Do you ever listen to a native English speaker and just feel lost?
Like you've missed half the conversation?
You've studied the grammar, you know the vocabulary, but when they talk fast it's like it all turns into a blur of noise.
So you just nod along, pretending you understand, hoping and praying that they don't ask you a question.
Or maybe you get excited to watch a movie in English, but after five minutes you've already switched on to the subtitles in your native language or, even worse, to the dubbed version of the movie.
And along with that comes a feeling of disappointment.
You've probably asked yourself, after all these years of studying English, why is it still so hard to understand it?
In this episode, I'm gonna give you seven powerful practical techniques that will retrain your ears and finally, let you understand fast English with confidence.
Stick with me because the last tip is a total game changer that ties everything together.
Hey there, how's it going?
Thiago here and welcome to another video.
I am a certified Cambridge English teacher and I have been teaching this language for 20 years.
My main purpose with this channel is to help learners stuck at B1 level reach solid B2, C1 and beyond levels of proficiency and fluency in this language.
So welcome to the show and let's get started here.
I want to start by talking about the main reason why, after many years, you still can't understand fast English.
Because the truth is, there is a disconnect.
A disconnect.
The English you learned in school is not the English you hear on the street.
The English from your textbook is neat, clean, and perfectly pronounced.
Every single word is a separate, distinct thing.
The sentence, I am going to get a cup of coffee, is presented to you as nine individual words.
But what do you actually hear in a movie, for example?
Something along the lines of, I'm going to get a cup of coffee.
I'm going to get a cup of coffee, right?
It's just one single stream or flow of sound.
This is the huge disconnect I'm talking about.
You are taught to listen for individual words, but native speakers don't talk like that.
They speak connecting the sounds.
We call it connected speech.
In a real conversation, the lines between words just disappear.
Sounds are linked, changed, or even dropped completely to make speech flow smoothly.
So your brain, trained to hunt for the perfect pronunciation of each word, starts to panic.
It hears gonna, but it searches frantically for going to.
You hear wanna, but your brain is looking for want to.
By the time your brain deciphers that one phrase, the speaker is already three sentences ahead of you and you are totally lost.
It feels like trying to catch leaves in a windstorm.
The problem here isn't your vocabulary or even your intelligence.
It's your training.
You have been trained to be a reader of spoken language, not a listener.
Let me say that again.
You have been trained to be a reader of English, not a listener of English.
So today we're going to break that training and turn you into a true listener.
The next seven techniques are designed to undo that damage and rewire your brain for the real world communication you're going to encounter.
The first set of techniques is your immediate toolkit.
These are the things you can do when you're right in the middle of it watching a movie, listening to a podcast or trying to keep up with a real conversation.
So the first technique you probably know very well.
Shadowing.
Shadowing is about speaking as you listen.
This isn't just about repeating.
It's listening to a native speaker and speaking in real time like their shadow.
You try to match their exact rhythm intonation, the music of their speech and even their speed with almost no delay.
Why does this work so well?
Because it forces you to stop translating in your head.
It bypasses the analytical part of your brain that's trying to catch every word and instead turns on the part that imitates.
We have this capacity to imitate others.
You start feeling the language.
By training your mouth to make the sounds, you're actually training your ears to hear them.
I talk about that all the time.
The way you pronounce the words in English is strictly connected to the way you hear them.
So the better you improve your pronunciation and speech, the easier it is going to be for you to understand native speakers.
So shadowing is very powerful because of that, because you are practicing these two skills listening and speaking along, listening and repeating, listening and pronunciation.
So how to do shadowing?
The first step is pick a short clip about something you like in English.
It could be a video or it could be a podcast.
A short clip, like two to three minutes, nothing too long.
And first, listen to that clip once or twice.
Just listen to it.
The purpose here is for you to get the general vibe of the speaker.
Listen to the music. that the speaker employs in his or her speech.
Listen to the intonation, how the speaker communicates, the overall feeling and tone.
Pay attention to that.
Then the second step is the actual shadowing.
One popular technique is shadowing along at the same time.
Like, as you listen to the person, you have the transcript next to you and you try to shadow simultaneously.
That's one approach.
You can totally try that.
I've never done that myself.
I've always preferred to do what I call delayed shadowing.
I've always preferred to listen to a passage pause and immediately right after that with my transcript pause.
Try to replicate what the speaker said.
The tone, the pronunciation, the feeling.
So you can try both approaches here.
Either simultaneous shadowing or what I've always done, which is delayed shadowing.
You listen, pause, repeat.
And then you listen some more, pause, repeat.
Okay?
Let's try a quick one here just as an example.
I'm going to say a sentence and you try to shadow me.
I will say, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about it.
But we don't usually speak that way.
We would say, I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do about it.
Try that.
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do about it.
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do about it. what I'm, what I'm, what I'm gonna do about it.
I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do about it.
Shadowing forces your brain to accept this new reality of sounds, this new connected reality of sounds.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about it.
You see, doing this for just 10 or 15 minutes a day is way more effective than one long session a week.
It's a workout that builds the muscle memory.
You need to process speech at native speed or native level.
The next technique is watch dramatic scenes without subtitles at first.
This sounds a bit crazy, I know, but it's a huge step in learning to listen with your whole brain.
We tend to forget that a huge part of communication is in words.
When you watch a movie, your first instinct is probably to turn on the subtitles, right?
But subtitles can be a crutch.
If you're just reading, you are not practicing listening at all.
And I certainly experienced that with some of my students.
Sometimes I'm having a class with a student and we are following along a PDF.
And when I ask the student a question, the student has to read the question on the PDF first before being able to answer.
What does that mean?
It means that, like many other learners, you have been trained to read the language, not really listen to it.
So when you listen to it, it's almost like you don't trust your ears.
You got to double check.
You got to confirm by reading the question if that's what you really understood before trying to answer.
You see the problem here.
So it's important that you start letting go of some of that need for reading and try to listen to the language with your whole brain and paying attention to emotion and feeling.
Going back to this technique here, check it out.
You can try this.
Pick a dramatic emotional scene from a movie or TV show.
You know, it could be an argument, a confession, something really intense.
Then, first you're gonna watch the scene just for a minute or two, with no subtitles, with the goal of understanding the emotions, the context.
Who's angry?
Who's sad?
What's the vibe of this scene?
Who are the characters?
Focus on their tone, their voice, their facial expressions and even body language, you will realize that you can often get the main idea of a conversation without necessarily catching every word, just by being an observer.
After you've made your guess, then you're going to watch the clip a second time with subtitles.
And now you can start having those aha moments, because you're going to start connecting what you observed before with the actual words.
Maybe you're going to see a phrase like, I can't believe you would do that.
And remember that the actor is angry or feeling betrayed.
This creates a much stronger connection in your brain than just reading a translation.
You are associating an emotion, a feeling that you are observing with the words that are being said.
Third, you can watch the clip one last time with no subtitles.
Now that you have the context and some of the keywords, you will be amazed at how much more you can actually hear.
The sounds aren't noise anymore.
They are attached to meaning and emotion.
I certainly did that myself back in the day.
I would pick... season of a TV series on DVD, and I will watch the same episode multiple times, alternating between subtitles, no subtitles, subtitles, no subtitles.
But by the third or fourth time I was watching that episode without subtitles, I felt like I could understand much more.
It seems like each time you listen to the same material, you understand more.
And it's no coincidence.
It's because, little by little, your brain is starting to pick up language feeling, tone and then, by the third fourth, fifth time you watch that same piece of content, you feel like you understand much more.
Think of subtitles as training wheels.
Just like when a child is learning to ride a bike, the child uses training wheels on the bike.
They are useful at the beginning, but the goal is eventually to get rid of them.
This method allows you to do just that to stop depending so much on subtitles and focusing more on your ears and relying more on your ears.
The next technique is listen to a diversity of accents and voices.
Are you only listening to one type of English?
So many learners get comfortable with just one accent, like the standard American English, from their favorite YouTuber.
But the real world is a symphony of different accents British Australian Irish Scottish Indian, not to mention the non-native accents that you'll likely encounter in real life.
If you only train your ear on one accent, you're setting yourself up to fail.
The moment you hear a different one, your brain freezes.
The rhythm and sounds can be just different enough to throw you off completely.
The solution here is simple.
Mix up your listening diet.
Actively look for content from different parts of the English-speaking world.
Don't just listen to one variation of English.
If you always watch American YouTubers, find a popular YouTuber that is British.
If you listen to the news from an American source, try the BBC for a week.
Check out some Australian comedy shows or even Irish podcasts.
Listen to interviews with actors and musicians from different countries.
This does something awesome for your brain.
It makes it flexible.
Your brain starts to learn the underlying patterns of English instead of getting stuck on one correct way of speaking.
You build a more resilient listening skill.
And this is absolutely critical because in the real world you don't get to choose who you talk to or where they come from.
Now, here's a little caveat about that topic.
In my case, I've always focused first on one accent of choice, and then after that I would branch out to others.
So, as you probably know those of you who have been following me for a while here I've always based my English on standard American English.
By standard American English I mean the English that you hear in movies, for example in American media.
So I've always adopted that variation of English as my base reference.
But once I felt comfortable enough with that, then I started to gain exposure to other accents.
I think it's really valid for you to have one accent that is your favorite maybe, and that you use as your base reference, because that way you can compare the other accents to your base reference and how they are different.
This is definitely one approach you can try.
You don't have to do it.
If you want, you can just mix it up from the get-go.
But I find that It's useful to have one base reference because that avoids confusion.
You know exactly how an Irish pronounces a word, as opposed to an American, as opposed to an English person, and on and on like that.
So I highly recommend that.
Choose one native variation of English that you like best.
It could be standard American, standard British English.
Use that as a reference, and then from there you start branching out.
All right.
Technique number four, listen to multiple speakers on the same topic.
Talking about the same topic.
This is a cool little twist on the last tip.
Instead of just diversifying accents, focus on one single topic and listen to multiple people talk about that topic.
For example, let's say you're interested in healthy living.
First, you could watch a documentary narrated by someone with a British accent about that topic.
Then you could find a YouTube video from an American scientist discussing healthy living.
Then you could listen to a podcast where a panel of international experts debates this topic.
Why does this work?
Because it deepens your understanding of speech in context.
You will hear the same idea expressed in different ways and at different speeds.
One person might say exercise is by far the most potent longevity drug.
Another person might say regular exercise is crucial for a healthy life.
And a third person might say exercise is important.
You see, by doing this, you learn the formal and informal ways of talking about a topic.
Your brain creates this rich web of knowledge.
So later, when you hear a fast conversation about that topic, you're not starting necessarily from scratch.
Your brain is already primed, which gives it more power to deal with the speed and connected speech that you're going to encounter.
Something else you need to know is how to properly choose materials and media to practice listening with.
You want something that is challenging enough but not too hard.
On the other hand, you don't want a clip that is just too easy.
But then you might be wondering, but I'm not sure about my level.
In that case, let me invite you to book a fluency discovery call with me.
This is a 90-minute session on Zoom where you and I will be talking.
I'll be asking you questions and I'll be closely listening to you and your English.
Then, at the end of the session, I'm going to give you some quick feedback, help you identify your current level of English, and also I'm going to send you an action plan with useful links that you can use to take your English to the next level.
So if you need a little bit more clarity or guidance on this, book a fluency discovery call with me.
It's going to be great to talk to you and meet you.
All right.
The link is here in the description of the video, also in the pinned comment below.
All right.
We are about halfway through the content here, and I've already given you four powerful techniques.
By the way, if you're finding this video useful, do me a favor, hit that like button and also let me know in the comment section below which of these four techniques are you excited to try out first.
I'm curious to know, but now let's continue with the remaining strategies that I have for you.
Technique number five is called repeated listening and gradual speed increase.
Your brain is a pattern recognition machine, but it can't recognize a pattern.
It has only heard once.
One of the biggest mistakes learners make is listening to something one time, getting frustrated and then just moving on.
That's like trying to learn a song by only hearing it once.
Repetition is your best friend.
Here's how to use it.
Find an audio clip one to three minutes is perfect, nothing too long and then listen the first time.
Just try to get the main idea or the main gist what's the topic, who's talking?
Don't stress about the details.
If you only catch 30 of it, that's a win already.
Then listen the second time, now that you have more context.
Try to pick up specific keywords.
You will be surprised how much more you get the second time around.
Maybe this time you're gonna get 50 or 60% of the content.
Then you listen the third time with the transcript.
You can read along as you listen.
This is where you will fill in all the gaps.
You will see the words you missed and connect them to the sounds you heard.
This is where you identify all those tricky connected speech patterns that were tripping you up in the first place.
But don't stop here.
Listen a fourth time without the transcript.
This is the final step.
When you listen again, you will feel a clarity that was totally missing the first time.
The speech will actually seem slower.
You will likely understand almost all of it.
That means you have successfully trained your brain to recognize the patterns in that clip.
Now let's add another layer to this.
Speed.
On platforms like YouTube, for example, you can change the playback speed on the player.
So you can start by listening at 0.75.
It will sound super slow, but it lets your brain catch every single sound.
Once you're comfortable, move it to normal speed.
After you have mastered that, push yourself a little bit and listen at 1.25.
It's like lifting heavier weights at the gym.
When you go back to normal speed, it will suddenly feel easy and manageable.
So try that.
Technique number six, active listening for context, not word for word translation.
This is the biggest mental shift you have to make.
If you are trying to translate every single word you hear into your native language in real time, you will never keep up in a conversation.
It's impossible because it creates a traffic jam in your brain.
It's too many steps, listening, translating, trying to say something.
So you have to let go of translation and learn to understand the meaning directly in English.
This is a skill called active listening, and it's about focusing on the overall message, not every single word.
So how do you do this?
First, make sure you become very good at listening for keywords.
We also call keywords content words.
These are nouns verbs, adjectives.
You know the big words that carry the primary meaning of the sentence.
Then we have function words.
These are the little ones like a, an, to, the.
They are there more for grammar purposes, not really to carry the main meaning.
Those ones you can kind of ignore at least the first time you listen to something.
Focus on the big ones, the content or keywords.
Something else you should do is practice visualization.
As you listen, create a mental movie of what the speaker is saying.
If they are talking about a trip to the beach, actually picture the sand, the waves, the ocean.
Picture the image in your head instead of translating it.
This direct link between the English word and the concept makes understanding much faster and easier.
Third, get comfortable with not knowing everything.
You don't need to understand 100% of the words to get 100% of the message.
Native speakers themselves miss words all the time, but...
They use context to fill in the gaps.
If you miss a word, let it go.
Don't get stuck.
Because if you do, you will miss the next three sentences trying to figure it out.
Trust that the overall conversation will carry you.
This is a terrifying leap of faith, I know, but it's the only way to become a fluent listener.
An analogy that I use a lot to explain this is the security blanket analogy.
Usually small children, some of them have security blankets.
It's a little piece of cloth that they carry around all the time.
They sleep with it.
They like the texture, the smell of it.
But eventually, they have to stop using it as they grow up.
So view this as your security blanket that you have to let go.
For example, they need to translate all the time in their head.
That's part of your security blanket.
You got to let it go.
Or they need to understand every single word.
It's part of the security blanket.
You got to let it go.
Or even as I shared earlier in the episode, the need to read the question, not trusting your ears.
You hear it, but you don't trust your ears enough.
So you got to read it to confirm, to double check before answering the question.
Let go of that need. of having to read the question.
You see, this is all part of the security blanket that if you wanna grow up, let's say, or mature as an English user, you gotta let go of.
And finally, technique seven, master the secret code, common reductions and contractions.
Like I said at the beginning of the episode, this is the technique that ties everything together.
This is the secret.
That's not really a secret, but it's the thing that is most often ignored in traditional English classes.
If you don't understand reductions in speech, it's like trying to solve a puzzle with only half the pieces.
Reductions aren't slang or lazy speech.
They are normal, essential part of spoken English.
So now I wanna break down the most common spoken reductions with you.
As I go through these, I want you to say them out loud after me.
Do a little shadowing and feel how your mouth moves.
This is the key.
So let's get started here.
First, the classics.
Going to, gonna.
I'm gonna go.
Or, I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go.
Want to.
Wanna.
I wanna see that.
I wanna see that.
Have to.
Have to.
You have to finish it.
You have to finish it.
Got to.
Gotta.
I've gotta run.
Or, I gotta run.
I gotta run.
But it goes much deeper.
For example, out of.
Out of.
Get out of here.
Get out of here.
Kind of.
Kinda.
It's kinda funny.
It's kinda funny.
Give me.
Gimme.
Gimme that.
Gimme that.
Let me.
Let me.
Let me see.
Let me see.
What are you?
Whatcha?
Whatcha doing?
Whatcha doing?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what to say.
Or even, I don't know what to say.
Then you have the weak forms.
In fast speech, little words get reduced to a softer sound.
The word to is rarely too.
It's usually a soft t, t.
I went to the store.
I went to.
I went to.
I went to the store.
The word for is rarely for.
It's usually for.
For.
This is for you.
This is for you.
For you.
For you.
For you.
This is for you.
The word and is often just nn.
Fish and chips, fish and chips, fish and chips.
The word can, as in ability, is often a quick i can do it, i can do it, i can, i can, i can, i can do it, i can do it.
Finally, there is linking, where words blend together An apple, an apple, an apple.
Turn off, turn off, turn off, turn off.
What's up?
What's up?
What's up?
Or even what up?
What up?
Now your mission, if you accept it, is to start a collection of these reductions.
Get a notebook.
Every time you're watching something and you hear a phrase that doesn't sound like how it's written, pause it, use the subtitles to see what it was and write it down.
Write the formal version and the sound version next to it.
For example, the formal version could be, I should have known.
But then next to it, you write the sound version, how you heard it.
I should have known.
I should have known.
By actively hunting for these, you're decoding the language little by little.
When you hear gonna in a conversation next time, your brain will no longer panic.
It will just instantly know it means going to.
This single technique, more than any other, will make fast English finally feel slow English to you.
By the way, I do have a pronunciation course that I put together a few months ago where I detail some of these most common reductions in spoken language.
Connected speech patterns.
So it could be a great starting point for you before you move on to finding these in real media.
So if you are interested in checking out the course, the link is here in the description of the video as well.
So there you have it.
The reason you can't understand fast English yet isn't because you are a bad learner.
It's because you were given the wrong map.
You were taught to navigate a world of perfectly separate words, a world that doesn't exist outside of a textbook.
The real word of English is a fluid, connected stream of sound.
But now you have a new map.
You have seven powerful techniques to retrain your brain for the real rhythm of the English language.
Let's do a quick recap.
For real-life situations.
You're going to use shadowing to sync with the native rhythm.
Watch scenes without subtitles to focus on context, listen to a diversity of accents to build flexibility, and also listen to multiple speakers talking about the same topic to deepen understanding.
For your core training.
You're going to use repeated listening with gradual speed increases.
Practice active listening to understand directly in English without translating and, most importantly, you will master the secret code of reductions and connected speech.
This is not an overnight fix.
It takes a change in your mindset and consistent practice.
But the path forward is very clear.
Start today.
Pick just one of these techniques from today and practice it for 15 minutes every day this week.
I promise, if you do, the blur of fast English will slowly but surely start to come into focus for you.
You can do this.
You have the tools.
Now, go become the confident listener you were always meant to be.
Thanks for watching.
And if you want to take the next step and use these listening skills to boost your speaking confidence, check out this video right here that I published a few months ago on the channel.
And of course, don't forget to subscribe for more lessons.
And I'll see you in the next one.
I'm Thiago.
I'm signing off.
Bye-bye.
