How to improve your English listening skills?

[letstalk]

One way to improve English listening skills that I found very useful is to listen to an English native speaker and try to write down what he is saying.

here is one example of an audio:

Listen to audio first and try to guess and after read the script

"Well uh, first you start out by uh, plowing your land and preparing it. And uh, ’course in uh, preparation of uh, land now uh, there are other things besides plowing to be considered. If uh, it should be land-leveled. And uh, then you’ve got uh, two different kinds of uh, leveling that’s used in this area in rice farming. You got your dry land-leveling, and what we call water leveling.

And there, there are two different methods to, to level a-, the hills and the high spots where rice can’t be grown. In other words, you can’t grow rice on top of a hill. So that’s uh, it’s not only plowing nowadays. It’s preparing the land by leveling it and plowing it. And usually you prepare your land and disc it down and build your terraces ahead of time, or your levees ahead of time [FW: Mm-hmm], before you’re, if you’re gonna farm a piece of ground, well you, you prepare ’em and uh, first you land-level. Plow and land-level [FW: (xx)] and run what you call a land plane all over the thing. That’s the la-, the purpose of the land plane is to level the land. The land plane is nothing else but just fills the low places and cuts the high places off and pushes the dirt in the low places [FW: Mm-hmm].

And after you run your land plane over there, then you re-survey your levees. And uh, most of uh, the levees in rice fields are run on two-tenths. And uh, in other words from your top area there, you run your terrace down two-tenths and then just drop it on down two-tenths on through your field.

And it’s the usual practice, when you first start out to going and build your terraces, then when you go back over again, that’s to keep the, so you already have ’em marked, so you know where to put ’em, you know, when you get ready to plant your rice. But you go and prepare the uh, uh, that’s usually called summer plowing, and summer leveling. You try to do that in the summer."

 

[Riff1]

Better to watch movies in original version…
I’m more comfortable listening to US Guy from Oklahoma than an englishman.

 

[letstalk]

example 2:

"I’m a advertising director of _____, uh in Waco. We manufacture and distribute building materials of all kinds, including Ideal Millwork, which we manufacture here in Waco. And uh, we distribute building materials, including CertainTeed, uh, roofing and siding, and Bruce flooring. And uh, many other types of products, which we sell through retail building-material dealers all over the Southwest. Uh, our Millwork products that we manufacture are actually distributed through three hundred and fifty building-materials drivers all over the United States.

Now it’s my job as advertising director to present the story about our products and services to building-material dealers, to, uh, home builders, to architects, uh, contractors, carpenters, and the general public. Basically, our program, our advertising program, is, uh, divided into two general categories. One is uh, our advertising to the p-, consumer or to the general public. Now to do this job, we use primarily uh consumer magazines. Magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful, New Homes Guide, Home Modernizing Guide, uh House and Garden, and books of that kind.

Uh, we run, ordinarily, we run, uh, full-page, full-color advertisements, uh, in each of these books during the year. Most of these books are what are called “idea annuals.” Uh, they’re published either annually or semiannually, and we run ads in each of these books, uh, which are circulated primarily, of course, to people who are interested in either building or buying or remodeling a home, uh, within a relatively short period of time."

 

[letstalk]

Enjoy Kitty, Daisy & Lewis music

 

[letstalk]

Practice makes perfect!

Never let some fool distract you.
Train your ears and find more practice to do this is just showing you examples. Not enough!


“I'm goin' up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
I'm goin' up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
Take you to some place I've never been before
I'm goin', I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine
I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
Gonna leave this city, got to get away
Gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussin' and fightin', man, you know I sure can't stay
Now, baby, pack your leavin' trunk, you know you got to leave today
Now just exactly where we goin' I can't say, but
We might even leave the U.S.A.
'Cause it's a brand-new game that I just want to play
And no use of you running
Or screamin' and cryin'
'Cause you got a home, man
And I've got mine
I'm goin' up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
I'm goin' up the country, babe, don't you wanna go?
Take you to some place I've never been before
I'm goin', I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine
I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
Gonna leave this city, got to get away
Oh, leave this city, got to get away
All this fussin' and fightin', I know I sure can't stay
You better pack your leavin' trunk, you know you got to leave today
Now just exactly where we goin' I can't say, but
We might even leave the U.S.A.
'Cause it's a brand-new game that I just want to play
And no use of me running
Or screamin' and cryin'
Because you got a home, man
And I've got mine”

Lyrics

 

[minervie]

Faut voir les films en VO sous titres en anglais , pour ceux qui y. arrivent . c top
Malheureusement , perso j'y arrive pas . Mais j'en connais qui l'ont fait et sont bilingues ajourd^hui

 

[Torero]

Honestly, it's been a while since I stopped putting too much effort into listening. As long as I understund 90% of what is said, that's fine with me. On the other hand, it's a bad habit if you want to improve your pronouciation. Acually when you start to communicate orally, you realize your own weaknesses. It doesn't matter if you've listened to some words 100s times if you don't really practice pronounication yourself. It's like a song you know exactly how it sounds while playing, but yet you can't sing it back by yourself.

On the occasion of the constitution day in Norway (17 Mai), a Norwegian friend sent me a picture of her wearing a Bunad. It's a traditional Norwegian dress worn on ceremonies and national days. Long story short, we talked about this day way before. But when that day came, I didn't show up and it took me 3 days to check on my whatsapp and read her message. So as a punishment, she asked me to read an article about the Bunad to prove her that I care about Norway culture. I overplayed the accent on purpose and didn't check on words pronounciation tho. But I can tell that some words are shitty-pronounced, because I barely can understund my own talk.

Spoiler: the text

The smart, colourful outfits are made with wool, meant to be tight-fitting, and are adorned with metal buckles, buttons and jewellery. Accessories vary and can even include blades.

The bunad of Norway is the national dress commonly worn on May 17th, Norway's national day

Although believed by many tourists to be a tradition dating back hundreds of years, that's not exactly true. Far from it in fact, as you can see from archive photographs from more than one hundred years ago.

The design of the modern bunad does take plenty of cues from traditional folk costumes dating back a few hundred years. However the modern dress we’re talking about in this article is very much a 20th-century invention.

While we’re on that subject, let’s take a look at how the costume came to be. For that, there’s one Norwegian woman to thank.

The mother of the bunad

And no, it's not Lenny !! (I added it myself to the original text)

The person most often credited with the outfit's ‘invention' – or at least rekindling interest in traditional folk costumes – is Hulda Garborg.

The writer, novelist, playwright, poet and dancer spent many years travelling the country participating in debates and promoting Norwegian culture. This was a tough job, as it was during the time when many families were leaving Norway in search of a better life in America or elsewhere.

Regarde la pièce jointe Ode to the Bunad.mp4

 

[letstalk]

Faut voir les films en VO sous titres en anglais , pour ceux qui y. arrivent . c top
Malheureusement , perso j'y arrive pas . Mais j'en connais qui l'ont fait et sont bilingues ajourd^hui

That sometimes works but listening to English radio is the best according to many scholars

 

[letstalk]

Honestly, it's been a while since I stopped putting too much effort into listening. As long as I understund 90% of what is said, that's fine with me. On the other hand, it's a bad habit if you want to improve your pronouciation. Acually when you start to communicate orally, you realize your own weaknesses. It doesn't matter if you've listened to some words 100s times if you don't really practice pronounication yourself. It's like a song you know exactly how it sounds while playing, but yet you can't sing it back by yourself.

Perhaps you should wonder how babies pick up the language easily!

If you understand 90% as you mentioned this is amazing you are fluent then. Just keep in mind that hearing and speaking are two different skills and only through practice you can overcome this challenge. Keep up learning

 

[letstalk]

So as a punishment, she asked me to read an article about the Bunad to prove her that I care about Norway culture.

I think the best way to learn is through joy and having fun not punishment.

 

[letstalk]

But I can tell that some words are shitty-pronounced,

To learn anything you have to be positive and resilient and see the cup half full not half empty!

You will need the time and motivation I believe

 

[letstalk]

Practice makes perfect!

https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_listening.htm

 

[Torero]

Perhaps you should wonder how babies pick up the language easily!

If you understand 90% as you mentioned this is amazing you are fluent then. Just keep in mind that hearing and speaking are two different skills and only through practice you can overcome this challenge. Keep up learning

Indeed, listening and speaking requires different skills. As foregin speakers learning english, we're most of the time in position of listeners, which only gets half the job done. Babies learn languages the hard way. They have 2 obvious advantages : 1) They have no choice but to speak to make themselves understood. 2) They're not afraid to sound/look stupid. There must be more cognitive reasons though related to the young age.

 

[Torero]

I think the best way to learn is through joy and having fun not punishment.

The word "punishment" in my expression shouldn't be taken to the letter. It was a friendly "punishment". I wouldn't have accomplished the task without having fun doing it.

To learn anything you have to be positive and resilient and see the cup half full not half empty!

You will need the time and motivation I believe

Well, I'm not negative or whinning about how bad my pronounciation is. I could have practiced the text before recording it, but I prefered to do it spontaneously and not be afraid to have shitty pronounciation or odd accent. Being fearless, humble, and expressing ourselves not in a perfect way, that's the first step toward mastering any language.

 

[minervie]

Rien ne vaut l'immersion dans un pays anglophone quelques mois.

 

[letstalk]

Well, I'm not negative or whinning about how bad my pronounciation is. I could have practiced the text before recording it, but I prefered to do it spontaneously and not be afraid to have shitty pronounciation or odd accent. Being fearless, humble, and expressing ourselves not in a perfect way, that's the first step toward mastering any language.

Perfect you are thinking positive.

I personally don’t believe people will think that your English accent is bad or you have a shitty-pronunciation when you speak. Some people may show you this feedback just because they don’t want you to learn a new language especially English for many reasons.

Keep in mind that nobody was born knowing any language we all went through the same learning process some of us get to practice more but not others.

Speaking smoothly and having that musicality in the speech will come with more practice. Don’t be lazy.

BDW, your writing is great perhaps you should try to write a book

 

[letstalk]

Rien ne vaut l'immersion dans un pays anglophone quelques mois.

How could you write it in English?

 

[letstalk]

If you like audio adventurous and entertaining storytelling before sleeping

 

[minervie]

How could you write it in English?

I forgot everything. I lost my english . So sad.

 

[letstalk]

I forgot everything. I lost my english . So sad.

How this came about?

 

[letstalk]

Win Back your Lost English

The link that I am about to share with you is very valuable to me and it should be very valuable to you as well.

here is one of the stories that you should enjoy listening to before going to bed.

WHEN YOUR CHILD IS A PSYCHOPATH​

The condition has long been considered untreatable. Experts can spot it in a child as young as 3 or 4. But a new clinical approach offers hope.
By Barbara Bradley Hagerty

 

[letstalk]

This is a good day, Samantha tells me: 10 on a scale of 10. We’re sitting in a conference room at the San Marcos Treatment Center, just south of Austin, Texas, a space that has witnessed countless difficult conversations between troubled children, their worried parents, and clinical therapists. But today promises unalloyed joy. Samantha’s mother is visiting from Idaho, as she does every six weeks, which means lunch off campus and an excursion to Target. The girl needs supplies: new jeans, yoga pants, nail polish.

At 11, Samantha is just over 5 feet tall and has wavy black hair and a steady gaze. She flashes a smile when I ask about her favorite subject (history), and grimaces when I ask about her least favorite (math). She seems poised and cheerful, a normal preteen. But when we steer into uncomfortable territory—the events that led her to this juvenile-treatment facility nearly 2,000 miles from her family—Samantha hesitates and looks down at her hands. “I wanted the whole world to myself,” she says. “So I made a whole entire book about how to hurt people.”

Starting at age 6, Samantha began drawing pictures of murder weapons: a knife, a bow and arrow, chemicals for poisoning, a plastic bag for suffocating. She tells me that she pretended to kill her stuffed animals.

“You were practicing on your stuffed animals?,” I ask her.

She nods.

“How did you feel when you were doing that to your stuffed animals?”

“Happy.”

“Why did it make you feel happy?”

“Because I thought that someday I was going to end up doing it on somebody.”

“Did you ever try?”

Silence.

“I choked my little brother.”

Samantha’s parents, Jen and Danny, adopted Samantha when she was 2. They already had three biological children, but they felt called to add Samantha (not her real name) and her half sister, who is two years older, to their family. They later had two more kids.

From the start, Samantha seemed a willful child, in tyrannical need of attention. But what toddler isn’t? Her biological mother had been forced to give her up because she’d lost her job and home and couldn’t provide for her four children, but there was no evidence of abuse. According to documentation from the state of Texas, Samantha met all her cognitive, emotional, and physical milestones. She had no learning disabilities, no emotional scars, no signs of ADHD or autism.

But even at a very young age, Samantha had a mean streak. When she was about 20 months old, living with foster parents in Texas, she clashed with a boy in day care. The caretaker soothed them both; problem solved. Later that day Samantha, who was already potty trained, walked over to where the boy was playing, pulled down her pants, and peed on him. “She knew exactly what she was doing,” Jen says. “There was an ability to wait until an opportune moment to exact her revenge on someone.”

When Samantha got a little older, she would pinch, trip, or push her siblings and smile if they cried. She would break into her sister’s piggy bank and rip up all the bills. Once, when Samantha was 5, Jen scolded her for being mean to one of her siblings. Samantha walked upstairs to her parents’ bathroom and washed her mother’s contact lenses down the drain. “Her behavior wasn’t impulsive,” Jen says. “It was very thoughtful, premeditated.”

Jen, a former elementary-school teacher, and Danny, a physician, realized they were out of their depth. They consulted doctors, psychiatrists, and therapists. But Samantha only grew more dangerous. They had her admitted to a psychiatric hospital three times before sending her to a residential treatment program in Montana at age 6. Samantha would grow out of it, one psychologist assured her parents; the problem was merely delayed empathy. Samantha was impulsive, another said, something that medication would fix. Yet another suggested that she had reactive attachment disorder, which could be ameliorated with intensive therapy. More darkly—and typically, in these sorts of cases—another psychologist blamed Jen and Danny, implying that Samantha was reacting to harsh and unloving parenting.

 

[letstalk]

continuing

One bitter December day in 2011, Jen was driving the children along a winding road near their home. Samantha had just turned 6. Suddenly Jen heard screaming from the back seat, and when she looked in the mirror, she saw Samantha with her hands around the throat of her 2-year-old sister, who was trapped in her car seat. Jen separated them, and once they were home, she pulled Samantha aside.

“What were you doing?,” Jen asked.

“I was trying to choke her,” Samantha said.

“You realize that would have killed her? She would not have been able to breathe. She would have died.”

“I know.”

“What about the rest of us?”

“I want to kill all of you.”

Samantha later showed Jen her sketches, and Jen watched in horror as her daughter demonstrated how to strangle or suffocate her stuffed animals. “I was so terrified,” Jen says. “I felt like I had lost control.”

Four months later, Samantha tried to strangle her baby brother, who was just two months old.

Jen and Danny had to admit that nothing seemed to make a difference—not affection, not discipline, not therapy. “I was reading and reading and reading, trying to figure out what diagnosis made sense,” Jen tells me. “What fits with the behaviors I’m seeing?” Eventually she found one condition that did seem to fit—but it was a diagnosis that all the mental-health professionals had dismissed, because it’s considered both rare and untreatable. In July 2013, Jen took Samantha to see a psychiatrist in New York City, who confirmed her suspicion.

“In the children’s mental-health world, it’s pretty much a terminal diagnosis, except your child’s not going to die,” Jen says. “It’s just that there’s no help.” She recalls walking out of the psychiatrist’s office on that warm afternoon and standing on a street corner in Manhattan as pedestrians pushed past her in a blur. A feeling flooded over her, singular, unexpected. Hope. Someone had finally acknowledged her family’s plight. Perhaps she and Danny could, against the odds, find a way to help their daughter.

Samantha was diagnosed with conduct disorder with callous and unemotional traits. She had all the characteristics of a budding psychopath.

Psychopaths have always been with us. Indeed, certain psychopathic traits have survived because they’re useful in small doses: the cool dispassion of a surgeon, the tunnel vision of an Olympic athlete, the ambitious narcissism of many a politician. But when these attributes exist in the wrong combination or in extreme forms, they can produce a dangerously antisocial individual, or even a cold-blooded killer. Only in the past quarter century have researchers zeroed in on the early signs that indicate a child could be the next Ted Bundy.

Researchers shy away from calling children psychopaths; the term carries too much stigma, and too much determinism. They prefer to describe children like Samantha as having “callous and unemotional traits,” shorthand for a cluster of characteristics and behaviors, including a lack of empathy, remorse, or guilt; shallow emotions; aggression and even cruelty; and a seeming indifference to punishment. Callous and unemotional children have no trouble hurting others to get what they want. If they do seem caring or empathetic, they’re probably trying to manipulate you.

Researchers believe that nearly 1 percent of children exhibit these traits, about as many as have autism or bipolar disorder. Until recently, the condition was seldom mentioned. Only in 2013 did the American Psychiatric Association include callous and unemotional traits in its diagnostic manual, DSM-5. The condition can go unnoticed because many children with these traits—who can be charming and smart enough to mimic social cues—are able to mask them.

 

[letstalk]

Find the rest of this reading at The Atlantic

 

[MrRandom]

The best way to learn English is to fall in love with your teacher. That's what happened to me when I was 13. I really wanted to get her attention, so I started to do silly things.
All I got was to write my irregular verbs again and again. It was really helpfull, today I know them by heart.
I finally changed my strategy, and I decided to become his best student and I succeeded. I was so excited every time I had english class. Each of her encouragements and compliments melted my heart.. Unfortunately, now she was focused on students with a low level. We spent less time together, I felt neglected and ignored. It was the first time I felt heartbroken. It's been a long time now but, I'll never forget Mrs Terrien's smile !

 

[letstalk]

Amazing story of yours!

I am sure your experience will inspire many Moroccan English learners.

Question though:
You have mentioned you started to do silly things like what?

 

[MrRandom]

Amazing story of yours!

I am sure your experience will inspire many Moroccan English learners.

Question though:
You have mentioned you started to do silly things like what?

You know, teenagers are foolish and mindless..I did a lot of childish things
I was always talking during class, I pranked my friends, I didn't do my homeworks..

 

[letstalk]

You know, teenagers are foolish and mindless..I did a lot of childish things
I was always talking during class, I pranked my friends, I didn't do my homeworks..

It sounds you had a lot of fun doing such things and your teacher was not pissed off: what a great teacher

and enjoyed playing pranks on your friends like not doing homework and yet your English is brilliant!

Do you write sometimes diaries like what you did everyday in a notebook?

 

[MrRandom]

It sounds you had a lot of fun doing such things and your teacher was not pissed off: what a great teacher

and enjoyed playing pranks on your friends like not doing homework and yet your English is brilliant!

Do you write sometimes diaries like what you did everyday in a notebook?

No she wasn’t pissed off, and several times I felt guilty of doing all this shit to her. So I became a good guy

I don’t even write in french
Honestly my english became better by watching movies and tv shows

I still have a lot to learn because I don’t practise enough

Is english your native language ?!

 

[letstalk]

No she wasn’t pissed off, and several times I felt guilty of doing all this shit to her. So I became a good guy

I don’t even write in french
Honestly my english became better by watching movies and tv shows

I still have a lot to learn because I don’t practise enough

Is english your native language ?!

It is good that you had that reflection on what you were doing was not right and you felt sorry for your English teacher.


To answer your question, I am not a mother tongue English speaker. I am learning just like you. I spend many hours improving my English especially reading English materials such as books, webpages, articles and many more.

If you are interested in reading some books, check out link below

Something if we don’t use it, it is lost!​

 

[Korozif]

Faut voir les films en VO sous titres en anglais , pour ceux qui y. arrivent . c top
Malheureusement , perso j'y arrive pas . Mais j'en connais qui l'ont fait et sont bilingues ajourd^hui

Ils foutent des fucks a toutes les phrases maintenant ?

 

[minervie]

Ils foutent des fucks a toutes les phrases maintenant ?

On apprend l'argot a la télé. Le bon anglais on l'apprend a l'ecole

 

[letstalk]

You can play the high harp and recite your ballad people won't listen because they are busy learning English and they will do well!

nice try—"Never, never give up"

 

[letstalk]

Soul Asylum: Goin' down


Floatin' down the river
With a saturated liver
And I thought I would forgive her
But I do believe she meant it
When she told me to forget it
And I bet she will regret it
When they find me in the morning wet and drowned
And the word gets 'round
Goin' down
I'm Goin' down

Coming' up for air
It's pretty stuffy under there
I'd like to say I didn't care
But I forgot to leave a note
And it's so hard to stay afloat
I'm soakin' wet without a boat
And I knew I should have taken off my shoes
It's front page news
Goin' down
I'm goin' down

I wish I had another drink
It wouldn't be so hard to sink
I should have taken time to think
Besides I got the picture straight
She must have had another date
I didn't need this extra weight
I wish that I could see the way to shore
Don't want no more
Goin' down
I'm goin' down

And now I see the life I led
I slept it all away in bed
I should have learned to swim instead
And now it's really got me stumped
I can't believe why I jumped
I'd like to get my tummy pumped
I can't believe they drink this stuff in town
This dirty brown
Goin' down
I'm goin' down

I wish I looked before I leaped
I didn't know it was so deep
Been down so far I don't get wet
Haven't touched the bottom yet
This river scene is gettin' old
I'm hungry, sleepy, wet and cold
She told me to forget it nice
I should have taken her advice
I only want to go back home
I'd gladly leave that girl alone
What a way to spend the night
If I don't drown, I'll die of fright
My pappy taught me how to float
But I can't swim a single note
He threw me in to teach me how
I stayed there floatin' like a mama cow
And now I've floated way down stream
I know this has to be a dream
If I could find my way to shore
I'd never, never do this anymore
I'll give you three, I've been down nine
I'm goin' down just one more time.
Goin' down.
I'm goin' down.

Now the sky is gettin' light
And everything will be alright
Think I finally got the knack
Just floatin' here lazy on my back
I never really liked that town
I think I'll ride the river down
Just movin' slow and floatin' free
There's a river swingin' under me.
Waving back to the folks on shore
I should have thought of this before
I'm floatin' on down to New Orleans
Goin' to pick up on some swingin' scenes
I know I'll know a better day
I'll go down groovin' all the way
Goin' down
Goin' down

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/s/soulasylumlyrics/goindownlyrics.html

 

[letstalk]

Download this audio file and before sleep listen to it and try to guess the wording.
Learning English is a fun practice! Enjoy!