Hey. I am an Indonesian. My native language is Indonesian and Javanese language. I only learn english from the school since I was 1st grader. I've never take any english course before. Outside the school, I used to learn english by reading some english articles or english contents on the internet, watching english movies with subtilte on it, listening to english songs. It makes me easier to improve my skills in reading, writing, and speaking.
But my listening skill is not good. I can listen to someone when they speak slowly or moderately and clearly. Indian and British accent are the most clear accent for me. But, when I listen someone speaking in english fastly, I can not understand what they mean. Sometimes many people, especially english native speaker speaks too fast and hard to understand.
And..... here's the complicated situation;
Even tho I can't understand the english speaker who speaks to fast, I still can listen to Indonesian people's english speaking well, whether they speak too fast, or not. I still can understand them easily.
What do you think, guys? Does anyone has the same situation with me? In your opinion, what is the cause of my problem? Or maybe you have a solution?
SAYA ORANG AUSTRALIA.I don't know if my experience will help you or not. Maaf, sorry, if my ideas are of no use to you. I used to think Indonesians talked very, very fast. I could not make out a word. Now, I can make out more and more words. At first, Indonesian sounded very foreign to me. As I listened more and more, it stopped being foreign or remote to me. As I listened more and more, Bahasa Indonesia became beautiful to listen to, not something that was remote or foreign at all. Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Ingriss used to sound very differently to me. I think, maybe watching films and tv without subtitles might increase your ability to make out more English words. I think if you spend some time without subtitles, you are more likely to pick up the rhythms of the various accents of English speakers. I would recommend watching films and tv from different countries. It would make you more comfortable with the different accents of the English speaking world.I think subtitles are very useful, but I think it can sometimes be useful to not use them. Possibly, by not using subtitles the focus will be more on listening and "soaking in the rhythms of the language". Also translators often use very different phrases or words to the ones that are actually being said by actors etc in films. We often get subtitles that are not just not literal, but are bizarre translations. While I have become much more able to make more words out when people are speaking, Indonesians still talk too fast.:) Perhaps it would be truer to say until I become more and more accustomed to the rhythms of Indonesian, Indonesian is going to sound very fast.The reality is that Indonesians don't sound as fast to me as they once did. I don't believe Indonesians have suddenly decided to speak slower. It's just my ability to take in the rhythms of the language has improved. So now, I can make out more words. Good luck!
At the first time I was like you.
You should keep trying , listen to English news.
