Pratica di Shadowing: How to become a Better Reader & remember what you read - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Creazione lezione...
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Good morning, good evening or good night, whichever one it is for you, whichever one it is.
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I'm very glad you're here to join me for this week's video, which is a special one because I haven't ever done anything like this before.
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But I get asked quite frequently how I read so much, how I read so actively, how I manage to remember so much of what I read,
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how I find books that I love.
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And even though I'm not a professional by any means, there are some things I implement, some habits that are implemented in my reading that I just instinctively do
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that I think might help someone and that I think might answer those questions.
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So this video is basically a guide, a how -to guide on how to become a better reader.
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A little toolbox of tips and tricks if you will.
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Now before we get into it I do want to put a disclaimer here.
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I'm aware that life circumstances, is degrees of responsibility, degrees of busyness, maybe health issues.
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There are so many factors that go into your reading habits.
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I'm not by any means trying to put pressure on you
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or telling you that these are things you need to do to become a better reader.
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In fact, I don't think such a qualification should ever exist.
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In fact, if you're someone who thinks they might feel pressured by a video of this kind, I urge you to click off now because I want this to be a positive thing.
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I want this to be a little toolbox for people who are looking to improve their reading, who are looking to maybe grow as readers or who are trying to change their habits a little bit.
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But if you know that that's not possible, if that is not something you're interested in, then please don't even feel the need to watch this video.
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Like, then this is not the video for you.
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I'm completely and utterly against making reading into some sort of competition.
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Reading is above all supposed and meant to be a hobby.
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You don't by any means need to take any of this advice.
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Maybe there is a certain point that piques your interest.
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Maybe you don't want to implement any of these tips.
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Maybe you think they're completely stupid and nonsensical.
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That's completely fine.
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Always remember that at the end of the day, reading is a hobby.
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And it is one of the most healthy brain health conducive hobbies that exist on this planet.
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So whether you read one page a month or one book a year, No matter what you're reading, how much you're reading, as long as you're even reading at all,
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you are participating in one of the most healthy hobbies that exist on planet Earth.
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So good on you.
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Be happy about that.
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Be proud of that.
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So now to get into it, I have separated this list into five overarching categories that I think might be helpful.
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So without further ado, let's get right into it with the first category, which is curate your taste because how do you even know
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which books you want to read especially if you're starting out reading
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or you're maybe new to reading how in the world are
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you supposed to know what books to pick up how are
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you to know how to evolve your reading taste maybe you've been a reader for a long time
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but you're maybe tired of the books you've been reading you're looking to expand your genres
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or the topics you read about now my first tip for
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that would be to trust your instincts I get this temptation
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of looking up reviews before you commit to buying a book
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or picking up a book but I think that is very very treacherous
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because no two people are alike and likewise no two readers are alike.
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You can share 10 of the same absolute favorite books with someone and completely disagree on the 11th.
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So why in the world would you base your book buying and book reading on somebody else's taste?
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I think freeing yourself from that just going into a bookstore looking at the books there,
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reading the blurbs in the back and letting yourself be inspired and led by that is the best way to go.
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Trust yourself and pick up that book that no one else enjoys
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and you might just find your new favorite book of all time.
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To expand on that and this might seem contradictory
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but I would recommend that you try to read a sample of a book before committing to buying it.
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If you have the luxury of going into a bookstore
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and finding books there then maybe open the book and read one
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or two pages sometimes something that i do and
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that might not be for everyone is i open the book in the middle of the book
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and i read a page in there
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because sometimes the first page is the best page but then after
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that it just goes downhill and
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because you don't yet know the characters you don't yet know
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the story it's you're not going to get spoiled you're not your brain is not going to retain
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that information it's just about reading the dialogue reading the writing
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style the descriptions the grammar the way the paragraphs are ordered
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that's much more helpful to me than reading just the blurb of a book
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or the reviews of a book because those can be very misleading
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if you're like me
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and you live in a country where you can't really find
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the books you want to read in bookstores then you can
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also always you don't need to support amazon by buying from amazon
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but what you can always do is you can go on amazon
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and download a sample for your kindle you can get the
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kindle app for free you don't have to pay any money you can just go on any book
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that is available on Amazon.
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Go to the Kindle version of the book and then download a sample to your Kindle.
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Usually it's a few percent of the book that you can then actually read for free before committing to buying the book.
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And then you can go ahead and buy the book from anywhere and everywhere.
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But then you've had an idea of how the book was written.
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Another thing that I do and have always done
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that I don't see enough people doing and I think it's incredibly important to do is if you like a book,
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read more books by that same author if that author has written more than one book.
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Because usually I find that my favorite book by an author is not their most popular book, which is the one you're most likely to read going into the author.
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And maybe that's a good book, but maybe that author has written so many better books.
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So I like to read at least two or three books by the same author in a short span of time.
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Because when the books are fresh in your mind, like if you wait a year, you don't really have any point of comparison between the two.
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But I think it's really, really conducive to your understanding of the author of the author's books
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and of your own taste and your own standing towards the author
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if you read more than one book at a time by them, like back to back, I mean.
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Because then you can actively compare,
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you can pick up on maybe overarching motifs or things that usually every author is concerned with certain specific subjects.
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And they will treat those subjects differently if it's a good author in each book, but you will pick up on overarching themes and that is so fun.
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It is so engaging for your brain.
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It'll also teach you to look for nuances in a story
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that you might not be able to look at in the same way
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if you read different authors and completely different stories by different people.
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So that is something I highly highly recommend.
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Another one that I think is probably quite popular but
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when you go online to buy books there will always be a category of people also buy
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or you might also be interested in.
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Check out that category because sometimes you'll find books there
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that at least for me
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that has been the experience you've never heard of anywhere you've never heard anyone talk about it
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but maybe the title sounded interesting maybe the cover looked nice
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and so you clicked on it and you find a gem a completely hidden gem
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that you would have never stumbled upon if you hadn't checked out
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that people also buy category so that's something to look out for as well that's it for the first category.
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So now let's move into the second category, which I think is so fundamentally important and underrated nowadays.
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It is don't underestimate your abilities and your intelligence.
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There is a few things that you can implement to actively combat that, because I think for some reason people nowadays are so,
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so likely to underestimate themselves and to just believe that they're not capable of things that they very much are capable of.
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You can do hard things, I promise you you can.
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Now one very simple thing you can do in order to gain confidence is to challenge your comfort zone.
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For instance you could pick up a book that you think will be too difficult for you.
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In fact I think everyone should do that.
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You should always always pick up books that you think you will not be able to understand.
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Because the only way to grow is to do something you thought was impossible.
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Start slowly.
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Don't overwhelm yourself.
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But at the same time don't get lazy about it.
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It takes a long time to get used to something new, especially if your brain is not used to challenging itself in that way.
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It'll take patience and it'll take perseverance, but it'll be worth it.
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So for instance, if you have never read a classic or if you've read classics, but very, very modern classics, and maybe you want to veer more into the Jane Austen,
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more older English sort of classic literature, then you could pick up a Jane Austen book.
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I I think most people would be likely to pick up one of her books
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because those are very popular and quite easy to read for the writing style.
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But something that Jane Austen does
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that not all the modern classics do is her books are
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written in a different form of English than we are used to speaking nowadays.
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So it'll be a bit of a challenge for your brain to adjust.
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And what you can do in order not to overwhelm yourself is you can make a goal.
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You can pick up the book, make a goal of maybe reading five to ten pages every single day.
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You can read a chapter a day and for Jane Austen books that's actually cool because her chapters are usually quite short.
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And I think reading one chapter is even better.
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But if one chapter is too overwhelming, start with 5 to 10 pages and try your absolute hardest to persevere in
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that for at least a week or two weeks.
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Because if you give up after three days because the book is still hard to read, then you're missing out on an opportunity because,
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yes, it'll take a while for your brain to adjust to that new writing style, those new concepts, those new ways of behaving and those new ways of telling stories.
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But once you've gotten used to it, you now have this treasure trove of classic literature that you had never thought possible to discover.
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And your brain has just learned that you can, in fact, do hard things.
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You can get used to things like that as well, even though it maybe takes a few weeks to get used to it.
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You are capable of that.
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It might take time, but I promise you, it's time well spent.
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Now the third point sort of expands on the second one.
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The third point is challenge your comfort zone.
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I think the best way to do
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that is to make a goal of reading a few books a year that you think you will not like.
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Maybe they deal with motifs or concepts or subject matters that you don't agree with, that you do not like or do not feel drawn to.
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It can also be a book you think will just be playing too hard for you
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or that deals with a different sort of experience or opinion on life.
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If you're religious, then maybe read a book dealing with a different religion or someone of a different religion.
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If you're atheist, maybe read a book about someone who follows a religion.
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It can also be something simple like someone from a different country or a book that deals with a different time period.
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It can be about someone with a different sexual orientation than you.
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The goal is to practice empathy and understanding for someone whose life experience is completely different to your own.
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Even better if it's an approach you find off -putting.
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If you only pick up books that deal with exactly your opinion of life, with exactly what you find comfortable and exactly what you agree with,
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then you will never be able to expand your horizons.
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You need contradictory information.
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You need things you dislike in order to better evolve as a human being.
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You need counterintuitive impulses in order to build your own opinion.
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Challenging your horizons is the best way of becoming a better reader, but most of all of becoming a better human being.
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Another thing that I think most people don't do but should do is make a goal in your life, a lifetime goal of reading at least one book per country in the world.
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It doesn't need to be a classic.
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I personally think classics are more informative, but you can just read any, any book.
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That'll teach you so much about different cultures and ways of thinking, ways of living, ways of practicing being a human being in this world.
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Then something that I of course need to mention is read at least five classics a year.
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If you're intimidated by classics, start with that small number.
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Five classics, I think, is a very digestible number.
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They don't have to be long.
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They can be short stories even.
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They can be very short novellas.
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You don't need to pick up all of the chunkers right away.
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But I think there's nothing that improves your understanding of the present like experiencing the mindset of the past.
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It'll give you a point of reference that you would never otherwise have.
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Reading books about any given time period and I'm not talking about historical books that were written after the facts.
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I'm talking about novels that were written at the time by people who lived in the time.
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If you read a classic from the Victorian era you will pick up on societal norms, on the way people behaved, the way people conducted themselves,
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the rules that were implicit in societal conduct.
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The topics most commonly discussed, the things that were maybe problematic about the time that you can now pick up on reading it after the fact,
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it'll give you an entirely different point of reference and ability of understanding that no contemporary book ever could.
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I think that is one of the reasons that reading classics is so important.
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They give you something that no contemporary book can give you.
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And classics get this reputation of being difficult
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but they really really aren't they're just books that were written a little
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while ago there's difficult books in any genre at any given time
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but above all you'll be surprised if you haven't picked up classics
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or if you're intimidated by them or
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if you maybe stop reading classics after reading three books
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that you did not like or vibe with you will be surprised at how fun
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and entertaining and engaging they are and something that I always find
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so striking and so sad that some people are missing out on is how relevant they still are to this day.
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Leading into that, I think you should also start, if you haven't already, to read the ancient classics.
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Not just ancient Greek and Roman.
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Don't just stop with the Odyssey and the Iliad and maybe the Metamorphoses.
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Do not stop there.
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Try to read the ancient Chinese classics.
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Look into different cultures
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because there is the whole world literature has been around for
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a long time in a lot of places the classics is
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where it all started philosophy science religion medicine politics societal norms even literature
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and fiction itself you will find the origin of everything currently
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in existence in those classic texts they will widen your horizons
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and at the same time you will be so surprised at how little has really changed over these millennia.
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People still deal with much of the same issues, have the same desires and dreams and hopes and concerns.
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It's merely the circumstances that have changed.
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Nothing in the world makes me feel less alone and more understood than reading the ancient classics.
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Just a small little recommendation because why not?
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Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
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I think that's one of the best examples of the point I'm trying to make here.
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Now, the fourth point is more about how to interact with a specific book.
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The fourth point is read actively.
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One thing that I do that really helps me, that I have done for years now,
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is as I'm reading a book, I'm.. actively creating a review for the book in my head
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if that sounds too difficult you can also just take notes
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or you can do what i do and just do it in your head
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but constantly review the book in your head i'm not talking
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i like this book i like the characters i like the
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writing style i'm talking go into depth go into the minutiae
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of the story of course this is necessary for every single
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book i don't do it for every single book there's books like for example if i'm reading a Stephen King.
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I don't really do that as much.
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But starting out you could maybe for instance choose one book a month where you want to practice that.
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It's just about getting your brain used to doing that.
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Because this is above all else how you better interact with the story and how you end up remembering the story better.
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If you are interacting with the story actively as you are reading it.
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Things that I for instance always look for when I'm doing this is looking for overarching motifs or concepts.
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So for instance one thing that's fresh in my mind
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because I've been reading a lot of Ray Bradbury recently is
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there's a theme he always implements of equating the seasons to the stages in life a person is at.
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So when Ray Bradbury talks about spring he's talking about very young children.
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If he talks about winter that is very old people and
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so that is an overarching motif you can look for in his work
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because he won't always explain it but it'll be there
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and once you've picked up on it you can understand certain sentences much better
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because Ray Bradbury is one of those people who implement a lot of symbolism
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and a lot of hidden depths into their stories.
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Another thing that's really easy to look for is the kind of writing style that's implemented.
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Is it flowery?
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Is it very matter of fact?
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There's books like for instance Mary Ann by Daphne du Maurier that are written almost like court documents.
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They read like bullet points because the story is a largely court -based story.
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It is a court -based narrative.
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It is a critique of the justice system and of discrimination.
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At least that's a huge part of the book.
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So the writing style here is an extension of the theme the book actually speaks about.
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And you will find that that is the case most times, at least in books that are good.
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And if you look for the writing style, you can actually even have one more point of reference of
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if the book is actually good because the writing style is a huge part of that.
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Then you can also look at the characters.
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Are they created complexly?
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Are they fleshed out?
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Or are there more stereotypical sort of characters in a book?
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And then you can go a step further and look at if that is purposeful in the story.
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So for instance, there are books where stereotypical characters are the point of the story.
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It is a narrative device.
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And then there are stories where it's just a lack of skill from the part of the author.
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And all of this is obviously also aided
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if you read more than one book by an author
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because every single one of these points will be more expansively analyzable if you read more than one book.
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Because then you can see is this book an outlier or is this book part of a larger theme maybe.
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And then you should always look at historical context.
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When was the book written?
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What time does it take place in?
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How does the narrative figure into all of that?
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Historical context is incredibly important.
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Something that's actually very fun is to look into the author after you've read the book.
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I find if you do that before you pick up the book it can color your opinion, your first impression of the story if maybe the author is someone you dislike.
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You end up disliking then you start to dislike the book as you're reading it.
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I have that experience with Tolstoy a lot.
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But if you find out more about the author, about their political opinions maybe or just their standing in society
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or their life experience if that is something you can even get your hands on
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that information then that'll improve the story
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because it'll put the story more into a personal context you can then maybe see what
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that author specifically was influenced by in their own life
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and how that translated into the stories they write again this is not necessary
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but I find it a very very fun exercise I recently learned a lot about Daphne du Maurier's personal life
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that I had no clue about
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and it's kind of made me think differently about her books
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and it's made me really excited about picking up more of her books
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because I now see them differently
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and then point number five is train your memory now this
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is not for everybody this is more for their nerds I think
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but in my opinion this is the most important thing
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if you want your brain to be capable of more things you need to put effort into
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that and one thing you need to do in order to do that is to train your memory.
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This is a sort of extension to the previous point to reading actively, but it's an expansion of it.
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In order to train your memory, the most obvious thing you can do is practice memorizing things.
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You can start with quotes.
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Maybe you have quotes that you love or you've recently picked up a book
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that you really like that had some sentence that you really liked.
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Learn that sentence by heart.
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If you're one of those people who have a lot of difficulty memorizing things, I know everybody is capable of different things
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and it's not about intelligence it's sometimes just about what your
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brain is used to doing most people aren't really used to learning things by heart
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But if you start really small with a quote that you like, with a sentence that you found cool, maybe with a part of a song that you haven't heard of, maybe find a new song,
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maybe even by an artist you like
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and maybe learn the chorus by heart as you're listening to it for the first time.
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Make that your goal and do that every single day.
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Make it a goal to learn something new by heart every single day.
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Again, start with a small sentence and then maybe move on to a song text, maybe move on to a poem
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And then maybe you can move on to a whole paragraph of a book if you feel like it.
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It is one of those things that'll take a lot of effort and that will feel very strange to you at first.
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But if you implement that, your memory will become so much better.
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The brain is a muscle that you get to train.
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IQ is not something you are entirely born with.
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Not fully, at least.
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I genuinely believe that we have all of the power over our brain's capacity.
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Of course, not everybody again there are a lot of circumstances
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that factor into it but you have power over your brain
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and you get to train your brain
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and your brain is the greatest weapon you have in life it is how you experience everything
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so putting that effort into it is going to be so so rewarding
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and it is going to factor into every one of the
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points previous everything the way you approach life the way you
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approach books will be colored by the health of your brain
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and this is how you train your brain this is how your brain becomes healthy
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and I think it is the most rewarding the most fundamentally
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nice thing you can do for yourself this is self -care training your memory is self -care and
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that is all those are all of the tips I have
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I'm probably now in the position where I've made some of you a little bit angry huh
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and some of you probably thought how ridiculous is that reading is just supposed to be fun.
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Why are you making a chore of it?
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Why are you giving us homework?
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This is not meant to be that.
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Again, this is meant to be fun tips and tricks that you can maybe implement if you're feeling like it.
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Maybe you're a little bit bored today
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and maybe you're looking for something to do and maybe study a quote
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or maybe write a little bit of a review
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or maybe revisit some notes you've taken of a book
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or maybe revisit some annotations you've done
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and maybe try to write a few sentences about the book maybe look into a new genre
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or don't do any of that and just go
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and watch tv that's completely valid
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and fine too i am very grateful you were here
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and listen to me and
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if you have any tips please please put them down below
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let's make this comment section a discussion let's make it a conversation let's help one another
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because reading is such a fun hobby
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and it's one of those hobbies where you're never gonna be lacking in friends
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because there are so many of us out there
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and yeah I just thank you thank you for being here
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and I hope you're having a nice day
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if you are not having a nice day
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that is fine too I'm thinking about you either way
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and I'm already looking forward to seeing you again in the next one and until then bye

Informazioni su questa lezione

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

Tecnica dello shadowing: leggi la guida completa passo dopo passo →