Hello , every one .
This is my first sharing in this precious forum .
I would like to know your experiments in improving your listing skills .
Welcome to this amazing site! I improve my listening skills by listening a lot to all sorts of material. When I am a beginner in a language I listen a lot to the same lesson until I feel comfortable with what I am hearing. Where I am more advanced I generally only listen once or twice. I also listen to the radio where possible and occasionally watch television. Some people like YouTube, I prefer radio.
Thank you for your valuable answer .
For supplementary exposure to the language I’m learning, sometimes I watch French TV online at www.itv.com/portal.htm. (Different channels for practically every language.) Sometimes the listening is just a passive activity. Sometimes I just sit back and enjoy a program or two. Now that I’m on vacation, I can have French TV on a lot and just test out my understanding of words, phrases, and just watch the people in action. The commercials are fun too! I think it’s important to get the sounds of your target language in you by incorporating radio and television along with reading and listening to texts.
Wonderful experience .
I would like to throw a question here .
Do you recommend listening a particular accent ?
Oh, what a good question! I think listening to different accents is unavoidable. Here on link, I listen to the lessons created by Marianne, Miss Take, and Serge, for instance. All three have different accents to my ear! When Steve converses with Marianne and Serge, his French accent is different from theirs. On iTV, I listen to the channel from Paris and the channel from Belgium–different accents, yes, but I can recognize the words and phrases (of the words and phrases I’m already familiar with). In sum, I think different accents pose little to no obstacle because inevitably you will encounter different accents. Another case in point, I’ve had three different French professors and each one of them has a different French accent. Personally, I think different accents are cool, and I want exposure to as many different French accents as possible. Listening to different accents is one thing; learning a language with a particular accent in mind is another. I guess you may want to choose which accent to imitate. Frankly, I just want to understand and be understood. (And I will always have my American accent when speaking French–in fact, when listening to podcasts from France Culture, I can always tell when an American is speaking French (excellent French, I might add). It’s just par for the course as the saying goes. So…that’s my take on the accent.
Oh, what a good question! I think listening to different accents is unavoidable. Here on link, I listen to the lessons created by Marianne, Miss Take, and Serge, for instance. All three have different accents to my ear! When Steve converses with Marianne and Serge, his French accent is different from theirs. On iTV, I listen to the channel from Paris and the channel from Belgium–different accents, yes, but I can recognize the words and phrases (of the words and phrases I’m already familiar with). In sum, I think different accents pose little to no obstacle because inevitably you will encounter different accents. Another case in point, I’ve had three different French professors and each one of them has a different French accent. Personally, I think different accents are cool, and I want exposure to as many different French accents as possible. Listening to different accents is one thing; learning a language with a particular accent in mind is another. I guess you may want to choose which accent to imitate. Frankly, I just want to understand and be understood. (And I will always have my American accent when speaking French–in fact, when listening to podcasts from France Culture, I can always tell when an American is speaking French (excellent French, I might add). It’s just par for the course as the saying goes. So…that’s my take on the accent.
Hey, what happened? My apologies folks!
Yvette: I can’t get the ITV link to work. I get an Error 404 - Page Not Found. These are some sites that I have used:
I can’t understand a lot of what is being said, but I figure I am being exposed to French, and eventually, I will understand more and more of what I hear.
Yvette: I forgot to mention that the videos in the last link don’t work in the U.S, and I have sometimes had problems with the second link from the bottom, too. Those sites I just read for practice. I like watching some of the animations and find the advertisements easier to understand than some of the other videos. I think ads are written at a lower level, and there is also some repetition in ads which makes them more understandable.
You can assess the site by typing in the url www.itv.com/portal.htm
I don’t understand why the link won’t work here on LingQ. Or maybe try this link: http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b4258.htm
And thank you for posting your links! I am going to have fun with exploring them. 
I just tried the second link and it works, so you can access (not assess 
the site from there. Also, I checked out the radio-canada–so cool. C’est trop cool! Je vous remercie encore pour ces sites!
Here are some links in case you want to explore further the sounds of French:
www.franceculture.com [all podcasts are available for free downloads on iTunes, just search France Culture in the iTunes store under podcasts. ]
www.laguinguette.com [here you can read and listen, but not download unless you subscribe]
A grand MERCI!