How to Understand Native English Speakers - Improve English Listening Wie man englische Muttersprachler versteht - Verbessern Sie Ihr Hörverständnis Cómo entender a los hablantes nativos de inglés - Mejorar la comprensión oral en inglés Comment comprendre les locuteurs natifs de l'anglais - Améliorer l'écoute de l'anglais Come capire i madrelingua inglesi - Migliorare l'ascolto dell'inglese ネイティブスピーカーの英語を理解する方法 - 英語リスニング上達法 영어 원어민을 이해하는 방법 - 영어 듣기 향상하기 Kaip suprasti gimtakalbius angliškai kalbančius asmenis - anglų kalbos klausymo tobulinimas Moedertaalsprekers van het Engels begrijpen - Het luisteren naar Engels verbeteren Jak rozumieć rodzimych użytkowników języka angielskiego - popraw słuchanie angielskiego Como compreender os falantes nativos de inglês - Melhorar a compreensão do inglês Как понимать носителей английского языка - Улучшение восприятия английского языка на слух Anadili İngilizce Olan Konuşmacıları Anlama - İngilizce Dinlemeyi Geliştirme Як розуміти носіїв англійської мови - покращити сприйняття англійської мови на слух 如何听懂母语为英语的人说话 - 提高英语听力 如何理解以英語為母語的人 - 提高英語聽力

Hi, I'm Gina.

Welcome to Oxford Online English!

In this lesson, you can learn how to understand native speakers in English.

Many English learners find it difficult to understand native speakers, even after years

of study.

This can be frustrating and demotivating! 這可能會令人沮喪和沮喪！

However, there are some simple things you can do to improve your English listening and

make it easier to understand native English speakers.

In this lesson, you'll see five simple tips you can use to understand native English speakers

more easily.

Look at this sentence:

I am from France.

Imagine you're talking to someone.

How would you say it?

Would you say this sentence with the contraction?

I'm from France.

Or would you say the full form?

I am from France.

Now, think about these sentences:

He has already told me. Er hat es mir schon gesagt. Il me l'a déjà dit.

I would like to see that film. Ich würde diesen Film gerne sehen.

They will not be here until tomorrow. Sie werden nicht vor morgen hier sein.

All of these sentences can be contracted.

Can you see how?

He's already told me.

I'd like to see that film.

They won't be here until tomorrow.

Would you pronounce the contractions, or not? Würden Sie die Kontraktionen aussprechen oder nicht?

Think about it, and be honest—it's not a test! Denken Sie darüber nach und seien Sie ehrlich – es ist kein Test!

Here's the problem: Hier ist das Problem:

Many English learners don't use enough contractions when they speak.

They use the full form, for example he has instead of he's.

If you don't use contractions when you speak, it will be difficult to understand them when

you're listening. du hörst zu.

Why is this a problem?

Native speakers almost always use contractions when they're speaking.

If you find it difficult to understand contractions, you'll always have problems when you're

trying to understand native speakers.

So what's the solution?

Very simple: use contractions more in your speech.

To do this, choose a simple topic—for example, your family—and record yourself speaking Wählen Sie dazu ein einfaches Thema – zum Beispiel Ihre Familie – und nehmen Sie sich beim Sprechen auf 为此，请选择一个简单的主题（例如您的家人）并录制您自己的讲话

for one minute.

Listen to the recording and try to find any places where you could have used contractions,

but didn't. aber nicht.

Then, repeat the exercise, and try to use more contractions.

Then, try again with a different topic.

If you use contractions yourself, it'll become easier to understand them.

Here's a simple question in English which is often difficult for English learners to

understand:

What are you doing Why do so many people find it difficult to

hear this question correctly?

Let's look.

First of all, the letter ‘t' in the word what is usually not pronounced.

It changes to a /d/ sound, or it's reduced to a glottal ‘stop' ‘t'.

Secondly, the word are is not pronounced /ɑː/.

It doesn't rhyme with ‘car' or ‘far'. 它与 "车 "或 "远 "不押韵。

It changes to a very short sound: /ə/.

Next, the word you is not pronounced /jʊː/.

It doesn't rhyme with ‘too' or ‘do'. Es reimt sich nicht auf „too“ oder „do“.

It also becomes a very short sound: /jə/. Es wird auch ein sehr kurzer Ton: /jə/.

Finally, the words are not pronounced with spaces in between. Schließlich werden die Wörter nicht mit Leerzeichen dazwischen ausgesprochen. 最后，单词发音时中间不留空格。

The whole question is pronounced like one long word.

So, the question which is written:

What are you doing?

Sounds like:

Whaddayadoing?

Of course, if you think are should be pronounced /ɑː/, and you should be pronounced /jʊː/,

and so on, you'll expect to hear: und so weiter, Sie erwarten zu hören:

What are you doing?

And of course, you probably won't understand the natural pronunciation:

Whaddayadoing? Was ist los?

What can you do about this?

Here are two suggestions:

One: learn about weak forms. Erstens: Lerne etwas über schwache Formen. 其一：学习弱形式。

Weak forms are words which have a different pronunciation in a sentence.

Learning about weak forms can show you that there is some logic to English pronunciation,

even though you might not think so!

Two: pay attention to how people speak. Zweitens: Achten Sie darauf, wie die Leute sprechen.

Don't think about what you read in your English textbook. Denken Sie nicht darüber nach, was Sie in Ihrem Englischlehrbuch lesen.

Listen to how people pronounce words and sentences in real life.

You'll realize that there's a big difference between textbook English and natural English.

Another good exercise here is dictation: choose something to listen to, like a podcast or

a YouTube video, which is not too difficult.

Listen to one minute, and try to write down everything you hear.

Pause as often as you need to.

This way, you can train yourself to follow native English speech.

Look at a question with a word missing.

What's the missing word?

________ you ready?

If you're an average English student, you said that the missing word is are. Wenn Sie ein durchschnittlicher Englischstudent sind, haben Sie gesagt, dass das fehlende Wort are ist. 如果你是一名普通的英语学生，你会说缺少的单词是 are。

That's the correct answer, but it's also not the best answer.

What?

How can the correct answer not be the best answer?

What are we talking about?

Actually, the best answer is that there are no words missing. Eigentlich ist die beste Antwort, dass keine Worte fehlen.

You can just say, Du kannst einfach sagen,

You ready?

In spoken English, you don't need to say are. Im gesprochenen Englisch braucht man are nicht zu sagen.

In fact, you can make the question even shorter and just say, Sie können die Frage sogar noch kürzer stellen und einfach sagen:

Ready?

Native speakers very often leave out words like this. Muttersprachler lassen solche Wörter sehr oft aus.

Again, if you're expecting to hear a full question, these shorter questions can be confusing. Auch hier gilt: Wenn Sie eine vollständige Frage erwarten, können diese kürzeren Fragen verwirrend sein.

So when can you leave words out like this?

In yes/no questions which have the word you, it's often possible to make the question

shorter.

For example:

Have you finished? Sind Sie fertig?

Are you going? Gehst du?

Do you want to come? Willst du kommen?

All of these questions can be shortened:

You finished? or Finished? Du bist Fertig? oder Fertig?

You going? or Going? Du gehst? oder gehen?

You want to come? or Want to come? Willst du kommen? oder Willst du kommen?

So, what should you do?

Try to use these shortened questions when you speak.

Like all of this advice, you need to use it yourself. Wie alle diese Ratschläge müssen Sie sie selbst anwenden.

If you use it when you speak, it'll be easier for you to understand others who speak in

this way.

Remember that native speakers very often shorten questions like this.

Here's a question:

Do you need to understand every word to understand what someone is saying?

What do you think?

Very often, English learners focus on the parts they don't understand. Sehr oft konzentrieren sich Englischlerner auf die Teile, die sie nicht verstehen.

That's natural, but it's not always helpful.

To answer our question: no, you do not need to hear and understand every word to understand

someone's message.

Imagine that you are in the kitchen with your friend, who is cooking something. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie sind mit Ihrem Freund in der Küche, der gerade etwas kocht.

Your friend asks you a question, and you hear:

Can you (mumble mumble)? Kannst du (murmeln, murmeln)?

Okay, so you didn't hear or understand the full question.

But that's often not a problem.

First of all, you heard the words can you.

So you know that your friend wants you to do something.

Secondly, you're in the kitchen, cooking. Zweitens bist du in der Küche und kochst.

Whatever your friend wants, it's almost certainly connected to that. Was auch immer Ihr Freund will, es hängt mit ziemlicher Sicherheit damit zusammen.

Probably, your friend needs you to help with something, or give them something.

By using the context, you can often understand someone without hearing every word.

But, but, but, you say, that's not really understanding native speakers! Aber, aber, aber, sagst du, das ist nicht wirklich Verständnis für Muttersprachler!

I want to understand native speakers, not guess what they mean. Ich möchte Muttersprachler verstehen, nicht erraten, was sie meinen.

Actually, native speakers do this too. Eigentlich machen das auch Muttersprachler.

You probably do it in your own language, so there's no reason not to do it in English.

Don't think: “I don't know the word, so I can't understand the sentence.” Denken Sie nicht: „Ich kenne das Wort nicht, also kann ich den Satz nicht verstehen.“

It's not true.

And, if none of this works, use another simple trick: ask! Und wenn nichts davon funktioniert, verwenden Sie einen anderen einfachen Trick: Fragen Sie!

Ask the person, “What did you say?” or, “Can you say that again?”

Again, native speakers do this all the time.

There's no reason you shouldn't do it, too.

Often, English learners are afraid to ask someone to repeat something, or to admit they Englischlernende haben oft Angst davor, jemanden zu bitten, etwas zu wiederholen oder zuzugeben

don't understand.

But, if you do this, you have no chance to understand, and no chance to communicate.

Remember: no one understands everything everyone says, and it's completely natural to ask Denken Sie daran: Niemand versteht alles, was alle sagen, und es ist völlig natürlich zu fragen

someone to say something again.

Let's look at one more important tip.

Here's a question: what does ‘native English' sound like? Hier ist eine Frage: Wie klingt „Muttersprache“?

Here's another question: do you prefer the sound of British English, or American English?

Actually, those are both terrible questions, which make no sense.

Do you know why?

The reason these are bad questions is: there's no such thing as ‘British English'.

If you think about ‘British English', you probably imagine someone speaking like

this.

But most British people don't sound anything like that. Aber die meisten Briten klingen nicht so.

It's the same for American English: people from different places and different backgrounds

will speak in different ways. wird auf unterschiedliche Weise sprechen.

Then, of course, there are many other countries where English is officially the first language:

Ireland, Zambia, Australia, Kenya, Canada, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Belize, South

Africa, Singapore, and many more.

The world of English is much bigger than just the UK and the US, and you'll be a better

English speaker (and listener) if you realise this.

Unfortunately, many English learners react negatively when they hear a native speaker

speaking in a way that they're not used to.

They say things like,

“I don't like that person's pronunciation.”

“That person doesn't speak good English.

I prefer British English.”

(or: “I prefer American English.”)

“That person's English sounds wrong.

I can't understand.”

But, here's the thing: in a real-life situation, like a job interview, a meeting, or a party,

you'll meet native speakers from different places, with different accents.

It's your responsibility to understand them and communicate with them; they aren't going

to change how they talk for you.

So, what can you do about this?

Don't just listen to one kind of English.

If you love the sound of ‘classical' British English, then fine, but listen to other voices,

too.

You can train yourself to understand almost anything, but you need time and practice.

Listen to a range of voices and accents regularly, and you'll be able to understand more of Hören Sie sich regelmäßig eine Reihe von Stimmen und Akzenten an, und Sie werden in der Lage sein, mehr davon zu verstehen

what native speakers say to you.

Before we finish, we have a question for you: in which situations do you find it most difficult

to understand native English speakers?

Please let us know in the comments.

You can find more of our free English lessons on our website: Oxford Online English dot

com.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!