How can language learners improve their listening skills?

[Kamilla Ganiyeva]

Hi everyone! I need your advice and i would be very happy if you responded to me. I've been  learning English for severals years, but i still have problems with my listening skills. Now i have intermediate level. But when I'm watching movies  or listening songs in English I have difficulties with catching the meaning. What would you recommend me to improve my comprehension? Thanks in advance.

[Sasha Ganieva]

In my opinion, in order to improve your listening skills, you should start to watch cartoons with subtitles, then after you realize that you can understand the cartoons without subtitles, you can try to watch movies with the same method. It will become very easy to understand everything.
Second, music lyrics aren't the easiest thing to understand, even for native speakers. Actually people look for them in the internet and then memorize every single word.  That's how the majority of people do. You may also surf the internet in order to get the lyrics of your favorite song, then you just learn each sentence and its meaning. That's how you will understand almost every song. 
 You should start a conversation with a native speaker. As soon as you find somebody, pay attention to the accent he makes, it may be American English or British English. Then, you should see how to pronounce every single word and try to copy the prononciation. If you chat often in a different language than your native one, you will learn the other language very fast and easier than with a teacher and a book.

[Nadi]

Hi, Kamilla. Your question is very relevant among language learners. Listening is one of the most important skills, due to the fact that without good listening skills you will always have problems in communication; you simply can't understand what someone is talking about. 

I think any language learner has issues with  listening skills. And because of failure they give up(. As famous proverb says "Rome wasn't built in a day" which means that you need time to develop your skills and you should work hard. 

While preparing for IELTS exam I also had difficulties in listening; I really couldn't catch the meaning, I even couldn't devide the words, it seemed to me as one long sentence))). But then I began to search for tips which can help me to improve my skills. And finally I found very good application. It is treasure for me because it has many interesting topics and useful vocabulary connected in each topis.And  last but not the least it has the texts of given topics.  In addition,I created 3 step preparation for listening.(All you need is a good mood and this wonderful application)The first step is choosing and listening topis in which you are really interested... (it's really important to choose such kind of topic because it gives you motivation to listen till the end))) The second step is listening but with given text and try to repeat aloud. This method can help you to cope not only with listening but also with speaking skills as it improves your pronunciation. And the third step is listening without any text.With a help of this method I develop my skills. And the last advice for you try to practice more) Practice makes perfect. Do your best!

P.S Contact me if you need more information about application)