Listening Skills | Why You Don’t Understand Movies, TV Shows, & Native English Speakers

If you don't understand TV shows in english is because have been turning on the subtitles! Turn the subtitles off, see the chapter/movie, you didn't understand something? Watch it again, pay attention to what you are listening, watch the lips of the person that is speaking... didn't understand something? watch again!

"The secret ingredient doesn't exist"- a thing very easy to understand, but so difficult to accept. Thank you Stephanie!

i study english since 2019, 2 years of pure progress and i´m finally reaching the fluence! thank you so much for these tips!! i know that in 1 or 2 years i´ll be better than now! thank you for makes me inspired for more! :)

i don’t know why but your the only native speaker that i can understand clearly

Hi Stephanie! I'm a native Spanish speaker and I've studied English all my life! I'm an English teacher in Argentina and after graduated at university I wasn't as fluent as I expected. I could master that extremely tough hability on my own, without teachers, listening and listening and listening english all the time. I proposed to myself that I would sorround by English all day. I strongly believe that the most importat thing is finding something you love doing, something you could do for hours and hours, and then you have to do that in English. You need to be patient but constant and after some time (it depends on each person) you'll come up with your fluency.

My listening was improving, when I started listening english while I was sleeping, I know it may sound like a magical solution but that really helped with my listening skills, and I also recommend to watch stand up comedy and if you dont understand there are many videos with english subtitles watch them many times and repeat the phrases in your mind while you are watching without speaking, that way you start thinking in English.

You don’t know me, but let me tell you somethin. I passed my job interview in a call center company few years ago by just following all of your videos on how to improve myself speaking in english. Thank you so much because finally I can satisfy not only the needs but also wants of my family.

I really agree with you. I can understand everything that you're talking about but it's so hard to understand TV shows without subtitles. But I've made a decision that all my videos on Youtube/Netflix should be in English, always in English. I can feel the difference in a few weeks. The same video that I watched in the first week if I watch it again I can understand much and much more. The feeling is amazing when you get it. Thank you so much for your help Stefanie.

I did the following steps in order, but I kept doing the initial steps even when I advanced to the higher ones. I hope they will help. 1. Listen to Native speakers Anywhere you can. Your language teacher may or may not be a native speaker, and might be speaking to you with an accent if they are not natives, or speaking slower or differently just to help you learn! In order to listen to native speakers, I suggest two places. One of them is listening to the radio, where the radio jockeys speak super fast. The second is a real person, face to face. The key to learning how to listen is to start slow. Begin by trying to recognize in the radio jockey's fast talk, those words that you have learned in your class. In the beginning, you will be able to recognize only one or two words, but that is fine. Eventually as you expand you vocabulary and grammar in the classroom, you will begin to identify more and more words and sentences that the RJ uses. You'll notice slang and will be able to ask your teacher about it. Just like the radio, pay attention when you are in a public space and use the same technique. Start by identifying words that you know, and then move up to sentences. When you speak one on one with a person, don't hesitate to ask them to speak to you slowly! Again, try to identity the words and sentences that you know. Eventually, you will pick up everything the person in front of you says to you. People are generally helpful, they will oblige when you ask them to speak slowly, and they see that you are making an effort. Eventually you will be able to remember certain words that you don't know yet, and will be able to ask your teacher about them. 2. Next, listen to minute details, notice how each word is pronounced by a native speaker. Observe how the parts of their face move when they speak. Try to pronounce the words that you know in the way they do. Do it in front of a mirror, look at how the parts of your face move when you say a word the way they do. Listen to your voice. Does it sound right? 3. Progress to the TV screen. Start with cartoons! Then move to movies and series. Cartoons generally use simpler and clearer words. Movies and series are more about acting than language. That is why you can pick up the language from movies and series more easily once you are used to picking up the language in person, on the radio and in cartoons. Don't watch dubbed media! If you are learning Russian, watch a cartoon that is originally in Russian. An English cartoon that has been dubbed in Russian will not teach you correctly. When you reach the level where you can understand most of what is said in the series, don't stop doing the other steps. Each of them has a different lesson to teach, the more variety of native speakers you listen to, the better you train your mind at recognizing, and then using the language properly. 4. Most importantly, put into practice - which means talk to people - whatever you learned by using all the above: every single day. Practice with your classmate, your teacher, practice with natives, practice with anyone you can - even if it is in the form of a daily conversation. The proof of these methods? I used them to learn Russian language. It took me like 3 years to speak it well. Just like in the video, I'll narrate a short story. I needed to get my internet connection upgraded, so I made a phone call in advance to go to their office at a free time. When I went there, the officiant was surprised, she gave me one of the best compliments - "You spoke exactly like a Russian man over the phone, I was not expecting you to be a foreigner." I kept applying these for all of the 7 years that I was in Russia. Never had a problem speaking or understanding. I am sure this can apply to English, or to any language that you wish to learn. 5. Learn to think in the language that you are learning. Most people think in their own language, translate it in their minds and try to speak. This is the root of grammatical mistakes. Think and speak directly in the language you need. You will be a better learner in every way.

English is perfect! I really love watching and reading everything in English, even though I don't know every single word, but as you said, we have to expose ourselves to English every single day at any time so we will be able to understand at least 95% of what we listen or read. I can even say that I'm familiar with the British accent because I love it, the way they say some words it's just incredible. I know no one will read this, but I had a long time without writing a paragraph in English, I like expressing myself this way, but I still have problems with my speaking skills, I have problems I do NOT usually have when writing because where I studied English in high school, they focus more in grammar, listening and comprehension and reading skills. Now I'm studying at a different place in order to get a job at a call center. I'm really good at talking right now, but I must improve the way I express with my body language and a little bit more in ups and downs. Thank you for reading. Salu2

Hi Stefanie, thank you for this great explanation on how to master English language! I just started getting involved in conversation with native English speakers and I had to realize I really struggle to understand what they are talking about in the MS Teams session. Listening to you was so easy! I learned English at school and used my skills during my daily business for years now - but that had only been in reading and writing! I was also listening to songs - yes, but I understood only a few lines only by listening. A few months ago I decided to enforce listening to native English speakers and started watching CNN and YT videos, listen to songs and studying the lyrics. Now I stumbled on this video and you convince me, that I have chosen to follow the right path and you give me confidence, that it will take some time but it will be possible to make it. Thank you!!! Now I even will enforce it more to get familiar with daily conversation. The only thing I currently lack is an idea of how to practice my speaking skills. The best I can do is to start singing my favorite songs - at least that goes along with my desire to also improve my vocal skills. Do you have any other tips for practicing? Bests, Mike.

My brother studied languages at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California. The pace of study was intense. Students had to master the language course in 36-64 weeks. Psychologically it was very difficult, but fortunately he was helped by Yuriy Ivantsiv's book "Polyglot Notes. Practical tips for learning foreign languages”. The book " Polyglot Notes" became a desk book for my brother, because it has answers to all the problems that any student of a foreign language has to face. Thanks to the author of the channel for this interesting video! Good luck to everyone who studies a foreign language and wants to realize their full potential!

I think a lot of people get frustrated bc they want to see results quickly, and most of the time forget to focus on the general idea, like me when i was learning how to play guitar i couldn't play my favorites songs, so every day i was frustrated and complaining that i couldn't learn anything, but as time went on you better and better and today i can play my favorites songs without any difficulties, sometimes you just need to take your time and be patient with yourself, btw excellent video!!

I love the way she tackles things, she says what english academies will never tell you

I think you nailed it when you talked about familiarity. When you know about a language intellectually you still have to apply it to the experience and with that, you'll get more proficient in terms of answering, questioning, thinking-talking and not-thinking-talking. Also, familiarity applies to the TV, series and movies we watch (and videos of course). I realised that when I was watching these I didn't understand that much sometimes, and the answer for that is that the actors (movies) aren't speaking in the same context as you do in your videos because well, you are without any other sound and you also speak fine and in a good speed, not so actors, that will talk with the sounds of the movies mixed in and perhaps what sort of slang and idioms too.

Excellent explanation! The main way to improve listening skills is exactly how you put it. Something that also helps a lot is to study pronunciation, learn about the phonems, the weak and strong forms of certain words and the speech processes.

i am a native english speaker but i watch and love your videos because your voice is so nice!

I started understand native speakers only half a year ago. I have been learning English for 2 years. And you know it is not so easy as someone may think. It is really difficult way and it contains lots of practice( listen to foreign music with lurics, read books, listen to English teachers, speak with someone at least twice a week, and to learn English grammar and pronunciation. This is my way of learning English. At present i have B1 level and i am proud of my achievement. My secret is motivation and vision of my future with English language. 2-3 hours per day.

Is just amazing how good I'm able to understand every single word you say, the right teacher.

Again, thank you for all your videos. I have recently started at an international programme at university and I am struggling with my writing, pronunciation, and so on... I do not feel confident with my english skills and I do often overthink about what the others may think about me. Thank you for sharing those clips, they've helped me a lot... to say an example, in putting focus on the sending message and my own voice instead. I will have my first talk in public tomorrow and thanks to your videos I feel calm and confidence about my english. Thanks, many thanks !!!