Hearing the accents above vowels

Question

Good morning. Is there a trick to hearing the accents over vowels, or do you just have to know where they are in every word? A lot of times I can distinguish the pronunciation of é vs. è, but sometimes I can't tell the difference between e and é, for example. In the text, there's the sentence "" where I can hear é in représentation and théâtrales, but the e in spectacles sounds the same as é in the other two words and doesn't have an accent. Is this something that just comes with a lot of practice? Or do you just sort of need to know the words in advance?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Lincoln,
It is indeed something that will come with time. The more you practice your listening skills, the better/easier it will become to distinguish all these sounds. 
So, my advice is practise, practise and practise more! Listening skill is one of the most difficult skills to master. Try to listen to it several times. It's a painstaking process, but in the end it will pay off.
You're far from being the only one. I too experienced such frustration when I started learning English. I kept hearing sounds that weren't present, or similarly, I could not distinguish between a set of sounds.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !