How To Improve Listening Skills In A New Language

Wondering how to improve your listening skills in a foreign language? I know just how you feel, and I can help. Read this post for strategies, tips, and resource ideas.

When you learn a new language, there is so much to do that it is easy to forget about listening comprehension. You’re busy memorizing words and grammatical forms and struggling to speak and read. So it’s no wonder if you don’t dedicate much time to audio.

But it’s time to change that! In this post, I’ll dispel some common misconceptions about listening comprehension and then move on to concrete strategies and tips. I’ll conclude by introducing you to all my favorite kinds of audio resources.

But first, let’s clarify something. What is listening comprehension, anyway? In a language-learning context, this term refers to your ability to understand spoken material in your target language.

So this post will teach you how to improve listening skills in a foreign language effectively (and while spending little to no money!). Ready? Let’s get started!

How to Improve Listening Comprehension: Common Misconceptions

Conversation & Living Abroad

Often, people think that the best way to practice listening is to find a conversation partner and simply talk in their target language as much as possible. Or they think that they need to move to the country where their target language is spoken in order to “get fluent.” Of course speaking your new language regularly is a great thing, as is living abroad.

But neither of these things is necessary to learn to understand a foreign language. How do I know? Well, I speak Spanish fluently, and I have never spent more than 2 weeks in a row in a Spanish-speaking country. I did not even speak Spanish on a consistent basis until I met my Peruvian fiancé.

(And before you jump to conclusions – I had already been speaking and understanding Spanish at an advanced level for several years before I met him.)

So, I repeat – the road to amazing listening comprehension does not require living abroad or constant conversations. In fact, there are far more effective ways of improving listening skills. (Note, however, that I do encourage you to speak your target language as frequently as possible. It will help your speaking skills!)

Money

Ignore all those self-interested salespeople who want you to squander a fortune on foreign language audio materials. You do NOT need to break the bank in order to improve your listening comprehension.

I have never, in over a decade of learning languages, spent money on listening practice. (Except for Netflix and Amazon Prime, but I was already a subscriber anyway.)

As you will soon see, there are all kinds of free audio materials out there for language learners. Of course, if you are learning a rare or less spoken language, you might have a harder time. But some of my resources may still be relevant, and my tips will certainly be useful!

How To Improve Listening Skills: Strategies & Tips

#1: Choose audio-rich materials with lots of spoken content.

Most of my advice boils down to the following statement:

The best way to improve your listening comprehension is to listen.

Listen, not speak. This may seem rather obvious, but in the whirlwind of language learning students often lose sight of this basic truth. So it is worth re-stating. And, since our goal is listening, this means that not all listening materials are created equal.

When you have a conversation in your target language, for example, you do get some listening practice. The other person is speaking to you, after all. But a conversation is not as effective a listening tool as an entirely or mostly auditory resource like, say, an audiobook or a newscast. Even movies often do not have as much dialogue as you would think (especially action movies!).

Think about how many words per minute you hear in an average conversation or in an average movie vs. in an audiobook. The audiobook wins easily. Now, quantity isn’t the only factor that you should take into account when practicing your listening comprehension (as you will soon see). But it is usually a better use of your time to find audio-rich resources for your dedicated listening practice.

#2: Vary and diversify your audio resources.

It is important for you to diversify your listening. This means exposing yourself to all different accents, speeds, tones, and vocal registers. You want to hear men, women, and children of all different ages and from all the different regions where your target language is spoken.

If you are getting most of your auditory input from conversations with a few people (or from a single audiobook narrator), you are shooting yourself in the foot. I really can’t emphasize the need to diversify enough.

For example, to this day it is much harder for me to understand men speaking Polish than women. Why? Because in my formative years, all my teachers and interlocutors were women or children. So, get some variety.

And I don’t just mean just variety in speakers. You also want to hear shouting, singing, and whispering. This is one reason that I do recommend action movies, even though they often lack extended listening sequences. They make up for it in all of the emotional and high-stress communication! Soap operas and telenovelas are also excellent sources of diversified audio.

#3: Use transcripts or subtitles to improve your listening skills.

The ideal is to sit down, listen to something in your target language, and understand it perfectly the first time. But that’s not how life works. And that’s why I recommend that you use visual aids such as transcripts or subtitles if you are struggling.

I suggest the following exercise.

Listen to the audio.
Read the transcript of the audio.
Listen to the audio again and see if you understand more.

Repeat as many times as you want. Sometimes, if it is particularly difficult, you may wish to keep the transcript in front of you as you listen. And, of course, if you are watching a movie or TV show with subtitles, you will naturally want to listen and read at once.

If you are worried that this is cheating, don’t be. There is no point in suffering through endless audio that you don’t understand at all. The best way to improve your listening comprehension is to be smart about it and help your brain out when you need it. Eventually, you will get to the point when you don’t need to read along at all.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a transcript, and that’s fine, too. But especially in the beginning, they are an excellent learning aid.

#4: Listen to the same audio multiple times and slow it down if needed.

Practice makes perfect. We can extend this motto to individual listening exercises. Don’t just listen and then immediately move onto something new. Listen twice, three times, even four times. Your comprehension improves after each round, even if only a very little bit.

Sometimes you may be able to slow down the speed of the audio, and this is also a good tactic to use if you are struggling. Podcast apps often allow you to listen at half speed – take advantage of this function. You can listen at full speed, re-listen at a slower rate, and then return to the original.

#5: Listen to content that you are familiar with.

Your brain is an amazing organ, and it draws on all kinds of contextual information in order to help you understand your foreign language. Any additional data that you can give your brain will help you to understand better and improve faster. This is why I recommend listening to things that you are familiar with, especially as you are starting out.

Have you read a book in your native language? Then listen to the audiobook in your target language. Have you already seen a movie or TV show? Watch it again in your target language. You will be amazed how much your background knowledge contributes to your understanding.

I am a big believer in this strategy. By this point I have listened to parts of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and The Lord of the Rings in Spanish, Polish, Russian, and German. And I had a great time re-watching Season 2 of 24 dubbed in Spanish!

#6: Approach listening practice with a forgiving mindset.

Listening comprehension is one of the most daunting skills to practice (at least for me). It is so frustrating when I open a YouTube video and most of the content flies straight over my head. But this is just the way language learning goes. As they say in Poland – “Krakow wasn’t built in a day.”

Be compassionate with yourself. You will have days when you understand virtually nothing, and that’s okay. Your brain is processing and you are learning, even if you don’t feel like it.

Language learning is a journey, and there are bumps along the way. So don’t beat yourself up if the words fly by. One day you will understand. One day you will pass even the ultimate test – the lightning-fast news anchor. But this will only happen if you listen and slog through all the rough, incomprehensible days.

Best Resources To Improve Listening Comprehension

Okay, we have discussed some ways to approach listening comprehension. Now let’s look at some of the best audio resources out there. But first, I just want to encourage you to check out Duolingo if you haven’t yet.

In the beginning stages, any exposure to audio is beneficial. This free language-learning program provides easy sentences and phrases, many of them spoken. You won’t master a language just by using Duolingo, but it can certainly be a productive, low-stress pastime and it will familiarize you with the sounds of the language.

And now, the list of resources.

Podcasts! If you’re a beginner, look for podcasts designed for language learners. Once you’re more advanced, search for the podcasts that natives listen to – on history, culture, sports, whatever you fancy. If you have an iPhone, it is easy to use the preloaded Podcasts app to search for listening materials. But you can also find podcasts in Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and a variety of other locations (both on desktop and mobile).

Audiobooks! Audiobooks are a fantastic resource, and there are an amazing number of them available for free on YouTube and other websites. A few nights ago I couldn’t sleep and even in my drowsy state it only took me a few seconds to locate a free German audiobook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on Google. Audiobooks also have the advantage that you will always be able to find a transcript – aka the hard copy of the book.

Radio! It can be daunting to listen to the radio in a new language, especially since transmission is usually live and you won’t be able to find a transcript or replay the audio. But eventually, you will have to tackle the radio monster, and I think it is a great exercise from time to time. One of my favorite resources is TuneIn Radio, a website and app that allows you to listen to radio stations from all over the world. You can sort by language and location and then by topic (sports, news, etc.). This is a great way to find authentic audio in dozens of languages, even ones with less speakers.

News! This is kind of similar to the radio, but it is worth mentioning separately. If you happen to have access to local TV channels available in your target language, that’s fantastic. But if you’re like me and you don’t have cable, or you learn languages that aren’t well represented in your area, you have to turn to your old friend the Internet. Investigate the websites or apps of different broadcasting companies. Often there is plenty of audio content, and sometimes there are even transcripts to accompany the spoken material.

Music! Everyone likes music, right? The great thing about using songs as listening material is that the lyrics will get stuck in your head. You will have an easier time remembering new words if you learned them in the context of a song. One of my favorite language-learning websites is lyricstraining.com, which allows you to type in lyrics as a song plays. You can select a Game Mode based on what percentage of the words you want to fill in (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert). The site – which is completely free – currently features songs in 13 languages, and hopefully more are coming soon. There is now an app, as well! It works a bit differently, though, and only allows a certain amount of games per 30 minutes without a paid subscription.

Movies, TV series, and documentaries! I highly recommend watching whatever interests you in your target language. The summer I got hooked on Spanish telenovelas was the summer that my Spanish listening skills really skyrocketed. While some movies and shows may not have as much pure audio content, they make up for it in a) variety of voices and registers (as I mentioned above) and b) motivation (you are more likely to watch something fun, and hence to practice listening comprehension). You can find a lot of foreign movies and shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime, as well as on YouTube and Google in general.

YouTube & TikTok! YouTube is an amazing source of audio content – virtually everything that I have already listed is available on YouTube. But there are also dedicated YouTube channels for language learners, not to mention YouTubers who discuss everything under the sun in hundreds of different languages. Now, I’m unfortunately too old to have any idea what goes on on TikTok, but I suspect that it is also a good source of audio material in new languages.

Final Thoughts on How to Improve Listening Comprehension

If you take one thing away from this post, it should be that you need to listen as much as possible. Don’t put listening practice on the backburner. After all, it doesn’t matter how well you can speak a language if you don’t know what your interlocutors are saying in return!

I have mentioned various strategies and tips, but the most important thing is to simply get started. Mix up your audio input and experiment with podcasts, movies, audiobooks, etc. That is how you will master listening comprehension in a new language.

And don’t give up. It may be a long road, but it’s worth it – and you can do it!

If you’re wondering how to remember all that vocabulary you’re going to learn from your listening practice, I have a few more posts you might like. Check out my seven tips for reviewing flashcards effectively for reviewing flashcards effectively and my guide to deciding whether digital or paper cards are right for you.

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