Practice is necessary but it’s getting to be much easier!
    The key word is practice! Practice, practice, practice!!! There is no other way. There is no magic. The way to get better at listening to and understanding English is to listen to English. That’s the not-so-good news.
    The good news is that there are many ways to listen and many things to listen to.
    Listening to English songs can be fun. But be careful! Most English songs use the language in a special way that you don’t hear every day. You don’t want to start speaking English like a poet or songwriter. If you do listen to English songs, listen to different singers. This will help train your ear to different voices, pronunciations and rhythms.
    Watch English DVDs. But, this time, do not use your eyes to read the subtitles（字幕）. Turn off the subtitles, because movies have so many other clues about what is happening that it is better not to use the subtitles. This forces your ears to do the work.
Choose one character that interests you every time and pay special attention to what they say and how they say it. If you can, repeat a line out loud after they have said it. Teach yourself one or more sayings, phrases or ways of talking that you will use after watching the movie.