Shadowing Practice: Why learning English is so difficult. - Learn English Speaking with Video
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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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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles is gebaseerd op de video “Why learning English is so difficult”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: English, learn, pronunciation, word, spelling. Deze video bevat 122 zinnen en 1446 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 10:22. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 140 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 88% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is goed te volgen.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
15 woorden uit de video die het leren waard zijn, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation zelfstandig naamwoord | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | uitspraak |
| spelling zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/ | spelling |
| exception zelfstandig naamwoord | /əkˈsɛpʃən/ | uitzondering |
| communicate werkwoord | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | meedelen, mededelen |
| tense zelfstandig naamwoord | /tɛns/ | tijd, tempus |
| complicated bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ | ingewikkeld, gecompliceerd |
| lesson zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | les |
| confuse werkwoord | /kənˈfjuːz/ | verwarren, in de war brengen |
| pronounce werkwoord | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | uitspreken, verklaren |
| grammar zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | spraakkunst, grammatica |
| confused bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /kənˈfjuːzd/ | verward, in de war |
| encourage werkwoord | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | bemoedigen, aanmoedigen |
| priority zelfstandig naamwoord | /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ | voorrang, prioriteit |
| translation zelfstandig naamwoord | /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/ | vertaling, transmissie |
| spell zelfstandig naamwoord | /spɛl/ | toverspreuk, betovering |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| check out werkwoord | onderzoeken | |
| go back werkwoord | teruggaan | |
| look up werkwoord | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | opkijken |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 38 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals don't, you're, shouldn't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/, translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, confuse /kənˈfjuːz/, confused /kənˈfjuːzd/, encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/, phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/, translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, magical /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/, masculine /ˈmæskjələn/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/, irregular /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als pronunciation, spelling, exception.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.