Listening: Listening for Inference, Attitude, & Opinion (Advanced) C1 - Lesson 1: Interpreting Subtle Cues to Understand Complex Attitudes, Emotions, and Relationships

C1 Listening: Reading Between the Lines CEFR Level C1 Lesson Goals In this lesson, you will practice listening for inference. You will learn to interpret subtle cues in speech to understand a speaker's true attitude and the unspoken relationship dynamics between speakers. The Power of Subtext At an advanced level, listening involves more than just understanding words; it involves understanding subtext . Subtext is the implied, unspoken meaning in a conversation. A speaker's tone, pacing, and stress can completely change the meaning of their words. An expert listener learns to trust the tone more than the text. Analyzing Subtle Cues Let's analyze two scenarios where the speaker's true feelings are hidden beneath polite words. Listen to the audio for the simulated tones. Scenario 1: Professional but Skeptical An employee, Ben, proposes an idea to his manager, Anna: Ben: "...by investing in this new software, I'm confident we can increase our efficiency by 20%." Anna: &…