Yesterday morning I hadn’t studied French for nearly 30 years.
By yesterday afternoon I was on my way to a better understanding of the language, and already noticing an improvement.
Seems incredible, really. I even surprised myself. Guess I must be a great teacher! (Only joking.)
In fact, there’s no amazing secret or method, and no particular ability is required.
Anyone can improve their listening in a foreign language, with time and with the right approach, even you!
Start here
The first stage in improving your listening comprehension in Italian is to understand your current level. Not your general level in Italian, just your listening ability. Where are you at? Where do you need to be?
I did this with my French by searching the Internet for “test your level in French” and the like. Plenty of language schools offer free resources to attract traffic. The quality is variable, but hey, it’s free.
Having found a suitable site, with exercises graded A1, A2, B1, and so on, I started with a couple at the first level. At first I “didn’t understand anything” (a common student complaint, which is rarely if ever true…). But my scores were consistently 75-100%, which gave me confidence to try the A2 material.
At A2 I was surprised to also score 80%. The audio extract was two strangers talking in a train station. I was pleased to actually follow the conversation (reading the questions first helped a lot, as they acted as a guide).
There not being other A2 exercises on that particular site, I went on to the B1 page, knowing that it would likely be a step too far. This time I scored a terrible 5%, once points were deducted for the wrong answers I’d picked (sneaky French habit…)
More interestingly though, this time I had the clear sensation that I genuinely hadn’t understood large parts of the text. It was just a flow of sound, unlike the A2 material. My score came as no surprise.
Provisional conclusion: I’m nowhere near a B1, but A1 and A2 don’t seem to present problems.
Now do this
This rough and ready method of understanding your current level of ability at listening comprehension can be firmed up a little in two ways:
1. By reading the “level descriptors”
- Elementary A2: can understand isolated phrases and common expressions that relate to areas of high personal relevance (like personal or family information, shopping, immediate environment, work).
- Intermediate B1: can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar subjects in work, school, leisure activities, etc.
It was pretty clear to me, just from the 15 minutes or so that I’d already put in, that A2 was the correct description for me.
And that B1 was not.
“Isolated phrases” yes, “main points of clear, standard speech”, not a hope.
(You’ll find the level descriptors in this post on understanding your level in Italian.)
2. By finding some “official” exams and doing some practice tests to confirm your level
I found out that for French the standard exams are called D.E.L.F., then searched for D.E.L.F. practice material and did an “official” A2 listening test while sat in my very noisy family kitchen.
While with hind-sight a quieter environment would have proved to be more advisable, the listening test itself was stimulating and fun to do.
My results on the four sections were 4/6, 2/3, 4/7, and 3/3, which was quite satisfactory, and confirmed what I had previously decided about my level.
(The “official” exams for Italian are either CILS or CELI by the way. You can find CILS past papers from 2012 here.)
So what?
The logic is this:
- I’ve measured, in a more or less objective way, my current level. I know that I can understand “isolated phrases” but not “the main points of clear, standard speech”.
- So I know which materials I need to use to improve. A1 materials might be good for revision of the basics I’ve forgotten, and for building the habit of studying, but won’t push me much. Any listening material at A2 level should be achievable and stimulating. The B1 stuff will be challenging, but represents my objective, and so will help me measure future progress. B2 is going to be too hard to be of much use, and should be left well alone, for now!
- I’ve defined what “improving my level” means for me. My mission: to be able to understand the main points when someone speaks in a clear way (the B1 descriptor).
Now I just need to work out how to make that leap!
Over to you
So, that’s how I started. Now it’s your turn:
- Work out your level. Be objective, not pessimistic or modest. Use listening exercises like those on this site, use the CEFR level descriptors, use “official exams” (which should, in theory, be more reliable…)
- Understand what you can do already, and what YOUR “next” stage should be
- You should now have an idea of what you will have to do to improve!
Ignoring the time spent writing this up, I maybe spent an hour on finding materials and doing the listenings.
I now know I’m a ‘rusty-as-hell A2’.
I know that I want to focus on understanding the main points in clear speech.
And I know that IF I make that progress, I should be able to verify it with practice material for a B1 D.E.L.F. exam, or similar.
Tocca a te (Your turn).
Go do the work and report back.
I’d suggest you post links to any good materials you find so everyone can save time.
A presto!
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
P.S. Don’t forget the Free Online Italian Lesson offer… 5 days left to get a one-to-one online lesson worth €20, for absolutely nothing! Click here.
John Thomson says
oops Daniel I am having a problem !
My project is to improve, and measure any improvement in competence in understanding spoken Italian and my ability to speak Italian with as few pauses as possible
I decided to make a start at 1.00pm my time 2.00pm your time
I am posting this comment and checked the NOTIFY ME OF FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS BY EMAIL
My project –
Stage 1 assess my level in Italian (I did this a long time ago but forgot how i did it)
I am obviously specifically interested in comprehending spoken Italian and my ability to speak Italian
I clicked where you said in your article and this took me to Italian level test
It said there would be 40 questions and there was A B C D on the screen
For the life of me I could not pull up any questions so I gave up after 16 tries
I need help, I am going to call this a false start
John
Daniel says
The level test has no listening and was NOT recommended in the article (I linked to the page about evaluating your level using the level descriptors – that page links to the level test.
To evaluate your level in listening you need to use a combination of listening exercises, level descriptors, and maybe “official” exams.
However, if you want to do the level test anyway, press “next question” to see the first one (and then repeat for the next). If it doesn’t work, it’s probably because your browswer is blocking javascript (which powers the exercise) by default. So either allow javascript, or try a different browswer.
I have just tested the level test in the two most popular browsers and it works fine….
John Thomson says
Thanks Daniel, all I had to do was click NEXT QUESTION
I did the assessment, obviously no spoken Italian involved, it took me 20 minutes.
result No of tries 60 correct answers 40 so my score is 20 making me a lower intermediate
I know this has not tested my listening skills so my next part of stage 1 will be to try your listening exercises and work out my score there ( probably be A1 -> A0 , if there is such a level
First I am going to watch some football on TV, I hope Everton beat Stoke
Cheers
John
Daniel says
Lower intermediate usually means B1, which sounds about right based on what I’ve seen of your writing…
John Thomson says
JYT Update 2
I have started on the listening exercises, so far done two easy ones then hit brick wall on the third
exercise 1 – “domande o affermazione” level A1 score 5/6
exercise 2 – “le ore” level A1 score 6=7/7 then 6/8
exercise 3 – “le consonanti doppie” level A1/A2 score 1/10 the BRICK WALL
my main problem was not knowing all the Italian vocabulary so difficult to make even an informed guess
if we look at exercise 3.3 “la ……. rimase attaccata al soffito
I heard the “gomma” so I figured something to do with a tyre
“rimase” sounds as though it has something to do with “rimanere”
“attaccata” looks like a past participle and sounds like attached
“soffito” no idea
so far I have a tyre remain attached somewhere
so I checked the answer
“gomma” = gum not a tyre
“rimase” is in fact 3rd person singular of the passato remoto tense of “rimanere”
“attaccato” is past participle of “attaccare” (used as an adjective here)
“il soffito” = the ceiling
So initially I was disheartened but still hopeful. I intend to do a lot of work on these listening exercises but as I said my initial block to comprehension was the vocabulary
Is this the sort of comment you want Daniel? Please don’t worry you will not be receiving one every five minutes!
Do you think it will be helpful to others ?
BTW Stoke city 1 Everton 1
Daniel says
Write whatever you like, John.
But I’d suggest you maybe don’t analyse your listening practice as much. There will always be things you won’t know, even at the most advanced levels. But the objective is NOT to understand everything, so that won’t matter. You need to get enough of the meaning to get by, and shoot back an appropriate response. After all, language is about communication, right?
John Thomson says
Point taken Daniel
What I intend to do is go through the 19 listening exercises using my present knowledge base then work out some kind of score,
Next spend a whole lot of time revisiting the exercises and work out my score again, I am sure there will be an improvement
I will then have a go at the listening exercises in the CILS past papers and see how I get on
I have had an initial look at these and I cannot work out how to dissect out the listening stuff
I am thrilled at the response you are receiving, improving listening skills is clearly a priority for many people
Cheers
John
Daniel says
Doing the same exercise again can be beneficial, but more so in terms of unknown words or grammar than in terms of listening skills. The context is completely different when you repeat an exercise.
The advice from Day 1 is:
1. Work out your listening level
That’s it.
So, what’s your listening level, John? Focus on that, and only that. A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2? Based on what evidence?
When you have a credible answer, THAT’s the time to be taking the next step and trying to improve.
Because you need that info to be sure your approach is correct.
See?
John Thomson says
OK Daniel
I have looked at the CEFR level descriptors, reading them I am undoubtedly Livello A1
This is supported by my ‘results’ from the first listening exercises
1 Domande o affermazione livello A1 ‘score’ 5/6
2 le ore livello A1 ‘score’ 7/7 then 6/8
3 le consonanti doppia livello A1/A2 ‘score’ 1/10 (the number of missing words I recognised on first reading)
Apart from counting the number of words I did not understand it is difficult to give a score
But the CEFR descriptor matches me
By the way there was no REPLY option after my post ( January 2 at 10:23) nor yours (January 2 at 2:03) so I have had to reply to your post (January 1 2014 at 7:55)
Looking forward to your next article I am very optimistic
Cheers John
July Rice says
As far as I can ascertain, I am a low intermediate. What now?
Daniel says
That’s the subject of the next post, which I’m working on right now… But since you ask, I’d suggest you start working on listening material below your current level. So A1 & A2. Do that for a few days to build your confidence and experience with “listening only” type tasks.
You could use CILS or CELI past papers…
Plan to practice with the easy material until you get bored or run out of stuff to do. Then it’ll be time to move up to your current level, and ditto, use whatever good practice material you can get. Poi, a few weeks into the future, you’ll step up to material from your target level (the next one up), and hopefully begin to see an improvement.
More details in a day or so, but in summary: start with the easy stuff to build your confidence and experience.
Daniel says
Oh, and spend some time collecting links to good stuff on the internet, organising what you find into level and type of material. Then, you’ll always have something at hand to listen to when you’re in the mood to practice…
eithne murphy says
Hi Daniel,
Just done over an hour’s listening following your scheme beginning with an A2 listening & then a B1 & then a B1/2 & finished with the C1 about loyalty & cheating . I’m exhausted but I suspect that were I to do the same exercises using a loudspeaker as opposed to earplugs I would have fared less well. Ear pieces seem to focus the sound better for me.
I enjoy your self deprecatory articles. They are amusing but informative as well as very encouraging.
Planning to return to Madrelingua this year.
Daniel says
Hi Eithne,
Good for you for having made a start.
So, did you work out what your current listening level is?
If so, and if you are having trouble with “noisy” listenings, then a possible next step for you would be to take a step down from your “real” level (say from B2 to B1) and try the speakers. Build your confidence and ability to deal with “dirty” listenings with the easier stuff, then step back up in a week or so when you have more confidence in your abilities.
There’s no logical reason why sound quality should be any more of a problem for you in Italian than it is in your native language. You’d find it hard to make out what someone said to you on a crackly phone line or in a noisy disco, even if they were speaking English. The difference here is that you react to it differently, maybe more negatively, rather than just brushing it off as no fault of yours as you would in English.
Thanks for the feedback, by the way…
nancy dunbar says
this was a very helpful article.
based on my testing, I’d say that I’m a weak A2. Fortunately, I’m coming to Madrelingua in late April for 2 (or may three) weeks of study 🙂 and listening ability is a high priority! May do some online lessons in January, but am not sure I have a good enough internet connect to support that.
Daniel says
Thank you, Nancy.
From a weak A2, you should be able to make good and rapid progress. Put in the hours, as regularly as you can, and you’ll be surprised at the progress that is possible…
Willem-Jan says
I have passed my CILS B1 exam in December 2012. December 5th I have gone up for the B2, but I will have to wait untill March for the results. Yes, that’s Italy…
So I have the choice of profounding my listening skills on a level B2 or aim for a level higher: C1.
Knowing my personal learning style I think I will go for profouning at B2.
Thank for your guided journey. It gives me a lot of insight!
Daniel says
Ciao Willem-Jan,
Assuming you took the correct exam in December, you must be more or less a B2 already. And you’re clearly in the habit of studying.
So personally I’d recommend lots of authentic materials (podcasts, radio, TV, DVDs, audio books) plus starting work on any C1 material you can find.
Use C1 CILS papers as a diagnostic tool to identify what you’re likely to find difficult. Then work on that with the supplementary materials.
At the higher levels, the complexity of the texts doesn’t actually change that much. But the questions get harder. So, basically, do anything that interests you, as long as it pushes and motivates you.
(Avoid anything that demotivates or bores you…)
Paula says
Great post, Daniel! This is on my weekend to-do list when I’m not hiding under the covers so the light of my iPhone doesn’t wake the hubby.
Daniel says
Welcome Paula,
And thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.
If your to-do list is anything like mine, though, you might struggle to get round to things. The trick is “little but often”.
Works for me, anyway!
A presto,
Daniel
Paula says
Grazie, Daniel!
For some reason, the remaining two-thirds of my comment didn’t appear. Hmmm? Anyway, yes – you are right about taking a few “bites” each day. 🙂 Hoping I’ll place around the A2 level I think I’m at, but your guidance will allow me to determine if I’m accurate or simply an eternal optimist (or in deep denial!).
Thanks for all you do – love your posts!
Ci vediamo – Paula
Daniel says
And thanks for your kind comments, Paula!