No wonder you don't understand

Listening requires active effort

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! Listening is one of the skills many people assume will improve over time with or without a concerted effort. Unfortunately, this is not true. In order to elevate your listening skills you need to do more than simply have your target language playing somewhere in the background. Of course, if you do spend more time immersed in your language of choice, it will make things easier over time. However, if all you do is play things in the background you will struggle to understand native speakers when the time comes.

No one wants to feel like the work they put in was all for nought, and I don’t want you to feel that way either. Luckily there are some exercises you can begin working on immediately that will ensure you are able to flex your listening skills whenever necessary. Some are easier than others, but as with everything you should try them all out and find out what works best for you.

The dangers of passive listening