How to learn to understand English by ear? Is it even possible?

Question

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How to learn to adequately understand English by ear? Is it even possible?
Reading, writing, speaking - this can be mastered at some acceptable level, and it is clear what needs to be done specifically for this.
But when it comes to listening to the real authentic English speech of a native speaker, this is where the quiet horror begins. Listening is probably the most important skill. In the text, you can translate incomprehensible words in a second using various programs and applications, something can be understood from the context. But I want to learn English by ear in order to watch videos in English on YouTube. But the question arises - is it generally possible to do outside the language environment?
When I start listening to speech from films, for example, it gives me the creeps, it’s good if 1-2 words can be understood by ear. Why do they speak so fast and inarticulately? as if on purpose. Words just swallow half. How is it possible to learn to understand this if you have not lived all your life in a country with this language? Moreover, if you provide the same proposal in writing, in most cases I will calmly translate it.
Apparently, many people talk about understanding authentic original speech when they complain that it is almost impossible to master the language outside the environment.
For example, what did he say here? _ https://images.puzzle-english.com/level-test/video...
Didn't understand a single word. It turns out he said "Bring something to cheer him up" - what, how could he condense that into one word with a single pause?!

Answer 1

Read about "reductions". This is the foundation of the basics.
This is one of the features of the English language, especially the American accent.
For example, "i bought him a car", which can be said "ay bot khim e kAr", is pronounced like "ebArm'ekAr" without delay (the sounds are not the same, but I hope you understood
the message) I myself had huge problems with perception spoken English by ear. Decided through watching movies / TV shows in the original. First with subtitles. TIP: watch those films/series that you watched in Russian, because the biggest problems with perception begin when the context is lost.
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Another thing that definitely helped me was the pronunciation boost. When you learn to speak like a native speaker, many reductions go into the long-term memory compartment, and then they are automatically applied during sound perception.
And another piece of advice, the captain's one: practice English every day. Speak English at home (I live alone, so I'm not embarrassed to talk to myself), sing songs (I often turn on songs, google words and just sing - to train the motor skills of the language).
If English is involved at work - generally a class.
Do you mind sticking into memes/pictures? Stick to them in English (by the way, a lot of content from reddit is translated - read the source).

Answer 2

This "not hearing" problem is not just yours. Everyone suffers from this. After moving to the USA, many people still cannot learn English, in the states there is even a whole area of ​​Brooklyn that is Russian-speaking, Brighton is an example of this.
A really effective method is to watch the same movie many times in a row. Until you memorize the movie.
Until you can watch the entire film from beginning to end, completely without translation, knowing what each sentence says by ear. For the first time, watch with double subtitles, Russian on top, English on the bottom, or vice versa. Read how you want. So that you can watch 20 or 100 times without subtitles, you must first watch at least once with them before watching without them. Such a plan should be watched, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mab65wWVc4obut it's British, it's not American. There are millions of American films online. It is easier to start with British, they have pedantic pronunciations, they pronounce every letter.
The second effective method is to learn the rules. According to the rules, I can say the following, in the right order:

1. Alphabet - you need to know perfectly, understand that there is no letter double've, but there is double'u
   
2. Articles - to cut on your nose that without three articles you can’t go anywhere
   
3. Articles are not put before cities and countries. There are 3 exceptions in the world: The US, The Netherlands and The UK
   
4. Auxiliary verbs - all by heart. without a verb, any sentence in English. wrong and absurd
   do, did, was, were, am, is, are, had, etc. everything to the teeth
   
5. Markers - yet, now, soon, etc... it is necessary to learn everything, and at what time they are used
   
6. Irregular verbs - learn 100 pieces, minimum
   
7. Plural - plural
   
8. Numbers - one two three, 110, 18 890, 100 000, etc. - as much as you can, at least up to a billion
   
9. Ordinal numbers - first, second, third, fourth, fifth - etc. should bounce off the teeth
   
10. Units of measurement: miles, foot unit, gallons, hours - you need to understand that an hour is not a hour, but "wanahua"
    
11. Days of the week - do not confuse Tuesday and Thursday, Tuesday and Thursday often "get in the way", and come every other day, when everything
    
12. 2 new sounds based on "biting" the language θ and ð - there is no th sound in Russian at all, in English it is everywhere
    
13. To be going to - Intentions
    
14. Abbreviations - gonna, wanna, gotta, outta, dunno, etc. how many you find, without them an American does not open his mouth
    
15. There is and There are - Almost every simple sentence starts with this popular construction.
    
16. This and These - this and these , type both of these words in the translator to learn the difference by ear
    
17. Could, Would and most importantly Should - there is no oral speech without this
    
18. Exceptions - in English there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. For example, feelings that are not used in continuous: I hate a not I'm hating, I prefer instead of I am prefering. Or exception words such as one mouse - mouse, but two mice is two mice , or teeth instead of toothses
    
19. Negation - not a but not not the!
    
20. Neither - used by the interlocutor to answer you if both of the prepositional options you have are not suitable for him. Antonym is both
    This often happens if you are asked, for example, would you like coffee or beer? - Neither. Neither one nor the other.
    Learn pronunciation, you should know the elementary: archive is archive , and *.ini is not ini but ainai , etc. Forget about Petrov . His son, an Indian, who grew up in India, if I'm not mistaken, did the program for him. And obligatory, on the contrary, watch movies with subtitles. Read them carefully. To watch a movie without subtitles by ear, you must first watch it with subtitles many times. What do you need to start with!!! If they tell you that English is easy, don't believe it. Because it's a lie. Russian is taught up to grade 3, and English is taught throughout life. First, make English the default language in the OS on computers and phones, it’s not even discussed, the settings should have been switched yesterday. All UI is in English only.
    There is nothing better than a course. There you will go, and the teacher will tell you everything, and show you, on the blackboard, and in books. In my courses, they turned on the tape recorder in difficult moments. We were taught from scans from different books, but there were two main books: Round Up3 and Golitsinsky 5th edition. We were also forced to memorize English texts, large texts, to recite one page once a week. This is the best remedy. Therefore, I advise you to watch the same movie 100 times until you have learned all its texts by heart if you do not want to take courses. You will then hear these texts everywhere that you learned in the film, and speak with them, changing nouns to your own, according to your situation. You will learn not only to hear, but also to speak.
    It is useless to learn words, here is an example, the simplest proof that this is true:check this out!
    So what? Check - check, this - this, out - outside! Check it outside? No, it translates as check it out:
    Words do not mean anything, if you know the words, then you will not understand the meaning, do not even hope, waste your time. Whereas in Russian you can understand the meaning by knowing the words, in English without cramming in courses, you will not be able to do it so easily.

Answer 3

I would recommend a very cool audio course (in my opinion) - Power English from AJHoge. At first it seems that the teacher speaks rather quickly, but then you get used to it. In addition, the course is based on listening to the same lesson several times. Another plus is that the author tells very interesting and correct things in his lessons.

Answer 4

Can.
A movie with subtitles that is constantly paused. VN in English with English (not Japanese!) voice acting - well, in general, something where they let you read the text and pronounce the phrase, and not in an adapted mode (with clear articulation, at a speed of perception), but rather authentically - so that your hearing gets used to how it "sounds".

Answer 5

I’ll say even more, some native speakers, for example from the same States, also have a hard time understanding the same cockney accent of the Londians, like Jude Law, (so take it easy first of all and don’t bother too much), and sometimes in general do not understand many Scottish and Australian accents, from the word at all, so English is also different from English.
In general, if you want to learn a language more or less at the level of native speakers, go for 2 months to a deep village somewhere in the west of England and work, at least, as a strawberry picker or at any other job for 2 months, where you will be paid what will be enough only for lodging and food, but in 2 months it is quite possible to raise the language to a more or less normal level.
If you want to learn the language at the level of filigree, then you need to learn to shoot girls in pubs in their own language. Because here is the real ambush, because it is necessary not only to know the language, but also all its features, and also to think quickly and not be stupid. but... how "practice makes it perfect" heats up (well, or at least teach it in drunken fumes in pubs with native speakers, also an option, not very flawed))), of course, but still).
Well, the simplest thing... listen to more English songs, it's the easiest way to get started through them. You don’t understand something, you found the words in Google and listened again, rewound and comprehended, etc., etc.
Listen, English classics, for example, the same Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow .... and it's nice and useful from that. Good luck!

Answer 6

At first I watched series, but progress was slow. Because just the brain gets used to it and does not strain much. Then I had to watch courses in English using the same technology for a couple of weeks, for several hours a day. I was surprised that I understood better after that. Just because you watch series, you relax :). And the courses try to understand every word, not to miss anything. Again, for starters, you need to choose series and courses, podcasts, with diction that you understand, without an abundance of idiomatic expressions and with familiar topics.
And you need to understand that absolutely all speech, dialects, dialects may never be able to be understood, but this is still present especially in films and in daily communication if you live somewhere in an English-speaking country. Of course, this or that phrase may puzzle, but you remember, a native speaker may also be puzzled by what was said :)

Answer 7

Unfortunately, there is no time to read all the answers, I'll just throw my own version. He probably does not pull on a complete solution to the problem, but he can help.
- Turn on the English radio in the background. BBC4 for example. It will turn out to be a kind of language environment. You can turn it on for the whole day if you live alone. If you listen to headphones - one and a half to two hours, you can hardly stand it anymore) Quietly, let them coo in the background, go about your business. After some time, this "cooing" is somehow divided, becomes more convex or something, and eventually turns into a very articulate speech :)) Which, however, you still can't understand without a vocabulary (for me it was a bummer), but you, as I understand it, are all right.
- The guys are also advised to watch films in English that you know well. Even without subtitles. When you know what it's about, in some places you even understand right away)
PS The British speak well, but the Americans have porridge in their mouths.

Answer 8

Films in the original.

Answer 9

Well, first of all, it's all about reductions. You can watch videos on the KIRILL'S ENGLISH channel while studying, on youtube. The emphasis is on listening and speaking (+ tips on what standard / non-standard phrases are used by american native speakers). The second reason why it can be difficult is an insufficient vocabulary. Often in films you can hear - can you get that, which translates as (you can open the door), and not a request to take something. There are hundreds of such phrasal verbs, they are actively used, so you need to know the most frequently used ones by heart if you want to understand speech by ear.) If the vocabulary is small, I would not recommend watching TV shows / movies, + everything else with subtitles. Best of all, small videos on YouTube on a topic of interest, and turn on subtitles only when you have made every effort and decided to give up already.
If you still want to watch movies in the original, which would also be free - it's quite difficult, however, there is such a site as an option: https://yesmovies.to "

Answer 10

Transcript podcasts. Luke's English Podcast is a podcast with a perfect English accent on light conversational topics. Hosted by a comic English teacher. The podcast was created specifically for language learners. Here is a link to the episodes that have been transcribed by the community teacherluke.co.uk/episodes-with-transcripts

Answer 11

Well, firstly, yes, it is possible in principle to learn to understand. :) It also seemed to me at first that it was generally unrealistic.
1. As already mentioned - what for subtitles. On the contrary, they are distracting. A really effective method for starting is songs. Listen to the song, try to hear and understand the maximum, then read its lyrics, then listen again (without looking at the lyrics). You will be surprised, but after that you will understand 50 percent or even more in it, unless it is completely hardcore rap. :)
2. YouTube videos shot by Americans, Australians or Scots. This is from native speakers. I don’t know how anyone, but these accents are the most understandable to me. In general, often the speech of non-native speakers is even more intelligible. At first, you will probably understand about 20% of what is said - do not be scared, just listen further and try to guess from the context. After some time, you will begin to understand 30%, 50%, 70%...
It is important - you should like the songs, the videos should be interesting, first of all, with their content. Otherwise, there simply will not be motivation for sufficient immersion.
I can recommend YouTube channels Big Clive, Chief MAKOi. They don't speak too fast, but they don't speak as polished as they do in the recording that comes with the textbook. This is normal English speech at a moderate conversational pace.
The advice above about English-language radio is also good.
3. English is spoken by a lot of people and in a different state. Understanding EVERYONE is unrealistic, this should not be upset. The British themselves periodically do not understand their neighbors in the kingdom, not to mention the rest.
It is very important to be able to guess from the context - this will come with practice. It's normal for you to not understand part of what was said directly from the ear. But in most cases, you can guess with great accuracy what was said.
And most importantly - do not despair at the beginning of the journey. As rightly said above - this is just brain training. Time will pass, and this skill will appear if you train regularly enough.

Answer 12

Practice.
If writing is mastered, then listen to films with English subtitles, and over time, listening comprehension will develop.

Answer 13

Very simple. Start watching movies, any video clips in English with subtitles, and when you realize that you are already translating on the fly, do not stop the video to translate, turn off the subtitles. Just listen. At first, it will be a bit tight, but this skill will grow very quickly with viewing new content.

Answer 14

Lots of practice. Start with simple things.
Watch children's cartoons, watch simple technical podcasts and presentations. For example, Stephen Jobs has excellent and leisurely English - see his presentation from 2007.
Communication with native speakers.
Again, it's just a lot of practice. The more practice, the faster.

Answer 15

Just watch the kinchik in English and the whole YouTube in English and over time it will all start make sense.

Answer 16

An effective way to learn to perceive English by ear and speak easily

How to learn to adequately understand English by ear? Is it even possible?
Reading, writing, speaking - this can be mastered at some acceptable level, and it is clear what needs to be done specifically for this.

Reading, writing, speaking you will master only at a certain level. It can be B1,B2,B3,B4 to B10.

For example, what did he say here? _ https://images.puzzle-english.com/level-test/video...
I didn't understand a single word. It turns out he said "Bring something to cheer him up" - what, how could he condense that into one word with a single pause?!

It is very clear what he is saying. You try to pronounce this sentence quickly and memorize it. Bring him a drink to cheer him up.
You can learn English only by reading and understanding (start with fairy tales), listening to audio books and understanding by watching English-language films, series. And only by communicating with a good native English speaker without mixing in more distinct British. English is a more liberated language, but choosing the right native speaker is a big problem. If you take a man off the street in San Diego, you'll talk like a monkey, sorry. So listen to more speeches by Clinton, Dick Cheney, Lincoln.
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
The best of TED
What's the problem? In Russian, you can freely waltz with words and inflect a word, for example, work:
Nominative work work
Genitive work work
Dative work work
Accusative work work
Instrumentative work work
Prepositional work work
In English there is the word work and it is important to use this word correctly in tenses and particles, for example I have got some rather pressing work to do - I need to do an important thing work;

Answer 17

Listening comprehension is nothing more than brain training. This (converting sound into understandable words) is a reflex, it needs to be trained.
Start with simple videos (Intermediate or lower), watch with subtitles, and when you don't understand a word, rewind and try to recognize the word again. With subtitles, you will understand what you should approximately hear (you understand how the word is read), and when you find it by ear, the brain will learn. The next time you hear it, it will be easier to recognize it by ear. When you train your brain for words a lot of times, then it will be able to recognize them right away.
If you can’t recognize it by ear at all, take simple videos (with slow and clear speech), and also set them to slow down yourself (lower the speed of the player so that the speech is so .. dragged on by ear ..), this will help a lot at the very beginning listening comprehension.
Gradually you will be able to understand simple sentences, and it will be possible to increase the level. Complex (faster, more illegible, accent, swallowed letters, and so on) speech also needs to be trained in the brain, so such training should be done constantly, and raise the level of complexity until you realize that you already understand English by ear.