Listening to people chatting is part of learning English

[Silverobama]

I was in a chatroom and people were chatting with each other; I could hear their voice. I told them that I once was talkative but now I tend to speak less and I perfer to listen. Someone asked me why and I said:

Listening to people chatting is part of learning English.

Is my italic sentence natural? May I also know what native speakers would say in this context?

 

[emsr2d2]

I was in a chatroom and where people were chatting with each other; I could hear their voices. I told them that I once was used to be talkative but now I tend to speak less and I perfer prefer to listen. Someone asked me why and I said:

Listening to people chatting is part of learning English.

Is my italic sentence natural? May I also know Can you tell me what native speakers would say in this context?

Note my changes above. Your italic sentence is OK but I'd probably make it a bit more personal and say "Listening to people chatting helps me learn English".