3 Big Mistakes in English Listening Skills Part 2 + Online Lessons on Lingoda

Hey naturals, how's it going?

Welcome to Go Natural English.

In this episode, you are going to become

aware of three of the biggest mistakes-- part

two, because I made another video about this

a few years ago-- but it's time to update it.

Three of the biggest mistakes that you are making

in your English listening.

This episode is brought to you by my friends Lingoda, who

are offering you, the Go Natural English audience, 15% off

of online English lessons.

Practicing English with online lessons

is the best way to improve your fluency.

So, you can click on the link in the description,

or simply go to gonaturalenglish.com/lingoda

to get the secret coupon code that will save you 15%.

Now let's get into it.

The top three ways that you are making mistakes

in your English listening are, first

of all, if you are not anticipating or guessing

what people are going to say based

on the situation or the context.

For example, if I go to a cafe and I want to order coffee.

I know what I'm going to say.

I'm going to say, I would like a coffee.

Easy, you can do that.

But, now I need to listen.

What will the person say to me after I say that.

Let's guess.

So they're probably going to ask,

would you like cream, milk, sugar, what size?

What size coffee do you want?

Do you want hot, or ice?

Do you want anything else?

OK, what are the questions that you can

guess they're going to ask you.

If you can think about that, doesn't take much time to think

about it-- maybe a few seconds-- to ask yourself,

what are the questions that I might get in this situation?

Or besides questions, what are some other things

that that person might say.

Can you think of something that the staff person at a cafe

might say after you ask for a coffee?

They might say, that'll be $2.50.

So they might say how much it costs.

Or they might say something else, like have a nice day.

So by expecting these questions and phrases,

you're going to increase your comprehension by at least 50%,

because you're expecting it.

And that way your brain can process

what they say much more easily if it happens to match

with what you expected.

So you're preparing yourself to listen better.

So that's the first tip.

The second is-- well your biggest mistake--

is that you're worrying too much about what you're missing.

So if you're listening to someone talk

and you don't understand a word that they say,

maybe they say it really fast and you didn't catch it,

and you start worrying oh my gosh,

I don't understand that one word.

What did they say?

Now I'm completely lost.

Relax.

Stay calm.

If you miss one word, well, you can ask them what they said.

Or if you, for whatever reason, you can't ask what they said,

just relax.

Listen for the keywords.

The word that you missed is most likely not a key word.

Key words are words that we stress.

We say them louder, we say them longer.

And the words that you're probably

missing when you listen, are probably

just function words like the, or uh, or of, or and, or or.

These words have function, but if you miss them,

you'll probably be able to figure out

the gist, or the context, or the general idea

of the conversation.

So stay calm and relax and listen for key words

that are stressed.

Number 3, the biggest mistake by far

is tensing up and expecting failure.

Expecting bad things to happen.

If you go into an English conversation thinking,

this is going to be horrible, it's

going to be so embarrassing because I'm not

going to understand anything, that's

the worst thing you could do.

Go into English situations as calm and relaxed as you can

and expecting the best.

Hey, maybe you'll understand 50%,

maybe you'll understand 100%, maybe you

won't understand much at all, but that's OK.

Worrying about it isn't going to help.

What will help are the things that I mentioned,

like listening for key words, and anticipating

what you're going to hear.

So again, just to recap, anticipate,

guess what you might hear in that situation.

Don't worry about the words that you miss,

just try to listen for the strong key words,

and relax and expect the best.

Also, other people want to help you,

so if you feel the conversation is not going very well,

you're not understanding what's going on, just ask.

Ask for help.

Let people know you're learning English,

you're doing your best, and would they

help you by repeating or by explaining in a different way.

And of course, as I mentioned, the best way

to improve your listening skills is

to get out there and listen to English

and participate in real live conversations.

A great way to do that is with Lingoda.

If you are ready to improve your English fluency,

then try an online English lesson with Lingoda.

You can get 15% off, that's a special offer

just for you, my awesome Go Natural English learner.

So to find out how to sign up at a discount,

go to gonaturalenglish.com/lingoda,

that's L- I- N- G- O- D- A.

Thanks so much for watching.

I hope this was helpful and I'll see you soon.

Bye for now.