Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Simon_23]

Hey!

My name is Simon, I'm 23, I'm from Poland and I'm very glad to be here. I have been learning English for about 8 months. I learn 2, 3 hours a day and I do my best. I listen to English, do a lot of grammar exercises and I would like to use perfectly this language and the most of all I want to speak fluently. However I have a problem. I listen to some tapes, BBC and even I have got an e-book Harry Potter - Chamber of Secrets (AudioBook + Scripts) and I listen, listen and listen and I can't understand what people say. It gets me upset, really. Now I start using a new method. Firstly I read some text and afterwards I listen to the text and later on I repeat as speed as a narrator. That is still too little. I can't hear words: have, has, he's read for example, or that and so on".
Sometimes I know each word in a sentence but I can't understand the sense of the sentence. I have made up my mind and now I use monolingual dictionary such as freesearch.co.uk/dictionary or cambridge or tfd.com. It will take much time to notice some results of this method.

May be I want to listen to English and understand English too hurriedly and I'm too hasty and restless. Can you help me?


Simon

[Bob S.]

[bud]

Simon, you've come a very long way in a very short time, as your written English is excellent. I have the same problem with Spanish. I can speak it, read it and write it at an intermediate level, but my listening skill is bad, bad, bad. Hang in there!

Listen to Bob's advice. It's good. Another thing you might try from time to time is idle listening. Just turn on the radio or whatever, and listen but avoid trying to understand what is being said. The point is that you are just getting used to hearing the sounds of English, the phrasing, the intonation, etc.

A friend of mine lived in Paris for a time. She had the same problem with French. She swears that one day she had TV on, a weather forecast, and when it was finished, it occurred to her that she understood what was said. Just like that.

Now if I would only get serious about learning to understand spoken Spanish!

[Simon_23]

I will comply with your instructions and advices.
Thanks a lot.

--
Simon

[freeboy]

I'm Chinese.
I also wanna learn English well.
I agree all the method of artical.
But It's really need lots time.
I am curious that when you were young,
learn your native English language,was it
really take so much time to practice listening?

[cgage]

Dzien dobry! I suggest that you get some DVD's that have English speaking with Polish subtitles. If that is not possible, get a copy in Polish and a copy in English and try to learn most of the dialogue in Polish. Then listen to the English version many times. I speak French, some Italian and I'm learning Spanish. I find that this is a very good method. Also, I listen to tapes in my car. Learning a language requires several different approaches. The one that I have described is ear training. I'm an ESL teacher in the US. Feel free to email if you have any questions. I enjoy helping people from different countries learn English.
My email is [email protected]
Dziekuje

[Simon_23]

I'm very grateful, cgage. I will note your email down.
Are you any roots here in Poland?





Best wishes,
Simon

[amahmood]

Hi

Watch subscribed movies.

watch a movie and try to undrestand it without the subscription - preferebly use a headphone - then watch it again and again. You are done when you can say what the actor said without looking at the subscribe. Remember, you may need 50 times or more watching a movie.

This is the best and easiest way to learn listining, vocabulary, idioms, writting and a lot more.

The only thing that this method wouldn't teach you is "speaking" but it helps it a lot.
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