Another gem from Sting: Fields of Gold. Not a very difficult listening comprehension task this time, probably between levels B2 and C1. Some of the vocabulary can be a bit tricky but Sting’s singing voice is nicely clear and easy to understand.
Check back in a few weeks for more exercises based on this song, especially vocabulary.
Listen to the song Russians by Sting and write down the words you hear.
Although Sting’s voice can be clearly heard all through the song, it’s still not an easy task because the vocabulary is pretty advanced in places. Also, the lyrics contain some abstract ideas and poetic language, which again make this listening comprehension task more difficult. Overall, it’s somewhere between B2 and C1 level, probably closer to the latter – an advanced level exercise.
Some names have been added to help you a bit.
There will be follow-up exercises to help you learn the vocabulary of this song.
This is not an easy listening task for a number of reasons. Though the song sounds fairly slow-paced and Sting’s voice can be clearly heard, he sings the words relatively fast in some places, and the vocabulary level is rather advanced too. Also, the whole song is fairly poetic and contains some complex structures, which makes understanding pretty challenging. Nevertheless, you should give it a try – and there’s always the Hint button, which will give you the next letter.
Probably it’s a good idea to listen to the song as a whole first and concentrate on listening only without actually writing anything. Then before starting again you should be able to add at least a few words, which will make your task easier.
You will find more tasks based on this song here later.
