Let me tell you something: Spanish speakers talk fast. I mean incredibly fast. So fast that at the beginning of my Spanish learning journey, when listening to native speakers, I could hardly make out the words except for "hola" and "adios".
Trust me, it was frustrating.
But gradually, I found myself being able to understand what was being spoken by taking just a few steps. Here's how I did it and you can easily do too:
Advice #1 Finish listening to the sentence, then interpret
DO NOT translate words one by one as you listen! This is highly inefficient and leads to a greater lack of understanding. Some phrases in Spanish can't be translated literally, like "de vez en cuando", which means "every so often", but literally translates to "of time in when" Also, you won't keep up! Instead, if you find yourself missing a lot of words, try listening to the end of the phrase and then use context clues to fill in the gaps.
Advice #2: Break down the sounds you hear
At first, what you hear may just be a mumble jumble of vowels and consonants clashing together. Native Spanish speakers do tend to slur together vowels so it might sound something like "
However, try to listen to emphasized words or ones with a high pitch because those are usually the important words the speaker wants you to note.
For example: Lea no tiene ganas de ir al gimnasio hoy porque ella está muy cansada
We can pretend, in this case, that ¨Lea, no, gimnasio, and muy cansada¨ were words that were more stressed. If we combine them together to make a caveman like sentence we get "Lea no gimnasio muy cansada". Using logic, we can assume that a tired person would probably not want to go to the gym.
Advice #4: Improve your vocabulary
The more you improve your vocabulary, the more you're going to find yourself able to decipher what is being said. When you familiarize yourself with more words and their pronunciation, hearing them being spoken won't be an issue.
Q: How do I improve my vocabulary?
This will be discussed in a future post, but a brief rundown would be:
1) Read lots of Spanish books, and make note of the words you don't know.
2) Keep a notebook of Spanish words with English translations beside them. Or record them on a notes document on your computer
3) Find a method that works best for you. Some people like online flashcards while others like writing them down themselves. Quizlet, TinyCards, etc. I highly suggest creating mnemonics as I did in this blog post to help you remember (the sillier the better)
Most important advice: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
The logic comes down to this: The more you listen, the better you get. It's just like speaking.
The most efficient way to practice? Follow these steps below (progresses from beginner to advanced level)
For beginners
1) Find a video with a native speaker slowly talking. (Need recommendations? Stay tuned for a future post running down a list of Spanish YouTubers, but for now, I recommend watching Easy Spanish or some TEDx talks in Spanish)
2) Take out a pencil and paper. While they are talking, write down keywords you heard in Spanish. Don't copy down each and every word and don't bother translating them just yet! It's also ok if your notes look like chicken scratch, your goal is to try to keep up with the pace of the video. At this step, you don't need to worry at all if you didn't hear all of it.
3) Then, repeat the video again but also take notes on words you heard but don't know the meaning of.
4) Afterward, write in your own words a brief summary of what the video was about or what you have comprehended.
5) Then, watch the video AGAIN (I know, it's a lot) but this time, with closed captions in Spanish. While you are reading the captions, make note of the pronunciation the words and the sounds you hear. Look back at your notes to add some more, or make corrections.
6) Finally, watch it again with English captions. Write down the translations of the words you didn't know and check to see if your comprehension was correct.
Once you have done this practice multiple times with easy videos and you can finally understand what is being said the majority of the time...
Start finding harder videos (here for recommendations) or start listening to podcasts
Still repeat steps 1-6, except step 4 and 3 can be omitted depending on your comfort level.
A great website I recommend that can help you find videos depending on levels of difficulty: https://www.thisislanguage.com/
Note: Is not free-contact your school to get in touch with them if they have this program.
This method has worked for me. Even though it's A LOT of repetition, you can learn a lot of new vocabulary words AND get really skilled in listening to fast native speakers. I also figured that with a lot of practice, you can get used to how speakers tend to skip over certain vowels (for example, maybe instead of saying 'todo', you only hear the '-odo'. Then you have to fill in the gaps yourself)
Q: I don't have time to do all of this!
A: At least watch some Spanish TV shows and movies or listen to some podcasts!
Advice #6 Relax
At the end of the day-just cool your nerves down. It's ok if you didn't catch every word, just move on otherwise you'll miss out on the rest of the content you hear.
I remember when I was first given a listening comprehension task, I freaked out. Heart pumping, palms sweating, and with my brain swirling around with thoughts like "what did that word mean?" "wait-what did she just say" "AHHH!!", I wasn't able to catch anything the speaker said.
So take a few deep breaths-yes it's a challenge, but remember that you're improving each time.
Best wishes to you! Please tell me if this method has worked for you!
[Edit: Wow! Thank you to everyone on Duolingo who commented and liked my post!]
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