Is it okay to read along while listening?
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ezpar -
I'm currently studying from the NPCR, now on volume 2. I found a college class to be not worth the
time & money, but now I'm finding my listening skills perhaps lagging behind, or at least not
where I want them to be.
When I listen to the dialogues from the CD's, I can follow very easily if I read along (with only
characters, no pinyin), usually on the first try granted I am at least vaguely familiar with most
of the vocab. However, once I take the text away, I have a lot of trouble unless I've already
read/listened to it several times and basically know what is being said.
Is something to be concerned about? I assume it's fairly normal to be a better listener with text,
but should my listening skills be close behind?
Also, what would you guys recommend to improve listening skills? I'm not quite ready yet, but
sometime within the next few weeks or months I hope to get a conversational partner, either in
"real life" or through Skype. I expect that will do a lot for both my speaking and listening
skills, but is there anything outside of that that could be good?
Thanks!
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roddy -
Try doing a few other things before you listen with the text. Ie:
Listen once to pick out any vocab that you already know - stuff you are confident of, where you
can say 'ok, that guy just said "post a letter"'.
Once you've got that, take a guess at what the general topic of the piece is and listen again
trying to fill in the blanks - ie you hear someone talking about going somewhere, but you're not
sure where. But given the above, you guess it is 'post office'.
Now listen again with the text, or maybe read it and then listen again.
Listening with the text won't necessarily do you any harm, but you'll bring your listening up to
speed much faster if you force yourself to listen and only listen at first, and the trick to
making that less painful is to set yourself meaningful aims and objectives for listening, rather
than just 'try to understand'. If you are working with a textbook that sets questions for the
piece, try reading through the questions first and then answering them - that purpose for
listening is key.
imron -
Quote:
Also, what would you guys recommend to improve listening skills?
You might be interested in some of the suggestions in this thread.
wrbt -
... and don't worry, almost everyone who does college courses in the West or self-study through
college textbooks has the same problems with listening comprehension lagging.
fredrik_w -
ezpar, I have the same problem as you. Listening with text makes a big difference compared
listening without text. I feel relieved that other than me have the same problem
This is what I do: Right now Im using the dialogs in the last modules of FSI. I listen to the
dialog without text and try to understand as much as possible (as Roddy decribed). After
three-four attemts, I cant understand more without the text. Then I listen to the dialog with text
a few times more and at the same time pick out new vocabulary. After learning the new words, I
listen between 15-20 more rounds (with and without text). I also use the pause button alot and
shadow each sentence. Slowly, this method seems to work and improve my listening comprehension. I
think you need to flush your ears and brain with a much comprehensible input as possible.
calibre2001 -
If there's a place with plenty of chinese people, go and hang out there. And eavesdrop.
For some reason, it's easier to listen and understand people in real life. I find it much easier
to absorb the words and phrasings this way compared to audio tapes, tv shows etc
renzhe -
I have to say that the NPCR DVDs are unexpectedly difficult for me to follow, especially if I try
to understand every single word.
Scoobyqueen -
In addition to what Roddy said on filling the blancs, try to detect which words in the syntax
should logically go where - eg time, place and verbs. Then you lean the pattern which means that
you brain will pick out names of people and place names easier and also which is a verb. you
should then guess what the sentence should be and then check if you were correct. You will find
that the frustration element of finding out you SHOULD have known what this meant is valuable as a
learning tool because you are unlikely to forget it again.
Also, you should separate reading and listening at first because they are two different skills.
Especially you will not practice listening to tones using this approach is my opinion.
Someone here mentioned that a teacher at Beida continually let the students listen to an audio
clip going through it again and again until the students understood it. That student said his
listening skills improved significantly and after three months the differenence was noticeable.
It is normal to feel the way you do.
tooironic -
Like other posters have said, don't worry about your listening skills lagging behind. Let me tell
you EVERY single Chinese learner finds listening skills the hardest to develop and improve.
imron -
Quote:
Let me tell you EVERY single Chinese learner finds listening skills the hardest to develop and
improve.
Sorry, but I find listening the easiest skill to develop and improve.
For me, developing and improving writing is what I would consider the hardest, and by this I don't
mean being able to physically write characters, but rather, being able to write decent length
passages/articles.
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