{"id":55449,"date":"2017-01-04T15:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voicetube.com\/blog\/?p=55449"},"modified":"2017-05-04T19:13:49","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T11:13:49","slug":"secret-tips-understanding-cnn-channel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voicetube.com\/blog\/archives\/55449","title":{"rendered":"Secret Tips for Understanding the CNN Channel"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Do you have trouble understanding English news channels? Start with CNN, just one minute at a time!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After years of learning English, does the thought of watching English news channels still scare you? Don\u2019t fret! Start with this guide to completely understanding one minute of CNN and implement the same useful tricks in the future!<\/span><\/p>\n

For most English learners, understanding English news channels is not an easy task, but have you ever wondered what exactly makes it so difficult? Many of you would immediately point out that it\u2019s because news anchors speak far too fast, or that you\u2019ve never even heard of half the words they use. If these are your main concerns, then keep on reading.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do I do if they talk too fast?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Watching English news channels is a lot like listening to written articles in English. The language used is not at all like the conversational, everyday English you hear in movies or on TV shows. Rather, it communicates a great deal of information revolving around a certain topic. A lot less chitchat is involved and there is information attached to each sentence. This frustrates English learners because once they miss a sentence, it\u2019s almost impossible to understand the next. Now, how can we solve this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to it a few more times, and read the script aloud as you go<\/b><\/h2>\n

The thing about English is that words aren\u2019t usually pronounced one-by-one. Instead, in many instances, it may sound like the end of the word is attached to the beginning of the next and this can be frustrating for many non-native English speakers. However, you should be able to understand a lot more and your vocabulary should be much larger than what you can make out from just listening. We normally memorize these words via reading since more accustomed to reading these words than hearing them. Put in plenty of practice so that you become more accustomed to hearing those vocabulary words you already have memorized, and organize what you can already make out by listening into information you can further process and comprehend. Follow these secret tips below: <\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Listen to the same sentence a few more times.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • During your first time watching a CNN video, turn off the subtitles. Try to grasp what the anchor is saying by just listening. Then, turn on the subtitles the second time around and pause where you had trouble understanding the first time. Repeat that particular part multiple times (you can use VoiceTube\u2019s replay feature), and ask yourself whether or not you understand the meaning of that word or phrase. Should you have been able to recognize it? Do you understand what the sentence means now? Fully comprehend this particular sentence and get used to how each word is pronounced, its phrasing, and the entire sentence intonation. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Read it aloud to yourself.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The key to speaking English smoothly and fluently is understanding that a liaison occurs when the first word ends with a consonant sound and the second word begins with a vowel sound, or vice versa. While you can match what you hear with subtitles or scripts, a quicker way to learn this skill is by shadowing, or practicing repeating after the news anchor as soon as possible. There\u2019s no better way to familiarize yourself with the pronunciation of each word than, well, pronouncing it. If you have trouble keeping up with the speed at first, make use of VoiceTube\u2019s slow motion function but keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to become the news anchor\u2019s \u201cshadow,\u201d and perfectly imitate their pronunciation. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What if the words are too hard?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Take out your notebook, and write down those vocabulary by topic! <\/span><\/p>\n

    The news covers a wide range of topics and it\u2019s more important to improve your vocabulary steadily rather than quickly. Rome wasn\u2019t built in one day, and neither will your vocabulary. Organize the words you\u2019re not familiar with by theme, associate them with visual images and the news anchor\u2019s voice, and you\u2019ll find it much easier to memorize these words. For example, after watching a CNNStudent News video covering a terrorist attack in Tunisia, your vocab lists will most likely look like this: <\/span><\/p>\n

    Words related to terrorism<\/strong><\/h3>\n
      \n
    • terrorist attack <\/span><\/li>\n
    • take hostage <\/span><\/li>\n
    • siege <\/span><\/li>\n
    • gunman <\/span><\/li>\n
    • evacuate<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Names of countries<\/strong><\/h3>\n
        \n
      • Algeria<\/li>\n
      • Libya<\/li>\n
      • Tunisia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Words related to politics and military affairs:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
          \n
        • Prime Minister <\/span><\/li>\n
        • parliament<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          These more advanced words are usually keywords relating to a person, place, or thing, which the news anchor will almost always place special emphasis on. Once you understand these keywords, you\u2019ll be able to grasp the main idea and the rest should be easy for you to figure out.<\/span><\/p>\n