Understanding spoken English is the absolute foundation for developing your language skills. In schools, the practice of understanding spoken English already takes place in the form of so-called “listening tests,” not only during the school year, but also as part of important examinations, for example, the English Baccalaureate. But to fully understand the English language, such practice is not enough; one needs to develop skills that one could only dream of.

This section will show you how to reliably develop your skills and explain the individual steps involved.

1.Find a video

The first step is to find a video to practice on. For starters, we recommend educational or documentary videos using written, formal, or British English.

2.First listen

The first step in actual practice is to listen to the entire video. Listen to the entire video one or more than two times.

3.Transcript

As you listen to the video and become familiar with it, pick up a pen and paper. Play the video again from the beginning, but this time keep your finger on the pause button. After the first few sentences, stop the video and try to transcribe the sentences you hear. If you don\’t understand any part, skip it and move on.

4.Missing parts

In the last part of the exercise, fill in the missing parts. If you missed any part, replay that part again. Play the section over and over until you understand it. If you do not understand, slow down the video and try again. By doing so, you should be able to swallow half of the words or hear some of the more obscure words. If you still cannot understand, use the video\’s automatic English subtitles. Automatic subtitles are not always correct, but they are more likely to be correct if the video is written in simple sentences that you choose for this exercise.

Good luck in your journey to improve your English!