How I can improve my listening skills?

[StChris]

I'm with the people recommending watching Chinese shows with English subtitles (at least for people with beginner/lower-intermediate level Chinese). While I agree that just doing this alone isn't a good strategy, it can be a very good (and enjoyable) way of improving your listening skills when combined with other methods (for example, I was working my way through the Chinesepod intermediate lessons when I first started to watch TV dramas with English subs). Also, watching something and being able to understand what's going on tends to be much more enjoyable than slogging through something while only getting 5% of what is being said. While it could be argued that that low level of understanding shows that the student isn't ready to tackle native-level materials yet, watching TV can give a valuable insight into the everyday culture of the place, especially if you're not living in China (as I wasn't when I started).

 

Here's some tips of how I made it work with me:

 

1. Don't stress about understanding much if you're a relative beginner, just be happy to be able to pick out odd words here and there (你好，喜欢，知道，明白 etc). It can be intimidating tackling native content for the first time, so for me every little recognised word was a little victory.

2. If you happen to come across a simple sentence in the English subtitles that you feel you should understand given your current Chinese level but somehow don't, then it's a good idea to rewind and listen to it again a few times, even slowing that particular segment down to 0.75 speed if necessary. For example, if you come across a sentence such as "I don't know" or "I like you" but can't quite make out the Chinese, despite feeling that you probably know each individual word in the sentence, then i might be worth drilling down for a minute of two. I often found that I couldn't quite catch what people were saying in the early stages of learning Chinese, even when I had already studied the words people were saying. This should help get your ear adjusted. Just be careful that the speakers aren't using an alternative word to the one you've previously learnt, such as using 晓得 instead of 知道 for "to know" (you can check this by looking at the Chinese subtitles, which are normally included along with the English.

3. Pay attention to what people say in certain (simple) situations. For example, what do people say when hanging up the phone or when greeting one another. This will give you a clue of how the language you're learning is actually applied to real life. In fact, this paying attention to how language is used in different contexts will continue to be useful all the way into your advanced studies, as you pay attention to more complex things, for example how people speak in formal business occasions as opposed to when chatting with friends etc.

 

There does come a point where the crutch of English subs need to be dropped, and there are plenty of TV series where people have made a list of unknown vocab right here on these forums (I did one myself here - it's a nice, short series that I think would be a good first choice for a non-English assisted TV drama).

[mouse]

On 3/23/2019 at 5:14 AM, Lu said:

But then look at the Dutch, who almost all speak some amount of English, partly because we are inundated in subtitled television and films.

 

And because Dutch and English are very closely related. 

 

Watching with English subs is better than not getting any Chinese at all. That's about as far as I'd go, personally.

[Enjune Zhang]

To practice listening skill in a certain language, there will be 3 aspects you should pay attention to.

1. Make sure you get the pronunciation right when you are speaking.

Mind the tones and the difference in Pinyin like -en, -eng, -in, -ing, zh-,ch-,sh-, z-,c-.s-, since characters and meanings vary based on the difference in Pinyin and tones. You will get confused, with no idea of the corresponding character or meaning when someone else's speaking because you are not familiar the right pronunciation. You think that the character is spoken this way, however, it is not, so you fail to understand when it is pronounced in the correct way different from yours. You will find listening easier if you pronounce exactly the same way how the native speaker does.The familiar you are with the correct pronunciation of Mandarin,the most likely that you could understand it effortlessly. I learned it from my experience practicing spoken English. I found what the native speaker says became listening friendly to me when I know liaison and intonation better.I bet you will have better understanding of the Chinese listening materials if it pronounces the way you do.However, you cannot expect it that way. So adjust yourself to fit into the right pronunciation.

2. Make sure that you have a certain accumulation of words.

Listening will be easier if you are familiar with the content and wording of the conversation, and that's why volume of words matters .It is true that some Chinese people will not pronounce fully standard or correct influenced by the dialect they inherit, so you will need to judge the meaning based on certain context and the other words applied in the conversation. And you need that vocabulary volume to support the comprehension based in context.

3. Make sure that you practice with a purpose and focus on the meaning.

Do not mind how many characters or words sounds clearly and articulately to you and just focus on the general meaning. You may also leave out the less important phrase in a conversation if you catch the key word.If you miss part of the information in a sentence, just let it be instead of keep focusing on what the hell you have just skipped, since it may distract your attention to the following conversation.

There are several audio articles with text in wechat official account,which may help you with your listening.Listen to the materials without text for several times until you think you could not know more from it no matter how many more times you try.

 

Note the parts you don't understand by writing down the words known next to it, so you could locate the related part in the text for what it is said. Divide the materials into several sections if it is too long for you. Find the same audio article in the FM app if possible (some hosts or hostesses post it on both wechat and platform like ximalaya) where you could adjust the speed of the program to listen to it slower then back to normal pace. 

Compare what you have just heard with the text by listening again with the text, and focus on the part you failed just now. Record all the words that confuse you when you were listening. Review them against ebbinghaus law by repetition and find your chance to apply it in your communication, so it won't fail you when you hear it in the future.