Listening comprehension and spelling test?

[Torsten]

Hi,

Here is a new listening comprehension and spelling test for you. If you click on the link below you will see a page that contains two audio recordings. On the first one you can hear Raymond Romanos from the US and on the second one Edward Corp from the UK. Your task is to write down exactly what speakers say. The first sentences of Raymond's recording have been written for you:

"Ah, my name is Raymond. I'm from West Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. It's located more or less between Boston and New York. Eh, I was born in Hartford and I grew up in West Hartford. And from West Hartfort I went to Cincinnati to study. And I studied English in Cincinnati, Ohio and after my studies I moved to Wyoming and worked as a cook." Here is Raymond Romanos' recording.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Rosap]

Hello,

I really like these kind of exercises. Although, I found the audio recordings a little bit too long as we have to write everything down. I've just finished listening to Raymond Romanos, I'll take a break, and then I'll listen to Edward Corp.

by the way, shall we post what we've written down here in the forum?

Take care!

[Torsten]

Hi Rosa,

Many thanks for your message. I'm very glad you like these materials. Please remember that you can stop the recording at any point so they are not too long at all. Yes, please do write down what you hear here on the forum.

Regards,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

[Rosap]

Hello again, you'll see why I said I found the recordings rather long

There were a few words I couldn't understand.

....and I was a cook for cowboys and the I got into photography, moved back to West Hartford to do more with photography and then I decided to go down to Washington D.C. and see if I could fin work there.

Meanwhile I had met a German girl in West Hartford Conneticut and we kept in contact. When I moved back to Virginia, which is near Washington, she had moved back to Germany. I didn't like Virginia as much as I thought I would and she had mentioned that I should come and visit her in Germany and so I did. And this was back in 1996 so when I came to Germany I had no plans to stay for a long time but no plans not to stay for a long time, so my original plan was to be with her and to learn German and to see Germany, and so that was in '96 and we're in 2003, almost 2004.

In the meantime, we broke up but I stayed in Leipzig because life was good here and life is good here. When I first came to Leipzig my impression was much different because this was only 6 years after the fall of the Berlin wall and many things had not exist, for example, take-away coffee or there was very difficult to find a decent sandwich, not all the buildings had been renovated and so it was very grey. I was not used to the winters here which were, in comparision to Conneticut, not as extreme, but mostly grey. And the winters in Conneticut are tipically very very cold and with snow and here it's not as cold and if there's snow it lasts about 24 hours before it disappears so rarely I find time to go skiing here, but I really can't go skiing here because there're no mountains, the best you could find is some hill somewhere and find a sled so you have to be real fast here in Leipzig to go sledding.

When I came to Germany I worked as a photographer, I worked measuring apartments, anything I could to basically survive, I____________________, I helped edit texts and then finally I started teaching English. My first teaching experience was very difficult because I didn't quite understand all the concepts of English, I mean, I may have studied it in College but learning how it works and trying teaching are two different things, so I had to relearn how English worked for me to teach it. Also when I arrived I had to learn German and so learning German helped me teach English, because then I understood how people learn languages. So although I've been here for 6 years or 7 years, my German is not as good as it could be, although I can read newspapers and texts and understand them fully, I still haven't quite managed to speak like a German. Germans _________tend to have a way of using their words which no foreigner could quite master. You have to be German to master German, I think. But it's a fun language, it's more precise than English. It's got many more expressions, and dialects are fun to listen to. I have a lot of contact to the local people here in Leipzig, many because I do teach them and a lot of my students invite me out to coffee or we have__________________which they invite me out too or I ______________________myself. There are also lots of foreigners here. I can meet up with them. There are plenty of foreign round tables for people who want to learn different languages or for people who wanting to learn German or English so through that I can meet lots of people and______________________

Most of my friends are either Germans or Americans. I have 2 very good American friends and the rest are all German, so I spend most of my time going back and ________between English and German and I'm in fact studying German again privately so I can improve it because after 7 years there are many things which you can learn to help you speak better, pronunciation and mostly and more importantly, idioms.

I go back about twice a year to America to visit my father who lives in Conneticut or to my mother who lives in South Carolina. I tipically go back in the summer, around June for a family gathering which is about 30 people and we rent about 4 cottages on a lake and we all get together and basically go from one cottage to another eating our way for two weeks. That's a lot of fun. And when I visit my mother, and she lives in South Carolina in a place called___________ Beach________________not much to do there, you could go________________or you could go swimming at the beach but mostly we hang out and we talk.

Back in Conneticut I still have my friends. They meet at a coffee shop in the center of West Hartford at 2 o´clock for coffee. They've been doing this since 1993 and when I go back I still know everyone and it's fun. I got my free cup of coffee because they never see me and the people who work there still know me and they bring up to date on to what's going on. It's a lot of fun.

My language have changed since I've been here. Many people who are American would talk to me very slowly and would tell me that my English is very strange but nice, and I say: ¨That's nice¨ and they say ¨Where are you from?¨and I say ¨Well I'm from Conneticut¨and they go ¨really?¨ and I go ¨Yeah, really¨and they say ¨where's your accent?¨I go ¨Well, you can't walk around with an accent all your life. If you live somewhere else you have to lose it and when you teach English you can't teach accents, you have to teach a general English which people can understand and so I've tried to change my English a little bit so that people can understand me better because when I talk real fast______________

When I go back to Conneticut, after a month in Conneticut I'll talk like a normal Conneticut person which will be, hard r's, o's don't exist. It's no Conneticut but Conneticut and it's not ¨progress¨but ¨progress¨. So there's a very distinct New England accent which one can hear if one listens to my voice but it's mostly ___________________so among other things, my accent has changed as well as my vocabulary.

When you talk to an American or anybody who has been living here in Leipzig for a long time, certain words suddenly fall into our vocabulary, for example (German word) instead of street car or ____________ or we would talk about going to (German word) which is that train station or to (German word) which is the immigration office and you'll use these words among other things like (German word) for cabinet or (German words) for plate and table and we'll mix and we'll call it ¨Genglish¨and everyone, doesn't matter what country, will mix.

And it's very difficult when I go back to the States not to mix because I know and I've to keep telling myself that no one there understands German so I can't go mixing like I can do in Germany, in Leipzig.
I find it amazing how Germans can express themselves to such detail. They know exactly what's going on. I'm just completly amazed by that. You ask someone about how a car works and they'll tell you how a car slides and the reasons why a car slides on the ice or ________________ they'll give you details which an American person would not do.

They would use lots of and's and huh's and things like but Germans will tell you to the exact detail what it is or they'll say______________they don't know so it's been quite a learning experience from a technical......

[Torsten]

[Casafon]

I Thorsten,
well, I first listened to Romanos and I understood really every word. Then I wanted to try to transcribe the UK-speaker and it was so difficult. His accent is really strong and I didn't undestand many words. So I gave the trascription up, because I would have left a lot of blanks. It is incredible sometimes how accents can change!

[Nurana]

hi,thanks for sending message!I really liked this exercise,because this kind of exercises do improve not only one skill in learning any foreign language but also listening and vocabulary.so I thank you for your job.As for writing the text,I must say that for this I have really not enough time,but I have downloded it and will listen to it when I can.I hope you'll not take offend for this.Again thanks and good luck!

[Enrique Muñoz]

Dear friends:

I had a good time listening to this chap. I understood every single word, just because he talked very slowly and clearly. He does teaching for a living, so I guess he has to speak like that. I would like to listen to him again, but in his real accent. I learn much more when people forget I am not a native speaker, even if I don't understand anything.

Thank you very much,
Enrique Muñoz

[Sayyida]

From the E- English course I learn more and more. I felt it is very interesting learning that I had mentions always. It’s true that we are all waiting for feedback. I think my progress much better than before. Especially I got my confidence. The reading materials I can understand easily. I can pick the word. But problem is I can’t write properly and my speaking is not good. I try to speak but can’t properly. That is my opinion but I think I can manage every think because I have to attend so many meeting, seminar and workshop. The entire event is English.
From Torsten mail I have find a new message. I thought our test results were not recorded but now I am cleared that it was save in my personal progress page. Normally I practices one time when I got that mail. It’s depended on my answer that how many answer I was corrected. If it was less then correct 8 out of 10 i was try it again.
I try to write in the forum. But I need its feedback. I believe that it is not possible but we can be respond. Ok I will respond others in the forum
Unfortunately I can’t attend Sue phonetics lessen. I don’t have that access. I know I miss lots but what I do? Its reality.
sayyida

[Abdelhamid]

Hello dear Torsten!

I would like to do this exercise, but it is so difficult for me.
Really I improve my English with you and with other sites, but to do this exercise need long time and many skills which I have not yet.
I hope you think about me and others like me and choose exercises which suit our level, better if that will be step by step.

Best regards.
Abdelhamid

[Torsten]

Hi Abdelhamid,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. You are right. If you want to define yourself as a 'beginner', it might be better for you to listen to these audio recordings. How many of them have you listened so far and how much do you think you understand?

Best regards,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Emil]

hy
sorry but i can not whrite what ray say ; it is too difficuld for me just now whitout dictionary ,though I understand a lot

[Torsten]

Hi Emil,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. What you can do is to try and write separate words you think you understand. You have to start at some point. Saying you can't write anything you hear is not the best solution .

Let me know what you think and welcome to english-test.net again.
Regards,
Torsten
PS: Thank you for uploading your photo.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Dia_Nad]

Hi Torsten,

I like this kind of exercise. So I told you, it's difficult enough for me to understand English spoken, but I can tell you that I understood about 85% of Raymond's recording. I reached this percent after I was listening it for two or three times.
Can we see the correct transcript anywhere?

You are right, we must see each other, like in a classroom. So, as you see, I downloaded my photo.
Regards,
Diana