Learn how to listen
Using podcast, movies etc. the right way!
Listening to a foreign language is the easiest task to do, out of all the other things you have to do, in order to learn a language. You simply get your earbuds, and start listening to anything. It doesn’t matter what specifically you are listening to, some prefer music, some podcasts, some audiobooks and so on. What matters is that you get a feel of the rhythm, melody and sound of the language. However listening isn’t as easy as it is in your native language. You will never reach the native understanding, but you can get really close to it! Listening can be divided into three main parts:
1. Understanding the Gist
You first need to understand the theme or overall topic of the discussion. This also include an understanding of the whole situation, perhaps the body language and last but not least the tone. Having a brief overview of all these things can help your understanding tremendously.
2. Going into detail
Now that you have a good overview of the whole situation it is time to listen out for all the details which often makes an discussion very interesting. Understanding the when, who, how and where are essential for this stage.
3. New vocabulary
Lastly listening out for new words is a great exercise to broaden your horizon (keeping notes of all the new words is a great exercise). It also helps you to focus more on the content of a discussion and therefore makes remembering the content much more easier.
Podcasts
So now lets take a closer look to some different ways of learning. Podcasts are probably the most widely spread and most easy to access option out there. They feature a wide range of topics. A good way of using podcasts, is to listen to topics which you are currently studying in class. Thereby you are coming across those vocabulary which you are currently learning. This is a really powerful tool to make use of your dead time, as you can listen to them literally anywhere! Additionally, podcasts are very flexible when it comes to time. There are podcasts which only go about 10 minutes, all the way up to 2 hours! But please keep in mind that you will definitely struggle at first when you’re listening to a podcast or anything else. Often the speed is too fast, so I recommend you to listen to a podcast which takes it a little bit slower, for instance TheNews in Slow (it is a real podcast). Also if you take listening really seroius you could take a pen and paper and actively sit down for the duration of the podcast and write down everything which is being said. Okay not everything but try to summarise the content and write down new words.
Movies
If you are more of a visual learner, like me. I recommend watching a film or tv series. When watching a film it is often easier to guess the content, based on the reaction of the actors or the setting in general. Also by having the visual aspect it is easier to remember specific scenes and thereby also the content. If you are just starting out learning a language, watching a movie without any help is impossible. Therefore you should use subtitles to your advantage. Being able to hear whats being said and having a live translation at the same time is a complete game-changer. But what if you want to get rid of the sometimes annoying text at the bottom screen. Well the process of gradually decreasing the subtitle can be divided into three stages. First stage is the beginner level, where you use native subtitles. Once you are able to comprehend about 80% of what is being said (with the help of the subtitles) you can move on to stage 2. The second stage is more focused on the language you’re learning. There you should switch form native subtitles to the language you want to learn. This is a huge step so try to not switch back to the native subtitles! Once you understand about 75% of what’s being said you can turn the subtitles off. By this stage you are already familiar with the sound and the rhythm of the language, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Also if you are just starting out it is tempting to watch the news. However I advise you not to watch the news! Watching the news will only frustrate you more and you’re also more likely to quit. Instead you should watch children's TV. I know this might sound a little bit silly, but it is actually on of the best ways of getting used to a language. Just give it a try!
Conclusion
When it comes to listening, everyone has an individual method. The best thing you can do is to try out as many as possible and see which suit you best. Remember don’t quit to early, as you still have to get used to it. Everything takes time.
