The wrong way to improve your English listening skills
EngFluent
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[1] 00:01How do you improve your English listening skills?
[2] 00:06If you ask this question to English teachers, they will tell you the same thing.
[3] 00:11They will tell you to go watch movies
[4] 00:14They will say that watching movies is a great way to improve your listening.
[5] 00:20But there's a problem.
[6] 00:21A lot of English learners watch movies with subtitles.
[7] 00:26Some people use English subtitles.
[8] 00:29Other people use subtitles in their native languages.
[9] 00:34It doesn't matter what kind of subtitles you use.
[10] 00:38Watching movies with subtitles is a really bad way to improve your listening.
[11] 00:44And in this video, I'm going to explain to you why it's such a bad idea.
[12] 00:50But first, let me share with you my personal experience.
[13] 00:54So back when I was in college, I wanted to improve my English listening skills.
[15] 01:02Well, I started to watch movies with English subtitles.
[16] 01:07I thought that that was the best way to improve my listening.
[17] 01:12I was really optimistic.
[18] 01:14I thought that in two or three years, I would be able to understand native speakers.
[19] 01:21Unfortunately, it didn't work.
[20] 01:25After six years of doing that, I still could not understand native speakers.
[21] 01:31I still needed subtitles when watching a movie.
[22] 01:35I was really disappointed.
[23] 01:37I watched a lot of movies, but I still could not understand native speakers.
[24] 01:42At the time, I didn't know why it didn't work.
[26] 01:49So let's talk about that right now.
[27] 01:52First, there's one thing about listening that you need to know.
[28] 01:58Listening and hearing are not the same.
[29] 02:01If you want to improve your listening, make sure that when you practice listening, you're
[30] 02:07really listening and not just hearing.
[31] 02:10So what's the difference between listening and hearing?
[32] 02:14Well, the difference is whether or not you're paying attention.
[33] 02:19If you're paying attention, then you're listening.
[34] 02:23If you're not paying attention, then that's just hearing.
[35] 02:27So let me give you an example.
[36] 02:30If you turn on the radio and pay attention to the sound from the radio, then that is
[38] 02:38But if you turn on the radio and then you do something else like reading a book, then
[39] 02:44that's just hearing.
[40] 02:46You can hear the radio, but you're not paying attention to it.
[41] 02:50You are not listening.
[44] 02:59You need to make sure that you're paying attention.
[45] 03:03Now let's talk about watching movies with subtitles.
[46] 03:07What's wrong with it?
[47] 03:09Why doesn't it work?
[48] 03:10As you might have guessed, it doesn't work because you're not listening.
[49] 03:15You're just hearing.
[51] 03:19When you watch a movie, you brain is trying to understand the movie.
[52] 03:25But there isn't just one way to do that.
[53] 03:27There are two ways or two options.
[54] 03:31The first option is to focus on reading the subtitles.
[55] 03:36The second option is to focus on listening to the sound.
[56] 03:41Now I have a question for you:
[57] 03:43Which option do you think your brain will choose?
[58] 03:48Reading or listening?
[59] 03:49Well the answer is obvious.
[60] 03:51You brain is going to focus on reading the subtitles.
[62] 03:57Because it's much easier.
[63] 03:59The text on the screen is clear.
[64] 04:02So it's very easy for you brain to process.
[65] 04:05The sounds of people talking, on the other hand, are not that clear.
[66] 04:10So it's much more difficult for your brain to figure out what people are saying.
[67] 04:15As a result, you brain will pay attention to the subtitles and not the sounds.
[68] 04:23So when you watch a movie with subtitles, you're not really improving your listening.
[69] 04:28You're actually improving your reading.
[70] 04:32That's why it doesn't work.
[71] 04:34So the best way to improve your listening is to just listen.
[72] 04:39Don't read and listen at the same time.
[73] 04:42If you watch a movie in English, remove the subtitles, so that your brain will have to
[75] 04:50If you do that, your listening will improve much faster.
[76] 04:55That said, there is still a problem.
[77] 04:59If you remove the subtitles, then you won't understand the movie.
[78] 05:04And if you don't understand the movie, then it's going to be boring.
[79] 05:08So what should you do?
[80] 05:09Well, here's my suggestion:
[81] 05:12Don't try to improve your listening by watching movies.
[82] 05:16Just watch movies for fun.
[83] 05:18There is a better and faster way to improve your listening.
[84] 05:23And that's the subject of the next video.
[85] 05:25In the next video, I'll share with you the method I personally used to improve my English
[87] 05:33So I'll see you again in the next video.
[88] 05:36And if you don't want to miss that video, make sure you subscribe to this EngFluent
[90] 05:42And if you want even more advice on how to improve your English, go to EngFluent.com
[91] 05:47and sign up for the newsletter."
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