Last time, I was talking about the fact that listening is a very different skill from reading, in particular, that the spoken flow is very different from the written text. First of all, it doesn’t have pauses between the words which we see in the text. However, the speech is also not one continual line of sounds. It is divided into so-called ‘tone units’ (or ‘thought groups’) containing one unit of information. One tone unit sounds like one word (kinda). Inside it, there are no pauses between words and the words are stressed hierarchically, and this is what I am will be talking about today: how words connect together in speaking and how to learn to hear what is said.
Why can’t I hear all the words clearly?
When we speak in our native language, we don’t think about structures or pronunciation at all. Our main objective is to express our idea or emotion, right? In this case, our emotions or circumstances influence our speaking manner. We try to find the most comfortable speed and accent the things which are important to us.
From this, come two the most important pronunciation patterns:
- we stress the words which are important, which have some meaning to us, and we don’t stress ‘service’ (grammar) words – we just put them into the sentence automatically, from our memory. As a result, not all the words are stressed in the same way. In English, this difference between stressed and unstressed words is remarkable! much bigger than in my native language, for example. That’s why unstressed words are harder to hear for English learners. We will go into much detail about stress in this post.
- we link the words together trying to get to our important meaning as fast as possible. Also, linking happens when we are trying to find a more comfortable pronunciation of the words together. Linkings are automatic for native speakers. It’s like trying to fit in many things into a suitcase. I guess you know what packing is like. I will tell you more about linking in the next post.
Let’s see how it works in practice
First, watch the video below. It is a small piece presented by one of my favourite language learning projects on Youtube: Easy Languages. It’s a short video where people talk about London and Londoners. You will hear British, American accents as well as ones of foreigners speaking English. We will be using it as an example for our listening practice.
Watch the video to understand what they are talking about. It’s quite fast, but you will have subtitles to help you.
Now watch the video again, for learning purposes. Try to pay attention (especially in native speakers speech) to how they organise their ideas. Can you hear that some parts are pronounced very quickly and then there is a pause? Especially when they are thinking of what to say. Did you notice? These are the tone units I was talking about: one unit of information + pause + another unit of information.
Now, let’s learn how to hear the words inside tone units
As I said before, there is a hierarchy inside every tone unit. It is shown by a different level of stress each word gets in speaking.
There are ‘strong’ (=meaningful) words
and grammar (=service) words
Also, note that ‘weakness’ depends on a position of the word in the sentence. Grammar words sometimes get into a strong position (usually, if they finish the sentence) and get their own stress.
These words will sound different in weeks and strong positions!
Let’s compare two examples from the video:
I am from north-west of England (00:27) and Where are you from? (00:14)
Listen to to two of these words in contrast. Do you hear the difference? In the first sentence, ‘from’ is a in a weak position, which is typical for a preposition. It serves the content word ‘north-west’. But in the second case, it is a part of the question word ‘where…from’ and, as we already know, it’s important for the whole meaning of the sentence, so it is strong and it is clearly heard.
Now, let’s see the transformations happening in a fast speech of native and non-native speakers
I will be giving you examples of slow, clear speech as well as the written form of some phrases from the video.
- Look at the phrase first, think how it could be pronounced in English;
- Then, listen to the slow pronunciation of this phrase;
- After that, refer back to the video (*I put the time stamps in brackets after the phrases). Try to hear what happens with the weak words. Can you hear them now? Yes, they are reduced, weak, but they are still there, right?
- Listen to the slow and fast pronunciations several times in contrast until you can HEAR (not know about it 😉 HEAR) all the words;
- If you do it several times, your brain will start hearing the difference between the written text and the spoken flow and you will be able to hear the words better.
So, let’s practise!
Weak forms of auxiliary verbs
Where are you from? (00:14*)
What do you like the most about London? (00:29)
You can meet interesting people (01:13)
What would I recommend them to do? (02:11)
The markets are really cool (02:58)
How would you describe Londoners? (03:21)
Weak forms of prepositions
… lots of things to do… (02:04)
… the city of London’s got a lot of interesting history (02:31)
Here, I don’t want you just to trust my word about it because I am a teacher. I need you to listen to these extracts as many times as necessary until you can HEAR the difference between stressed and unstressed words and hear that those weak words are REALLY there, they are not ‘eaten’ or skipped. This kind of training, with very short phrases (not longer than 10 seconds), is necessary for learning to decode natural speech. And as I said in the previous post, you can’t learn listening by test exercises or extensive listening only. If you learn to understand how English speech ‘lives’ and train your ear to hear, this is how you will feel real progress rather quickly.
Important!
It’s very important, for this type of practice, to always look at the text of the extract you are using. Remember you are not testing your listening ability, you are learning how the written text is transformed into speech. You need to have right expectations for effective listening.
Please remember that in listening comprehension, it’s not the words you DON’T know that are a problem but very often we don’t hear the words which we DO KNOW.
To start hearing native or fast speaking in English, you need to repeat such activities on a regular basis (for example, twice or three times a week). Always choose short extracts: not longer than 1-2 minutes. Don’t try to listen everything like that. It’s just a decoding practice, but don’t go crazy about it. It’s just a learning method.
I will tell you about different types of listening in one of the future posts. Next, I will be telling you about word linking.
If you want to go deeper, I recommend these self-study guides:
These below are affiliate links.
Does my advice help? How are you improving your listening understanding? Share you experience and tips with us!
You may find useful
English Numbers | Listening Test
Free English Learning Guide
If you want to understand real-life conversations in English, you need to know phrasal verbs. They are an important part of everyday English speaking.
Download our Guide ’55 Common Phrasal Verbs’ to expand your vocabulary for free
This Guide is for those who:
- have already studied English and are at A2-B2 level;
- want to expand their English vocabulary;
- want to understand native speakers, films and TV shows.
Transcript
1
Man There’s a great film on tonight at the Picture House.
Woman Really? What kind of film?
M It’s a comedy.
W I’m really tired. I think I need an evening at home.
M Oh, come on. I don’t want to go by myself.
W Well, ask a friend.
M But I want to go with you! We hardly every go out. I really think you should make more effort!
W I’m sorry – but I’m always so tired. I work hard, you know!
M I know, but … come on. It’s Friday night!
W Oh, I don’t know. Can I think about it?
M OK.
2
Man Did I tell you what happened to me when I was out with Molly?
Woman No, you didn’t.
M It was really embarrassing – but it made us laugh afterwards.
W Go on, tell me!
M Well, we were at the cinema. The film was starting when Molly stood up and whispered something about going to buy popcorn. So she went.
W And then what happened?
M Well, a few moments later, she came back and sat down. I thought, “That was quick,” but I didn’t say anything. I was really concentrating on the film.
W OK …
M So I helped myself to some of the popcorn. She was holding a big box of it in her hand. And a woman’s voice said, “Hey! That’s mine!”
W Oh no!
M Yes! I turned around … and it wasn’t Molly! It was another woman who was sitting in her place.
W How embarrassing!
M I know. Then Molly got back and we had to explain to this woman, but she was already upset about the popcorn …
W That’s so funny!
3
Man What’s on next?
Woman There’s a talent show starting in five minutes.
M No thanks! I really don’t like talent shows.
W Me neither. They’re so boring, aren’t they?
M Yes. Terrible. What else is on?
W There’s a new sitcom on a bit later.
M No, sitcoms aren’t my thing. They’re never really funny.
W I don’t think you’re right about sitcoms. Some of the American shows are really clever.
M Clever? You’re joking. They’re all the same … and the laughter isn’t real, it’s all recorded.
W No, it isn’t. There’s usually a real audience.
M I don’t think so. Not for most of the shows.
W Yes, there is. I saw a programme about it once …
4
Man Can I help you?
Woman Yes, I want to return this DVD.
M Have you watched it?
W Yes, I have.
M Well, I’m sorry. You can’t return it.
W But there’s a problem with it. It keeps jumping. And some of the scenes don’t play at all.
M There’s nothing I can do. It’s our policy.
W It’s just not good enough. You sold me a DVD which doesn’t work. I don’t care what your policy is! Where’s the manager?
M She’s in her office. Do you want me to call her?
W Yes, I do!
Part 3
You will hear part of a radio programme in which two people, Sally White and Martin Jones, are discussing the popularity of audio books. For questions 15-20, choose the answer (А, В, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
15 Sally feels that the main advantage of audio books is that they
A encourage children to read more
В make more books accessible to children
C save parents from having to read to children
D are read by experienced actors
16 What does Martin say about the woman who came into his shop?
A She no longer worries about long journeys
В Her children used to argue about what to listen to
C She no longer takes her children to France
D Her children don’t like staying in hotels
17 Martin says that in the USA there is a demand for audio books because people there
A were the first to obtain audio books
В have to drive long distances
C are used to listening to the spoken word on the radio
D feel that they do not have time to read books
18 Sally says that authors may record their own books on tape if
A their book has just been published
В they want it read a certain way
C they have already read extracts from it aloud
D there are no suitable actors available
19 According to Sally, successful abridgements depend on
A their closeness to the original
В the length of the original
C the style of the author
D the type of story
20 Martin feels that unabridged versions
A are better than abridgements
В can be too expensive
C contain too much detail
D are becoming more popular
Part 4
You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about starting a business.
|
TASK ONE |
TASK TWO For questions 26-30, choose from the list A-H the comment each speaker makes about their business. |
||
|
A careers advice |
Speaker 1 21 [ ] Speaker 2 22 [ ] Speaker 3 23 [ ] Speaker 4 24 [ ] Speaker 5 25 [ ] |
A It has made a lot of money B It fills a gap in the market C It has added variety to life D It was difficult to begin with E It is lonely and exhausting F It provides little social contact G It is causing family problems H It has meant a lot of travelling |
Speaker 1 26[ ] Speaker 2 27[ ] Speaker 3 28[ ] Speaker 4 29[ ] Speaker 5 30[ ] |
Answer Keys
Part 1
1. A 2. C 3. C 4. В 5. С 6. В
Part 2
7. Greeks 8. design 9. public libraries 10. time, motivation (in either order)
11. weekend workshop 12. puzzles 13. soap dishes 14. chests of drawers
Part 3
15. В 16. A 17. В 18. В 19. С 20. D
Part 4
21. В 22. G 23. C 24. E 25. F
26. D 27. A 28. F 29. C 30. В
Pages: 1 2 3 4
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Task1. You will hear five short extracts in which people are giving reasons why they use bikes to get to work. For questions 1-5 in the Answer Sheet choose from the list (A-H) the reason each speaker gives. Use the letters only once. There are three extra letters you do not need to use. You will hear the text twice.
A. It’s a safe way to travel.
B. I found driving my car so stressful.
C. I wanted to avoid being in large crowds.
D. It’s a reliable form of transport.
E. I like surprising the people I work with.
F. It helps me to get more work done.
G. I’m helping to keep the environment clean.
H. I bought it to save money.
1- 2- 3-
4- 5-
Task2. You will hear a journalist called Nina Cooke talking about the impact that technology has had on her family. For questions 1-10, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. You need to write 1-3 words. You will hear the recording twice.
Technology and me
Of all her domestic chores, (1) is one that Nina dislikes most.
Nina has no intention of ever buying (2) online.
Nina still buys a newspaper because of the (3) provided.
Nina believes that convenience of (4) has saved her money.
Nina is impressed by the (5) at which teenagers communicate by text.
Nina worries about potential (6) when her son is absorbed in his music.
The (7) she has gained now the family all own MP3 makes Nina happy.
Nina praises the (8) facility on the computer, which allows even young children to work on their own.
The possible implications of the amount of (9) required by schools concerns Nina.
YouTube has given access to videos of favourite bands from the (10) for Nina’s husband.
Вот вопросы, нужно ответить на них на английском развернуто и чтоб получилось что то на подобие текста
1) What images spring to mind when you hear the word ‘robot’?
2) Will robots take over the world one day?
3) The West sees robots as menacing, Japan sees them as helpful – how
about you?
4) Which movie robot is your favourite?
5) What would you like your robot to do?
6) What role will robots play in our society later this century?
7) Will robots ever like identical to humans?
На этой странице сайта, в категории Английский язык размещен ответ на вопрос
Вот вопросы, нужно ответить на них на английском развернуто и чтоб получилось что то на подобие текста1) What images spring to mind when you hear the word ‘robot’?. По уровню сложности вопрос рассчитан на учащихся
5 — 9 классов. Чтобы получить дополнительную информацию по
интересующей теме, воспользуйтесь автоматическим поиском в этой же категории,
чтобы ознакомиться с ответами на похожие вопросы. В верхней части страницы
расположена кнопка, с помощью которой можно сформулировать новый вопрос,
который наиболее полно отвечает критериям поиска. Удобный интерфейс
позволяет обсудить интересующую тему с посетителями в комментариях.