I had a lot of people have asked me

有很多人問我說說

said "Ronnie, how can I improve my listening?"

「Ronnie，我要怎麼做才可以讓我的聽力進步呢？」

Uhm, I've gotten a couple of suggestions for you.

嗯~我可以給你幾個建議

So, I'm going to teach you some tips on how to improve your listening skills.

我要來教你一些增進英文聽力的技巧

Probably the way that you have learned listening is...

或許你曾經用過某些學習聽力的方式是

maybe you have a textbook or... a CD.

用教科書或是 CD

The problem with a textbook/CD is the language is not natural.

用教科書或CD的問題在於，這樣學出來的語言非常不自然

Oh see... it's so unnatural we get beeped!

你看，講話的時候被「逼」聲蓋過是很不自然的

They have conversations like:

它們(教科書、CD)有些句子像是：

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Ronnie. What is your name?"

「哈囉，很高興認識你。我是Ronnie。你的名字是？」

"My name is Cynthia."

「我的名字是Cynthia」

"Nice to meet you, Cynthia."

「很高興認識你，Cynthia」

"This is a pen."

「這是一支筆」

So, textbook English is not very natural

所以，教科書裡的英文並不是那麼的自然

and they doesn't really teach you conversation or words or phrases that we would say normally day to day when we speak English,

它們也並非真的有教你我們平常真的會說到的句子、單字或是片語

So, to more natural things, the very first thing is: watching movies.

因此，為了更加自然，第一就是：看電影

The really good thing about movies is: maybe you like movies and they're fun!

電影很棒的是：或許你很喜歡電影，而且它可以為你帶來樂趣！

So, don't ever be afraid to watch a movie and tell people that you're studying in english

因此，不要怕跟別人講說你在邊看電影邊學英文

That's what I do!

我就是這麼做的！

My suggestion to you is when you watch a movie, don't go to a theater,

我對你的建議是，不要去電影院看電影

because they would not have what we called "subtitles".

因為它們不會有字幕，

subtitles are "Hi".

像是「嗨」之類的字幕

Umm... sub means under, and titles means like words.

嗯..."sub" 代表在下面，而 "titles" 表示字

T-I-T-L-E, oh you can spell things

T-I-T-L-E，喔，你會拼字呢

Umm.. subtitles are words under the picture or over the picture,

字幕是在影像下方或是覆蓋在影像上的字

that tell you what the actors or actresses are saying.

來告訴你演員們在說些什麼

It would be very very difficult for you... to watch a movie with English subtitles

搭配英文字幕來看電影，對你來說會非常非常的困難

So my very first suggestion is when you watching a movie is to watch with your language subtitles

所以，我的第一個建議是，一開始先用自己母語的字幕搭配著看電影

So the very first time, you're gonna use your native language

看第一次時你可以搭配你的母語

first time your native language subtitles

第一次是用你的母語字幕

then when you understand the movie and you know what's happened,

而當你知道電影在說些什麼後

you can change it to English subtitles,

你可以將字幕改成英文字幕

so then you're actually seeing what the people are saying

這次你就是真的在看電影中的人們在說些什麼了

so you're studying how they form the words, pronunciation, and you're actually learning vocabulary, too

你就能學習到他們如何造句、發音，同時你也可以學到很多單字

and slang, a lot of slang!

還有俗諺，很多俗諺哦！

The only bad thing about movies is that they're very long

唯一的缺點就是一部電影都很長

and some of there are boring.

而且有些還很無聊

Movies are about an hour to hour and a half

一部電影通常都一個到一個半小時的長度

A better thing to do when you first starting out learning English or listening is to watch TV.

所以學習英文和聽力比較容易下手的入門款是看電視

TV programs are usually 20 minutes

電視節目通常都是20分鐘

and you can find them from all over the world.

而且你在全球各地都可以找得到資源

so, if you want to listen to british english or american english

所以，如果你想要聽英式英文或是美式英文

you can choose TV shows from Britain or TV shows from America

你可以選擇英國的電視節目或是美國的電視節目

We even have Canadian TV shows.

我們甚至有加拿大的電視節目哦

so... TV shows I think are better than movies because they're shorter

所以，我覺得看電視節目比看電影好一點，因為它們比較短

the more time you stay in front of the television or the movie screen and have to translate stuffs

你花越多時間在電視或是電影螢幕前嘗試翻譯

your brain's gonna get tired, and you're gonna give up, it's gonna be just too much like homework.

你會用腦過度，然後你就會放棄了，會變的太像在寫作業的感覺

so, 20 minutes watching a TV show.

所以只要花 20 分鐘去看電視節目就好了

first with your language subtitles and then with English, will improve your listening

一開始先用你的母語字幕，之後再用英文字幕，這樣可以增進你的英文能力

Once you've done this a couple times, if you really, really want to try.

一旦做過這個方法幾次後，如果你真的很想試試看

you can take out the subtitles

你可以把字幕拿掉

and just listen to what the people are saying

只用耳朵聽他們在說什麼

I warn you, they do speak really really quickly.

不過提醒你，他們講得非常非常快

So you have to use the subtitles first, it will help you a lot.

所以你一開始得先要搭配字幕，這對你會很有幫助

Um, the next one is one of my favorite things, is music

下一個要推薦你們的是我最喜歡的事物之一，音樂

everyone loves music, don't they?

每個人都愛音樂啊，不是嗎

Um, when you listened to music

不過當你在聽音樂的時候

you have to understand that music is not grammar

你必須要了解到音樂並不等於文法正確

music is never grammatically correct

音樂幾乎是不合乎文法的

It's absolutely crazily wrong grammar

他都是一些錯得離譜的文法

the grammar is awful

裡面的文法糟透了

they say things like "I ain't got no you, baby.", which is not grammar.

他們會說一些像是「我抓嘸你寶貝」，這根本不是文法

So, please do not listen to music and think you can learn grammar

所以拜託不要以為你可以透過音樂學文法

but what you can do is you can get the lyrics.

但是你可以去找出歌詞

lyrics basically mean the words to the song.

歌詞的意思是歌曲裡的詞語

so when you have a CD or MP3 or whatever form you use, a record

所以當你在聽 CD 或是 MP3 或任何形式的音樂時

look on the internet and get the lyrics to the song, print them out or watch them on the screen

在網路上找找歌詞，印下來或是質接在螢幕上看，

and listen with the music and listen to the words

然後聽音樂的同時仔細聽那些詞語

This again will help you listening AND you can dance if you want to

一樣，這樣做也能幫助你的聽力，而且你還可以邊聽邊跳舞！

if you don't want to, don't dance, it's up to you

如果你不想也可以不要跳啦，取決於你

Um, so lyrics are very important when you listen to them

所以在聽音樂的時候歌詞是很重要的

And the last thing you can do to improve your listening is... go out!

最後一件能夠增進聽力的做法是... 走出去！

Do not stay at home.

不要老是待在家

If you live in a country where people do not speak English,

不過如果你住在一個非英語系的國家

You can't really listen to English outside of your house,

在家外面並不能真的聽到什麼英文

but if you have come to Canada or English-speaking country and you're a student studying,

但是如果你來到加拿大或任何英語系國家，而你剛好是個在學的學生

please don't just stay at home and watch TV. Go out!

拜託不要一直待在家看電視。走出去！

Go to the mall, go to the store, listen to people talking, go for a walk in the park,

去賣場、去商店、去聽別人在講什麼、去公園散散步、

follow people around, stock people, hide behind the trees, see what they're saying.

跟在人群附近、跟蹤別人、躲在樹後面、偷聽別人在講什麼

It's really important to one skill that you will learn is listening.

這對學習聽力這個能力非常重要

It's very much as well as subconscious thing when you're out in the environment,

當你身處一個大家都在說英文的環境和世界中

when you're in the world people are all speaking English,

你非常容易在潛意識層面不知不覺被影響

you will pick it up and it will be easier for you to learn because it's always around you.

你會比較容易學習到這項能力，因為到處都可以聽得到英文

If you live in the big city like Toronto,

但如果你住在像多倫多這種大城市

it's a little bit harder because not everyone speaks English all the time.

是會有點難做到這件事，因為不是每個人都會講英文

When I go on the subway, if I have to go on the subway,

當我去搭地鐵時，如果我非得要搭地鐵啦

I noticed that a lot of people are not speaking English.

我發現有很多人不是在講英文

But any store, or any shop or shopping mall, or service center that you go to,

但是如果你去任何商店、購物商場或服務中心，

they will speak English, and they will have conversation with you.

他們都會說英文，而且都會和你進行談話

Um, it's their job, they have to.

這個嘛，這是他們的工作，所以不得不跟你講話

You can go on bother people in clothing stores, or just listen to what other people are saying around you.

你可以在賣衣服的地方到處找人攀談，或者就聽聽身邊的人都在說什麼就好

So, to improve your listening, go out! Do things!

所以如果要增進自己的聽力，就走出去吧！做點什麼！

Make friends, if you can, with people who speak English.

如果可以的話，和講英文的人做朋友

I live in Toronto and a lot of people do not talk to each other. I don't know why.

我住在多倫多，但是很多人都不會跟彼此講話，我也不知道為什麼

Even if I'm on the subway, people don't really talk to each other.

就算我在地鐵上人們也不太會跟彼此講話

It's really sad, but what you can do is if two people are talking, you can listen to what they're saying.

說來也有點難過，但是如果有人在聊天的話，你還是可以聽聽他們在講什麼

Um, it's hard to make friend in the big city,

嗯，我知道在大城市裡面交朋友很困難

but if you go to an ESL school in Toronto, makes friends with people who are not from your country.

但如果你到多倫多的語言學校就讀，多多和不同國家的人做朋友

Your English will improve a lot.

你的英文會大幅進步的

If you have any suggestion on how to improve your listening,

如果你有任何關於增進英文聽力的建議

or if you like more help, e-mail us, engVid.com, bye!

或是你需要更多幫助，寄信到 engVid.com，拜！