topics, practice your Speaking skills and complete a few tasks. may become your teacher after the lesson. We will also recommend more teachers to you. As a result you will get:

Understanding of the efficiency and comfort of lessons conducted on the interactive platform Assessment of your English level in accordance with Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Proposal on your individual training program with the date of your goal to be achieved

Публичная оферта (договор с пользователем)

1. Термины и определения, используемые в настоящей Оферте

1.1. Оферта или Договор – настоящая публичная оферта, содержащая все существенные условия, по которым Пользователь может определенно принять решение о принятии/акцепте Оферты на предложенных условиях.

1.2. Юнит (Unit) – набор образовательного материала (упражнения, тексты, аудио/видео файлы, словарь, игры и т.п.), используемого Пользователем и Учителем для повышения навыков владения иностранным языком. Обычно Юнит обладает смысловой завершенностью и предназначен для освоения какого-то конкретного навыка.

1.4. Платформа (Platform) – программа для ЭВМ (программное обеспечение), принадлежащее Исполнителю, доступное на Сайте в сети Интернет. Для Пользователя Платформа является основным инструментом: для доступа к Юнитам; оплате услуг; получения информации об объеме полученных услуг; обмена сообщениями с Учителем и Администратором и использования иных функций. Для Учителя Платформа является основным инструментом: для проведения платных индивидуальных или групповых занятий по иностранному языку Пользователей, для создания и внесения правок в структуру отдельных Юнитов; для получения отчетов; для видео и аудио звонков; для обмена сообщениями и иных функций.

1.5. Урок (Lesson) – мероприятие, в рамках которого Пользователь изучает определенный Юнит. Обычно на освоение одного Юнита уходит несколько Уроков. Уроки могут быть самостоятельными, т.е. с использованием Платформы без Учителя; индивидуальными, т.е. один Пользователь и один Учитель; и групповыми.

1.6. Уровень (Level) – условное обозначение степени владения языковыми навыками, которое присваивается Пользователю Администратором по результатам устной беседы и прохождения последним письменного теста – Placement Test. Обычно начинается с Beginner и заканчивается Expert.

1.7. Пользователь – любое физическое лицо, получившее доступ к Платформе через Интернет для проведения дистанционных, платных, индивидуальных или групповых занятий по иностранному языку.

1.8. Администратор – лицо, организующее коммуникацию Пользователя с Учителем.

1.9. Учитель – лицо, проводящее Урок совместно с Пользователем.

1.10. Исполнитель – юридическое лицо (ИП Криворучко Светлана Павловна, адрес: 109144, г. Москва, ул. Люблинская, д. 124, кв. 38), предлагающее любому физическому лицу (Пользователю ), использовать Платформу для самостоятельного, дистанционного, платного, индивидуального или группового обучения иностранному языку.

1.11. Функция Автоплатеж – предоставление Исполнителю возможности производить автоматическое получение денежных средств с Платежной карты Пользователя за услуги Исполнителя.

1.12. Стороны – совместное наименование Пользователя, Исполнителя в тексте настоящего Договора

2. Порядок заключения договора

2.1. Текст настоящего Договора является публичной офертой. Текст настоящего Договора опубликован на Сайте Исполнителя по адресу http://treewords.com.

2.2. Акцептом (принятием предложения заключить договор) является осуществление оплаты Пользователем услуг Исполнителя путем предоплаты в порядке, определяемом настоящей Офертой. Акцепт Пользователем настоящей Оферты означает, что он полностью согласен со всеми положениями настоящей Оферты.

2.3. С момента Акцепта Пользователем настоящий Договор считается заключенным. По ходу исполнения настоящего Договора Пользователю приходят информационные письма на электронную почту, указанную Пользователем при регистрации на Сайте.

2.4. Настоящий Договор вступает в силу с момента его заключения и действует до исполнения Сторонами своих обязательств по нему, если иное не предусмотрено настоящим Договором.

3. Предмет Договора/Оферты

3.1. Предметом настоящего Договора является оказание Исполнителем услуги по дистанционному, платному, индивидуальному или групповому обучению Пользователя иностранному языку через Интернет с использованием Платформы или иных программных продуктов, использование которых допускается на условиях настоящего Договора

3.2. Исполнитель предоставляет Пользователю право на функциональное использование Платформы и Сайта в пределах функциональных возможностей Платформы и Сайта, которые позволяют организовать проведение дистанционных, платных, индивидуальных или групповых занятий по иностранному языку.

4. Порядок действия настоящей Оферты

4.1. Исполнитель приступает к исполнению своих обязанностей по настоящей Оферте только после выполнения Пользователем своих обязанностей по оплате услуг в соответствии с положениями настоящей Оферты.

4.2. Исполнитель самостоятельно оказывает услуги Пользователю, но может привлекать третьих лиц как физических, так и юридических, для оказания услуг в рамках настоящей Оферты.

4.3. Перед оказанием услуг Исполнителем, Пользователь должен внести полную предоплату за выбранное количество Уроков или оплатить минимум 5 (пять) следующих по расписанию неоплаченных Уроков.

4.4. Оказание услуг осуществляется посредством сети Интернет, с использованием Платформы, а также может использоваться программное обеспечение сторонних разработчиков, если оно отвечает необходимым техническим требованиям.

4.5. Урок считается проведенным надлежащим образом (Успешно-проведенный урок), если от Пользователя не поступило претензий в течение 24 (двадцати четырех) часов с момента проведения Урока, через Платформу.

4.6. Настоящий Договор является рамочным, то есть определяет общие условия обязательственных взаимоотношений Сторон, которые могут быть конкретизированы и уточнены Сторонами путем заключения отдельных договоров или иным образом на основании либо во исполнение настоящего Договора.

4.7. Исполнитель не является образовательной организацией, не предоставляет учебный план, помещение для проведения экзаменов или аналогичных тестирований в иной форме для получения сертификатов и прочих документов установленного законом образца о завершении учебных курсов или о получении какой-либо квалификации.

5.1. Исполнитель предоставляет Пользователю право на функциональное использование Платформы и Сайта в пределах функциональных возможностей Платформы и Сайта – безвозмездно.

5.2. Исполнитель осуществляет прием платежей (осуществляемых в безналичном порядке) от Пользователя для оплаты услуг.

5.3. Стоимость услуг за один Урок длительностью:

категории “NON-NATIVE” составляет 599 (пятьсот девяносто девять) рублей,

категории “NATIVE” составляет 1099 (одна тысяча девяносто девять) рублей;

категории “NON-NATIVE” составляет 813 (восемьсот тринадцать) рублей,

категории “NATIVE” составляет 1431 (одна тысяча четыреста тридцать один) рубль;

категории “NON-NATIVE” составляет 1084 (одна тысяча восемьдесят четыре) рубля,

категории “NATIVE” составляет 1908 (одна тысяча девятьсот восемь) рублей;

категории “NON-NATIVE” составляет 1626 (одна тысяча шестьсот двадцать шесть) рублей,

категории “NATIVE” составляет 2862 (две тысячи восемьсот шестьдесят два) рубля;

Уроки могут быть также куплены пакетом, состоящим из нескольких уроков. Как правило, в таком случае предоставляется скидка и действуют особенные правила переноса/отмены Уроков и возврата средств.

Категория Урока NON-NATIVE или NATIVE определяется квалификацией Учителя. Учитель, который относится к категории NATIVE, более квалифицированный, поэтому стоимость Урока, который проводит такой Учитель, дороже.

5.4. Стороны договорились, что Исполнитель вправе в одностороннем порядке изменять стоимость Уроков, путем размещения новой стоимости на Сайте и внесения изменений в настоящую Оферту, при этом стоимость уже оплаченных Пользователем Уроков изменению не подлежит.

5.5. Если у Пользователя остается один оплаченный Урок, Пользователь обязан оплатить следующие Уроки до момента окончания последнего оплаченного Урока. В случае неисполнения Пользователем настоящей обязанности Исполнитель вправе аннулировать график Уроков Пользователя и ставить на ранее зарезервированное за Пользователя время Уроки с другими лицами.

5.6. Исполнитель может размещать на Сайте специальные предложения, акции, условия заключения самостоятельных договоров с партнерами Исполнителя, на оказание услуг по дистанционному, платному, индивидуальному или групповому обучению иностранному языку через сеть Интернет с использованием Платформы.

5.7. Моментом оплаты считается поступление денежных средств на счет Исполнителя, что подтверждается соответствующим уведомлением на электронный адрес Пользователя. Пользователь может проверять и контролировать свои оплаты и баланс счета в Платформе. Пользователь самостоятельно несет ответственность за правильность производимых им платежей, а также самостоятельно оплачивает все услуги организаций связи, необходимые для взаимодействия с Учителем/Учителями.

5.8. Пользователь должен сохранять копию документа, подтверждающего осуществление платежей на условиях настоящего Договора.

5.9. Пользователь имеет право оплачивать услуги путем использования функции Автоплатеж.

5.10. По согласию Пользователя, данному в Личном Кабинете путем проставления символа напротив строчки «Автоплатеж» (подключение функции Автоплатеж), оплата по настоящему Договору производится автоматически в порядке заранее данного акцепта Пользователя на весь период действия настоящего Договора или до отзыва данного акцепта Пользователем.

5.11. При подключении функции Автоплатеж списание денежных средств будет производится с Платежной карты Пользователя, с которой Пользователь ранее совершал оплату по настоящему Договору. Для смены Платежной карты Пользователя, необходимо совершить платеж с использованием другой Платежной карты.

5.12. В случае использования функции Автоплатеж, Пользователь поручает Исполнителю списывать без дополнительных распоряжений (акцепта) Пользователя на основании платежных требований Исполнителя с Платежной карты Пользователя денежные средства в размере любого неисполненного обязательства Пользователя в рамках настоящей Оферты.

5.13. Размер безакцептного платежа равен ранее совершенному Пользователем платежу.

5.14. Оплата с Платежной карты Пользователя, при использовании функции Автоплатеж, осуществляется за 48 часов до начала неоплаченного Урока.

5.15. Пользователь на дату исполнения денежного обязательства, предусмотренного настоящей Офертой, обязуется обеспечить наличие на расчетном счете остатка денежных средств в сумме не менее размера такого денежного обязательства.

5.16. Пользователь в любое время может отказаться от использования функции Автоплатеж, путем удаления символа напротив строчки «Автоплатеж» в Платформе (отключение функции Автоплатеж).

5.17. Исполнитель вправе прекратить действие функции Автоплатеж в любое время в одностороннем внесудебном порядке с предварительным уведомлением Плательщика через Платформу.

6. Перенос Уроков

6.1. Перенос Уроков Пользователем может быть осуществлен не позднее 24 (двадцати четырех) часов до начала Урока. Несоблюдение указанного срока приравнивается к неявке Пользователя на Урок. Количество возможных переносов Уроков зависит от интенсивности графика Уроков Пользователя, установленного Администратором.

6.2. Как общее правило Пользователь имеет право на:

6.2.1. перенос 1 (одного) Урока в месяц при графике Уроков 1 (один) Урок в неделю;

6.2.2. перенос 2 (двух) Уроков в месяц при графике 2 (два) Урока или 3 (три) Урока в неделю;

6.2.3. перенос 3 (трех) Уроков в месяц при графике 4 (четыре) Урока и более Уроков в неделю.

6.3. Учитель имеет право переносить Уроки (в случае болезни и по другим уважительным причинам), предупредив об этом Пользователя не позднее, чем за 24 (двадцать четыре) часа до момента начала Урока. Если Пользователь полагает, что Учитель слишком часто переносит Уроки, что препятствует эффективности оказания услуг Учителем Пользователю, то Пользователь имеет право обратиться к Администратору с мотивированным требованием о смене Учителя в письменном виде.

7. Неявка на Урок

7.1. Если в установленное время Пользователь не зашел в Платформу для связи со своим Учителем и начала Урока, Учитель в течение всего времени запланированного Урока производит попытки связаться с Пользователем через систему обмена сообщениями, доступную в Платформе, а также незамедлительно сообщает Администратору о возникшей ситуации. Администратор также предпринимает попытки связаться с Пользователем через систему обмена сообщениями, доступную в Платформе, а также по мобильному телефону, в случае, если Пользователь указал его при регистрации на Сайте. При этом временем начала Урока считается время, установленное в Платформе. Если в результате вышеназванных процедур связаться с Пользователем не удалось, то Урок считается проведенным и оплачивается в размере 100% (сто процентов).

7.2. Если в установленное время начала Уроков плюс 5 (пять) минут Пользователь не может зайти в Платформу и начать Урок, он обязан немедленно связаться с Администратором, используя в обязательном порядке без исключения все имеющиеся средства связи, а именно:

7.2.1. телефон, skype и электронную почту, указанные в разделе Сайта «Контакты»

7.2.2. систему обмена сообщениями, доступную в Платформе.

7.3. Уроки, которые не состоялись по вине Учителя, переносятся в полном объеме на другое время, выбранное Пользователем.

7.4. Ни Исполнитель, ни Учитель не отвечают за неоказание услуги в связи с отсутствием у Пользователя необходимого программного обеспечения, технических проблем с подключением и качеству связи Интернета или иных аналогичных проблем.

8. Приостановка Уроков. Отказ от продолжения Уроков

8.1. Пользователь может приостановить оказание Услуг с сохранением расписания Уроков (Приостановка или Перерыв) при соблюдении следующих условий:

8.1.1. продолжительность перерыва в Уроках не превышает 14 (четырнадцать) календарных дней включительно;

8.1.2. приостановление Уроков возможно, если с момента окончания предыдущей приостановки прошло не менее 90 (девяноста) календарных дней;

8.1.3. на момент начала перерыва в Уроках (день последнего Урока перед перерывом) у Пользователя должно быть полностью оплачено как минимум 5 (пять) Уроков.

8.2. Чтобы воспользоваться своим правом в соответствии с пунктом 8.1 Пользователь должен сообщить Администратору и Учителю о своих намерениях не позднее чем за 5 (пять) рабочих дней до предполагаемой Приостановки/Перерыва в Уроках.

8.3. Если Пользователь нарушает вышеназванные условия Приостановки Уроков, Учитель сохраняет за собой право сохранить расписание Уроков Пользователя после индивидуального обсуждения.

8.4. В случае если потребуется повторно приостановить Уроки, но с момента окончания предыдущей приостановки Уроков ещё не прошло 90 (девяносто) календарных дней (пункт 8.1.2 настоящей Оферты), Пользователь может приостановить Уроки, предупредив Учителя и Администратора за 24 (двадцать четыре) часа до начала следующего Урока, при этом расписание Уроков за Пользователем не сохраняется.

8.5. Учитель и/или Пользователь вправе приостановить оказание услуг по собственной инициативе в дни новогодних, рождественских и майских праздников, предварительно предупредив об этом другую сторону: Пользователя или Учителя не позднее, чем за 5 (пять) рабочих дней.

8.6. Учитель Пользователя может быть заменен при наличии для этого уважительных причин (временная нетрудоспособность Учителя, другие обстоятельства), предварительно сообщив об этом Пользователю через систему обмена сообщениями Личного Кабинет или по электронной почте. В случае если Пользователь не согласен заниматься с другим Учителем, Пользователь вправе приостановить оказание услуг.

9. Порядок отправки сообщений

9.1. Основной способ связи между Пользователем, Учителем и Администратором – система отправки сообщений в Платформе.

9.2. Пользователь также может отправлять обращения по контактным данным, указанным в нижнем разделе Сайта.

9.3. Все обращения Пользователей обрабатываются не позднее двух рабочих дней с момента поступления обращения в соответствии с настоящим Договором.

9.4. Для того чтобы сообщить об увеличении количества Уроков, изменении продолжительности Уроков, смене Учителя, о приостановлении Уроков или любом другом изменении Пользователь должен обращаться к Администратору в соответствии с настоящим Разделом.

10. Персональные данные

10.1. Осуществляя регистрацию на Сайте или записываясь на пробный Урок, Пользователь дает согласие на передачу персональных данных согласно политике конфиденциальности, размещенной по адресу: https://152фз.рф/get_prv/f082b47d0b455d5bef99e30cdd88aad7

11. Возврат/отмена оплаченных Уроков

11.1. Пользователь имеет право в любой момент прекратить проведение Уроков, уведомив Учителя и Администратора по электронной почте, указанной на Сайте, не позднее, чем за 24 (двадцать четыре) рабочих часа до начала следующего запланированного Урока и при отсутствии задолженности или любых иных видов финансовых обязательств Пользователя перед Учителем и/или Исполнителем.

11.2. После получения сообщения в соответствии с пунктом 11.1 настоящего Договора Администратор должен подтвердить Пользователю остановку проведения Уроков по электронной почте, указанной на Сайте, не позднее, чем за 1 (один) час до начала следующего запланированного Урока. Администратор также сообщает точную сумму за оплаченные и неиспользованные Уроки, которая подлежит возврату Пользователю. Возврат должен быть осуществлен не позднее 15 (пятнадцати) банковских дней после принятия Пользователем решения о прекращении Программы на условиях настоящего Договора.

11.3. Если с момента отправки Пользователем сообщения о прекращении Программы до следующего запланированного Урока остается менее 24 (двадцати четырех) часов, то этот ближайший Урок считается оплаченным и подлежащим прохождению для Учителя и Пользователя.

11.4. Если Администратор не выполняет свои обязательства в соответствии с пунктом 11.2 настоящего Договора, то Пользователь должен продублировать свое обращение по контактным данным, указанным в разделе Сайта «Контакты», при этом Пользователь не обязан продолжать проведение Уроков.

11.5. Сумма возврата денежных средств Пользователя за неиспользованные Уроки согласно данному параграфу расчитывается без учета скидки, полученной Пользователем. Таким образом неиспользованные Уроки, на которые распространялась скидка в размере 100% от их фактической стоимости, указанной в параграфе «Оплата», полученные Пользователем, не подлежат возврату. Также для совершения операции возврата Исполнитель вправе удержать с Пользователя комиссию в размере 10% (десяти процентов) от суммарной стоимости всех оплаченных Уроков, подлежащих возврату, но не менее 500 рублей за одну операцию возврата для компенсации фактически понесенных Исполнителем расходов.

11.7. Возврат/отмена оплаченных Уроков не может быть произведена Исполнителем для Уроков, которые считаются проведенными надлежащим образом согласно пунктам 4.5.

11.8. Согласно пункту 5.3 данного соглашения Уроки, входящие в состав пакета (т.е. купленные со скидкой), не могут быть отменены или перенесены далее чем на 30 календарных дней вперед с даты и времени начала первого Урока, входящего в оплаченный пакет, при этом сумма возврата за неиспользованные Уроки рассчитывается без учета скидки, предусмотренной соответствующим пакетом.

12. Обязательства по уведомлению

12.1. Исполнитель обязуется оформлять все поступающие заказы, а также заявки и запросы на заказы в течение 24 (двадцати четырех) часов с момента поступления такого заказа. В качестве подтверждения принятия такого заказа к исполнению Исполнитель должен отправить электронное сообщение лицу, желающему оформить заказ по электронному адресу, который был указан таким лицом при регистрации на Сайте.

12.2. Исполнитель обязуется в течение 24 (двадцати четырех) часов с момента поступления такого заказа уведомить лицо, желающее оформить заказ о невозможности выполнить такой заказ с мотивированным объяснением причин. Подобное уведомление должно быть отправлено любым доступным способом.

13. Прочие условия

13.1. Настоящий Договор регулируется и подлежит истолкованию и исполнению в соответствии с законами и иными нормативными актами юрисдикции, в которой находится Исполнитель. Каждая Сторона обязана исполнять свои вытекающие из настоящего Договора обязательства добросовестно и с должной тщательностью. Любые возникающие из настоящего Договора споры решаются путем переговоров в претензионном порядке. В случае недостижения соглашения путем переговоров в течение месяца, спор подлежит разрешению в суде юрисдикции, в которой находится Исполнитель.

13.3. Настоящий Договор вступает в силу со дня акцепта Оферты Пользователем и действует до момента полного исполнения обязательств обеими Сторонами. Договор может быть расторгнут в одностороннем порядке любой из Сторон. Расторжение настоящего Договора в одностороннем порядке Пользователем осуществляется по правилам установленным настоящим Договором.

13.4. За невыполнение или ненадлежащее выполнение обязательств по настоящему Договору Стороны несут ответственность в соответствии с условиями настоящего Договора и действующим законодательством юрисдикции, в которой находится Исполнитель.

13.5. Стороны не несут ответственности за полное или частичное невыполнение ими своих обязательств по настоящему Договору, если такое невыполнение явилось следствием обстоятельств непреодолимой силы (форс-мажор), а именно: наводнения, других стихийных бедствий, военных действий, постановлений и решений органов государственной власти или других событий.

ИП Криворучко Светлана Павловна

Адрес: 109144, г. Москва, ул. Люблинская, д. 124, кв. 38

ОАО АКБ «Авангард»

Расчетный счет: 40802810400030001004

Корреспондентский счет: 30101810000000000201

How to Learn English by Listening (And Finally Understand English Speakers!)

I’m here to help you learn English by listening so that even the quickest, most confusing English speech becomes easy for you.

To wrap things up, we’ll see how to put these tips into action with a variety of audio resources to learn English by listening.

Contents

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Why Is It Important to Learn English by Listening?

Studies show that listening is the most frequently used language skill by students. English listening is important not only in communication, but also in how we learn.

According to these studies, listening is basically how you obtain—and learn—new information. Whether you’re in the classroom or not, listening takes up more daily communication time than other forms of verbal communication.

If listening is at the center of the lives of students throughout all levels of their educational development, why should it be any different in learning a language? In your efforts to improve your overall English, working on your listening abilities must be at the core of your learning practice.

But before you can start learning English by listening, you have to make sure you know how to listen effectively.

Listening effectively is something that very few of us actually do. It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s just that most of us never developed the habits that would make us effective listeners.

As you develop the necessary skills for listening effectively, the feedback you’ll receive on your performance as a language listener will help you correct mistakes and increase your motivation to keep on learning, as well as help you to develop your confidence in using the language.

Quick But Crucial Tips to Learn English by Listening

You’ve heard it on TV and read it on every language website: “This Is the Perfect Way to Learn English.”

Spoiler alert! You’ll learn in this article that there’s no such thing as a perfect way! What’s important is that you pick a plan, get started as soon as possible and make adjustments along the way.

There’s one more thing you should know about the “perfect” way to learn English:

The perfect plan is the plan that you actually follow through with.

The best methods, strategies and courses don’t mean anything if you don’t actually follow through with them!

Here are six tips to help you effectively learn English by listening.

Tip 1: Start with a Positive Mindset

The first thing you want to learn to do is to listen optimistically. Why? You have to actually believe that you can hear and understand what people are saying.

I know English listening can be very difficult, especially with speakers who have a strong accent or who talk really fast. But you’ve actually done it before! You learned how to listen and understand and speak a language when you were a baby. Why should it be any different now that you’re an adult? If you listen with a good frame of mind, you’ll see it’s not impossible.

If you don’t believe that you can listen and understand what people are saying, in the words of Jedi Master Yoda from “Star Wars:” “That is why you fail.”

Having a hard time? Focus on actively listening. When people are talking, don’t focus on what you’re going to reply, don’t try to translate what they’re saying, don’t analyze the grammar structure of the sentences… just listen.

Tip 2: Choose Diverse English Listening Materials

Don’t just listen to the same kind of English audio materials all the time.

Don’t stick to listening to only the news, or only watching the same TV shows over and over. Instead, listen to a variety of different kinds of situations and topics.

As long as you find a resource that makes you happy, keeps you learning English by listening and lines up with your goals and interests, you have my full support.

Tip 3: Predict Audio Content

Pretend you’re listening to the radio.

You hear a helicopter in the background, and a speaker is mentioning the names of streets, roads and avenues, and talking about how many vehicles are currently on these roads.

What do you imagine he’s talking about? Most likely, you’re listening to a traffic report.

You can then expect to hear other words like “bottleneck,” “traffic jam” and “rush hour.” You’ll probably also hear the imperative (command form of verbs): “Don’t take the highway” or “Avoid 4th Avenue.”

Based on the context, you can often predict the words and even style of language you will hear. That’s a big first step forward!

Unless you know nothing, like Jon Snow from “Game of Thrones,” your previous knowledge of the world will help you predict what information you’ll likely hear. When you predict the topic of a conversation, all this knowledge and related vocabulary stored in your brain will be turned on to help you better understand what you’re listening to.

Next time you’re watching or listening to an English TV show or the radio, pause after every few sentences. Try to predict what’s going to happen or what the speaker might say next.

For instance, the words “avenue,” “vehicle,” “jam,” “bottle” and “neck” all have their own separate meanings, but when you hear them together, they form the context of a traffic-related conversation.

A powerful way to practice this is by creating mind maps. Whenever you learn new words, try to group them with other words used in a similar context.

Tip 4: Listen for the Big Ideas

At first, you should resist the impulse to try to understand every single word people are saying. It’s more important to keep up with the conversation and try to understand the main ideas.

English is like a road. As with any road, there are “signposts,” which are words that help us follow the sequence of what’s going on—in this case, they help us understand what we’re hearing. These words link ideas and help us understand what people are talking about. They’re especially relevant in talks or presentations.

For example, if a university professor giving a lecture says, “I will talk about three reasons supporting…” be on the lookout for expressions such as “first of all,” “moving on to” and “in summary,” that link the ideas and indicate the next parts of the lecture.

Focus on keywords like these to grasp the most relevant parts of a conversation. Once you relax and make it a priority to understand the main idea, you’ll have the freedom to complete your comprehension with the details and clear the air later by asking questions.

Tip 5: Listen for the Details

After you’ve focused on the big picture, now look for specific details that will help you understand better.

When listening for details, you’re interested in very specific information such as a name or a number. Ignore anything else that doesn’t sound relevant to what you’re listening for. This way, you’ll be able to zoom in your search and get the details you need to understand the message.

For example, if you’re interested in knowing the age of a person, pay attention to any words related to age like “old,” “years,” “born in” or even a number, which could be that person’s age.

An excellent way to practice listening for details is to decide what kind of detailed information you want to practice listening for and then listen to radio shows where you would get this information.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to practice listening for details about the weather. You could listen to a weather report and focus on the names of cities and the temperatures in every one of them.

Intonation is a very important part of speech that we usually don’t focus on. If you’re interested in making your intonation more natural, you should focus on it specifically.

Similarly, try focusing only on stress. When you use stress wrong, English speakers have a hard time understanding you. It can even change the meaning of what you’re saying. That’s why everyone should invest some time focusing on it.

Tip 6: Listen and Write

As an English learner, your main focus should be turning the sounds you hear into words, and then turning those words into a message.

Many of the exercises described in this article help you learn listening skills by performing English listening comprehension activities. But writing what you hear forces you to decode individual sounds.

Transcribing (a fancy word for “writing what you hear”) gives you a surprisingly fun way to improve your listening skills. Listening and writing down what you hear helps you not only learn new vocabulary but also improve your pronunciation. You can learn by listening and writing down every single word. You can learn new words or discover that certain words are pronounced very differently than you thought.

There are plenty of websites where you can listen to short audio recordings and write down every word that you hear. Make sure to keep going back and playing each sentence again and again until you’ve transcribed the whole thing.

Tip 7: Practice and Listen Repeatedly

Finally, the best way to learn English by listening effectively is to simply listen to English as much as possible.

There’s no magic fix, but you should be sure to listen to things that interest you. If you don’t, it’ll be be difficult for you to continue. You’ll get bored and eventually stop.

You can take advantage of the spaced-repetition technique to improve your listening skills. Listening to the same thing allows you to listen more deeply. When you listen to new vocabulary for the first time, you should repeat it several times.

Go back later the same day to practice again. Repeat it again the following day. Come back to it in a week. And again in a month. What you’ve learned should be ingrained in your brain by then.

Put the Tips into Action: Incredible Audio Resources to Learn English by Listening

Now that you know the right ways to learn English by listening, let’s go through all the ways and places you can listen to interesting English audio.

English TV Shows

Watch a show in English that interests you. Watch it from beginning to end. Follow the plot, the storylines and all the characters. Unsure about what to watch? Don’t worry: FluentU’s got your back.

How does this help? Watching a TV show is a great way to practice consistently for a long time. If you enjoy the show, you’ll easily spend hours watching it, continually hearing English.

What should you do? Choose a particular scene or a short part of the show and repeat it line by line. Try to match tone, speed and accent.

The cool thing is that FluentU makes this whole process a lot easier than just watching regular TV.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

Try FluentU for FREE!

English Radio Shows

How does this help? You work, you ride the bus, you exercise, you cook dinner, you wait in line. You could also be listening to English radio while doing any of those activities.

Find a radio station (here are some suggestions) and put on your headphones so the radio is playing in the background. That way you’ll be learning English by listening without adding any extra time to your schedule.

What should you do? You can choose different radio shows and focus on listening to different dialects and accents from English speakers around the world, as well as the stress or intonation.

English YouTube Channels

Go visit YouTube. Find an interesting English video. I’ll even help you: we’ve picked the top channels to help you learn English on YouTube.

Turn the volume down so that it’s a little difficult to hear—that can force you to concentrate. Try to figure out what people are saying.

Go ahead, seriously. I’ll wait here.

How does this help? You can’t normally control how loudly people talk. Practicing your listening comprehension in these difficult situations is a great way to improve your skills.

What should you do? Challenge yourself! Listen to a YouTube video on low volume. Write down words or phrases you understand. Re-watch the video, using the captions, and check how many words you got right!

And if you want all kinds of useful tips for learning English from videos, films, TV shows, music, TED talks and more, subscribe to the FluentU English channel on YouTube.

The FluentU English channel is on a mission to make real-world English resources accessible to learners at every level. The same team that brings you immersive English learning on the FluentU app and platform shows you even more learning techniques:

If you hit the notification bell, you’ll never miss a tip or a trick from FluentU English.

English Videos with Transcripts

There are plenty of websites such as elllo or TED Talks that allow you to listen to conversations or talks while reading the transcripts (written versions of the dialogue) included on the page.

How does this help? Listening while reading transcripts helps you match what you read with how it sounds in reality. You see, most English speakers often pronounce words very differently from what you might have learned.

If you’ve learned mostly through reading or in a classroom, you might be confused by how differently people pronounce words in reality. Listening while you read along helps you match your expectations with this reality.

What should you do? Visit some of the websites mentioned above. Choose a conversation or a talk that seems interesting and read the transcript before listening. Listen again later while reading the transcript, noting how different the words sound.

English Podcasts (Every Episode!)

Download every episode of a podcast and try to listen to at least one a day until you’ve listened to them all.

Now, before you say “ain’t nobody got time for that,” let me tell you, you can listen while you’re waiting for the bus to arrive, while going to work, while you’re waiting in line, while in a traffic jam in your car, while you’re waiting for your water to boil or while you’re sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office.

You can turn these little parts of your day, which otherwise add up to a huge amount of unproductive time, into another opportunity to learn some English.

If you have no idea where to start, you should check out this amazing list of podcasts for English Learners.

How does this help? Besides developing a positive habit that makes English practice part of your day, you also start to understand a person’s speaking habits when you listen to them speak for a long time. You’ll also start to look forward to new episodes—or at least you should if you’ve chosen an interesting podcast!

Depending on what you’re listening to, some speakers have certain habits that you can either pick up for yourself, or detect and purposefully avoid.

What should you do? You might listen to someone and catch that they say “you know” and “like” between ideas. Using these “filler words” is a speaking habit many people have, but it’s not necessarily a good habit.

You can work to eliminate them from your vocabulary so people can focus solely on your message.

It can be challenging, but through practice and persistence, you can do it.

Recording of University Lectures in English

Whether you’re attending an English-speaking university, preparing to attend one or simply want to improve your listening skills in an academic field, this solution is for you. Websites such as edX provide lectures from some of the greatest universities in the world, available for free to anyone who wants to learn.

You’ll increase your chances of success in university courses while improving your listening comprehension skills. You’ll practice listening to class lectures. You’ll also improve in common college tasks such as class discussions and presentations.

And all without burying yourself in debt!

How does this help? University lectures use specific vocabulary about academic subjects, depending on your interests or the profession you’re interested in.

If you’re serious about your academic pursuits, eventually you’ll need to learn about different types of conversations in academic settings. You’ll need to learn strategies to help you understand other people and to express yourself effectively. This can be challenging but it’s a great opportunity for you to practice and improve your listening skills.

What should you do? Choose a lecture from your academic field or any particular subject that you find interesting. While listening to your lecture or seminar, listen actively, taking notes or silently posing a question about the lecture topic, as if you were actually attending the lecture.

English Audiobooks

You might not have access to many English books. And even if you do, you might not have the time to sit down and read. It’s a busy world. What if you’re reading an English book but you’re not sure if you’re pronouncing the words in it correctly? Then, my friend, you need to get yourself an audiobook.

An audiobook is basically a recording of someone reading a book. Imagine your favorite author reading you his or her latest book and teaching you English at the same time! Audiobooks are all over the internet, and FluentU has collected a few places where you can find them.

How does this help? Audiobooks can be a great source of vocabulary since they use a wider range of words than common speech. People who read them often speak in a clear and articulated way. Also, audiobooks are highly entertaining, so it’s easy to listen for many hours.

What should you do? To learn new vocabulary, focus on the pronunciation of words you’re unfamiliar with. You can test yourself and check your understanding by answering questions about the story after you finish listening.

But my favorite thing to do with audiobooks is reading along! Get a physical or digital copy of the book and read along as you listen. Doing so, you’ll find it easy to concentrate solely on the words. You can practice pronunciation by reading out loud and trying to match what you just heard.

English Songs

There are so many ways you can learn English by listening to songs! The best part is that it’s difficult not to have a good time while doing it. Seriously, I dare you not to have fun while learning English by listening to music. You can try to write out the lyrics, to sing along (karaoke night, anyone?) or you can even skip the lyrics and see how much you know by heart!

How does this help? Have you tried listening to a rap song in English? Listening and understanding the lyrics in a song can be really difficult, even for native speakers. But trust me, once you figure out what the singer is saying, it will get embedded in your mind.

Next time you hear it, you’ll remember it—and you can even sing along!

What should you do? Music is an excellent way to improve your confidence. It’s okay if you sometimes forget the lyrics or you don’t have perfect pitch. Just try following the music and singing out loud.

Eventually, you’ll start memorizing the song. You’ll be ready to sing without looking at the lyrics. By then, you’ll find that your pronunciation will have improved a great deal.

Have fun singing along without looking at the lyrics. And remember, sing like nobody’s listening!

Yourself!

Finally, the last solution is to listen to no one but yourself. As crazy as it may sound, there’s no better way of improving your spoken English!

How does this help? Recording and listening to yourself speak will help you identify, check and correct any mistakes you’re committing. Feel free to use any of the many resources we’ve suggested in this article to compare to your speech.

You can quickly find problems in how you speak and if you continue to listen to yourself over time, you’ll see how much better you’re getting at speaking in English.

What should you do? Record yourself speaking English using your computer or phone. Play it back and listen to your own pronunciation and accent. Fix any problems that you notice and try again.

And there you have it! The ultimate guide to learning English by listening effectively. It can be a daunting task, but with guidance and lots of practice, anyone can improve their listening comprehension skills and learn English by listening.

Listening, like many things in life, will become easier with practice. Just keep working, and you’ll surely succeed!

How to understand native English speakers: “Whaddya…?” & Relaxed Speech

Test your understanding of this English lesson

101 COMMENTS

I love your sense of humor!

[The chicken didn’t make it to the other side]
What’s that mean?
I just don’t understand this joke.Can you tell me?

That mean – chicken is dead and now it’s on plate – dinner :-p

Full joke sounds:
— Why did the chicken cross the road?
— Because it wants to get on the other side.

steveChou, the chicken didn’t cross the road.It is dead. It was hit by a car.
Now, that’s funny.

thank you. its help me a lot

Thank you James!
It’s very useful!

Thanks a lot James

This vid is really helpful for me. Thanks a lot.

Thank you very much James! (I undestood the chicken joke, haha)

Am gonna watch all of your videos) thanks a lot

Thank you James. I enjoyed the topic.

Thank you, James.

Thanks, james. it is very useful for me.
Could you please give me some more exercise about schwa?

thanks! whaddaya do for the next lesson? 🙂

Thank you, for all your lessons.

Got 90☺ Thanks james.

I have earned 100/100!

I got 80 thanks james.i’m so happy about it.

Thanks Mr. James….

Thanks James. Nice lesson 😉

I can’t resist to tell a joke about chicken:)

a:Which day of the week do chickens hate most?
b:Fry-day!

Thanks for the lesson:)

Thank you James for the lesson!

Whaddayadoing here, James? I watch your videos of(t)en. I also love your pronunciation of bottle at the start here.

Also, LOL @ “FA-MY-LY?” (fam-lee)

Yep, lots of useful stuff here. Pay attention, students!

Nice comment, Alex! I reckon you’re the unique Engvid teacher who leaves comments to videos made by other teachers. I appreciate it because it express comradeship. Moreover, I like your own lessons too, of course. Take care!

Thank you very much. Great lesson.

Hello, everyone! My name is Rustam. I’m from Tajikistan, wanna be in touch with the one who wants to practice and to improve our lovely language (English)

Hi Rustam, I’m also looking for one to one listens, maybe we can practice together once or twice a week?

I also love interacting with foreigners to practice English, especially on Skype, where I participate of several groups.

Have you ever heard about Speakng24? That’s a helpful website to find international partners to speak English. I really recommend it. It’s free and you don’t have to create an account to use it. I will send you the link.

You can find me there on the weekends.

Regards from Brazil!

thank you.. that video helped me a lot 🙂

Whaddya mean native?
Oh!Yes, I know!
Thanks, James.

80 % 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Thank you James for the lesson!

Tnx for this lecture

Hi guys,
Could you help me with my convisiation. I want to speake in english very wekl, because it’s neccesary to my job.

thanks po :)from philippines 🙂

My quiz got correctly, thank you.

Help me
How can I download this lesson

Sorry, you can only watch our lessons on YouTube.

thank you.. that video helped me a lot

You are the best.

i enjoyed this lesson so much. thanks a bunch james 🙂
but i wanna discuss something.if you don’t mind. it was really easy to undestand if I learn it from you. but, as we know some native has a different accent, and sometimes some of them not speak as clearly as yours, sometimes i totally had no idea of what their talking about.. so how we (actually for me) to deal with it?

ps : i’m sorry for all of the grammar mistakes, :’)

How to Understand Fast Native English Speakers During Conversations

Want to understand fast native English speakers during conversations in English?

Do you feel a little stressed out when trying to follow what fast-talking Americans are saying? 😕

If so, you’re not alone.

Most non-native speakers tend to stress out before interacting with native English speakers because they’re afraid they’re not going to catch every single word.

Don’t worry – I’ve got you covered!

In this article and video, I share my tips on how to handle interactions with fast talking Americans so that you can feel more confident in conversations in English.

Before we get started, I want to let you know that I do feel for you. 💜

After all, it can be really awkward to admit that you don’t necessarily understand every single word you hear.

Because listening skills often develop more quickly than speaking skills, you may feel like the fact that you missed a word reflects on your ability to speak English.

I know that’s not the case.

The reality is that sometimes we just miss words. This happens to native speakers as well!

In this video, I want to put you at ease.

I want you to understand that missing certain words or feeling a little lost when a native speaker is speeding up and speaking incredibly quickly is completely normal, even for native speakers.

Let’s talk about the skills you need in order to handle these situations comfortably.

Try to Understand the Emotion Being Expressed by Fast Speech

First, let’s look at the reasons why native speakers speed up and speak so fast.

By understanding why we speak so quickly in the first place, you’ll feel more prepared when you’re interacting in a social situation.

First things first, in any language, most of us speed up when we’re feeling excited, enthusiastic, passionate, or emotional about a certain topic.

If you hear a native speaker starting to speak really, really quickly, they’re probably sharing something that you need to pay attention to.

When someone is speaking passionately and emotionally about a topic, it can be a little stressful to tell them to slow down.

Are you really going to interrupt someone and say, “Excuse me, could you slow down and speak a little more slowly?”

Probably not. That will probably interrupt the flow of conversation and make you feel even more uncomfortable.

If you’re in a situation where the other person is speaking very emotionally about a topic, pay attention to the underlying reason “why.”

What’s the underlying emotion you can distinguish from their tone?

Their intonation will convey a lot of meaning even if you can’t understand every single word.

Listen for Words That Are Emphasized with Word and Sentence Stress

To understand native English speakers, you need to realize that we don’t necessarily think we’re speaking quickly.

Instead, we’re speaking efficiently.

In English, we use word and sentence stress in order to draw your attention to the most important words in the sentence.

If we’re speeding through a certain word, it’s probably not important enough for you to hear!

I want you to listen for the words, or even better, the syllables in these words that are the longest, the loudest and the highest in pitch.

In order to stress words, we make one syllable of a word longer, louder and higher in pitch.

When you’re listening to an American who is speaking really quickly, pay attention to the words that are longest, loudest, and highest in pitch.

These are the words that carry the meaning of the sentence.

By tuning your ear to focus specifically on these particular words, you’re going to get the meaning of the sentence without needing to hear every single detail.

In my experience, most non-native speakers put too much pressure on themselves by trying to catch every single word and detail of the sentence.

Native speakers don’t do this. Native speakers listen efficiently.

We listen for the words that receive the most stress in the sentence.

To understand someone who’s speaking quickly, pay attention to these emphasized words.

This will enable you to follow along with the key points of the sentence.

Listen for Words and Ideas That Are Repeated

So far, we’ve discussed paying attention to tone of voice to identify the meaning behind the words, as well as listening for word and sentence stress in order to hear the key words in the sentence.

Next, I encourage you to focus your attention on words and ideas that seem to repeat themselves.

If you’re listening to someone speaking passionately on a topic, they’re probably going to come back to their main ideas again and again.

In the most typical American communication style, we tell somebody what we’re going to say to them, we say it and then we repeat ourselves again once we finish.

If you miss the point at the beginning of the sentence, try to tune your ear to the key message.

What’s the underlying idea or theme that you hear throughout the person’s speech?

It’s perfectly okay if you miss a few details as long as you understand the underlying meaning.

Ask for Clarification When You Miss Something Important

If you feel like you have missed a key point in the person’s speech, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.

In fact, clarifying what you heard and confirming your understanding are two of the most essential conversation skills in English, in my opinion.

If you get the sense that you’ve missed something important, you can ask the person to repeat themselves.

You can say something like:

Even better, you can get more specific:

As you can see, all of these questions show that you’re listening carefully to the other person, but they enable the other person to repeat themselves.

You want to jump in and ask for clarification right after the point that you missed. If you understood the rest of the sentence, there’s no point in asking them to repeat everything they’ve already said.

In fact, when you ask them to clarify a specific point, you may actually help the other person be more clear.

Sometimes it’s not the fact that you didn’t understand, it’s that the other person needs to repeat themselves to be extra clear!

Confirm Your Understanding By Repeating Their Points in Your Own Words

In addition to asking clarifying questions, you can show what you understood by repeating back some of their points in your own words.

Some expressions we use to confirm our understanding are the following:

When you repeat back the points you did understand, the other person can clarify anything else that you may have missed.

These are subtle ways to keep the conversation going without slowing down the flow of the person’s thoughts.

Feel More Confident When Interacting with Someone Who Speaks Quickly

Please don’t feel stressed out when you interact with someone who speaks really quickly!

Remember that they’re showing enthusiasm, excitement, emotion, or passion for the topic through the way that they speak.

Instead, focus your attention on the stressed words.

Pay attention to the meaning that you get through their intonation.

Listen for ideas that come up again and again.

Try to catch the key points by the way they emphasize them.

And if you do have any doubts, be sure to ask for clarification and confirm what you heard.

As your ear adjusts to the way that we speak, you’re not going to be intimidated by the speed of speech!

You’re going to be pay attention to the key words by listening to what’s most important in the sentence.

Your Turn

I hope you feel more confident interacting with native speakers now that you’re prepared with these tips!

If you have any other suggestions for what you can do if you’re interacting with a fast-speaking native speaker, please leave a comment below the video.