Tips on improvement of listening comprehension

[zellyen]

Everytime I take a Japanese test for my class, the part that I do worst is usually the listening comprehension part. Can anyone recommend me to a source where I can improve on my listening? I watch anime right now with subs, I do not know if it really helps though.

Thanks in advance

 

[bonehelm]

I believe that everyone will agree with this: Watch Japanese drama/anime. Watch Japanese news on yahoo news japan. They even have the script of the dialogue for the news reporters on there, so you can just follow it and listen to each word carefully.

In no time, you will find that your listening ability has vastly improved.

Good luck!

 

[Pachipro]

Not being physically in the country and experienceing Japanese first hand, it is very difficult, if not downright impossible. One must be exposed to it almost 24/7/365 to become aurally and orally proficient.

As I lived in Japan for many years and have now lived in the states for almost 20 years, I can safely say that, although my speaking ability has decreased alot, my listening comprehension is still near 80-90%. Why? I have no answer, I can tell you this though: If I watch a Japanese drama or anime on TV with no sub-titles, I can understand 80-90% still to this day! But ask me to repeat the same thing in Japanese again and I would have difficulty thinking of the proper sentence structure and words.

However, once I return to Japan for visits, for some odd reason, after a few days, it all seems to come back again and I am able to speak coherently. Weird, but true. Maybe someone with more linguistic ability can explain this phenomenon.