Hey There!
Last night I had a great chat with my level six students. Somehow, we got into a discussion of watching TV to improve listening skills.
One thing that came to mind is that you must emerge yourself into the culture. If you are interested in American English, then watch and listen to how these people talk. You can also watch their body language and facial expressions. But you must also be aware of Konglish. For example, the sitcom “Friends” is spelled in Korean with a ‘P’ (ㅍ) and not an ‘F’ (ㅍcan’t work here). Also, in Korean, it ends with (드) and not ~ds, so as you can see, there is no plural. It’s very subtle but it is everywhere.
Sometimes I see restaurants that show their business hours as Open: am 10, Close: pm 10. In Korean, this would be spoken and written as 오전 10시 and 오후 10시. If you take this and translate it literally into English, it would be am 10 and pm 10. Remember that everything in English is backwards. The number goes before the letters.
One reason it is so difficult to learn English here in Korea is because there is Konglish everywhere. On TV, in magazines and books, posters, music, even stationary – I think Morning Glory stationary is ALL Konglish. I’ve seen Konglish on t-shirts.
The classroom is a terrible place to learn English. It’s like we are just ‘manufacturing’ graduates. The best way to learn English without traveling abroad is to pay close attention to the culture and listen and observe carefully what foreigners are saying.
Hope this helps. Feel free to comment and share ideas!
I’m Sujie in Level in the morning. It’s true that we are revealed in Konglish everywhere.. To avoid Konglish, paying attention to American culture is one of the best ways. Because a language is a part of one’s culture. I think another way to avoid Konglish is to use English-English dictionary. It’s really helpful to acquire the proper and accurate English expressions. That’s the reason I carry one all the time.
Hi Sujie,
Thanks for posting here. Yes, I agree with you on your comments above. Here in Korea, I have to deal with people when I go out in the public and no one speaks to me slowly or translates. Neither do I carry a dictionary around with me and look up every word I don’t understand. This is why I believe listening skills are so important.
The bottom line is not how you develop listening skills but just doing it. Find a system and solution that works and then stick with it.
Take care and have a good day.