So you’ve learnt a lot in your English class and you’ve been practising your listening skills but then you arrive in England and realise you can’t understand what people are saying! Have you experienced that?
Don’t worry, it’s completely normal. And I’m going to help you to understand why and fix it!
Why is it so hard to understand native English speakers?
One of the main reasons you might struggle to understand native English speakers is we like to link words together. That means two words become one word. Sometimes even five words become one word!
Watch the video below to see what I mean:
So, as you found out in the video, it’s absolutely vital to work on your pronunciation, especially linking, in order to improve your listening skills.
Now try this linking challenge!
Here are some sentences you could practise linking:
- I get up at eight (as we practised in the video)
- Stop it! It’s annoying!
- Look up at the stars
- Take an apple out of the bowl
- I’m absolutely exhausted and upset about everything! (that one’s really tricky!)
Remember – words that end in a consonant sound will link to the following word if it begins with a vowel sound. Where do those 5 sentences above link? Practise saying them out loud!
Once you’ve mastered linking, you’ll be able to understand native English speakers much more easily. Following and joining English conversations will suddenly become fun, I promise you!
How did it go?
I’d LOVE to hear if you tried this pronunciation activity – Leave me a comment below to let me know!
12 Responses
Thank you so much for this pronunciation lesson Nicki! It really helped me to know why I can’t always understand English people! I will keep trying linking like you said.
That’s great to hear Lou! I promise it will make such a difference. Thanks so much for the feedback 😊
Thank you so much
Ah you’re very welcome Snezhanka! Thanks for your comment 😊
It really works. Thank you
Fantastic! I’m so pleased this is working for you Grace 😊
Thank you a lot for your efforts and tips. God bless you
Ah, thank you for your kind words Fouad 😊
Thank you so much
You’re welcome Paul! Thank you so much for your comment, I appreciate it 😊
Very useful lesson. Being professional top teacher, you know exactly what the international students are bothering.
Thank for efforts you do. Finally we shall become very good students because of you.
I hope so! 😀 I know that understanding English speakers is a common goal for lots of English learners.
I’m really pleased that you found this lesson so useful Kalinka!