A good way to increase listening skills Just watch movies in that language which you want to know WITH your native language subtitles. Probably nobody can speak and pronounce words better than professional actors. And if you interested in live spoken language with some... mmm... colloquial expresions it's a good way to learn them. It might seem difficult especially for beginners (actually it is difficult) but the prize will be appropriate. Your listening skills will grow up, you will understand 10%-15% at the beginning and you won't have noticed for himself when you will able to understand almost all. Ability to understand different accents is an additional opportunity of such kind sessions. You may chose which movie you want to watch - should it be american western, comedy or some dirty movie of Guy Ritchie. Time is the price of our knowledge. It's impossible to watch TV right along few hours every day. But is there other more efficient way to improve listening skills? I guess not. I tried listening songs but understanding them much harder, sometimes impossible.