Why You Can´t Understand Native Speakers Speaking English - And 10 Ways To Understand Better!

Do you have difficulties understanding native speakers? Read on to know what you can do about it!

You are improving your English and you can read & write quite well - you are even improving your vocabulary and making fewer mistakes in your grammar when you speak. But you cannot understand a word anyone says!

This is a really common problem for many of my students, because although they may be able to speak and be understood, when the other person replies, they don´t understand enough of what the person says.

It especially happens when speaking with native speakers, as we tend to speak faster with a lot of expressions and phrasal verbs.

This causes embarrassment and frustration because you need to ask the other person to repeat, perhaps several times, and the communication flow is slowed, if not stopped.

The reasons for these difficulties are usually the following:

You were taught grammar, vocabulary, reading & writing at school, but you were not taught how to speak or understand people when they speak (at least, not much). So even if you try to improve your understanding, you don´t know how to do it.
Due to being taught the traditional ways, and many teachers still teach this way, you do not have the opportunity to practice your understanding in class.
You have not, and you do not spend time listening in English. Maybe you don´t have time or maybe you don´t know what to listen to.
Understanding another language, especially when spoken with a strong accent, or not clearly, is damn hard! Add local expressions, phrasal verbs, specific vocabulary & perhaps other noises or interruptions, and it can be near impossible.

So what can you do to understand native speakers better?

The good news is that you can improve your understanding if you follow a plan and do the work every day.

The bad news is that there is no magic trick and it will not happen (overnight) immediately. It will take time and motivation, and you will need to be consistent and persistent and listen every day.

For extra motivation, and more reasons why you should listen to English every day, read this article: https://inglesconkillian.com/blog/how-listening-improves-your-english.

10 tips to understand native speakers better.

Tip 1:

If you want to kick off your learning and create a habit of listening to English, I recommend that you listen to English EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Put it into your work schedule, put a reminder on your phone, do what you need to do to remember. But do it every day.

Tip 2:

Create and maintain a personal library of Youtube videos, Podcasts, series, or movies to listen to. Have them to hand (easily accessible) so that if you have 5 minutes you can listen to something in English.

For instance, I have created a Whatsapp group just for me, and I add any interesting videos or podcasts to it, ready to listen to when I have time.

You can also note down any expressions you don´t know the meaning of and ask your teacher, or on an online forum, what they mean.

Tip 3:

Make your listening list INTERESTING. It can of course be related to improving your grammar, vocabulary, business English, or whatever areas you need to work on. But it should also be related to topics you enjoy listening to.

For example, if you like cooking, listen to Jamie Oliver (famous English chef) on Youtube.

This article will give you more ideas: https://inglesconkillian.com/blog/how-can-i-learn-english-without-getting-bored

Tip 4:

Give yourself an objective to reach. For example, save something now that is difficult to understand and come back to it after one month of listening consistently. You should notice that you understand better!

Or listen every day to a series, or radio DJ that is very difficult for you, and notice how your understanding improves as you listen over time.

This is useful because with learning a language it is difficult to see progress, especially as you reach higher levels. This can make you frustrated and demotivated.

But if you set yourself a tangible objective like this, where you can see a difference, it is encouraging and motivating and you are more likely to continue to practice your listening.

Tip 5:

Listen according to your level.

If your English level is very low, do not expect to understand TV programmes or general podcasts. You should search on Google for listening exercises for your level. For example if you type in listening exercises level A1 or A2, you will find short listenings with questions to check understanding.

Another trick to use is to adjust the settings in Youtube or Tedtalks to slow down the speaking, and turn on captions/subtitles so you can read words that you miss.

You can also listen to the same piece repeatedly until you understand. This can be very rewarding as you will feel good when you do finally understand what is said.

However, if you want to take advantage of listening to English while doing something else, you can listen but not try to understand everything. For example, if you are driving, at times you will concentrate more on listening, and at other times you will be distracted by driving. But it is all good because you are training your ear to English.

What you can also do is watch a series that you have already watched in your own language - you will know the story so it will be easier to watch, even if you are not understanding everything.

If you have a higher level, by all means, listen to English at normal speed and without subtitles. If you need to stop and check something, do, but you will often know what is being said by the context, and stopping often to find every single word can be frustrating.

Tip 6:

Incorporate listening into activities you already do. For example, listen to the radio, a podcast, or a Youtube video, while you are cleaning, cooking, driving, or walking. Find moments in your daily life where you can incorporate English.
If you want more ideas on how to do this, click here: https://inglesconkillian.com/f/ebook-the-ultimate-guide-to-improving-your-english for our free ebook - it includes a free 3-day challenge with step by step instructions on creating your own, personal English improvement programme.

Tip 7:

Be patient. You will not improve your understanding overnight, and it can be very frustrating as you may not see progress at times in fact you may understand less some days than you do others, and this is normal. Just listen consistently and over time you will improve.

Tip 8:

Practice the accents you need to understand. This one may seem obvious, but if you need to have meetings with a person from the U.K., make sure the podcasts, Youtube videos, Tedtalks or TV programmes have English actors. For example, watch Suits if you work in law and you need to speak to people from the U.S. (or if you like to know lots of ways to insult people!).

Tip 9:

Don´t do it alone.

You will be more motivated if you have someone encouraging you and asking you how you are doing. We run a listening challenge regularly for one month, and the combination of resources given, daily motivation and advice, community of other English learners doing the same thing, and native teachers to guide you 24/7, really motivates people, and those who follow the challenge see a dramatic improvement in one month.

You can receive instant access to our listening challenge here: https://inglesconkillian.com/courses/english-listening-challenge.

Or you can access it for free as part of our online membership here: https://inglesconkillian.com/courses/fast-track-to-fluency.

Tip 10:

Fake it til you make it! If you need to improve your understanding as soon as possible, put yourself into situations where you need to understand - meetings, conversations etc with native speakers.

This article will help you: https://inglesconkillian.com/blog/fake-it-till-you-make-it-strategy-for-learning-english .

You should also learn some expressions to help you when you don´t understand.

You can find some expressions to use when you don´t understand, or to clarify, in this short video: https://youtu.be/lLY2u7dbeHo.

If you want to know how to improve your speaking & listening online, check out this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7vAgeKcWrA .

Hopefully these 10 tips will help you to understand native speakers more easily. Remember the key to improving is being consistent and listening to English every day!

If you would like step-by-step instructions on how to improve your English by yourself, download our free guide HERE.

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Categories: Improve Your English, Listening & Speaking