A permission slip for frustrated listeners of English

The “obvious” English learning advice out there amazes me:

• Find articles, Facebook groups or podcasts on your interests in English
• Follow YouTubers in English
• Put your social media accounts into English

Well duh right?

Surely it’s obvious that you should do activities you enjoy in your own language in English? And don’t we all know we’re allowed to do “fun” things like watch silly cat videos in English or hang out in online forums?

The problem is, you get stuck doing what you think you’re supposed to do. School gives the impression that learning English is tough. That you can only achieve it by burying your head in a textbook and doing painful grammar exercises or pronunciation drills.

The perception that English is something hard you need to study means you ignore the language learning opportunities right in front of you like:

• going online in English
• reading in English
• watching TV in English
• listening to music in English

So, experts share tips for making English or any language you’re learning an enjoyable part of your day. Not because it’s groundbreaking advice. But to give you permission. Permission to add English to your life in ways that are fun and easy.

Listening is one of the toughest skills to master in English or any second language. When I first did a French listening exam at school, all I could catch were the sounds of “quelle horreur” reverberating around our gym hall as the tape clicked off. And I was top of the class.

So as a listening teacher and the head subtitle freedom fighter at Leo Listening, consider this your permission slip if you’re feeling frustrated with listening in English.

Whether it’s subtitled movies, native speakers whose anecdotes you can’t follow or a podcast that’s impossible to understand, you’ll make your experience more enjoyable if you give yourself permission. Permission to be kind and gentle to yourself on your journey.

I give you permission to not understand

I give you permission to only understand 30%

I give you permission to rewind

I give you permission to listen again

I give you permission to listen as many times as you need to

I give you permission to turn on the subtitles

I give you permission to turn off the subtitles

I give you permission to use a transcript

I give you permission to throw away the transcript

I give you permission to ask for help

I give you permission to listen to slowed down audio

I give you permission to feel good about your listening

I give you permission to feel bad about your listening

I give you permission to understand as much or as little as you want

I give you permission to listen to audio designed for English learners

I give you permission to listen to something slower, like an audiobook

I give you permission to listen to podcasts where they speak slowly and clearly

I give you permission to not listen to native content

I give you permission to turn on the radio and not understand

I give you permission to put English on in the background, while you’re doing other things

I give you permission to ask your teacher for help

I give you permission to ask your teacher to change the way they work on listening with you

I give you permission to listen to TED Talks

I give you permission to not listen to TED Talks

I give you permission to watch the news

I give you permission to not watch the news

I give you permission to only understand your English teacher

I give you permission to ask people to repeat themselves

I give you permission to ask people to slow down

I give you permission to say “hey, I’m not a native speaker” and ask for repetition or clarification

I give you permission to smile and nod your way through a difficult to understand conversation

I give you permission to understand your colleagues at work, but not at the pub

I give you permission to change the subject in conversation when you don’t understand

I give you permission to understand the general meaning

I give you permission to guess from context

I give you permission to have listening as your weakest skill

I give you permission to not be able to distinguish between different accents

I give you permission to translate in your head while listening

I give you permission to prefer reading to listening

I give you permission to read a book in English, rather than watch a film.

I give you permission to not follow a conversation, whether it’s with one or multiple native speakers

I give you permission to not understand movies in English

I give you permission to have better speaking or writing skills than listening skills

I give you permission to not understand every word

I give you permission to complain about native speakers talking too fast

I give you permission to not socialise with native colleagues

I give you permission to never listen like a native

I give you permission to never understand 100% of everything

I give you permission to work on your listening in a way that suits you

I give you permission to be imperfect

I give you permission to never perfect your listening

I give you permission to not feel confident about your listening

I give you permission to listen to “real” English

I give you permission to hate your favourite actor, for the lines they pronounced that you couldn’t catch

I give you permission to always miss a little something when you listen to English

I give you permission to feel scared, frustrated, bad about your listening

I give you permission to “fail” at listening

I give you permission to feel good about your listening and about your English no matter where you’re at right now

You have my permission to do all this and more. You have my permission because you’re doing something hard. You’re becoming bilingual. So you’re in a better position than many of the monolingual natives you can’t understand.

So give yourself permission to work on your English and your listening in a way that suits you. And above all permission to love and accept where you are right now on your learning journey, no matter how far you feel you are from your destination.

Thank you to all the frustrated listeners of English I’ve connected with over the last couple of years and who’ve shared their stories with me.