Can't understand proper nouns in TOEFL listening? Here's what to do

Hi everyone,

I'm Rosa from SK2.

Students often ask me: "When I hear too many proper nouns, I zone out." "When I don't understand a proper noun, it affects my comprehension. What should I do?" "Do I need to memorize proper nouns?"

A typical TOEFL academic lecture usually contains 5-7 proper nouns. So when they come up, they really do affect students' comprehension, and it becomes a very annoying problem.

First, let's look at some common myths and the right mindset:

Myth 1: I need strong background knowledge and a big vocabulary.

Background knowledge is great if you have it; after all, you feel more confident hearing about a subject you know. But I don't think it matters if you don't, because everything TOEFL listening tests you on appears in the passage itself. You just need to focus on understanding the main points. Take me as an example: apart from the fields I like, such as education, literature and art, I know practically nothing about other fields. But when I listen to an astronomy lecture, I try to find the topic, purpose, conclusion and structure of each section, and even if I don't understand every example, I can still guess the questions and get them right.

Myth 2: If I don't understand, it's because my level isn't good enough.

When students hear a passage full of proper nouns, they often feel that not understanding it must mean their listening level is the problem. But I want to share that, in fact, not understanding is very likely a problem with your listening habits. When students hear information that's hard to understand, they usually tend to go back over it and try hard to work out what it means, and that's when you miss the best explanation that follows, so you understand even less. So I think that once you have the right listening habits, you'll find that getting a perfect score doesn't require understanding every word.

Of course, if you find that when you listen now everything is a blur, you only catch a few scattered words and can't string them together, and you don't have a habit of listening to English regularly, then it really is a listening-level problem. In that case I'd suggest building a habit of listening to English. Listen more, and your level will naturally improve.

Myth 3: I need to understand everything before I can answer.

Students often think, "As long as I understand it, I'll definitely get it right." So when reviewing, they get used to listening in more detail and taking more notes. But in fact, you may find that even if you understand everything and write it all down, you won't necessarily get every question right. That's because the TOEFL tests your ability to pick out the main points after one listen, not your ability to remember every detail after one listen.

The right mindset:

1. You don't need to understand the proper nouns

In fact, what you don't know, nobody else knows either. That's why TOEFL listening always explains proper nouns. Just treat a proper noun as a piece of objective information. There's no need to be overly afraid or to try hard to recall it; just remember how it sounds and listen carefully to the explanation that follows.

2. Important information always gets explained more than once

In English, important information always gets explained again; it's never said just once. So if you hear a proper noun and miss the explanation right after it, I'd suggest you keep listening closely. Often you'll hear the explanation rephrased or a real example, and these are great clues to help you understand.

How can you tell whether a word you don't understand is a proper noun or a common noun?

Students often can't tell whether a word is a proper noun or a common noun, and while they're still thinking about it, the audio has moved on. Basically, if there's a pause and an explanation, it's a proper noun. If there's no pause and no particular explanation, it's a common noun. Either way, I try to find an explanation after it that I can understand. In other words, if there's no explanation or example afterward, the information isn't important, and missing it won't matter.

Next, let's look at how to train:

1. Get better at noting down proper nouns.

This is the most important point. After all, if you can't react right away the next time you hear a proper noun, doing more practice questions won't help.

STEP 1: Get better at imitating sounds

When you hear a proper noun, I suggest pausing and repeating it out loud three times to strengthen your memory of the sound. Then the next time the same proper noun comes up, you'll immediately recognize that the audio is talking about the same thing.

STEP 2: Practice noting down proper nouns

At this stage, I suggest writing down the sound of the proper noun. I usually write it down up to the second syllable, so even if a second proper noun starting with the same letters shows up in the same passage, I won't mix them up. Also, because proper nouns are often important topics, I circle the ones I've written down so I don't confuse them with details.

STEP 3: Understand the explanation that follows

After writing down the sound of the proper noun, I try to understand the explanation that follows. Sometimes the explanation contains proper nouns too, and then I note down the simplest, easiest-to-understand part. In other words, I don't write down information that even I can't make sense of.

2. Get used to hearing proper nouns in daily life

Students fear proper nouns because once too many of them show up, it's easy to get confused and lose track. But think about it from everyday life: when we hear proper nouns, we have to use association to try to understand and connect the information. Practice a lot and you won't be afraid anymore. I personally really recommend listening to audiobooks, especially novels. Novels have many different characters, and each one has their own name and background. When I listen to a novel, I know that even if I zone out on one sentence, I can still get the same information from the context. For example, even if I missed this sentence, "Texas is a policeman, and owns a cat called TikTok.", as long as I listen carefully to what follows, "Texas always carries a gun with him when he goes into the police station. Every morning when Texas eats breakfast, TikTok jumps onto the table, purring loudly.", I can still infer two pieces of information: Texas is a police officer, and he has a cat. Audiobooks also help you build a great mindset: once you see proper nouns as characters in a novel, I believe you won't be afraid of hearing them anymore, because you'll know that however many characters appear, you're able to follow how they're connected.

3. Examine how you react in the moment when you hear a proper noun

Often, students' immediate reaction to a proper noun is to panic and start trying to recall what the word means. Or they panic and start writing down too much without really understanding what the sentence means. When reviewing, I suggest recalling how you reacted when you heard the proper noun and thinking about what you could do the next time you're in a similar situation. What could you try noting down instead? Did missing the explanation of that word affect your answer? Try to improve how you react to proper nouns.

Proper nouns come up in daily life all the time: when a friend tells you about a Netflix series they recommend, when a professor is lecturing in class, when a classmate shares a case study from a past job. I think that as long as you get used to proper nouns showing up and practice writing them down to sharpen your ear for sounds, I believe proper nouns won't trip you up again! I hope you all find your own connection with English while preparing for the TOEFL and grow more interested in and confident about English.

Warm Regards,

SK2 Rosa ^_______^

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