REASON YOU LISTEN TO ENGLISH BUT DON’T UNDERSTAND
When I was a child in Vietnam, studying English, I was most afraid of the listening practice. I still remember every time she played the English tape for the whole class to listen to and answer questions, I felt very nervous.
Later, when I went to America to talk directly to native speakers in English, even though the live sound was clearer, I still felt like I was listening to the whispering wind because I couldn’t hear that the other party was speaking. What.
When I had just heard the first 1 or 2 words, the other person had already said something else. So I always feel very stressed, and my mind feels very tired because it feels like I’m in a race and can’t keep up. I also felt like I was lost in a world where I didn’t know what was going on.
Later I discovered that the reason I couldn’t understand native speakers of English was because native speakers’ English was different from the English I had learned.
1. Listening to understand is a type of sound recognition
I have come to understand that listening to understand is a type of sound recognition.
For example, when studying, I often practice saying the sentence “I want to go to school.” saying each word clearly and slowly, but when talking to Americans, they speak quickly and quickly. “Iwannagotoschool” makes me dumbfounded.
Therefore, when I speak differently from native speakers, when the native speakers speak, it is difficult to “identify” and understand what they mean.
Indeed, listening and speaking are The two skills develop in parallel and have benefits that resonate with each other.
In Medicine, many studies also show that patients with congenital hearing loss have seriously affected speaking ability.
Therefore, to be able to communicate fluently in English like a native speaker, we need to learn to listen and speak correctly. right from the beginning.
2. How Americans speak English
Today I will share with you 5 characteristics of the way Americans speak English and specific solutions to help you understand the other person’s meaning when talking as well as help the other person understand when you speak.
Let’s look at an example.
“I am tired, but I don’t want to go to sleep.”
- First characteristic, American English is smooth and uninterrupted. Unlike British people, Americans rarely say separate words in the above sentence. Therefore, when studying, you should practice listening and speaking each sentence to get used to pronouncing the whole sentence.
- The second characteristic is that you will see that the syllables seem to be swept together like “wind.” More specifically, Americans will often connect all the sounds in a thought group together. each other.
In this sentence, there will be 2 groups of thoughts. Group 1 is “I am tired” and group 2 is “but I do not want to go to sleep.” The sounds in each group will be connected together, and there will be a slight pause between the 2 groups.
This will be a way to help you “guess what” the other person is thinking when they are talking. speak.
- The third characteristic is that Americans use a lot of syllable reduction when talking to be able to speak faster and more fluently. For example, they will say “I’m tired” instead of “I am tired” and “I don’t wanna go” instead of “I do not want to go.”
So one thing to help you understand better when listening is to get familiar with words that often have their syllables simplified so you don’t get surprised when you encounter them.
- The fourth characteristic is that Americans often accentuate and clearly state words that have meanings. content (Content words) and speaking quickly through supporting words and function words (Function words).
Content words are usually in the following 8 word groups: nouns, verbs, adjectives, articles, negative words, adverbs, possessive pronouns, and demonstrative pronouns
That’s why when you talk, you don’t need to worry too much if you can’t hear all the words in the sentence. Please continue to listen calmly because it is possible that the words you hear are the words the other person is emphasizing, because just by listening to those words, you can guess what they mean.
In the example above, the emphasized word is the word TIRED – DON’T WANT – SLEEP
If you can recognize these words, you already have an idea of what the speaker means.
- The fifth characteristic is that American English often has a melody, which helps the listener understand and easily guess what the speaker means.
For example, in a question answered with Yes or No, “Yes” or “No”, Americans often raise their voice at the end of the sentence. Otherwise, you will often lower your voice at the end of the sentence.
I hope that by knowing these five characteristics of American English, listening and speaking skills in American English will no longer be a fear for you.
Please comment “yes” if this article is useful for you
Dr. Christina Nguyen
The Phoenix Medical Academy
