How To Understand Native English Speakers

Do you find it hard to understand native English speakers? In this lesson, I will breakdown why you are struggling and give you some strategies on how to understand native speakers.
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[@EnglishLikeANative]

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[@tannewton]

Most non English schools teach their students "standard English". They don't teach them different accents or regional slangs which I partly understand. Teaching all those things would be too much for a regular English course. But this is at least one main reason why many students travelling to English speaking countries might feel excluded. They are not prepared for the "real" English spoken in different regional accents and dialects.

[@MikefromMinsk]

Stopped at the very start of the video to add my 2 cents as you've asked. As an advanced learner, what I do find so very hard is reduced speech, so far much more than obscure, but enunciated accents or vowel shifts. Fast-spoken, but clear English is not much of an issue either. What baffles me is when especially the consonants get mashed and reduced and the parts of words, even whole syllables, will get swallowed. The speech sounds so mumbled or most familiar words will get so twisted and turn into completely different utterances that the message will be really hard to make out for me. Once an add popped on KZbin where an American guy kept promoting "inves'n'n socks". "Investing in stocks" that is. It leaves me totally confused when I get a suggestion to do something about socks and invest in them when actually stocks are implied. And since I'm yet to explore economics and stuff related to business, I'm just wrapping my head around all this and don't know that much about this sphere including the English vocabulary, which means I don't even understand what I'm being offered. I have no clue how I managed to catch this one. Only context helps! They're effectively losing on a potential customer! Lately I've been keeping notes of such utterances. Here you are some more examples: Mexico - Mess'co; Problem - prom; Somebody - sum'dy; The Independence Day - the Indepence Day, or even the Indepenz Day; Particularly - pticly; Asking me questions - assn me queshnz, or even "azzn me quezhnz"; Cytizens of the country - citzens o'the country; And lots more. I've gathered dozens in a couple of months. From my observation, the T sound in this kind of speech will be glotallised, swallowed and mashed with the neighbouring sounds. Outcome - ou'come. Night shifts - ny' shifs. The Play Station games - the Play Sation games. In many instances, the weak forms of "is" and "has" sound practically the same. And don't know, maybe it depends on the accent, but in American English the S sound when standing between or after consonants will often turn into Z. What I do wonder about is if there's a difference between the accents of English over how much the speakers will be reducing the sounds. Or whatever accent you take, words could get reduced there this much and it just depends on the individual speaker? maybe somebody here could accidentally tell from their experience or there've been some studies that cover it? I only know that languages differ by degree of reduction. In Finnish you can never reduce, mash or swallow a word like that, because it would mean you've turned it into a different word with a different meaning. My native language, Russian, is prone to similar reductions as well, but never to such a degree as English.

[@CaptainSiCo]

Thanks Anna. Even as a native English speaker, I find your videos so educational and interesting!

[@EnglishLikeANative]

Thank you! 😃

[@ericerqueiira]

After watched this video, I m sure the I never will to able to understand English. I am feeling really bad. But I would like to say that you are a great teacher.

[@skylight4611]

You spoke my mind completely. that's how I exactly feel when I m speaking English with a native.

[@teachernisrinezenati5488]

I find your podcasts overwhelmingly helpful! Thanks a lot for helping us, non-native speakers of English, learn everything related to English language as well as the English culture. You’re absolutely an amazing person and an amazing teacher.

[@fabrice9252]

Thank you so much Anna! you were wonderful as always! 👏👏🌹💗

[@EnglishLikeANative]

Thank you 🙏

[@DT-vo7fg]

In my opinion it doesn't depend on how fast you speak but rather on cultural and language issues that eschew our limited knowledge of your language. Slangs phrasal verbs idiomatic expressions are only possible to be understood if we LIVE in a milieu of mother tongue speakers. It's unavoidable for us not being able to understand daily english simply because we don't live a daily english way of life. I perfectly understand you now in this lession but don't grasp a single word, let's say, from Jim Carr's Countdown show. Anyway your lessions are still wonderful and come in handy as usual. Ps; my favourite phr verb is CHURN OUT

[@alistandby9445]

Magnificent! Thanks a lot Anna 🌷

[@khanraimakhan8594]

A lot of thanks Anna its really amazing session!

[@user-nx8fn7jg1r]

Sometimes it's more difficult to understand foreigners when speaking English than native speakers. The main reason is when the speaker has a strong accent, or use local dialect and slang.

[@user-nx8fn7jg1r]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

[@linavaron9413]

Wowww fantastic class!!! Thank you 🙏🏻

[@ebrihamakonteh5018]

You have my deepest thanks

[@cinziapagano69]

Tank you Anne, I appreciate your videos.

[@irenemaldonadovilla5353]

I love your explanations I wanted to say you when you drink water should do it more slowly. You shouldn't be hurry Thanks a lot 😊

[@valeriaorozcorodriguez2986]

Well, about missing out on something, i have no spoken with a native speaker face to face, but when i am in a virtual meet i can feel the panic, like anxius as you have said in this.

[@durgeshwarimisramisra483]

Yes I felt like that

[@Carlos-vq2zj]

Amazing Masterclass Anna, for real! Many thanks 👏👏👏

[@EnglishLikeANative]

You're so welcome!

[@gabriellagirardi4741]

I watched the replay. Great video. Thank you very much

[@EnglishLikeANative]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@monber11]

Brilliant! Thank you Anna

[@samymundeke7629]

thanks Anna, how do I know that a verb following "TO" has "ING" form? For instance you said there are your four steps TO IMPROVING your listening skills......... please short explaination on this 🙏.And again thanks for the lesson , this lesson is very very crucial to me.

[@devnshugarg1418]

Thank you so much Anna

[@tannewton]

I recently watched "The Devil's Hour" on Amazon (great show by the way). My sister walked into the drawing room where I watched it, and asked me (in German) what I'm watching. I answered "the devil's hour", and I tried my best to pronounce it the same way as the leading actress did in one scene (the devil s(h)our). She said, 'what'? I repeated, 'the devil s(h)our'. When she said 'what' again, I paused the episode to show her the title. Then she finally understood, and read out loud 'the devils (h)our' (with a pause between 'devils' and 'hour').

[@zeinabrezaee3911]

Ann, I think you are the best ❤

[@mosammatakter2758]

Thanks Anna

[@shoxjaxon5680]

You looked perfect while you were teaching 😍.

[@riyanrinupanicker5997]

Thank u mam❤

[@idabagusdarmaputra125]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤..thanks Anna

[@jaehyangsu07]

Hi 👋 im your new subscriber Ms.Anna..you're amazing and your videos truly help me to familiarize and practise my english skills, but the main problem of mine is my native language is tagalog..can you help me more about it 😊 Thank you..and God bless!

[@andx4024]

my problem with understanding english native speakers was 1. atherosclerosis which is associated with the functioning of the brain 2. diffrent accents and fast speaking

[@user-nw2fy5vc5o]

Good

[@pierrethulliez3254]

In my opinion , the most difficults problems to undersand native english speaker could be the speed (I'm french)

[@SuperJose26]

"Beam me up, Scotty!" Dear Anna, thanks 🙏 so much for your videos. They're of an outstanding quality. As you can see, I'm much more of Star ⭐ Trek...The Original Series, not its last developments. Wish you a wonderful week!

[@stevenho2432]

Speaking fast. Changing sound, tone, pronounciation from what i learned

[@WinstonSmithAlive]

I think it’s the accent and speed of those speaking.

[@Ana-dt9mv]

I feel.like that... I'm living 2 years in the UK and i still don't understand what they say especially in birmingham it's being really hard... Dont know what's the problem

[@Ak-mg5gw]

Hi Anna, i appreciate your videos so much. Can you give me some a advices for a daily self study plan for learning English. ( i have a level of intermediate) Thank you so much

[@manishsarki4083]

How to understand English language, what should I do to understand English language first? I have a good vocabulary, fluency And I can read Faster but can't understand completely. I'm looking forward. Do reply, explain. Thanks. Ultimate question.

[@EnglishLikeANative]

Come and join my Free fluency masterclass: englishlikeanative.co.uk/english-fluency-masterclass-registration/

[@andrzejterlikowski1416]

Hi Anna I do not know how do you do that if you talk I understand about 80 % what you speak , but if other people talk ... maybe 40 %

[@AbdurRahman-nt8if]

I wanna learn English from native speakers.

[@madivalappakhairate4525]

Native speakers' are hard understand because they don't speak normal way as well as they use their own dialect and Non native speaker learn English Language only through Received pronunciation (RP) Alternatively we understand your English and BBC news easily Thanks for video

[@camilo-liberio]

I'd say vocabulary and speaking speed

[@-beautifulscenario]

I can easily understand you but I can't understand the Scottish accent, I'm struggling with this nowadays.

[@deepblue1909]

Anna why your channel has only thumb down option?

[@EnglishLikeANative]

I’m not sure what you mean.

[@micheleg.2244]

Yes, my problem that I translate while listening and if I lose a word I don't understand anymore...

[@AndrzejLondyn]

You will be doing less and less in the future :-)

[@micheleg.2244]

@@AndrzejLondyn I hope so! It is the word "future" that scares me.....

[@oleksandr3941]

Natives speak fast, use connected speech

[@juancastillotorres7711]

I understand you very clear but when I see a movie I'm English it's very difficult for me to understand

[@cheekymonkey5150]

Movies are not the easiest. Try to start from series or children movies. And don't pick movies that are difficult at the beginning. I'd recommend something about more of a daily life. Even if you have problem understanding just try to enjoy the process and relax. If there's a word which comes up frequently you can search for it. If that doesn't work maybe try with subtitles first. (You need to get used to the speed and different accents)

[@juancastillotorres7711]

@@cheekymonkey5150 but I'm not a beginner. I think it's good to use whatever comes: movies, series, documentaries and whatever

[@japizeray5860]

I think it’s hard because they are fast and the mean reason is their accent

[@irinakrasnopolsky3584]

We can easily understand TV shows or News, but real people speak horrible ( in any language) we cut sentences in the middle, drop letters, use non-verbal communication instead of real words. If you have a lot of experience with any language it is totally ok, as our brain closes that gap. But if your experience is limited - there is not enough data to go over all those “small” issues and close that gap 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@phapnguyen1704]

It’s difficult to understand native English speakers because they use a lot of contractions and slangs. It is my own opinion

[@user-dv1vl7uo3q]

They speak very fast so i am not able to understand

[@purna8410]

Native speaker accent is difficult to understand

[@EnglishLikeANative]

Yes, native speaker accent can be difficult to understand at times.