Shared from Learn Japanese subreddit!
Long time, no see, denizens of the Reddit Language Learning world. I've been busy lately and haven't had much time for myself, but seeing as this is a common question among language learners, I thought I'd share some sentiments on the topics. Maybe it'll be helpful! Maybe not... Who knows!?
The Problem
I, and many others, have found that reading ability is much easier to develop than listening comprehension.
I speculate that this is because listening forces you to parse raw audio and turn it into meaning in real time (with little delay), while in reading, you can take your time, reread passages, and use online resources like Yomichan (or whatever dictionary you like using) to look up unknown words as you go.
5 Easy Rules to be a Great Listener
Rule #1: Listen more than you read.
I'm a big proponent of using Japanese subtitles as you watch videos, as you can look up new words and learn from the content. However, understanding that same piece of content w/o Japanese subtitles is even better (and forces you to solely rely on your listening ability), but it’s much harder to learn this way.
That's the paradox: "I need to get better at listening comprehension, but seeming to just listen to raw Japanese doesn't provide any mechanism to learn from the material easily".
Solution #1: listen w/ JP subs first, and then re-listen w/o subtitles. You could do this in the same day, or spread out over a couple days.
Solution #2: listen w/ subs blurred out and pause when you need to un-blur them. This usually requires the usage of a software called "Language Reactor", although I guess you could use a lot of stick notes also.
Rule #2: For reading, adhere to the following:
a. Listen to the audiobook as you read. This is more like "being read to" as the native speaker will dictate the pace of the reading. Feel free to pause the audio and look up unknown words.
OR
b. Read aloud and have a native correct your pronunciation. This is a great pronunciation exercise! I've titled it "Pitch Focused Reading". This is less so focused on listening ability, and more so about speaking ability and working on having a native-like accent.
Don't just use books! Of course you can use books + audiobooks, but you can also use podcasts + transcripts, anime/drama/movies + JP subtitles, YouTube videos (often come w/ hardcoded subs).
Rule #3: Re-listen to content throughout the week.
I think that anywhere between 2-5 times is a good number. I like using a couple 20-40 min podcast episodes or audiobook chapters; YouTube videos also work. This is great "passive" listening material. Don't be fooled by the name! You should still actively try to listen and understand the Japanese that is going into your ears!
Rule #4: For Anki, adhere to the following:
a. Include native audio on every card for at least the new word, and ideally the entire sentence. This should be easy if you are mining new words from Anime, Dramas, Movies, YouTube videos, podcasts, or audiobooks.
b. Prioritize using Audio sentence cards over text-based vocab/sentence cards. I’m a big fan of this card type as it first tests your listening comprehension and then your reading ability as you read the sentence to confirm what you heard. It's basically an application of Rule #1 and acts as a way to "blur the subtitles".
Rule #5: When in doubt, refer back to Rule #1.
Conclusion
Listening comprehension has, and always will be, the most fundamental part of language learning and is essential for having meaningful conversations w/ native speakers. You can't respond to a person if you don't even know what they are saying.
I would highly recommend that you all get a great pair of noise-cancelling headphones and get to listening.
A great video on the subject of listening more is this one!
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