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WHY CAN'T I UNDERSTAND SPOKEN ENGLISH? PART 1

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Have you ever wondered why, no matter how hard you try, you always find yourself failing to understand native English speakers, or competent non-native English speakers? You may have tried to raise or to reduce the volume on your television when you are watching the latest movie your friends are talking about, but still, you just can't understand what the actors are saying. Sometimes you even try to incline your ear in a certain way only to get a disappointing outcome.

Well, listening to a recorded speech might be regarded less frustrating than a face to face conversation. Asking a speaker to repeat what they have said over and over again isn't a thing many people are comfortable with. However, in most cases, competent speakers would be glad to make themselves understood and they will try their best to even rephrase their sentences to make sure the other person gets the message.

The problem of failure to understand fluent English is very common and sometimes even people who have passed English with flying colours at school are not spared of this predicament. This, of course, can be easily understood, given the fact that most English examinations around the world are written tests. 

If you are struggling to improve your listening skills, it is important to understand why it is hard for you to understand so that yo can work on those barriers. In most cases, learners of English do not know the causes of their failures to understand fluent spoken English. 

One of the reasons why it is hard for learners of English to understand spoken English is that they tend to assume how words are to be pronounced. As a result, they get confused when they hear different sounds than they expected. However, many English words are not pronounced as they are spelt. For example, a single letter combination or even a single letter can be pronounced in several different ways. For example, the letter combination ch is pronounced differently in the words church and schedule. To overcome this problem, learners need to listen to how competent  English speakers pronounce words. If they know how to interpret the IPA, they can look up the word and practice using the given pronunciation guide.

In part 2, I will look at  more causes of failure to understand spoken English. I will also give some tips on how to get over some challenges affecting listening with understanding. 


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