{"id":3059,"date":"2023-10-17T21:47:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T01:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/?p=3059"},"modified":"2025-01-24T23:12:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T04:12:31","slug":"the-importance-of-listening-in-language-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/the-importance-of-listening-in-language-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Listening is Important for Language Learners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.academypublication.com\/issues\/past\/jltr\/vol02\/05\/05.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Research shows<\/a> that when we communicate, about 40-50% of our time is spent listening. That&#8217;s why listening is important in language learning\u2014we spend almost half our time doing it.\u00a0So why is it still so hard to listen to a native speaker talking?<\/p>\n<p>This frustrating roadblock is quite common, and the solution is to <strong>spend more time listening effectively in your second language<\/strong>. Honing your listening skills is incredibly important as an adult language learner, which is a key to acquiring languages faster, as outlined in the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Wik49hGspwc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU YouTube video<\/a> below:<\/p>\n<p><lite-youtube videoid=\"Wik49hGspwc\"><\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n<p>[fluentu-toc]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<h2>1. Listening is Actually an Active Process<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever sat in a group of people speaking a foreign language, you&#8217;ll be familiar with the uncomfortable feeling that you should be joining in. You feel like, if you&#8217;re not saying something, you&#8217;re not really engaging in the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing could be further from the truth. The problem is that\u00a0<strong>you&#8217;re confusing a silent process with a passive process<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Listening is a very active process, despite the fact that you&#8217;re not &#8220;doing&#8221; anything. That&#8217;s why you&#8217;re so tired when you go home after a social event in another language.<\/p>\n<p>Getting over the feeling that we&#8217;re &#8220;doing nothing&#8221; is a key step towards listening effectively.<\/p>\n<p>A further solution is to <strong>employ active listening techniques<\/strong>, to remind yourself and others that you&#8217;re involved in the conversation even if you don&#8217;t speak much.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some tips to show that you&#8217;re actively listening:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make eye contact with the person who&#8217;s talking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lean forward slightly to show interest. (If you&#8217;re actually listening, this should be natural.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Nod your head slightly to show you&#8217;re understanding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Make agreeing noises and nod your head if you agree with something they&#8217;ve said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t look or be distracted by fidgeting, playing with your phone or looking off into the distance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>2. Listening Prepares You for Speaking<\/h2>\n<p>Children who learn a second language often go through a <a href=\"https:\/\/choiceliteracy.com\/article\/understanding-the-silent-period-with-english-language-learners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;silent period&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0where they don&#8217;t say anything. Language teachers and researchers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.analomba.com\/anas-blog\/the-silent-period-in-language-acquisition-truth-or-myth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">haven&#8217;t totally agreed<\/a> whether it&#8217;s a necessary stage of language learning, or how long it should be. But they do agree that many children experience it.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s fair to say that most adults don&#8217;t go through a silent period at all. We often try to jump straight into speaking.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with trying to speak from the beginning is that <strong>a period of silent listening can actually be hugely beneficial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One big reason is that speaking can be quite a nerve-racking experience. I find it as stressful as performing on stage. As new learners, we&#8217;re thinking so much about what we should say next that we don&#8217;t fully experience what the other person has said. We suffer from &#8220;task overload.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Allowing yourself to be silent lets you get the most from listening.<\/p>\n<p>However, speaking successfully in a foreign language can also be very rewarding. Speaking motivates us to continue learning. And we wouldn&#8217;t want to lose our motivation, would we?<\/p>\n<p>The answer isn&#8217;t to give up speaking altogether. It&#8217;s to give ourselves permission to be silent, and not beat ourselves up if we don&#8217;t say much. <strong>Speak when you can, but you don&#8217;t have to force it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>We can benefit both from the motivation of speaking <em>and<\/em> the listening benefits of being quiet for a while.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Listening Helps You Internalize Language Rules<\/h2>\n<p>Would it surprise you to learn that <strong>your short-term memory is even shorter in a foreign language<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>When you think about it, it makes sense.\u00a0How often have you forgotten what someone has just said in your target language?\u00a0For me, at least, it happens a lot more than in my native tongue.<\/p>\n<p>Listening is a vital step in overcoming this problem.<\/p>\n<p>But why does it happen?<\/p>\n<p>Not to get into too much detail (although it is fascinating), this effect might be due to how our short-term memory works.<\/p>\n<p>When we listen to someone talking, <strong>our brain starts processing the information by &#8220;segmenting&#8221;<\/strong> it into small chunks for our short-term memory. It splits them up based on our knowledge of the &#8220;rules&#8221; for how the language is spoken.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of storing the words &#8220;a green goldfish,&#8221; for instance, our brain might convert those words into an image of a green goldfish for storage.<\/p>\n<p>In a foreign language, we aren&#8217;t as familiar with the &#8220;segmentation rules&#8221; for how our target language is spoken. Our short-term memory has to store all the words individually.<\/p>\n<p>One reason listening is important in language learning is that it <strong>helps us become familiar with these segmentation rules<\/strong>. And not only will it boost your understanding, it will ultimately improve your speaking, too.<\/p>\n<p>Learning segmentation rules is usually an unconscious process, so the easiest way is to get lots of listening practice. You can do that by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/how-to-learn-a-language-by-watching-tv-movies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watching television and films<\/a> in your target language<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/best-foreign-language-audio-books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listening to an audiobook<\/a> and reading along<\/li>\n<li>Attending events with your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/find-a-language-exchange-partner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">language exchange partner<\/a> and focusing on listening<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/language-learning-radio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listening to the radio<\/a> in your target language<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/language-learning-videos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Watching videos online<\/a> in your target language<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The key to successful language learning is to find authentic media in your target language that you enjoy listening to, and then build your learning around that.<\/p>\n<p>For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU<\/a> is an app and program that teaches you a language using web videos, immersing you in authentic content from native speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p>You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/fluentu-learn-language-videos\/id917892175\">the iOS app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.fluentflix.fluentu&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=US\">Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><i><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\r\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/try-fluentu-for-free.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU Ad\" \/>\r\n  <p style=\"text-align: center\">\r\n    <button class=\"btn-blue\" style=\"border: none;font-size: 18px;text-align: center;padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;cursor: pointer\">\r\n      Try FluentU for FREE!\r\n    <\/button>\r\n  <\/p>\r\n<\/a>\r\n\n<p>This kind of learning helps you get a lot of <strong>valuable practice listening to the language while also comprehending it<\/strong>, increasing your confidence in your listening skills.<\/p>\n<h2>4. To Practice Listening for the Right Information<\/h2>\n<p>If you learned a language in school, what listening strategy were you taught?<\/p>\n<p>I remember listening exams going like this: Listen to a tape (yes, a tape!) and then translate what you heard. Specifics were important. You would lose marks if you messed up the gender of a word, for example.<\/p>\n<p>As far as I can see, that&#8217;s still how listening is taught in my home country.<\/p>\n<p>Language researchers call this a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/learningcenter.unc.edu\/tips-and-tools\/academic-listening-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bottom-up listening strategy<\/a>. It means carefully listening to each word, pronoun and sentence structure to work out what has been said. Though it&#8217;s okay for classroom use, it is unfortunately not a complete listening strategy for use in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>In the real world, you can&#8217;t spend all your listening energy focusing on specific grammar while people speak. They&#8217;ll keep talking and you&#8217;ll be lost.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top-down listening<\/strong>, on the other hand, is a great strategy to add more understanding of what&#8217;s being said. Where bottom-up strategies focus on words, top-down strategies focus on concepts. Of course, both are necessary to be an effective listener.<\/p>\n<p>To listen using top-down strategies, you need to learn a little about the spoken topic beforehand. Here are suggestions for implementing this type of strategy for some common activities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you&#8217;re going to see a movie or theater play in a foreign language, read the story first.<\/li>\n<li>Read up on the topic before going to see a presentation.<\/li>\n<li>Try reading about or predicting the content of an audio passage before you listen to it.<\/li>\n<li>Hang out with a friend who repeats the same anecdote to different people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These techniques will get your brain<strong> focusing on concepts<\/strong> and not just specific words when you&#8217;re actually listening. And in the cases where you know or learn the story beforehand, your comprehension will go up dramatically.<\/p>\n<h2>5. To Continue Improving Your Listening Abilities<\/h2>\n<p>Finally, one thing that we often neglect when listening in another language is to <strong>check exactly how much we&#8217;ve understood<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond a certain level of language ability, we often &#8220;get the gist&#8221; of what was said. However, sometimes we haven&#8217;t understood as much as we think.<\/p>\n<p>Next time you listen to something in your target language, <strong>try these six short, easy exercises<\/strong> to prove to yourself that you&#8217;ve really understood what was said:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Draw a picture of what was said.<\/li>\n<li>Ask yourself questions about what was said and try to answer them.<\/li>\n<li>Provide a summary of what was said.<\/li>\n<li>Suggest what might come next in the &#8220;story.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Translate what was said into another language.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Talk back&#8221; to the speaker in imaginary conversation (I do this when listening to the radio, for example).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, there are quite a few reasons why listening is important in language learning.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you know what they are, however, it will be more motivating to engage in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn-a-language-by-listening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">different kinds of listening practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And when you follow the exercises to check how much you&#8217;ve understood, you&#8217;ll be amazed at the change!<\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<h2>And One More Thing...<\/h2>\r\n<p>\r\nIf you're like me and love learning languages through real-world content, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU is a game-changer<\/a>. With FluentU, you're not just memorizing words\u2014you\u2019re learning how native speakers actually use them. \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWith our newest feature, you can now <strong>bring FluentU\u2019s interactive tools to any subtitled content on YouTube or Netflix<\/strong>\u2014or even import YouTube videos directly into your FluentU account!\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-interactive-subtitles-on-youtube-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"learn-a-language-with-music-videos-fluentu\" width=\"600\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a> \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nYou\u2019ll also get access to a huge variety of content in our curated video library, from movie trailers to news clips, music videos, and more. The best part? <strong>FluentU makes this native-language content accessible for learners of all levels.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-Spanish-video-library-on-app.jpg\" alt=\"fluentu-video-library\" width=\"320\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a> \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWhile you watch, you can <strong>tap on any word in the interactive subtitles<\/strong> to see a definition, an image, audio, and useful example sentences. Want to practice new words later? Add them to your flashcards with one click. No more pausing to look up and write down new words! \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-French-vocab-gens.jpg\" alt=\"learn-vocab-with-fluentu-interactive-subtitles\" width=\"320\" height=\"568\" \/><\/a> \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nAnd FluentU helps you <strong>actually remember what you learn<\/strong> with personalized quizzes, plenty of example sentences, and extra practice with the words you find difficult.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-korean-vocab-quiz.jpg\" alt=\"learn-a-language-with-adaptive-quizzes\" width=\"600\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a> \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<strong>Ready to start learning in a more natural, immersive way?<\/strong> Try FluentU on your computer or tablet, or download the FluentU app from the App Store or Google Play. <a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a>\r\n<\/p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research shows that when we communicate, about 40-50% of our time is spent listening. That&#8217;s why listening is important in language learning\u2014we spend almost half our time doing it.\u00a0So why&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":248303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Why Listening is Important for Language Learners | FluentU Language Blog","description":"If you're wondering why listening is important in language learning, you're not alone. It can be frustrating to feel that you have a pretty good grasp on your target language but still hear gibberish when native speakers talk. Here are five key reasons listening is such a vital language skill\u2014plus tips for improving it!"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"coauthors":[34],"class_list":["post-3059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language-learning-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3059"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240596,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3059\/revisions\/240596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3059"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}