I’ve been studying Japanese for 10 years now and my output level is around advanced and my reading skills are also strong. However, even after living in Japan for 4 years, my listening skills are still lacking. If something complicated is said, it will take all of my concentration to try to understand it, and I often struggle to understand it. Even if it’s something I should be able to understand, I feel like my brain can’t process it fast enough if it’s not something simple. I’m not sure how to improve my listening at this point. Do I just need to do more listening practice or study more advanced grammar? Do I need to increase my vocabulary? I need to study more vocab regardless, but is that the key to getting better at listening? I’ve been translating some anime and YouTube videos recently. Any advice or good sources for practice would be appreciated. Thanks.
2 comments
You might be on to a good thing with the translating! Back in the mid 2000s I was involved with a jdrama fansubbing group, and I do feel like that helped a lot with my listening skills.
Playing the same scenes over and over trying to catch a particular piece of dialogue, just really closely paying attention to the sounds and then going back to translate it. I do think it helped!
I’m only a novice so I am not sure how much I will help but I know a lot of people say you need to stop trying to understand, and just listen. Don’t listen and try translating in your head, just listen. As you are advanced I am sure you know more than you realise