Shadowing Practice: Why learning English is so difficult. - Learn English Speaking with Video
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122 משפטים
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I have to be honest.
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I'm a native English speaker,
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I teach English, and I firmly believe that the English language can be really, really stupid.
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And I know that sounds harsh, but let me explain.
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If you're learning English and you find the English language difficult, you find that sometimes it doesn't make any sense,
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you're confused, you're frustrated, then I want to tell you that there's a good chance the problem is not you.
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Because the English language is difficult.
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It can be really confusing and honestly it can be stupid.
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There are times when things just don't make sense.
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So in today's video I'm going to talk to you about why English can be
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so difficult and I also want to give you some good news.
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So stay till the end of the video
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because I'm going to give you some good news which will hopefully help motivate you and encourage you to learn English.
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Now, one thing that happens when students first start learning English, maybe you can relate to this,
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maybe this is something that happened to you too, but a lot of students find English easy at the beginning.
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They find it simple.
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They find it not as complicated as some other languages. And this is true.
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At the beginning, English is actually quite basic.
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We only have one definite article.
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We don't have any gender.
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We don't have masculine or feminine nouns.
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We have one word.
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We word for everything, the.
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And the simple tenses in English, not the complicated tenses which you learn later,
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but the basic tenses like the present simple, past simple, they're simple.
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I did, you did, he did, we did, they did.
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It's all the same.
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And a lot of languages at the beginning you have to memorize a lot.
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When you get more advanced in English, so maybe you get to the B2 or the C1 level,
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you start to realize that things get a lot more difficult.
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And this is where the challenge begins.
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It seems like every rule you've learned in the past has an exception.
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So you have to relearn things.
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You have to learn them again.
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And this is one of the difficult things about English.
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It's a bit deceiving because at the beginning it seems to be quite easy.
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But the more advanced you get, the more you realize that, oh, there's a lot more to this language than I expected.
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Now, one of the most difficult things about English is spelling and pronunciation.
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And unfortunately, English can be really, really challenging when it comes to these two areas.
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Now whenever you learn a new word, it's not enough just to learn the word.
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Because if you look at a word, it's impossible to know the pronunciation just by looking at the spelling.
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Because there are so many different ways of pronouncing things in English,
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you actually need to learn the pronunciation at the same time you learn the word.
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So whenever you learn a new word, go to Google, go to Bing, go to any of these translation sites,
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type the word in, and then press the play button.
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There's always a play button so you can actually hear how the word is pronounced.
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So you're not only learning the word, you're not only learning the definition, but you're also learning the pronunciation at the same time.
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It's really going to save you a lot of time
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and a lot of effort so you don't have to go back and learn the pronunciation again.
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So whenever you learn something new, you learn a new word, you learn a new phrase,
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always look up the pronunciation and learn the correct pronunciation at the same time.
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Now why is English spelling and pronunciation so complicated and confusing.
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Well, there's actually a historical reason for this.
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So 500 years ago, in the past, we spelt words similarly to the way we do today,
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but we pronounced them completely differently.
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And what happened, and this is completely normal, this is completely natural, is we changed our pronunciation over the years.
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But we changed our pronunciation and not our spelling.
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So our spelling is like this old -fashioned reflection of pronunciation.
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But our pronunciation is now modern, so there's this gap between pronunciation and spelling today.
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And that's why English can be so difficult, because we haven't updated our spelling.
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A lot of languages have, but English has never done this, and it's one of the things that I don't like about the language.
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Now, as I mentioned earlier, it's also true that every rule in English has an exception.
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And this is something that can be very frustrating, because the only way to learn these exceptions is to memorize them,
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to learn them individually and to memorize them.
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So as you get more advanced in English, you will have to spend a lot of time memorizing rules, but also exceptions.
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Memorizing spelling, memorizing pronunciation, memorizing tenses, irregular verbs, all that stuff.
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Now, I mentioned earlier that I did have some good news.
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So yes, it can be very, very confusing.
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It can be frustrating to learn all these rules, to learn all these exceptions.
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But the good news is that, as I said before, basic English is relatively simple.
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You don't need to speak perfectly to express your ideas and to get your thoughts across to the other person.
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Now, if you've watched my other videos, or maybe you're a student of mine,
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you'll know that I often say that the purpose of language is not perfection, it's communication.
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So when you speak, when you learn a language, your priority needs to be communicating, getting your ideas to the other person.
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And you can do this without being perfect.
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It's okay to make mistakes.
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Everybody makes mistakes, even native speakers.
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So don't wait to start speaking.
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Don't wait until some magical moment where suddenly you're going to be perfect
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or suddenly you're going to be able to speak without making any mistakes.
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Because that's never going to happen.
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It's impossible.
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You will make mistakes, but there's nothing wrong with that.
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Now, that's not to say that you shouldn't improve your spelling, that you shouldn't improve your pronunciation,
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your grammar, or that you shouldn't learn these rules and these exceptions.
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Because you absolutely should.
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And honestly, you need to if you want to become truly fluent, if you want to improve your writing,
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if you want to improve your English generally.
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But that shouldn't stop you from communicating right now.
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That shouldn't stop you from expressing yourself and expressing your ideas in English.
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Ideally, you should be communicating in English every day.
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You should be speaking, you should be writing, you should be doing something productive in English and at the same time,
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not instead of speaking, but at the same time, simultaneously, you should also be working to improve your spelling,
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your pronunciation, your grammar, learning the rules, learning the exceptions at the same time.
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Not instead or not replacing speaking.
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It's something that should happen at the same time.
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And that's the important thing.
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That's the thing that I want you to take away from this video.
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Yes, English can be difficult.
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English can be stupid.
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And I think it is stupid sometimes.
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But unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
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There's no getting around that.
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And as I said, the good news is that you can still use the language,
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you can still speak, you can still communicate even if you don't speak perfectly, even if you don't have perfect spelling,
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even if you don't have perfect pronunciation.
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Eventually, the more you practice, the more you speak, the more you study the rules, the more you study these exceptions,
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the better your English will become, the more confident you will feel.
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But it's a journey.
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It's a process.
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It's not something that happens overnight.
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So start speaking English today, not next week, not next month, but today.
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Learn the rules.
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Yes, learn the exceptions, but don't focus on them.
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Focus on speaking.
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Anyways, that's it for today's video.
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If you made it this far and you found the lesson useful,
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make sure to leave a like and let me know in the comments what you find most difficult about English.
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And so you don't miss any future lessons from me, don't forget to subscribe to English at the Ready here on YouTube.
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And you can also check out the link in the description
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below to learn more about how I can help you improve your English.
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Hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you in the next lesson.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Why learning English is so difficult”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: English, learn, pronunciation, word, spelling. This video has 122 sentences and 1446 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:22. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| spelling noun | /ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/ | The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography. |
| exception noun | /əkˈsɛpʃən/ | The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule. |
| communicate verb | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. |
| tense noun | /tɛns/ | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. |
| complicated adjective | /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ | Difficult or convoluted. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| confuse verb | /kənˈfjuːz/ | to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| confused adjective | /kənˈfjuːzd/ | unable to think clearly or understand |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| priority noun | /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ | An item's relative importance. |
| translation noun | /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/ | The conversion of text from one language to another. |
| spell noun | /spɛl/ | Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| get around verb | To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| take away from verb | To subtract a quality from; make something seem not so good or interesting. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 38 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, shouldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/, translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pronunciation, spelling, exception.
מהי טכניקת השאדואינג?
שאדואינג היא טכניקת למידת שפה מבוססת מדע שפותחה במקור להכשרת מתורגמנים מקצועיים ופופולרית על ידי הפוליגלוט ד"ר אלכסנדר ארגואלס. השיטה פשוטה אך עוצמתית: אתה מקשיב לאודיו באנגלית ילידית וחוזר עליו בקול רם מיד — כמו צל העוקב אחרי הדובר עם עיכוב של 1–2 שניות בלבד. בניגוד להאזנה פסיבית או תרגילי דקדוק, שאדואינג מכריח את המוח והשרירים בפה לעבד ולשחזר דפוסי דיבור אמיתיים בו זמנית. מחקרים מראים שזה משפר משמעותית את דיוק ההגייה, האינטונציה, הקצב, הדיבור המחובר, הבנת השמיעה ושטף הדיבור — מה שהופך אותו לאחת השיטות היעילות ביותר להכנה לIELTS Speaking ולתקשורת באנגלית בעולם האמיתי.