A Detailed Guide To Improve Your Spanish Listening Skills - How I Improved My Spanish Listening
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- čas přidán 21. 01. 2022
- Many of you have asked me to create a video explaining how I improved my Spanish listening ability. In this video I describe exactly what I did to improve my Spanish listening ability. I also give many tips that can help you understand Spanish from certain countries that have a difficult accent to understand. As always, I hope that these videos help you and please let me know if you all have any other video ideas in the description below.
Check out my book on how to learn Spanish here!: www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8RBK7W8
#LearnSpanish #ImproveYourSpanishListeningSkills
Muchos de ustedes me han pedido que cree un video que explique cómo mejoré mi habilidad para escuchar español. En este video describo exactamente lo que hice para mejorar mi capacidad de escuchar español. También doy muchos consejos que pueden ayudarte a entender el español de ciertos países que tienen un acento difícil de entender. Como siempre, espero que estos videos les ayuden y por favor háganme saber si tienen alguna otra idea de video en la descripción a continuación.
I'm considering doing a detailed video on Spanish Accents because I left off many things in this video. If you all would find a video like that interesting, please let me know. Mil gracias por ver!
🙏🏿🙏🏿
Yes please
Yes, please.
I think a video on accents, and if you need to choose one out of the gate, or you think you can just learn to an efficient level and then start specifically targeting an accent
My friend, you deserve way more subscribers. So rare to get some practical advice from someone who walked the walk and learned at a regular human pace. None of this 'HOW I LEARNED SPANISH IN 24 HOURS' BS, just practical tips for the serious learner. Appreciate! 🙏
Wow thanks, I’m glad this is helpful and practical 🙏🏾
I needed this video because listening is my biggest problem besides lack of vocabulary for certain topics
I know the feeling and it definitely takes time. Occasionally there are things that I miss even to this day.
@@MikeBen but you’re doing great brother, your videos are probably the most motivating
Anytime i feel stuck in my Spanish i come back to your channel to remind myself that hard work and consistency pays off and there isn’t some magic pill.
Such fantastic advice. Your examples drove home the point.
Muchas gracias
I'm glad this helps keep you motivated!
Yessir. Knowing the nuances & tones is definitely important. Caribbean speakers might say como tú ta instead of cómo estás but the “como tú” gives away what theyre saying and you just get used to hearing it
Agreed 100%, the Caribbean Spanish world is otro mundo!
great video. thats where im struggling at right now
I'm glad this helps!
Thank you for these tips! I’ve been kind of plateaued in the intermediate level as well. I’ve found that listening to spanish music 🎶 and reading the lyrics, over the years, has taught me the bulk of the vocabulary I know. I will continue to learn more and more words through music and podcasts. Great video! ☺️
Thanks Ashley and I’m glad these help!
Great video! I found the ending to be really helpful when you broke down what was being said along with the clip. Thank you!
I’m glad this helps hermano!
you did it again. amazing video. really appreciate the content. and professionalism.
Wow thanks Anthony 🙏🏾
Great vid man. I just started watching your vids because I'm on that learning Spanish path and your vids are truthful. I've been studying now for 8 months Castellano because my wife is from Spain and I'm just starting to watch different Spanish-speaking series and movies on Netflix. So far Argentina and Colombia are very difficult for me to understand because of the Vos and the slang they use a lot. I will be using your listening methods to broaden my Spanish so that I can enjoy these programs more. But I still watch a lot of Spain programs and movies lol
Your wife will definitely help a lot. I’m glad these videos help, sigue adelante!
Thanks for sharing!
De nada!
Excellent video; really helpful. Many thanks!
¡Que lindo este video! Muchas gracias a ti.
Gracias a ti Zam!
Thank you for the great tips.
Any time and I'm glad that these actually help!
Thank you for this. I do have a hard time listening. My wife is Dominican and speaks fast, lol, but I watch a lot of Dominican television, so I'm slowly learning to hear, lol.
Lol it’s definitely a process but with time I’ve noticed that it gets better.
Hey man great tips i appreciate them
Im glad this helps!
Great video as always and super detailed. When I first started learning Spanish I couldn’t understand Carribean Spanish for the life of me. Now I can understand it almost unconsciously. Suerte a quien esté en ese camino! 💪🏾
Muchas gracias Victoria, I would’ve sworn that you were Dominican because of your accent. Seguiremos adelante en el camino y mil gracias de nuevo!
thank you for the video
De nada!
Hi Mike, once again, huge thanks for sharing this. I've recently started using "Dreaming Spanish" as part of my language acquisition strategy. I've been listening to 20-30 minutes of SuperBeginner videos and do find it helpful. Interestingly, the developer of the program very specifically cautions against what you just shared in the video - working on vocabulary and grammar concurrently with listening activities.
Gotta say.. I agree with you 100% on this.
I understand the rationale for "listening only" as a means of acquiring language - your brain will slowly use pattern recognition to piece together the language. That said, I'm a pretty huge believer in preloading the brain with helpful information so that when it is dumped into a Spanish-only video or podcast, it has something to work with when trying to decipher the language patterns.
Anyway, sorry for the missive.
_Really_ appreciate your ideas and suggestions.
Cheers, mate!
J
We are definitely in agreement John. I’ve only seen true improvement in my listening skills when I’ve spent the time expanding my vocabulary. Sigue adelante hermano y me alegro mucho que estos videos te sirvan!
Good content bro! I definitely need to get my listening Spanish skills. New Sub 🤙🏽
Im glad this helps! As you know, listening is super important!
Great video! 🙏
Gracias Charlie!
More of these video breakdowns! So helpful for people trying to learn a specific dialect. Thank you!
Will do! I'm glad these help!
This video was super helpful. Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm glad this helps
This video was really helpful. Understanding different accents is such a struggle for me! I’m definitely going to take your advice!
I’m glad this helps!
Thanks sir for your sensitive insight. Very helpful indeed, god bless. !!
Same to you Jack, I’m glad this helps!
Great tips as always 🤓
I’m glad these help!
EXCELLENT CONTENT!!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thanks!
Gracias Mike! You give me hope that I will actually and eventually be able to speak Spanish!
You will Ella! All in due time!
¡Tú puedes! ¡Éxito!
Good video. I speak Spanish mostly in Colombia, and wow it is rough. Costeno specifically. There is a lot of slang there and shortening of words. I find that that mucks me up more than anything. The word pronunciation. I do find it amazing that when you do spend time there the sentences do start to make sense. I came to the conclusion a while ago immersion will always be the key if you have your vocabulary half way straight.
Agreed with both of your points, costeño Spanish out there in Colombia can be very tough. Even non coastal Colombians struggle with it.
very good vid and tips
¡Gracias!
Once again you have made another useful video. I haven't been focusing on reading as much but I definitely see why reading and writing will help to transfer into listening. I will be incorporating this strategy into my studying. Thanks again. You really are an inspiration to those of us who are struggling.
Glad it was helpful and thank you all for the ideas as well!
Great video. It really is putting me on the right track.
Word of advice for your videos... I know you aren't using a script and thats fine but sometimes making a rough outline for your video can help stay structured. A lot of public speakers do this.
Im glad this helps and thank you for that advice as well. I’ll definitely write an outline for the next video.
Yes I would agree. This could be a video that someone would play over and over but the dialogue in between clips repeating "you have to learn diff accents/nuancss" prevents this. Let the clips speak for themselves. This video could easily get lots of views with those struggling to learn spanish AND those training to be interpreters (not translators).
Been studying for a while now and am doing my first italki lesson tomorrow thanks to your motivation. Can't wait!
I’m hoping it goes well!
How did the italki lesson go or how have the lessons be going so far my friend?..
@@servantofthetruth8203 They were great and helpful. I think I've done about 7 of them. I haven't done any in about a month for some personal issues but I hope to have improved much before I return back. I recommend you give it a shot.
@@anthonygrant694 oh ok,i might give it a shot sometime in the future God willing. I'm tight on money right now and don't think I can afford the lessons. I am currently taking the audio lessons on pimsleur and I'm reading madrigal's magic key to spanish book ..i thank you for responding to my comment and I hope that we can both become fluent or close to it in the Spanish language one day
Este video me da más esperanza. Voy a una iglesia hispana y hay tanta gente que no entiendo, sino el pastor mexicano por suerte. Voy a empezar a escuchar ciertos acentos con subtitulos y espero que ayudará. ¡Gracias amigo!
De nada Tad! Me alegra mucho que este video te haya ayudado!
Awesome video Gugu I loved it ,,,,, I'll be studying everyday, reading more listing more and writing more this is poof that its very importante.....Thank you very much ; )
You're welcome as always and I'm glad that this helps!
@@MikeBen it helped so much
How’s your progress so far
What's the link or title for the last video? That's a good one to learn, thanks for the videos
Aquí esta:
czcams.com/video/_C5ch7J_Bdo/video.html
Hey Mike: I went to that largest market in Guatemala when I was taking a class in Spanish down there. They had outings every couple weeks. That was muchos años atrás.
Something like that here in the states would be ideal. Sounds like that was a great experience!
What did you listen to when you were in the beginning stage of your spanish journey? Your video was very helpful thanks.
Im glad this helps. Check out my video titled “10 Podcasts I listen to that help me learn Spanish”. I used those, for example “How to Spanish Podcast, Español en 3000, and No hay tos Podcast”
@@MikeBen thank very much☺️
Hi Mike, great video! I’m not sure if you may have covered this already in another video… but just curious, as a beginner did you do mainly intensive listening sessions? E.g.) write down almost all the words you don’t know, to gain vocabulary?
Definitely not as a beginner. Check out my video titled “Is Your Experience Learning Spanish a Normal One”. Early on listening for me was simply keeping my ears open for words that I recognized. Over time the snowball effect takes place and sentences start to become clear and you progressively improve your listening skills that way
Thank you for this. Also very proud of you keep up great work
Thank you Tayo 🙏🏾
Honestly for me Colombian and Dominican Spanish have been easier to understand rather than Mexican or Central American Spanish mostly because I watch telenovelas from Colombia and i listen to a lot of Colombian music so ive kind of gotten used to it. But as i improve in my vocabulary I can understand most accents. However Spain & Argentina is still different for me
Those telanovelas are great, and I’m similar in that Colombian Spanish is easiest for me to understand also
Hey bro which telenovelas are your watching?
Thanks for the tips, Mike. I’m on my journey to learn Spanish using Kieran Ball’s 3-minute Spanish because of you. How exactly do you ‘acquire’ vocabulary?
Good luck with everything on your journey and check out my video titled “How I learn Spanish Vocabulary Without Flashcards or Duolingo” I explain everything in detail there
@@MikeBen Thanks. Will do! By the way, I’ll say to Sharon for you. I have an Italki lesson coming up tomorrow. 👊
Thank you so much Mike for this! It’s very helpful. So basically, when you were showing the videos at the end, do you just replay the video clips over and over again until you understand it? And do you watch an entire video of like, for example, 10 minutes and do this?
I passively watch those videos passively. If I’m intently trying to understand I will go back through to make sure I can pick out the words
@@MikeBen thank you!!!
Guatemalan/mexican spanish is easier to understand than the Puerto rican dialect lol. Of course I have been studying and conversing with my puerto rican friends.
This video is great.
I agree, they speak much "clearer" but I love both accents equally!
Mucho gracias! ¿Puedes vincular los enlaces de los videos, por favor?
Si los voy a anadir ahorita
Hi Mike! I've been studying spanish for the past 7 months now. I feel like I transcended the beginner phase. I have a few questions.
1. I feel I reached a plateau and I can't seem to understand anything or read more advanced things. It's now either too easy or too difficult.
2. I have female teachers which I like and I listen to childrens cartoons (dora the explorer and peppa pig). But I need to listen to actual male voices so I can imitate the way of speaking. I don't want to sound like a 5 year old child or a female when I speak. But I don't have yet found any male example to follow and which has plenty of content to listen to (which is understandable for a beginner)
3. I struggle so so much with conjugations and tenses. Daily I am practicing them by writing some on a paper, but I just don't seem to get familiar (or get a feel) for them. Any tips on how to get more natural in the use of them?
7 months is very early in the process. I would continue studying using grammar work books or specifically look for resource that cover concepts that your unfamiliar with. When it comes to finding a male speaker, I simply made an effort to have a male tutor as well and that was Juan from Mexico. Speaking with him gave me that balance that I think you’re looking for.
great vid, what video is that at the end?
Here is the link. Its from a Colombian youtube channel that I watch:
czcams.com/video/_C5ch7J_Bdo/video.html
Can you please do a video talking about how you improved your Spanish accent? Did you do anything to help yourself sound less "gringo"?
Thank you for the idea and yes I will get that video done for you all
I’m learning English and I’m trying to understand your video.
My most wish is speak English like native.
You will be able to with time! Keep going!
Your comments at the 10 minute mark are especially helpful. Having been to Colombia recently, it never occurred to me to do a Google search on characteristics of Colombian Spanish. Brilliant!
Thanks Steven, that Colombian Spanish can be difficult if we don’t know what to look for.
I play a lot of videogames, so I put the games in Spanish with subtitles so I could train my ear that way along with google translate. Anything helps.
Great strategy!
Hi Mike, Do you translate in your mind before speaking in spanish? I am learning not to translate and let it be natural. It is a challenge but I am working on it 😔
Initially yes, for the first year and a half and possibly even longer. Luckily now I don’t have to but it’s been a gradual process over time.
@@MikeBen Thank you so much for this. It really helped. I am in the process of learning Spanish. I speak another language but learning Spanish is different. Because funny of enough I cannot write too much of my language but I speak and understand 98% but I believe the reason I learned as a child so I am very conversation. While Spanish I have to teach myself through education. Anyways thanks so much for your content!.
Could you tell me where you find shows to watch to help with listening?
Yes a lot of times my Spanish exchange partners, tutors, friends, and contacts share channels with me. I find others doing my own research in Spanish. After watching so much content in Spanish, CZcams’s algorithm now recommends channels to me as well so it’s a mix of a bunch of things .
@@MikeBen Thank You! I will ask my Colombian friends.
Also, I’m trying to be bold and share my Spanish learning journey as well. 😬😬 let’s see how this goes! You inspire me to do it! Thanks!
What is the name lf the Guatemalan channel at the start of the video?
Se llama Anet Aylin, que te guste
mil gracias
jeje el acento de quibdo tiene su sazón.
Si es muy único pero me gusta mucho
Did you use audio books as well to get a better sense of pronunciation or did you just read on your own? I'm nervous to read books without audio because I don't want to develop a sense of pronunciation that think is right but puede ser equivocado
That’s a good point, I never have used an audiobook but I’ve heard people that love them. I just found that sounding out the words on my own helped my pronunciation as well
@@MikeBen ok thanks for responding. Qué padre to see your channel go from a documenting process to what it is now. Another question i know about the podcasts you watched, but did you ever watch comprehensible input CZcams channels like dreaming in Spanish or Spanish after hours?
“I was watching a homemade movie, that sounds weird “💀
Smh lol
@@MikeBen aye since i got a response tho i do wanna say great video man, very inspirational and informative video. 💯🙏🏿
@@KINGKAYLEB-vq2tb Mil Gracias
The videos of listening to people talk is difficult when there is not at least Spanish subtitles
Agreed but I promise you will appreciate the subtitles not being there as you improve more. They become super distracting once you develop some listening skills.
@@MikeBen thanks
Así mismo Sr Mike todos somos latinos y caribeños y todos tenemos nuestras particularidades , nuestras diferentes entonaciones y palabras de cada país incluso de cada área dentro de un mismo país. Jajajaj nosotros los cubanos al final de las palabras donde va R ponemos L. El señor panadero vestido de blanco es de Republica Dominicana y de verdad se comió muchas sílabas de las palabras( así decimos los cubanos cuando nos referimos a que se saltó silabas o hubo sílabas que no pronunció decimos asi El se comió las sílabas. Pues bueno Sr Mike lo mismo digo yo de uds los que hablan inglés, uds hacen lo mismo se comen sílabas, hablan demasiado rápido, cada región tiene su acento particular. Pero cuando se aprende el idioma es Español donde quiera que se vaya y sino se entiende algo se pregunta Qué significa esta palabra o que quiere decir esta palabra? Pues nada más. Deseando que todos aprendan Español y que no se desanimen. Chao, chao 👋 Sr Mike.
Muchismas gracias y voy a utilazar esa descripcion de comer las silabas en el futuro pero describir eso. La diversidad del idioma me interesa mucho tanto que estoy pensando en hacer otro video solo de los accentos diferentes en el mundo hispanoparlante. Mil gracias como siempre y que usted est muy bien!
@@MikeBen Sr Mike ese verbo COMER que por supuesto el significado más principal es referente a comer la comida también se utiliza para decir por ejemplo cuando una persona no pronuncia las S al final de una palabra se dice : Esa persona se come las S , también cuando un niño está aprendiendo a sumar o restar y le faltó un número en el resultado de la operación matemática uno dice: Te comistes el 5( para poner un ejemplo) en general cuando de algo que uno se salta u olvida uno utiliza el verbo COMER . Si ud le dice a alguien: dime los días de la semana y la persona te los dice pero se saltó uno pues uno le dice: Te comistes el martes. Esas son las cosas que se aprenden con un tutor que se las enseñe a uno. Eso no se enseña en las escuelas de idiomas y después alguien que no es nativo oye ese verbo COMER ahí y se queda sin entender. Bueno Saludos Sr Mike y ese vídeo que ud piensa hacer va a estar súper interesante ♥️👍
Pocho “pollo” in Argentinian Spanish lol 😝 that’s how the double “LL” is pronounced
Exacto! Hay que acostumbrarse a las diferencias! 🇦🇷
@14 min mark and even with you repeating it I still can’t distinguish what the old man said.
It's tough, I had a hard time understanding him as well because of the accent. With time picking up the different accents gets easier.
*mexico
Guatemala
Peru
Honduras
Costa Rica
Ok. Will find at least one italki tutor from these one of these countries
The exposure to all will help, eventually you may find that it helps to focus on one accent though.
@@MikeBen I will go back and pick someone from each country that I can find within my price range. Thanks
it is hard to understand. It is fast and some of the words or letter they "eat" it..
Agreed, with that group of Spanish speakers I would say that practice and effort are truly needed to understand them. I still struggle at times but more exposure helps!
@@MikeBen i thought columbian accent is east to understand because there is some YT channel speak columbian accent. But this, it is above on my paygrade.