Part 16
The second definition of 'understanding English' is to know the meaning of words and phrases. As you have seen, you can't separate both phases of the 'understanding process' from each other. Conventional English schools and English classes don't provide you with sufficient training in phonetic understanding of spoken English. They sometimes offer exercises for 'listening comprehension'.
This means you first hear an audio recording and then have to answer questions related to that recording. In most cases these recordings were made for learners of English as a second language. This might look like a good idea on the surface but in reality it doesn't really help much because the spoken English in those ESL listening comprehension materials is rather artificial and it's unlikely that you will hear native speakers talk that way. Your ultimate goal as an English learner is to understand and communicate with native speakers and there is only one way to achieve that: By exposing yourself to authentic spoken English as much as possible. Later in this book you will learn how to learn new words and phrases by just listening to them.
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