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How do I stop tuning out the language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 4012 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 1 of 15 20 December 2013 at 10:43pm | IP Logged |
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I'm trying to improve my listening comprehension in German by listening to podcasts but I find myself
tuning it out instead of actively listening. Even when I'm not doing anything else I find I'm not fully paying attention. Why is it so hard to concentrate, and how can I force myself to actively listen? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 15 20 December 2013 at 10:48pm | IP Logged |
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Find an easier podcast.
It it's more interesting to boot, that will help too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| culebrilla Senior Member United States Joined 4002 days ago 246 posts - 436 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 3 of 15 20 December 2013 at 10:51pm | IP Logged |
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Close your eyes so you don't get distracted by other things. This is what I do when I'm talking with somebody on skype that 1. has a poor connection or 2. talks really fast or has an accent that I'm not good with. (Caribbean or Andalusian Spanish)
3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4833 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 4 of 15 21 December 2013 at 12:56am | IP Logged |
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There is also supposed to be evidence that listening with eyes closed is an aid to
understanding / learning. (Obviously it can't always be done, but I personally try to do it when it's possible / safe). It seems to help me, especially when I am listening intently, in the way that Iversen sometimes talks about, although I can't quite remember his nice turn of phrase to describe it! :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6602 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 5 of 15 21 December 2013 at 3:08am | IP Logged |
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Like a bloodhound follows a trail.
Speaking of blood, as a woman I find that I'm more receptive during "these days" (and also mid-cycle). On the other hand, when the hibernation is over and later during PMS I can be too hyper for listening... but I make up for it by doing something more "active". There's this thread and I'm also exploring the concepts in my log. (For men this has more to do with the time of the day) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4873 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 6 of 15 21 December 2013 at 3:40am | IP Logged |
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I found it easier to stay focused on Korean podcasts when I listened to them in bed at night. I thought it was a nice way to unwind from the day and it was easier not to get distracted. At the beginning this is quite intense - you get tired from concentrating on barely comprehensible speech. The good thing was that at some point I could just nod off and even use the podcasts to make me fall asleep. My experience has been that if you do this daily, you will notice big improvements over a couple of months, no matter how soon you start falling asleep from the podcasts.
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| doubleUelle Bilingual Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4040 days ago 67 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Thai | Message 7 of 15 21 December 2013 at 5:59am | IP Logged |
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What druckfehler said.
I would also recommend that during the day, you try to watch movies and TV shows (if you can) instead. I think part of the reason you're tuning out is because there is no context that helps you understand what they're saying - it's just random words, which you may or may not understand. So it gets boring (even if the podcast[s] are about things that interest you). If you watch a TV show or movie, there are pictures that give you some idea of what's going on, even if you don't understand everything they're saying. It makes a huge difference IME (as long as you find movies/TV shows that interest you personally). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4914 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 8 of 15 21 December 2013 at 8:52pm | IP Logged |
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Nobody's mentioned the obvious: get a transcript and follow along.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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