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Attaining Native Level Listening Skills | ||
Tags: Listening | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| issemiyaki Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4964 days ago 38 posts - 58 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 1 of 13 21 March 2015 at 6:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Is it possible for adult learners to perfect their listening skills up to a "native"
level? It's one thing to sort of keep up with the conversation. But to REALLY understand nuances and subtle shades ... is it possible? And specifically, do you think it gets harder as you get into your 40s and 50s? I know if we were talking about speaking there might be some limitations depending on talent and another of other factors. But with listening, are there really any limits? Edited by issemiyaki on 21 March 2015 at 6:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7140 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 13 21 March 2015 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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There is hearing. I used to play in a rock band and sometimes have trouble hearing.
I guess there are hearing aids. I'm not there yet. Perhaps there is no limit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| issemiyaki Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4964 days ago 38 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 13 21 March 2015 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Luke - I'm not referring to "hearing problems."
I'm referring to listening to the language and being able to understand what's being said. Edited by issemiyaki on 21 March 2015 at 9:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 13 21 March 2015 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course it is. Sure, there are situations and people I undestand worse, but so do many natives usually :-)
It just takes lots and lots of practice. Age might be a factor affecting the time needed, so can be other things. Some people are more gifted in one area of language learning, some in others so not everyone will need to the same time. And this is probably one of the areas where the often said sentence "people with talent for music learn languages easier" may hold some truth. It is actually not that rare, especially among the English learners who tend to have the easiest access to videos online. Usually, those who have spent lots and lots of time watching tv series in English understand upon arrival to the country much more than those who have not and they understand the nuances as well of course. Sure, getting to know all the dialects and accents is a life-long struggle but it is not easy for the natives either (i remember struggling with a few dialects of Czech at first too). I think getting native-like listening comprehension is not that hard if you just put in lots and lots of time and listen to really large amount and variety of sources. Compared to native-like speaking, listening is very easy. However most learners don't get there simply because they do not do what I've just said. Either they don't spend the time or they don't have the variety. It is the case of most learners from classes who rely on their teachers too much and expect to just be taught to listen. Edited by Cavesa on 21 March 2015 at 9:27pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| issemiyaki Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4964 days ago 38 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 5 of 13 21 March 2015 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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BINGO - Cavesa. Thank you for this comment. I'm more motivated than ever now.
I'm was struggling with French for a while, but my tutor, WHO IS PHENOMENAL by the way, has me going through some very specialized Oral Comprehension books. They are published by CLE International by the way. They are highly idiomatic, and much more complicated than anything you might find on Assimil. (I'm not knocking Assimil - it has gotten me to where I am today.) But the level and the speed in the CLE books is so much more authentic, less rehearsed, or so it seems. Not every word is pronounced perfectly like in Assimil. Also, the listening exercises are never the same. Some times you have True or False, sometimes CLOZE exercises, sometimes fill in the preposition, and sometimes you're required to justify your answer. The exercises take about 45 minutes to work through. Meanwhile, you've listened to various parts of the recording, like, 30 times. As you progress through the levels, the questions become more nuanced. The listening exercises on TV5 Monde are also just as good in this aspect. So, I'll keep working with them - and thanks for letting me know I'm not chasing some impossible dream. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arnaud25 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 3777 days ago 129 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 13 21 March 2015 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | ||
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 13 21 March 2015 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course your dream is attainable.
Cle tends to publish the best courses available, however you should be ready and dive into native sources after assimil. It may feel hard at first but you can start from easier things and continue. There are many options: Music: you might like lyricstraining.com Podcasts: sorry, i dont use those often but there are surely some great ones Audiobooks: there are a few sites with free audiobooks plus there is amazon. I think one of the best sites was something like litteratureaudio or audiolivres, or something like that, there were over 4000 audiobooks Documentary films: if you can find those, you might appreciate the more standard and a bit slower than fullspeed French and you might learn a lot Dubbed tv series: awesome for a learner. Htlalers have found various dubbed series to be useful and quite accessible: eureka, buffy the vampire slayer, grimm... Original tv series: they tend to be harder than the translations but there are not that hard ones, like Profilage and really hard ones after which you'll find the usual natives in most situations totally easy to understand, such as Engrenage or hero corp Movies: there are many. And great! You're welcome. You can find lots of information in French learners' logs. Good starting points are for example emk and garyb :-) Edited by Cavesa on 21 March 2015 at 10:15pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| issemiyaki Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4964 days ago 38 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 8 of 13 21 March 2015 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Arnaud - I agree with Caveza.
CLE offers some of the best learning materials available, but you might want to work with a teacher on them. They are HIGHLY challenging, and if you're not guided it can be very tough. I would have given up after listening to the first audio sample. I was like: "Is this really A2?" It sounded like C1. Here's a link to the books called Comprehension Orae (they come in 4 levels): http://www.cle-inter.com/recherche.html The most important thing is that they have exercises that you must do while listening, instead of just listening and twiddling your thumbs - this is where they surpass Assimil to some extent. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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