- Hi, I'm Mark from Coffee Break Languages,
and welcome back to another episode in our series,
which is helping you maximise your down time
and improve your language learning.
Now, in this episode,
we're going to be talking about listening.
But just before we get onto that,
let's have a quick review
of what we talked about last time,
because then we were talking about reading.
And we talked about the idea of reading for pleasure.
We talked about following your passion,
reading plays or graphic novels
and considering easy readers.
Now, to find this video,
just click up here.
You'll be able to access that video
if you've not yet seen it.
But today, as I said,
we're going to be focusing on a new topic,
and that is listening.
Because listening is a crucial element of language learning.
And I have to say that it is possibly one of the things
I find most difficult
when it comes to learning a language.
When we are beginning to learn a language
is very often about the written word.
When we are perhaps using a textbook
or working our way through a course,
we see the words and don't necessarily hear them.
But of course, if you're watching videos
or listening to podcasts,
then you're going to be hearing lots of content.
Now, when you're listening to another language,
perhaps the most difficult thing is that
the native speakers speaking that language
don't necessarily make allowances
for the fact that you are just learning.
So it can be difficult,
it can be quite challenging at the beginning
to build our listening skills
in a way that allows us to understand what is going on.
But I've got some tips that I hope will help you.
And all of these can be applied
in a very short species of time,
so you'll be able to maximise your down time
and become a better language listener.
Let's have a look at some of these tips.
So to begin with,
I'd like you to think about something that,
hmm, it could be considered quite controversial.
And that is, I would suggest,
you slow down the listening where possible.
Now, that could mean deliberately listening to content
that is made for learners.
Or it could mean using the controls of the device
or the platform that you're using
to slow down that listening.
So for example, if you're watching something on YouTube,
then you can choose the speed button and slow things down
in order to catch what is being said more clearly.
Again, very often, podcast apps
have a way to slow down the audio,
and that way you can listen at a slower pace.
Now, obviously this sounds a little bit,
not quite right at times.
It sounds a little bit strange,
because the words are being spoken like that.
It's not a real person speaking more slowly.
It is a electronic slowing down of the content.
However, it can help you to understand things
a little more clearly.
Now, very often, people suggest that
this is not a good idea,
because by slowing down the listening,
we're not experiencing the language in a real sense,
experiencing the language the same way
that you would in a real situation.
However, if you think about it,
in the vast majority of situations,
you can ask someone to speak more slowly
when you're having that real conversation.
So I don't really think this slowing down
of audio materials is cheating.
I don't think this cheating, because in real life,
we can ask people to speak more slowly.
So think about that.
Don't feel that by slowing things down,
you're cheating.
I would say by slowing things down,
you're giving yourself a better chance
to get used to the rhythm of the language,
to get used to the sounds of the language
and to try to work out what is being said.
Now, there comes a time
when you're learning a language
that you reach this, what I call, the magic boundary,
the magic boundary where you begin to understand
where one word stops and the next word starts.
And that is a great point,
because it's suddenly when everything clicks
in your listening.
So you're trying to reach that magic boundary
where you can see the spoken language.
You can see how words are written,
and you recognise these words
as you've learned them in your course when you hear them.
So you're listening to something,
and you're seeing, ah, that's where that word stops,
and that's where the next word starts.
If I say to you, for example,
listing a Spanish example,
(Mark speaking Spanish quickly)
That's pretty quick.
If I slow it down,
(Mark speaking Spanish slowly)
So what I'm saying is,
well, the truth is I don't really know what's happening,
but let's do it anyway.
This is often what you feel about listening.
Let's just listen anyway.
So when I've slowed that down, obviously, it's clear.
But when you listen again, over and over again,
and you can begin to see the joins in these words
and where one word stops and one word starts,
then it really begins to help.
Obviously, that often depends on the language.
And with Spanish,
when words are run together like that,
(Mark speaking Spanish quickly)
(Mark speaking Spanish slowly)
it can be a little bit tricky.
But again, listening over and over again
is the key in doing as much listening as you can,
because that will help.
Now, although I've said that I believe that
slowing down listening is very important.
I think it's only important
when it's taken in combination
with listening to the language at a normal speed,
because that really is crucial,
even if you don't fully understand everything.
When you hear something that's been spoken quickly,
and I would suggest listening to podcasts
that are aimed at native speakers,
find some podcasts and listen to them.
And even if you don't understand everything,
you're beginning to pick up the sound of the language,
the speed of the language,
how quickly it's spoken,
and also the intonation,
the way in which one word moves into another,
the pitch of the language, how it all works,
particularly, with tonal languages.
Because as you listen to content for native speakers,
it really does help you pick up
that musicality of the language
and helps you understand how the language should sound.
Ultimately, as a learner,
we're aiming to replicate that when we speak.
So it's really important that you experience that
as well as building your motivation
by slowing your listening.
So those are my four key points for listening.
First of all, slow down the listening if you can
by using the device or the platform that you're on.
Secondly, the fact that it's not cheating to do that,
because of course in real life,
you can ask native speakers to slow down
or to say things again.
The idea of reaching that magic boundary
when you can understand when one word stops
and the next word starts.
And the fact that this normal speed is crucial.
You need to listen to content at normal speed, too.
So in terms of how we can fit all of this
into our daily life,
what I would suggest is that in any one session,
try to listen to some slow down content
and also listen to it at normal speed.
So if you are listening to or watching a YouTube video,
then simply watch the whole thing through at normal speed,
then slow it down by clicking the speed button
and choosing a 0.5 speed or a 0.75 speed.
And once you've done that,
and perhaps you've recognised more words,
speed it up again
and let yourself listen to it at normal speed.
You can do it the other way, too.
If you're listening to material for learners,
then you can actually speed those up
by choosing 1.25 speed or 1.5 speed.
That is really great practise to do that,
because it's getting you ready for using that language
and listening to the language in everyday life.
And that won't take much longer than a coffee break.
That's where we're going to leave this video.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
Of course, if you've found it useful,
please give it a like.
I'd love to hear your comments on listening.
So let us know in the comments
what you think about listening,
and if you have any tips on listening
that will help other learners improve their skills.
For now, thank you very much for watching.
Stay tuned for the next episode in our series.
And for now,
(Mark speaking Spanish)
We were speaking Spanish earlier on,
so why not a little bit of Spanish.
And of course, happy coffee breaking.