Terrific Ways to Practice Your German Listening Skills

“Auch aus Steinen, die einem in den Weg gelegt werden, kann man Schönes bauen.”

                                                                          -By  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The above German saying translates to, “You can also build something beautiful out of stones that are placed in your way.”

It holds true even when stepping onto learning a beautiful language like German. For overcoming inhibitions by exploring the world of German learning and making it a  beautiful journey, Multibhashi is there by your side to help you in achieving the same.

For learning the language, paying attention to listening skills is vital. In our daily life, we spend near to half of the day listening. So, it becomes important to have effective listening skills. Listening improves our conversational vocabulary. Even for a second language, it’s important to enhance listening skills to understand the language effectively and efficiently. Listening acquires a very important place in language learning.

In order to practice and enhance German listening skills effectively, Multibhashi provides you with 12 terrific ways to get the most out of the listening period.

• Listening acceptance

Prepare yourself for listening more or as equal to reading, which is being considered important in the language learning process. Accept listening as a joyful experience and open your arms for better acquisition of language. You may choose the content/audio which brings joy to you.

• Content as per the level

The moment we step into language learning, we aspire to listen and understand that language movies or songs. But hey! Isn’t it too early? Listen to the audios as per your learning level. If you listen to something which is difficult to understand, you will be more confused. Take a small step and move ahead. You can gradually increase your content level. This will help you retain the basics of the language.

• Diversified listening

Listen to the variety of content/audios which will tighten up you and thus leading to an effective comprehension. To make the most out of a moment, keep the audios ready, load your phone or car with German audios/songs/podcasts. Keep yourself engaged in diverse listening to be ready to have a chit-chat with your foreign friends.

• Repetitive listening

  Repetition is to make your mind exposed to the same stimulus, thereby leading to the stronghold of the concept. Being observant repetitively to the same audio/podcasts will help you in grasping vocabulary, phrases, and patterns of the German language. It will also help in learning the way of pronunciation of German words.

• Selective listening

While choosing the content, please be cautious as to what or what not to be used as a listening resource. Based on the situation, the content could be chosen, so there is no obligation of listening to it to the completion, keeping other things at stake. Match up your selection with your aim and objectives to make most of your practice time.

• Making notes 

Be an active listener by noting down what you hear. This will help you in active comprehension and good retention. Making notes will lead you closer to the writing world too. You can note down the topic of the content, the character’s name, if any, or what interests you. This practice will keep you glued to the content and will ensure effective learning.

• Alter your pace 

Take the audio files which are pace convertibles. Listen to the same audios at a slow and fast pace to test your understanding on different pace levels. It helps you in grasping vocabulary or sentences spoken at varied paces. This will help inactive comprehension and a better understanding of the content.

• Transcripted audios

What best you could ask for if you have audios with the ready transcription. Follow this bifurcated way of language learning i.e., both listening and reading, of the same source. This will help you to learn and retain more words as you listen to and read the words at the same time.

• Not planned listening routine 

Involve listening part as integral to your routine. As and when, it’s possible, plug into your audios/podcast. Do it along with other household chores or while commuting or exercising. This will make listening to an essential part of your routine, thus helping in quick language learning.

• Listening through movies 

You can watch German movies/clips/songs with subtitles and next without subtitles. It will better your listening comprehension and vocabulary. This helps you in learning the language while not feeling burdened or forced.

• Assess yourself

Stop in the midway while listening to any German audio or watching any German movie. Ask yourself what has happened in the content so far. Note down your answer in the language you know and predict what will come next. This will help you in assessing how much you have understood the content. 

• Patient listening 

Patience pays! Good things take time to develop so be patient and consistent in learning German through listening. Practice every day and follow the above-discussed ways to learn German exponentially.

There is nothing like being committed to listening while learning German. An important thing is giving yourself your‘ own time’ to learn the language systematically by involving any of the above-discussed ways.