Hey Piseth,
Yeah American English is sometimes hard for me to understand too :wink: , the main reason is the different use of IDIOM which they use instead of conventional British English. However most of the language is the same and if it is American English you are trying to understand more of when you listen.
I would recommend for effective practice that you watch CNN news, as this is uses mainly American English, the advantage here is that you can see the pictures while you are listening to the story. They usually repeat the same stories every hour, on the hour.
So for example a technique to improve your listening could be..
First, sit with your back to the television and just listen to the news report which is on CNN every hour, choose only one news story.
Have a sheet of paper with the key words.
What ( story is about )
When (it happened )
Where ( it happened )
What ( happened, story details )
What doe the story mean ( what do people think about it?)
Try to answer these questions using key words and then turn off the tv and try to write a short version of the story as you have understood it ONLY BY LISTENING TO IT.
Then the next hour when the same news story is repeated, this time watch the tv and check whether you listened and understood the correct story, as this time you will be watching it, and so will have the pictures
( the CONTEXT) to help you.
The main difficulty with listening is the CONTEXT ( the situation or place ) what the people are talking about, so by practising this method, you can get some basic training in matching listening to context and listen to the sometimes difficult American English at the same time.
If British English is hard for you, you can do the same technique, but this time do it by watching BBC WORLD, and again the same news stories will be repeated every hour.
There will be more tips coming soon, as the content section of this site develops,
have fun, :wink:
Paul
