Improving English Listening Skills
So today, I'm gonna talk about one of the most common questions that I get, "How to
improve my English listening skills?".
So, yeah, I got asked this question almost everyday! But I have to say, right from the
beginning, that I'm pretty sure 70 to 80 percent of the people who watch this video would just
stop watching almost immediately.
The reason why is because I'm not going to give you the kind of answer that you want!
So what kind of answer is it people are hoping to get when they ask this question? Or even
this kind of question because "improving listening skills", "improving speaking skills" is all
The kind of answer people want is a kind of easy, magic solution. They want me to give
them some kind of tip or trick which will let them improve their English listening skills
instantly and easily without making any effort!
To be honest? That is a load of rubbish! These tips and tricks, magic methods just don't
exist. They don't work at all. So, I can't give you that kind of answer.
It really is a case of just doing it! That is about it. And in fact, I have to be honest,
instead of searching for these kind of easy methods, these magic ways to do it easily
and quickly without having to do any kind of hard work.
Instead of looking for these things, don't waste your time. Just start doing it. I mean,
if you want to improve your listening skills, start listening to things.
The only thing that I will say is that you should think about what kind of situation
and what kind of English you're gonna be listening to. And try and target your practice to that.
In my newsletter, I have a story about a friend who wanted to learn to play the guitar. And
he thought, "Well, listening to music will make me a better guitar player."
So, what does he do? He starts to listen to piano music and he listens to piano music
everyday, all day! And of course, his guitar playing doesn't
improve. But it's kind of obvious when I put it like that because you know, you want to
learn to play the guitar, you should listen to guitar music not the piano.
But actually people tend to do this when they are practicing their English listening or
something like that. If you are having trouble understanding people in conversation, listening
to the news is not going to be that helpful. The reason is because the kind of words that
people use and the phrases that people use are quite different. And the style of speaking
So, yeah, if it's conversation that you're having trouble in, try and listen to a lot
of conversations. Even better, make friends and get involved in conversations.
If, on the other hand, it's listening to a lecture at your University that you're having
trouble with then try to listen to that sort of thing. Get on YouTube, find recordings
of lectures and start listening to them.
If you come across words that you don't know, just look them up in the dictionary and then
everytime you find a word that you don't know and you keep on hearing it again and again
and again, just look it up in the dictionary.
You'll find that the more you do it, the easier it'll get. So, instead of worrying about it
and looking for some kind of easy, magic solution, just start doing it.
The more you do it, the easier it will get! The easier it gets, the more you'll want to
So, that is it for today's video lesson. So yeah, as always, if you have any questions
of your own just let me know in the comments under this video.
Recently, I got a lot of comments on my YouTube videos and I don't know if people watching
the videos actually know but YouTube changed the comments system recently and I no longer
get these comments sent to my email so I missed a lot of them!
If I don't reply to your comment or if I don't notice your comment, just keep sending it
again or even better, join my newsletter and ask me them.
By the way, Congratulations if you are part of the 20 to 30 percent that didn't stop watching
when I said I was not going to give you some kind of magic tip, magic method. You are one
of the 20 to 30 percent who will probably get very good at English very easily and very
quickly because you know, there is no magic method.
It's just a case of doing it: work hard, learn English, use English. Easy!