Shadowing Practice: Why reading is the KILLER APP for language learning - Learn English Speaking with Video
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The killer app when it comes to language improvement is massive concentrated reading.
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I'm gonna explain how this works regardless of your level in the language.
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This came to my mind when I noticed how after spending an hour with a relatively difficult for me podcast in Persian, that my sense of control of the language significantly improved.
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And it reminded me that whenever I have read a book, a paper, print book, in a language that I was learning, that not only was that a milestone for me, but it represented a noticeable leap forward in acquiring that language.
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So some things to consider.
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First of all, obviously, the world of reading has changed.
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Today, we are bombarded with distractions, so we need to stay clear of these.
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We need to avoid the distractions, and I will explain some of the main distractions and how we avoid them.
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So first of all, during the hour that it took me to go through this 20-minute Persian language podcast in sentence mode at LingQ, I made sure that I didn't check my email, and I didn't go to Twitter, and I didn't go anywhere else.
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Concentrated massive involvement in reading, predominantly reading and some listening at LingQ to this Persian podcast, I felt I made a big improvement.
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And also, as you can see, historically, when I've reached a certain level in a language, not necessarily a level where I can fully understand a book, but where I feel comfortable attempting to read a book, print book, I have done so, and I've always felt it has propelled my learning forward.
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Reading, to me, is kind of like the central digestive system for acquiring the words and phrases of a new language.
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It's a natural process.
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Therefore, amongst the distractions we need to avoid are the distractions presented by well-meaning language teachers.
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Pre-reading activities, training ourselves to infer meaning Analyzing what the writer meant, summarizing what was said, or comprehension questions, all of these things detract from the enjoyment of reading.
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We need to avoid the comprehension trap.
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We read for enjoyment.
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We read to inquire the words and phrases of the language, to get used to the language.
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We don't read for the purpose of understanding everything that's in the text that we are reading.
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We don't need to understand it all.
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We need only to consume it, as much of the language as possible.
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I've mentioned before we don't need to be perfectionist when it comes to speaking the language.
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We don't need to be perfectionist when it comes to understanding the language.
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It's a bit like going to the gym.
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We are training our muscles.
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Some people are stronger than we are, some people are faster than we are, but we are still benefiting from the training activity at the gym.
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Reading is a form of training activity for acquiring a language.
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It's not about whether we understood every possible intention the author had or are able to summarize what took place in the text that we read.
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Reading is changing.
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So it used to be that reading meant reading a print book, but nowadays we have e-books, we have digital texts where we can access online dictionaries and text-to-speech.
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These are tools that I use at an early stage in learning a language in order to make it easier to access material of interest to me.
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I've always preferred to read things that are a little difficult, but that I'm interested in with the help of these other benefits of, of reading online as opposed to reading easy readers, simplified fiction, which I'm not very interested in.
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So reading has changed.
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E-books are available, audiobooks are available, and to me, audiobooks are also an extension of reading.
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And this reminds me of what was explained about reading in the book that I read by Stanislas Dehaene a French cognitive scientist who writes about reading and how we read.
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And he explained that, of course, from an evolutionary perspective, since human beings have been reading only for the last, say, few thousand years, and even then only a small percentage of humans could read, that our brains are not set up for reading.
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So what happens is that we ... The brain reconfigures the sort of phonological stream in our brains in order to process the written word.
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It turns out that a capability in the brain for recognizing faces is what's used to decode the written language, and it then piggybacks on the sort of sound, the phonological stream within the brain to create meaning.
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And apparently this kind of goes both ways.
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The more we read, the more that relationship between the written word and the spoken word is strengthened.
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But they are, in a sense, part of the same process, and we need to do a lot of reading in order to strengthen this connection between what we hear and what we read on paper.
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So given this connection between reading and listening, people often ask me, "Should we read first or listen first? Should we read at the same time as we listen, or should we read and listen separately?" All of this depends on what you like to do.
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But typically, in my case, I prefer to listen first because it triggers, especially at an early stage in the language, it triggers my curiosity.
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It gives me some momentum to get into my reading, which might otherwise be more difficult.
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I also read and listen at the same time, again, at an early stage in the language in sentence mode at LingQ because I'm dealing with a very small sort of volume of text, uh, six, seven, eight words.
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However, once I've achieved a certain level in the language, or even after having reviewed a text in sentence mode, I then will listen separately, and I also read separately.
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In fact, I've often felt it would be great if I could take some of the material that I am listening to and, and working on at LingQ, if I could somehow convert that into a handy little book using Lulu or some self-printing service to create little pocket book-sized books that then I could read without the distraction of being in a digital environment.
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I, I believe that would improve my connection and reinforce my connection to the language.
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But regardless of how you do it, regardless of what you're interested in, the key thing is to concentrate, to give yourself a chance, whether it be reading a book from cover to cover, or committing yourself to spending an hour reading in a foreign language online without distractions.
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It's that willingness to commit to the process, and that will create the habit that will ensure that you continue doing that.
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And if you continue with massive concentrated reading, hopefully also combined with listening, you will notice a significant improvement in your language ability because it drives that core capability in your brain, that ability to anticipate, the ability to project the next word, which we need in order to be able to communicate in the language.
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It doesn't take away from the fact that you still need to speak in order to become good at speaking, but you first have to have that base of the language within you, and that's where massive concentrated reading can be so important.
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Thank you for listening.
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Bye.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel C1 se basa en el vídeo “Why reading is the KILLER APP for language learning”. Las palabras que más se repiten: reading, language, distraction, word, brain. Este vídeo tiene 54 frases y 1248 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 7:25. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 168 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 84 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| distraction sustantivo | /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/ | distracción |
| concentrate verbo | /ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/ | concentrar |
| separately adverbio | /ˈsɛp.ɹət.li/ | separadamente |
| audiobook sustantivo | /ˈɔdi.oʊbʊk/ | audiolibro |
| perfectionist sustantivo | /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/ | perfeccionista |
| phonological adjetivo | /ˌfɑnəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/ | fonológico |
| summarize verbo | /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ | resumir |
| comprehension sustantivo | /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/ | comprensión, entendimiento |
| enjoyment sustantivo | /ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/ | disfrute, gozo |
| strengthen verbo | /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/ | fortalecer |
| bombard verbo | /ˌbɑmˈbɑɹd/ | bombardear |
| decode verbo | /dɪˈkəʊd/ | decodificar, descodificar |
| detract verbo | /dɪˈtɹækt/ | detraer |
| digestive adjetivo | /daɪˈdʒɛstɪv/ | digestivo |
| inquire verbo | /ɪnˈkwaɪɹ/ | investigar, informarse |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Significado |
|---|---|
| go through verbo | atravesar |
| turn out verbo | resultar |
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | have read · has changed · I've reached |
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | are bombarded · was said · was explained |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 20 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I've, don't, I'm. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, comprehension /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/, dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: audiobook /ˈɔdi.oʊbʊk/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, phonological /ˌfɑnəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/, capability /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/, anticipate /ænˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: digestive /daɪˈdʒɛstɪv/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: summarize /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/, oppose /əˈpoʊz/
- /dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: phonological /ˌfɑnəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/, enjoyment /ɪnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.mənt/, digestive /daɪˈdʒɛstɪv/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como distraction, concentrate, separately.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.