Pratica di Shadowing: Why You Understand English But Can't Speak - Impara a parlare inglese con i video
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If you can understand English but you can't speak, this one's for you.
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This is probably the most common problem that students learning a second language face,
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and it has nothing to do with the language you're learning or your ability.
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The reason you can understand English
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but the words just don't come out of your mouth is entirely due to the system you're using to learn.
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And I'll be honest.
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The way you learned English was probably not the best.
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School curricula around the world tend to focus on vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing.
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These are four important skills to have in a second language.
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But what's missing?
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Speaking.
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Speaking and verbal communication skills are not taught in many schools around the world.
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I can speak to this firsthand.
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I'm from Canada and in Canada we have two official languages, English and French.
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There are French -speaking parts of the country and there are English -speaking parts of the country.
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I'm a native English speaker and I was born in an English -speaking part of the country.
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Every English -speaking Canadian needs to spend roughly seven to ten years minimum learning French in school.
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I remember my French classes.
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We watched movies, we read, we learned grammar rules, but we didn't do much speaking.
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And as a result, most English -speaking
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Canadians don't speak French.
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It's not because they're bad at languages or because French is a hard language to learn, it's because they weren't taught the right way.
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Listening and speaking are two vastly different skills.
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Fluency in a language is made up of four primary skills.
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Listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
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There's a reason that standardized tests such as the IELTS test these four skills.
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You can't be fluent in a language if you haven't mastered all four.
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Your listening skills might be amazing, but your speaking skills could still be lacking.
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I like to compare this to sports.
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If you watch professional sports like soccer, basketball, or baseball, you might understand the rules of the game,
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you might understand how to play, but unless you've put in years or decades of practice,
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you're never going to be as good as a professional athlete.
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The difference is you've spent time watching, whereas they've spent time doing.
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Now it's true that your listening vocabulary, the passive vocabulary you have,
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will always be bigger than the active vocabulary or the speaking vocabulary.
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This is true of any language.
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It's also true of your native language.
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I'm sure there are words in your native language that you understand but don't use on a daily basis.
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How can you expand your active vocabulary and speak more fluently in conversations?
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It's not about the conversation itself.
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It's about how well you prepare for that conversation.
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Preparation is key.
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There's a quote that's often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the American inventor.
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By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail.
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So how do you prepare for a conversation?
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The good news is that most conversations are actually predictable.
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Ordering a coffee, making small talk with a neighbor, making a reservation at a restaurant, going to the doctor's office.
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These conversations all follow similar patterns, so you can actually script them in advance.
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When I say script, I mean imagine you're an actor learning lines.
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Sit down for 20 minutes, take a notebook and script the lines that you'd actually use in these conversations.
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You can also use AI to help you.
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I think AI is actually quite good for this purpose, but ultimately you have to memorize these lines.
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When an actor first starts their acting career, all they do is memorize lines.
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And you might be thinking, well, Michael, why should I memorize lines?
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I want to speak spontaneously.
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But don't forget that actors also improvise.
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There's nothing wrong with improvising, but you can only afford to improvise later once you've mastered the foundations of conversation.
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Some of the best lines and scenes in film history are actually improvised.
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They're spontaneous.
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Experienced actors do this but not when they're first starting out.
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When they're first learning to act and getting experience, they follow the script to a T.
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If you keep scripting your conversations and preparing in advance,
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eventually you'll internalize so much vocabulary and so many different phrases that you won't need to do this.
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Learning a language is like completing a puzzle.
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All you're doing is fitting the different pieces of the puzzle together.
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Eventually, after you've completed the same puzzle over and over again, you'll be able to do it quickly without thinking.
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I'm a big advocate for scripting what you want to say in advance.
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memorizing those lines, and going into the conversation prepared.
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I want to share with you a brief anecdote about my experience learning piano.
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Learning an instrument is a lot like learning a language.
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I've been playing piano since I was five years old, and in my many years of playing piano, I also performed in many different recitals.
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A recital is a concert.
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It sounds obvious, but the recitals where I performed my best were also the recitals that I had prepared the most for.
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90 % of all the work was done before the recital.
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Before every recital, I would spend hours practicing the piece, learning the score, learning the melody,
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learning the harmony, and I had prepared so well that by the time I got on stage, everything clicked.
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I didn't have to worry about what I was going to play
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or how I was going to play it because I had already prepared.
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And I encourage you to do the exact same when speaking.
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Prepare your conversations as best you can in advance.
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So when it comes time to speaking with a native English speaker, at the doctor's office, at the hair salon,
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at a restaurant, you'll be prepared and you'll know what to say.
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Of course, conversation is spontaneous and you won't be able to script every single line perfectly
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but by preparing in advance you'll know which vocabulary to use
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and you'll have a structure and a guideline to help you in the conversation so you have less to worry about.
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Let me know in the comments, do you find speaking difficult?
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I hope today's video could provide you with some insight and motivation.
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Make sure to subscribe to English at the Ready, leave a like, and if you want to study English with me,
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click the link in the description below to learn more about our programs.
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I have several programs available to help you speak more fluently and yes we do a lot of speaking in every class.
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So make sure to have a look and join.
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Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
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Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione
Questa lezione di conversazione si basa sul video “Why You Understand English But Can't Speak”. Le parole che ritornano più spesso: speaking, conversation, language, learning, English. Questo video contiene 92 frasi e 1128 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 7:10. Chi parla ha un ritmo naturale di circa 157 parole al minuto, vicino a una conversazione quotidiana. Il 84% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese; conviene studiare le altre prima di iniziare.
Vocaboli chiave di questo video
15 parole del video che vale la pena imparare, con pronuncia e significato:
| Parola | Pronuncia | Significato |
|---|---|---|
| vocabulary sostantivo | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | vocabolario |
| skill sostantivo | /skɪl/ | abilità, capacità |
| script sostantivo | /skɹɪpt/ | scritto |
| piano sostantivo | /piˈænɪː/ | pianoforte, piano |
| puzzle sostantivo | /ˈpʌzəl/ | mistero, rompicapo |
| grammar sostantivo | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | grammatica |
| spontaneous aggettivo | /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/ | spontaneo |
| soccer sostantivo | /ˈsɑk.ɚ/ | calcio |
| compare verbo | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | paragonare |
| encourage verbo | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | incoraggiare, raccomandare |
| whereas | /(h)wɛɹˈæz/ | laddove, mentre |
| roughly avverbio | /ˈɹʌf.li/ | aprprossimativamente, a grosso modo |
| expand verbo | /ɪkˈspænd/ | estendere, espandere |
| preparation sostantivo | /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/ | preparazione |
| phrase sostantivo | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | espressione, polirematica |
Frasi da ripetere
Frasi brevi e complete del video che puoi riutilizzare nella conversazione di tutti i giorni:
- It's also true of your native language.
- It's about how well you prepare for that conversation.
- By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail.
- Let me know in the comments, do you find speaking difficult?
La grammatica di questo video
Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:
| Struttura | Nel video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso | haven't mastered · you've put · you've spent |
| Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa | are not taught · was born · weren't taught |
| Possibilità con “might / may” might/may + verbo — qualcosa di possibile ma non certo | might be · might understand |
| Superlativi the -est / the most … — il massimo o il minimo di un gruppo | the most common · the best · my best |
Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione
Chi parla usa 41 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come you'll, you're, don't. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.
- I suoni “sh” e “zh”: preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, reservation /ˌɹɛz.ɚˈveɪ.ʃən/
- Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, curriculum /kəˈɹɪk.jə.ləm/
I suoni difficili per chi parla italiano:
- /h/ — va soffiata, non è muta: whereas /(h)wɛɹˈæz/, harmony /ˈhɑ̟ɹ.mə.ni/, firsthand /ˈfɜːstˌhænd/
- Consonante finale — senza aggiungere una vocale dopo: script /skɹɪpt/, spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/, encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/, whereas /(h)wɛɹˈæz/, expand /ɪkˈspænd/
- /æ/ — più aperta della “e”: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, piano /piˈænɪː/, grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/, whereas /(h)wɛɹˈæz/, expand /ɪkˈspænd/
Come esercitarsi con questo video
- Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
- Inizia a velocità 0,75×, fai shadowing frase per frase e torna alla velocità normale quando diventa facile.
- Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come vocabulary, skill, script.
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.