world do you happen to be right now. So, in Japan, where I live, it is still morning not

for much longer. It's almost lunch time so soon it will be afternoon but right now it

is still morning. So, today I have an email from Amy and Amy says "I can't understand

what native speakers say. It's just too fast." So, let's talk about that in today's video,

a little bit.

So first of all, let's think about where this problem, this listening or understanding problem

might come from. Now, a lot of people say that they have a problem with listening and

they find listening hard. Therefore, they can't understand what people say. But I think,

often it's not a problem with listening and such rather that it's more of a vocabulary

problem if that makes sense. People say that they can't understand what people say but

it's not that they can't listen to them or they can't hear them, it's just that they

simply don't know or not used to the kind of vocabulary and phrases being used. And

this could happen when if for example you're learning from let's say textbooks you're learning

from textbooks and that textbook is using quite dry, quite very standardized English

and then you speak to a native speaker and of course they don't speak dry, standardized

English. They are probably using phrases and idioms and kind of ways of saying things and

expressions that you're just not used to or that you haven't learned. So it's gonna be

hard to understand them. Again, that's not really a listening problem it's more of a

case of you're just not used to the kind of English they are using. So, if you're if it's

conversation that you're having trouble with, then try to learn from conversations more.

I would find materials that are really based on conversations and a quite natural or have

more conversations yourself.

Now, it could can be also a listening problem. If you're practicing or if you are always

listening to things that are very very slow then, it's gonna be hard to suddenly listening

to something which is very fast and I think, a lot of English learning materials do tend

to be quite slow. My videos also tend to be quite slow. I speak quite slowly and I enunciate

my words very carefully and very clearly in my videos but my videos are not designed for

listening practice. I want you to understand the content. I want you to understand what

I'm saying so I keep my English quite simple. So, I speak quite slowly. But again, they're

not designed for listening practice. So, when you're trying to practice listening, I recommend

that you try and listen to things that are of natural speed as much as possible. Again,

the best thing you can do is try and find good materials that will give you the kind

of phrases and vocabulary and the speed is well. Try and find materials that are really

based on dialogues and conversations and that will then help you to understand people in

conversations. Of course, the other thing that you really

just need to do is to just have more conversations and just get used to it. And yes, it is frustrating

and it is kind of embarrassing in the beginning when you have to keep asking people to repeat

some again and again and again and again and you know, you just can't understand and yes,

that is frustrating but it will get easier. My advice is to basically don't make excuses

for yourself. Don't avoid speaking to people having conversations or anything like that

because you think it's gonna be hard to understand. Do it because it's hard to understand and

it will get easier. Don't ask people to slow down for you. Just throw yourself in the deep

and go for it and it will gradually get easier over time as you get used to the speed, as

you get used to the kinds of phrases people use as you get used to the accent whatever.

And yeah, I guess accent is another thing. If you're used to listening to an American

accent and then suddenly you're trying to listen to an Australian accent, it's gonna

be difficult. Then you have to get used to it. That is the key to understanding and comprehension

and listening in everything - getting used to it.