‘Why Can’t I Understand Spoken English!?’

You Can’t Understand English Because…

Listening to English is difficult, right? I understand. But what’s the problem?

When I was studying French, I had the same problem: I just COULDN’T understand the French speakers. It slowly became easier for me, but I wondered why it was so hard in the first place? Read below to learn why.

11 Reasons Listening to English is Hard

1. You don’t have enough relevant vocabulary.
2. You don’t have enough vocabulary in general.
3. The topic is unknown (no background knowledge).
4. You don’t have a lot of knowledge in the topic (limited background knowledge).
5. You only learned academic English.
6. You did not learn non-standard/informal (colloquial) English–How people speak in real life.
7. You did not study pronunciation/sounds.
8. You rarely practice speaking.
9. You practice speaking for a short time (our brains get tired after a few minutes).
10. You watch lips as they speak (lip reading), which makes you slower.
11. You did NOT practice listening when you CAN’T see the other person.

Click below to get the top 6 reasons you can’t understand English.