Ways to Improve English Listening Skills and Understand Native English Speakers

提高英语听力和理解母语为英语的人的方法

Ah, hello everyone, Anna here  from EnglishLikeANative.co.uk

啊，大家好，Anna 来自 EnglishLikeANative.co.uk

In today’s lesson we’re going to look at 5  ways to improve your English listening skills.

在今天的课程中，我们将了解 5 种提高英语听力技能的方法。

The first thing to do is expand your vocabulary.

首先要做的是扩大你的词汇量。

Now expanding your vocabulary might not seem  like it's strictly related to listening,  

现在扩大你的词汇量似乎与听力没有严格关系，

but hear me out, “hear me” out means listen to  what I have to say before making a judgement.

但请听我说，“听我说”意味着在做出判断之前听我要说的话。

A lot of students have problems  with listening because they don't  

很多学生在听力方面有问题，因为他们不

know the words that the person is saying.

知道对方在说什么。

Studies show that students need  to first understand the words  

研究表明，学生需要首先理解

in the text that's being spoken  to understand what's being said.

所讲文本中的单词才能理解所讲的内容。

So, expanding your vocabulary only gives  you a better chance of knowing more words  

所以，扩大你的词汇量只会让你有更好的机会了解

in the listening piece and this will  help your understanding of the overall  

听力部分中的更多单词，这将有助于你理解整篇

piece, which is especially useful in  standardised tests such as the IELTS exam.

文章，这在雅思考试等标准化考试中尤其有用。

Remember that knowing the word means understanding  the meaning, but also knowing the word class - is  

请记住，了解单词意味着理解其含义，而且还了解单词类别 -

it a noun, a verb, or an adjective, for example,  register, collocations, and pronunciation.

它是名词、动词还是形容词，例如语域、搭配和发音。

This brings me on to my 2nd tip…

这让我想到了我的第二个秘诀……第二

Number 2!

个！

Improve your pronunciation.

改善你的发音。

By improving your pronunciation,  you give yourself a better chance  

通过改善发音，您可以更好地

of understanding a word when someone says it.

理解别人说的单词。

I have often had students who  understand the majority of  

我经常遇到一些学生，他们能理解大部分

English that’s written down but don’t  understand words when they are spoken.

书面英语，但听不懂口头表达的单词。

That’s sometimes because they think  the word will sound different,  

有时这是因为他们认为这个词听起来会不一样，

because they haven’t learnt the  correct pronunciation of the word.

因为他们还没有学会这个词的正确发音。

For example, in many English words that have  two vowels in a row, learners expect there  

例如，在许多连续有两个元音的英语单词中，学习者希望有

to be two sounds but there’s often just  one so they don’t recognise a word like  

两个发音，但通常只有一个，所以 当他们很容易理解写下来的单词时，他们

‘cousin’ when they would easily  understand that word written down.

不会认出像 “cousin”这样的单词。

There’s just one vowel sound in the first  syllable of ‘cousin’, /ˈkʌ/, /ˈkʌ/, /ˈkʌzən/.

'cousin'的第一个音节只有一个元音，/ˈkʌ/, /ˈkʌ/, /ˈkʌzən/。

Say it with me, ‘/ˈkʌzən/’, ‘/ˈkʌzən/’.

跟我说，'/ˈkʌzən/', '/ˈkʌzən/'。

Now English pronunciation is  one of my specialist subjects,  

现在英语发音是我的专业科目之一，我

and something I can really help you  with, if you are keen to improve your  

真的可以帮助你，如果你想提高你的

pronunciation then hit that subscribe button  and write “Help me Anna” in the comments.

发音，请点击订阅按钮并在评论中写下“Help me Anna”。

Number 3!

3号！

So, the 3nd strategy for improving your listening  

因此，提高听力的第三个策略

is to become familiar with  the rules of connected speech.

是熟悉连接语音的规则。

Learning how to say individual  words is really important but  

学习如何说单个单词确实很重要，但

you should dedicate some time to  learning about full phrases too.

您也应该花一些时间来学习完整的短语。

If you want to check out my tips  for connected speech in more detail,  

如果您想更详细地查看我的连接语音提示，

you can watch my video “How to Sound Like a  Native English Speaker: Connected Speech”.

可以观看我的视频“如何听起来像母语为英语的人：连接语音”。

But, basically when we speak at a natural speed  in English, sounds often disappear, change,  

但是，基本上当我们以自然的速度说英语时，声音经常会消失、改变、

get mixed together or sometimes  sounds appear out of nowhere!

混合在一起，或者有时声音会凭空出现！

For example, let’s take the sentence “Can  you tell me what you’re looking for”.

例如，让我们以“你能告诉我你在找什么吗”这句话为例。

“Can you tell me what you’re looking for.”

“你能告诉我你在找什么吗？”

When we say this sentence quickly, you  may be confused by the ‘what you’re’ part.

当我们快速说出这句话时，您可能会对“你是什么”部分感到困惑。

That’s because when we have a /t/ and a /j/  sound together, they mix together to make a /tʃ/  

那是因为当我们同时发出 /t/ 和 /j/ 的声音时，它们会混合在一起发出 /tʃ/

sound – ‘wɒtʃu’, ‘wɒtʃu’.

的声音——“wɒtʃu”、“wɒtʃu”。

The next thing to notice in this sentence is  

在这句话中接下来要注意的是

the sound in the ‘you’ is shorter  than a lot of people expect too.

“你”中的声音也比很多人预期的要短。

We normally say /jə/ instead of /ju:/ and  the auxiliary verb ‘are’ almost disappears.

我们通常说 /jə/ 而不是 /ju:/ 并且助动词“are”几乎消失了。

Additionally, the sound at  the end of ‘looking’ changes,  

此外，'looking' 末尾的声音发生变化，

so the last part of the sentence isn’t ‘what  you’re looking for’, but ‘what ya lookin’ for’.

因此句子的最后部分不是 'what you're looking for'，而是 'what ya lookin' for'。

At the beginning of the sentence, the ‘you’  becomes /jə/ too and we find that same vowel  

在句子的开头，'you' 也变成了 /jə/，我们

sound in ‘can’ (/kən/), so the whole sentence  is “Can you tell me what you’re looking for?”

在 'can' (/kən/) 中发现了相同的元音发音，所以整个句子是“Can you tell me what you're looking for? ”

“Can you tell me what you’re looking for?”

“你能告诉我你在找什么吗？”

That’s a lot of changes in just this one example.

仅此一个示例就有很多更改。

Don’t worry about learning all the rules  together but if you can learn them bit by bit,  

不用担心一起学习所有规则，但是如果您能一点一点地学习它们，

it will really help you understand  natural speech when you listen to it!

那将真正帮助您在聆听时理解自然语音！

Number 4.

第 4

My next tip is to be realistic about what you  can listen to and how long you can listen for.

点。我的下一个建议是现实地考虑您可以听什么以及可以听多长时间。

If you’re an intermediate student,  

如果你是一名中级学生，

watching a whole film without subtitles  is just perhaps a bit too much.

不带字幕看一整部电影可能有点过分了。

Start out small, maybe ten minutes a day,  

从小处开始，也许每天十分钟，

using materials that are made for language  learners, like videos or podcasts.

使用为语言学习者制作的材料，如视频或播客。

The internet is full of great resources. It’s  better to start small and do good quality work,  

互联网上充满了丰富的资源。最好从小事做起，做高质量的工作，

then build it up bit by bit, then  start too big and be discouraged.

然后一点一点地建立起来，然后开始太大而灰心。

That would be the worst thing. I will leave a link  

那将是最糟糕的事情。 如果您还没有发现它，

to my podcast in the description  if you haven't yet discovered it.

我会在说明中留下指向我的播客的链接 。

Number 5

第 5 条

When you find a video or podcast you like, my  next tip is to listen to it again and again.

当你找到喜欢的视频或播客时，我的下一个建议是一遍又一遍地听。

You won’t understand everything  you hear the first time.

你不会理解你第一次听到的一切。

And that’s totally normal. Even in our native  languages, we don’t hear everything all the time.

这是完全正常的。即使是用我们的母语，我们也不是每时每刻都能听到。

We have to fill in some gaps. In  a language we’re still learning,  

我们必须填补一些空白。在我们仍在学习的语言

filling in the gaps is extremely difficult  because we just don’t have the vocabulary,  

中，填补空白是极其困难的，因为我们没有词汇、

grammar or pronunciation knowledge to do that.  So, listening again and again even if it’s only  

语法或发音知识来做到这一点。因此，即使只是

to specific parts you found very difficult. This  will help you to fill in those gaps. You may need  

您觉得非常困难的特定部分，也要一遍又一遍地听。这将帮助您填补这些空白。您可能需要

to listen more than five times and that’s ok! The  effort you make now will help you in the future.

听五遍以上，没关系！你现在所做的努力将在未来帮助你。

Also, identifying the parts you don’t  understand and keeping a record of the  

此外，找出您不理解的部分并记录

problem areas will help you build up your own  personal bank of common problems to overcome.

问题区域将帮助您建立自己的个人要克服的常见问题库。

Then you’ll know what to listen out for the  next time you’re trying some listening practice.

然后你就会知道下次尝试听力练习时要听什么。

Bonus Tip!

奖金提示！

After listening multiple times, check the  transcription, listen back again and repeat.

多次听完后，检查转录，再听一遍并重复。

This will help you develop your understanding  of the relationship between letters and sounds,  

这将帮助您加深对字母和声音之间关系的理解，

especially when a native speaker  talks naturally and quickly.

尤其是当母语人士自然而快速地说话时。

Listening and reading at the same time is a  really useful trick for training your ear.

同时听和读是训练听力的一个非常有用的技巧。

And going back again and  shadowing the piece you're  

并再次返回并跟踪您

finding particularly difficult  that will just be phenomenal.

发现特别困难的作品，这将是非凡的。

So why not give it a go right now! There’s a link  

那么为什么不现在就试一试呢！有一个链接

for you because you stayed all  the way to the end of the video.

给你，因为你一直坚持到视频的结尾。

There's a link for you to download a FREE  transcript to one of my popular podcast episodes.

有一个链接供您下载我的热门播客剧集之一的免费转录本。

There you go. That was five or rather six,  

给你。那是五个或六个，

with the bonus, ways to improve  your English listening skills.

还有额外的提高英语听力技巧的方法。

Until next time, take care and goodbye!

下次见，保重，再见！