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How to improve your English listening comprehension

 

Why spoken English is difficult to understand

A lot of English learners have trouble understanding what native English speakers say.

One reason that real English is difficult to understand is that the English in classrooms and textbooks is very different from how people really speak. Some of the differences include:

• People use different words and phrases in spoken English than they do in writing.

  • They use slang.

  • They say "um", "hmm", "ah", "uh", etc.

  • They skip the word "that" when using relative clauses.

• ...and so on.

• Native English speakers pronounce words differently when they say them together than when you say them one-by-one. This is called "connected speech".

  If you only learn English in a classroom, you probably only hear very careful pronunciation. You won't be prepared when someone asks you something that sounds like:

  W'joominehand'nmethabagovethare? ("Would you mind handing me that bag over there?")

• People talk about a lot of different topics. Some topics are very specialized and uncommon. An English class, textbook, or even a website like PhraseMix can't prepare you for all of the possible topics in the world.

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  The #1 tip for improving your listening

  So how can you get better at understanding spoken English?

  The best way to improve is to listen to English. A lot. There's no way around it; you have to spend hours and hours listening to people speaking English. Listen to things that interest you. If you don't enjoy something, it's going to be hard for you to continue. You'll get bored and stop.

   

  Other listening tips

  The amount of listening that you do is the most important thing. But you can also improve the quality of your listening practice. Here are some things to think about:

• Interactive listening is best. In other words, it's better to talk with someone than just to listen to a recorded TV show, radio program, or podcast. When you talk to people live, you listen more carefully, and you also think about how you're going to respond.

• Don't just listen to the same kind of English all the time. Don't just listen to the news, or only watch TV comedies. Expose yourself to a variety of different kinds of situations and topics.

• Prefer English captions to subtitles in your native language. When you read subtitles in your language, it keeps your brain locked into "native language mode". English subtitles are good, though. They help you to match words that you know with their natural pronunciations.

• Try listening to English in different ways. Check out our big list of different ways to practice listening to E

   

   

  SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

  simple present tense dibentuk dari verb-1 (present tense) atau linking verb “be” (is, am, are). Apa itu verb-1? Verb-1 merupakan bare infinitive dengan tambahan -s atau -es (contoh verb-1: does, goes, wants) khusus untuk subject berupa singular noun (kata benda tunggal: Tita, book, car) atau third person singular pronoun (kata ganti orang ketiga tunggal: she, he, it); atau tanpa tambahan apapun (contoh verb-1: do, go, want) untuk subject berupa plural noun (boys, men, books) atau plural pronoun (we, they), pronoun I/you, atau compound subject (you and me, Tina and Ratih).

  Dengan demikian rumus simple present tense untuk kalimat positif, negatif, dan interogatif sebagai berikut.

  Kalimat	Rumus Simple Present Tense	Contoh Simple Present Tense
  positif (+)	S + V-1 S +/- auxiliary (do/does) + bare infinitive	She likes eating out
  	S + be (am/is/are)	The children are naughty.
  negatif (-)	S + auxiliary (do/does) + not + bare infinitive	She doesn’t like eating out
  	S + be(am/is/are) + not	The children aren’t naughty
  interogatif (?)	Do/Does + S + bare infinitive	Does she like eating out
  	Be(am/is/are) + S	Are the children naughty

  Catatan:

  Pada kalimat positif, normalnya auxiliary verb (do/does) tidak digunakan, melainkan hanya digunakan jika perlu untuk memberi penekanan pada keharusan melakukan aksi.

  Simple Present Tense vs. Present Continuous Tense

  Aktivitas atau kejadiaan pada simple present tense terjadi pada saat ini (present) namun tidak benar-benar sedang berlangsung seperti present continuous tense. Berikut perbandingannya.

• Simple present tense: He sleeps without a pillow. (Dia tidur tanpa bantal. ≈ habit)

• Present continuous tense: He is sleeping without a pillow. (Dia sedang tidur tanpa bantal)

Fungsi dan Contoh Kalimat Simple Present Tense

Fungsi	Contoh Kalimat Simple Present Tense
Simple present tense untuk menyatakan habitual action (kebiasaan) dimana sering digunakan adverb of frequency (always, often, usually, every day/week, month, all the time, etc) sebagai time signals.	He always consumes low GI rice. (Dia selalu mengonsumsi beras rendah GI.)
	She sends much money to her parents in the village every month. (Dia mengirimkan banyak uang kepada orangtuanya di desa setiap bulan.)
Factual (kebenaran umum/fakta yang tak terbantahkan)	The sun rises from the east and sets in the west. (Matahari terbit dari ufuk timur dan tenggelam di ufuk barat.)
	Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius. (Air mendidih pada suhu 100 derajat celcius.)
Simple present tense digunakan untuk membuat simple statement yang berlaku general (berlaku kapan saja) maupun tidak general (menggunakan verb be).	I live in Jakarta. (Saya tinggal di Jakarta)
	She is so beautiful. (Dia sangat cantik.)
	He’s angry. (Dia marah.) [tidak general: terjadi sekarang]
Simple present tense menggunakan stative verb untuk menyatakan perasaan (feeling), indera (sense), pikiran (mental state), atau kepemilikan (possession).	She loves dancing. (Dia suka menari.)
	I see tears in your eyes. (Saya melihat air mata di matamu.)
	We agree with the speaker’s opinion. (Kami setuju dengan pendapat pembicara tersebut.)
	My brother owns a new house. (Saudaraku memiliki rumah baru.)
Simple present tense digunakan untuk membicarakan rencana atau jadwal di masa depan namun memiliki jangka waktu dekat dengan sekarang. Umumnya membicarakan tentang transportasi atau event. Verb yang biasa digunakan antara lain: arrive, come, leave.	The ship leaves the harbour this night at 7 o’clock. (Kapal meninggalkan pelabuhan malam ini jam 7.)
	He arrives from Osaka at 1 pm. (Dia tiba dari Osaka jam 1 siang.)
	The ceremony starts at nine. (Upacara dimulai jam sembilan.)
Simple present tense digunakan untuk memberikan instruksi atau serial aksi.	You add a glass of coconut milk into a pan and then boil it. (Kamu tambah segelas santan ke dalam panci lalu rebus.)
	You go straight ahead then turn left. (Kamu jalan lurus ke depan lalu belok kiri.)
Simple present tense digunakan pada conditional sentence tipe 1.	If you meet the naughty boy, your parents will be angry. (Jika kamu bertemu dengan anak nakal itu, orangtuamu akan marah.)
	I will go swimming if I have free time. (Saya akan pergi berenang jika ada wakt

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