How to Listen to English on The Phone

Listening to English on the phone is easy. You just listen. Do you know the difficult part?

The difficult part is understanding English when you’re on the phone. I know that comprehension struggle. When I lived in Istanbul, Turkey, I needed to call the Spanish Embassy to get a student visa. However, I had a few problems.

My problem was that I needed to fly home to the US to get the visa. That was a problem for me since I was already so close to Spain and didn’t want to spend money on a trip to the States. Guess what? I had another problem, too: I didn’t speak Spanish.

What was my solution? I had two options:

1. ask for help from a Spanish speaking person
2. try my hardest to understand and get my meaning across

Honestly, I tried both. I failed at the second one and asked my roommate for help since she was a native speaker.

This was difficult. Like, really, really difficult. I know many of you have also had this trouble. That’s why I created a two-part podcast series to help you. Podcast episodes #71 and #70 of the Living in English: 365 podcast help you win in this situation.

And who doesn’t like winning!

Below you’ll find a summary of the points. You can listen to the podcast here.

Part 1: Stop Freaking Out and Stressing When You Listen to English on the Phone

Before I found a teaching job in Turkey, I found my dream one in Japan. Japan has always been (and still is) on my bucket list to travel to. This job was even close to a family member, but I had a massive issue. The e-mail message that I had gotten from the high school I’d applied for was a scam. I was devastated.

I called the school and tried to explain what had happened. They of course didn’t know about the scam. They also didn’t speak English. Luckily there was someone in the school who did to help out because I was relying on Google Translate to get my message to them.

This was stressful. Supertastically (okay, it’s not a word…but it can be, right?) stressful. Here are some reasons why this was stressful and why you have difficulty listening on the phone:

• you’re too anxious
• you’re distracted
• are you paying attention?
• it’s too noisy
• do you have any hearing issues? (I do!)
• unprepared

These simple things are why you’re struggling to understand on the phone. Listening isn’t as easy as you may think. It requires many complex processes. Don’t make yourself more stressed. Don’t cause yourself more troubles. Be mindful of these things on this list and you’ll be more relaxed on the phone.

To help you out more, I have two supertastic things you can do. Check out part two below, or read my summary.

Part 2: 2 Things to Do to Understand English When Talking on the Phone

Whilst studying in France, I learned that I had to complete some mandatory health tests. I’d already taken some of these before I arrived in France, so I didn’t want to do it again, but the French administration at my school persisted. When I called up the office, I realized I had no idea what the name of the test was. Similarly, I had little idea what the person on the other end of the phone was saying. I had only been in France for 3 months. By the grace of God I was able to make my appointment and arrive at the health center, which turned out to be closing. No one bothered to tell me that. Or did they tell me and I didn’t understand?

As I said in Part 1, listening isn’t easy. There are no subtitles to help you; no one standing in front of you to explain with their body language or hand gestures what they’re trying to say.

There are many ways that you can improve your listening on the phone. I’ll give you two. You can listen to the full episode of the Living in English: 365 podcast by clicking the link above.

1. Keep it simple: prepare yourself with common phrases/vocabulary
   
2. Focus on what the other person on the phone will say.

Often times you forget to learn responses. I’ve done it as well. But it shouldn’t be like this. You must learn these responses because they will help you understand what they are saying to you. You may also need to use those same responses later, too.

Do these simple things that I’ve outlined from part 1 and part 2 of my How to Listen to English on the Phone podcast series. Be sure to check out those episodes.

Which is most difficult for you on the phone: 1) responding, or 2) knowing what to say?