Archive for July, 2011

Improving Listening Skills

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

As is known, first and foremost thing to do to improve the skills of perception of foreign language – listening to this speech. Regularly and as often as possible, using all possible sources. These days one of these resources, completely available to any user of the computer – an audiobook, which are becoming more popular. Listening to books in a foreign language is really useful, because you both get used to the sound of speech correct pronunciation, and refreshing your vocabulary. Which book is better to choose those who are not too long ago studying English (or other) language and wants to improve listening skills? Do not immediately rush to extremes, and download the player works of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf. These authors, of course, is sooner or later to read or hear in the original, but start with something simpler. To be more precise – from the fairy tales.

Simple vocabulary and simple story will help you to tune in to the English language, learn to perceive it not as a solid mess of unintelligible sounds, but as a connected chain of words following each other. For learners of English, I would recommend that such fairy tales like "Peter Pan", "The Wizard of Oz", and "Harry Potter" suitable, in principle. With the same goal – to get comfortable in an unfamiliar language – you can listen to a variety of "shockers," such as "Sex and the City." Fiction characterized by an abundance of dialogue, a simple structure of phrases and, again, a simple set of words. In the next stage when you can easily understand the general meaning of simple texts when they are listening, we can take more complex audiobooks. But there is one trick: why not listen to the English that you have ever read in Russian? Or, for example, books on which filmed.

Knowledge of the plot will be a kind of "magic wand" if foreign vocabulary would be unfamiliar. At this point the choice of books depends on your preference, whether it's Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen or something else. Generally speaking, learn to hear foreign speech in audiobooks is not so difficult. After all, the text sounded pleasant voice with perfect pronunciation, and reading speed is usually quite acceptable to read. A much bigger problem may be keeping the attention on the spoken texts. Therefore, audiobooks encouraged to listen to small excerpts (15-20 minutes, which is to take a break), at a sufficient volume for you (so that you can easily hear the narrator). And, of course, the plot of the book should be interesting listener – but then your attention will focus on listening and the use of audio books will be most effective for language learning.