Shadowing Practice: 3 tips for sounding like a native speaker - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Hi again.
2
Welcome back to www .engvid .com.
3
I'm Adam.
4
Today I'm going to help you sound a little bit more like a native speaker, hopefully.
5
Students ask me all the time, how can I sound like a native speaker?
6
Well, before I say anything, let me just tell you that it will take time and a lot, a lot, a lot of practice.
7
The best way is to live in an English -speaking country, of course, but of course you can do it anywhere, but it takes time, be patient, practice, practice, practice.
8
So, we're looking at pronunciation.
9
Let me start with this word, pronunciation, not pronounciation.
10
It is not a pronoun.
11
A pronoun is I, me, my, mine.
12
Pronunciation is how we speak English.
13
So, I'm going to give you three tips that will help you sound a little bit more like a native speaker.
14
We're going to start with connecting words.
15
Now, think about your own language, whether you're speaking Spanish or Polish or Chinese, you do this in your language as well.
16
When you're speaking fast, you're taking words and you're squeezing them together, you're connecting them.
17
So one word flows into the next word.
18
That's what we're going to do here.
19
You can connect consonant to consonant.
20
What this means, when a word ends in a consonant, A consonant is B, C, D, F, G, etc. A vowel is A, E, I, O, U.
21
When a word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with the same consonant, drop the first one.
22
So, for example, we do not say black coffee.
23
We don't say K, K.
24
There's only one K.
25
Black coffee.
26
Black coffee.
27
Okay?
28
Okay?
29
Practice that.
30
Now, T and D, these are two different consonants, but according to the tongue and the mouth, they almost sound the same, so we do the same thing.
31
What do you do?
32
What do you do?
33
But again, another thing you have to keep in mind is when we say it fast, we also don't really say E, we say like a sort of like a small, we don't say, oh, sorry, we say sort of a small E.
34
What do you do?
35
Practice that.
36
What do you do?" Strange, huh?
37
No T.
38
What do you do?
39
What do you do?
40
That's how a native speaker would say it naturally.
41
Now, another thing is when a word ends in a consonant and the next word begins in a vowel, make sure you roll it in, right?
42
Roll the consonant into the vowel and separate the syllable before.
43
A syllable is the vowel sounds in a word, okay?
44
So nobody, like native speakers, don't say, not at all.
45
Oh no, not at all.
46
We don't say it like that, we say, oh, not at all, not at all, not at all, right?
47
The T, so this becomes na, ta, tal, na, ta, tal, not at all, okay?
48
Say it quickly, blend the letters one into the next, but again, practice it.
49
Now, for those of you who are going to be taking a test, an English test that involves listening,
50
IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, if you're in Canada you may be doing a CELPIP test, okay?
51
This is going to help you on the listening section as well.
52
This is one of the things they're testing.
53
Somebody on the recording will say, not at all, and you need to cut, not at all.
54
You need to understand the separate words.
55
That's part of the test.
56
So practice speaking it, practice listening to it.
57
Another thing we do is we squeeze some words, okay?
58
Certain words, we don't say all the syllables, we don't even say all the letters.
59
I've heard many students say, comfortable, comfortable.
60
But native speakers, we don't say this part, we don't say the OR,
61
we say comf -ta -ble.
62
And notice the last sound is like a small, tiny, tiny little I in there.
63
Comfortable.
64
Com -ta -ble.
65
Comfortable, okay?
66
We don't pronounce the OR, comf -or -ta -ble.
67
Nope, don't do that.
68
Another word like that, interesting. In -tre -sting.
69
Find out what the syllables are, so in -ter-, sorry, my mistake, in -ter -res -ting.
70
If you want to emphasize something, we have a word called enunciate.
71
When someone wants to emphasize a word, then they enunciate each syllable.
72
They say each syllable separately.
73
Oh, that is very interesting, right?
74
Because I want you to understand that the word is interesting, but in everyday speech...
75
interesting interesting interesting interesting i have four syllable syllables
76
when i actually say it naturally it becomes three syllables
77
and the t and the r become like a ch
78
but that's we'll talk about that next another word every every i don't say every i don't say this letter e every,
79
every, everyone, everything, every.
80
Okay?
81
Last, squeeze letters.
82
Now, this is particularly true for a few letters.
83
When we have T -R, T -R together usually sounds like C -H -R.
84
So we don't say country, we say country, country, like a tree that grows,
85
but even a tree is .. tree, okay?
86
If you go out with your friends, you go out for a treat, okay?
87
Another one is dr. dr also doesn't really sound like dr. We don't say hundred, okay?
88
It's too difficult for the tongue to make the quick switch.
89
So So this sounds like J -R, hun -dred, hun -dred, hun -dred.
90
Now this goes with the first idea when you're connecting words, but when you're connecting words and you have a D and a Y together,
91
it becomes like a J sound. Did you? Did you? Did you? Did you?
92
Did you do it?
93
Did you do what I asked? Did you? Did you?
94
Okay?
95
So we say it like that very quick, very mixed, and you have to practice these because it's more a habit than anything else.
96
Native speakers, we don't think about doing these things.
97
It just rolls off the tongue just like that, okay?
98
But also, make sure you do a lot of listening.
99
Listen to TV sitcoms, listen to the radio, lots of things on the Internet.
100
TED .com, for example, you can hear native speakers all the time.
101
And what you can do is you can try to do dictation and try to listen and cut
102
the words you hear into the actual separate words that they are.
103
Listen to individual words and try to find their syllables, okay?
104
But again, it's just practice, practice, practice.
105
And of course, at www .engvid .com, if you go to the search box at the top of the site, we have a few more...
106
Actually, we have quite a few more pronunciation lessons.
107
You can go there and become a more natural speaker of English, okay?
108
Thank you for joining me today.
109
Please go to the YouTube channel, my channel on YouTube, subscribe, and I will see you again really soon.
110
Bye.
📺 Same Channel
B11
Real English: Vocabulary to talk about real estate
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B11
10 English Idioms with Meanings You CAN’T Guess
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B11
12 Emotional English Phrasal Verbs: lash out, storm off, sink in...
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B23
Essential English Grammar: WILL or WOULD?
Cambridge Exam PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B1How to ask for and give directions in English
Travel EnglishTeensDaily Conversation
✨ Recommend Video
B11
202 sentences
How to SOUND Better in English! | Pronunciation Lesson
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B11
95 sentences
Learn American Accent Fast.
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A23,129
19 sentences
Why You Cannot Understand Native Speakers Even When You Know The Words
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B13
222 sentences
How To Contract TO BE | Australian Pronunciation Lesson
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B11
335 sentences
How to Speak Like a Native 🇺🇸 | English Listening & Conversation Practice for Fluency and Confidence
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B11
51 sentences
10 ENGLISH TONGUE TWISTERS to improve your speaking skills
Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
B13
18 sentences
TESTING VIDEO
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B136
18 sentences
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students (Part 2) 🏆
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B12
115 sentences
I will Improve your Pronunciation by 80% in 7 Minutes! | Janhavi Panwar
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B1167 sentences
How to Start Thinking in English (Stop Translating!)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B12
274 sentences
15 Minute Morning Pronunciation Practice for English Learners
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B12
140 sentences
Linking sounds rules #1 & 2
Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “3 tips for sounding like a native speaker”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, practice, syllable, sound, consonant. This video has 110 sentences and 1165 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:54. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 33 of its 110 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| syllable noun | /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/ | A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants. |
| consonant noun | /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/ | A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant… |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| vowel noun | /ˈvaʊ.əl/ | A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable. |
| squeeze verb | /skwiːz/ | To apply pressure (to something) from two or more sides at once. |
| enunciate verb | /ɪˈnʌnsiˌeɪt/ | To make a definite or systematic statement of. |
| pronoun noun | /ˈpɹoʊ.naʊn/ | A part of speech that refers anaphorically to a noun or noun phrase, which cannot ordinarily be preceded by a determiner and rarely takes an attributive… |
| emphasize verb | /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/ | To stress, give emphasis or extra weight to (something). |
| dictation noun | /dɪkˈteɪʃən/ | Dictating, the process of speaking for someone else to write down the words. |
| sitcom noun | /ˈsɪtˌkɑm/ | Situation comedy. |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| sting verb | /ˈstɪŋ/ | To hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both. |
| blend verb | /blɛnd/ | To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other. |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| roll off verb | /ˈɹol ˈɔf/ | To spontaneously roll suddenly and rapidly to one side or the other upon entering a stall (due to one wing stalling slightly before the other does, combined… |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We're going to start with connecting words.
- That's what we're going to do here.
- What do you do?
- I've heard many students say, comfortable, comfortable.
- Did you do what I asked?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to help · I'm going to give · We're going to start |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | we're looking · you're speaking · they're testing |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | will take · will help · will say |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to keep · need to cut · need to understand |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 34 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, dictation /dɪkˈteɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, enunciate /ɪˈnʌnsiˌeɪt/
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 syllable, consonant, pronunciation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.