Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[BruceLee]

Dear teachers

When I listen English or English music, I always have BIG trouble on these words that are linked.

I can't understand these words right away.

Just like "What ya gonna do", "outta" etc.

How can I do to this problem?

Thanks

[pugachevV]

You have to learn how the contractions sound. For instance you already know that wotchagonnado, is "What are you going to do", when written correctly, but for reasons of meter and as an acknowledgment of the way people actually speak, they use the contraction.

In some parts of England/USA etc., the regional dialects are very difficult to understand.
It's not just confined to English-speaking countries, either; in southern Germany, I found it difficult to understand the accent when I was learning German, because it's so different from the North German accent, and the French they speak in Quebec, is very different from the French they speak in Paris.