3 Steps to Help you Understand Someone Speaking in Another Language

How do you communicate with someone who is a much higher level speaker than you are?  Don’t be nervous that you cannot communicate well with people that you meet, instead of trying to listen to someone use 100% natural English with you – stop them.

Take these few steps to make sure that you can keep some control of the conversational situation.

1.     STOP them – Don’t just listen to the other person if they are speaking too fast.  Stop them!  Use a phrase such as “Wait a moment” or “Excuse me” hold the other person while you can think.  Remember to be aggressive!  Use a strong voice to interrupt people.

2.     CLARIFY what they mean – After stopping someone, they will be waiting, so ask your question.

·       If they are too FAST – “Could you please speak more slowly?”

·       If you want them to repeat themselves – “Could you please say that again?”

·       If you don’t know what they mean – “What does that mean?” or “What do you mean?”

3.     CONFIRM that you understand – Make sure that you really understand someone.  Try a phrase like “So you mean….” Or “Let me see if I understand, you mean…”

If you can follow these steps then even if you are a low level speaker, you will have a better chance to understand what somebody is saying to you.  Just remember to be brave!  It is hard to say “Excuse me” when somebody is speaking – don’t wait!  Just say it and you will be able to avoid miscommunication early. 

Improve your English Listening Skills with Dictation

How to improve your listening:

DICTATION 

(But You're Probably Doing it Wrong)

Dictation is a pretty well known and effective technique.  BUT many people don't get the most out of it.  Basically dictation is when you listen to something and then write it down.  If you follow these steps, however, you're guaranteed to improve a bit more quickly.

Steps to practice dictation effectively:

1. Play 1 sentence from your CD or MP3.

One sentence only.  A lot of people try to do too much.  It's better to focus and get this one thing right.

2. Write that 1 sentence down.

Even if you didn't catch every word, you'll probably get a few of the content words. 

3. Check your what you've written; correct it, and try to guess what the missing words might be.

Most people don't do this extra step.  But it's useful to see how well you can understand what a real, complete, correct sentence should look like.  Give it a try.

4. Listen to the CD again to check it.  Were you right?

Again, most people don't do this.  Do it and confirm that your mind isn't tricking you.  Listen carefully!  Don't trust yourself from 5 minutes ago!

5.  Finally, check the written audio script and see if you were right.

At this point, you're 1 sentence practice has probably cost you a few minutes.  But it's worth it!

If you've followed these steps, I promise that your listening skills will develop more quickly than if you had just listened to something and written it down and moved on without checking.

Using these steps you are not just listening to content words, but also learning to catch the tougher, faster, function words too.