Answers
Feb 05, 2014 - 09:29 AM
@Jeff - Whether it's a podcast, the write what you hear section or the videos, the repetition is key. When I'm learning a language I'll listen to the phrase 3,5 or even 10 times in order to learn the language. It may sound like it's super fast at first, but once you have tuned your ear to the language you'll recognize the words. Keep at it and soon you'll see the results payoff. Good luck with your German!
Feb 05, 2014 - 10:09 AM
I think the point of dictation is to learn to hear the language in phrases and complete sentences rather than individual words--after all, that's how people speak. It just takes repetition, a lot of repetition; eventually I "get it'. That said, I don't hear the dictation clearly on my laptop speakers. I acquired an external capsule speaker (X-Mini UNO XAM14) for about $30 that has better signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response than my laptop speakers. The dictation is clear with the external speaker.
Feb 05, 2014 - 12:14 PM
Keep listening....as much as you need....my experience with languages has been that it starts out very much the "uniword" ___________________ and eventually becomes more ___ __ __ ___ __ _ ____! The parts in the beginning are at times more valuable to get to the whole in the short term.