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how to understand native speakers

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reda-red

hello I am Reda from Morocco I'll come to Us exactly at houston and I want learn how to understand people americain who speak very fast because I have problem in that !! I can understand all what I read but I am not good in listening so I need some advice !!

James

You're not alone by any means reda-red, even other English speakers have extreme difficulty understanding Texan, it seems to be a language all of its very own, as if their accent alone isn't bad enough.

It's the only place in the civilized world that people will tell you to go through a red light. We usually stop for a red light and go through a green one, but there when they say red light they're talking about a traffic light, not its color. Who knew???

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

HaileyinHongKong

Practice is probably the only way.  If there was a quick & easy trick, everyone would be talking like us.  We don't even all talk like us.  I don't sound anything like someone from New York, Louisiana, Washington, Maine, Mississippi..... or Texas.

And Chinese people never stop at red lights.

reda-red

thank's for advices :-)

vroni

What helped me a lot was watching lots of TV series on DVD. Series worked better than movies. Watching the news also helped. Now I moved on to audio books.

reda-red

I start watch movies in english but I understand just 30 % !! I have just watched the movie PREJECT X !!

vroni

Series are easier to follow. At the beginning I used subtitles. Don't get encouraged, it takes some time.

reda-red

ok I'll do your steps untill I get it

HaileyinHongKong

TV won't help at all if you want to sound Texan.  Most of the actors using fake Texan accents are exaggerating.  Local Texas news might be ok, but I'm sure many of them are from other parts of the country.  The top American anchormen are always from Canada anyway.

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