“During my first school exchange to England, I kept hearing a word that sounded something like ‘shwee’. I looked in several dictionaries, but couldn’t find a translation. After a couple of weeks, I realised it was just the way that the people I met pronounced the phrase ‘Shall we…?’ to introduce a suggestion. Life was lot easier when I understood what my host family meant when they said, ‘Shwee go to the cinema?’ They laughed a lot when I told them!” – Hélène, 18, France
When you travel to an English-speaking country, you soon realise that not everyone speaks the language like your teacher back at home. You have to get used to people speaking fast, inarticulately and pronouncing their words in a variety of different accents. It can be challenging enough within one single country, let alone between different areas of the English-speaking world!
This is why developing your listening comprehension skills is so important: when learning a foreign language our goal is to communicate with other people effectively. In order to achieve this, understanding is essential. So how can you go about improving?
Beyond the classroom activities that make use of CDs, mp3 recordings and other multimedia resources, there are many additional sources of authentic practice material. Your teacher, for example, can help you to find meaningful extracts from television or radio programmes, such as talk shows and interviews, where native speakers discuss different topics at a natural pace. You can also tune into recordings and podcasts from different English-speaking countries via the Internet or find a partner for a conversation exchange.
So how do you personally keep your listening skills ready for use in real-life situations in English? Do you prefer any particular study material or websites? Share your favourites with the telc English community and post some ideas on our Facebook page! And if you have a story from your time away from home like the one above – where using the language has led to an entertaining misunderstanding – we’d love to hear about it!
Looking for some additional practice? A fun way to listen and compare accents from around the English-speaking world is through the audio material that accompanies ‘From A to B’, the telc English A2-B1 examination preparation booklet. Each unit is based on a different geographical area and CD 2 features authentic recordings from speakers with accents ranging from the UK and Ireland to Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and India.
Special Facebook Launch Competition
Be one of the first to ‘like’ our page and win a copy of the new telc English A2-B1 examination preparation booklet “From A to B” which includes 2 audio CDs to help you practice for the new dual-level examination! Five lucky winners will be drawn every week until the end of August.
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Look out for next week's article, which will be out on telc Current News on 15 August.