Shadowing Practice: 7 reasons to listen before you read - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Today, I want to give you seven reasons why I think we should listen first before we read.
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Now, I often talk about the importance of input, and I think many people recognize the importance of input, but they sometimes wonder, is it better to read first or listen first?
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I believe everyone should do what they enjoy doing, because if you enjoy doing it, you're likely to continue doing it.
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So I will tell you what I do, and I will tell you the reasons why I do it.
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I listen first, and there are seven principal reasons which I've jotted down.
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Before I get into that, by the way, I looked up the perennial question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
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And there is an explanation online that the egg comes first because the egg evolved from a reptile's egg,
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which then became a chicken at some point in the evolutionary process, which to me doesn't really answer the question because then all you're doing is pushing it back to the reptile,
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which comes first, the reptile's egg or the reptile.
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But anyway, leaving that aside, to me, the first reason why listening comes first is because it's the easiest thing to do.
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It's the first thing I do in the morning.
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I don't wake up and start reading in, say, Persian, which I'm learning now.
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I get up and I get some audio, something that I'm listening to.
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It might be something out of Radio Fardo.
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It might be something from LingQ.
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I start listening.
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So it's the first thing I do.
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It's the easiest thing to do.
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You can do it wherever you are.
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I can do it while preparing breakfast.
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I do it in the car.
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I do it if I'm going to clean up the garage.
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It's just so easy to pick up some audio, put the AirPods in and listen.
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And I do make an effort to listen in LingQ Because then at least I get credit for those listening hours.
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Whereas if I'm listening on some other app, I'm usually too lazy to manually add those listening hours to my statistics.
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Now, somewhat related to that is the idea that listening is something you can do while doing other chores.
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It's the same idea, but the benefit is different.
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It's not because it's the easiest thing to do, but it's because very often when we're studying languages, we kind of think, gee, I wish I were doing something else.
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Whereas with listening, you can have the feeling that you are killing two birds with one stone.
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And you don't have to understand everything you're listening to.
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But again, it's part of this idea that it's easier to do.
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And also part of the fact that, again, and I'm going to get into exercise, but first thing I do in the morning is I grab my Persian listening
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and I grab my app that I have for exercise.
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And I think the fact that I can listen to my Farsi motivates me to do my exercises.
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And the fact that I'm doing the exercises motivates me to do the Farsi or the Persian.
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So there's a symbiosis there, a synergy.
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And so the multitasking capability strengthens our willingness to do both.
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And so therefore, to my mind, the listening comes first.
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The third point is exercise.
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I wanted to delve a little more deeply into exercise.
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There is research that shows that, first of all, exercise increases our cognitive ability.
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It might have to do with blood flow or whatever, but that is a fact.
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And not only during the exercise, but after the exercise, if we increase our flow of blood or if we're engaged in exercise, we are able to learn better.
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But there is very specific research that has been done on learning vocabulary,
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which showed that if two groups are exposed to new vocabulary and one group is on a,
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say, stationary bicycle and the other group is simply sitting there, then the group that's on the stationary bicycle will learn the vocabulary better.
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So I've actually experimented with this now, and I'm going to perhaps do another video on the different ways you can exercise and study languages, but apparently this works.
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So exercise improves your ability to learn and to remember.
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Number four, another reason why listening comes first is because the listening will trigger the curiosity from a number of perspectives.
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So you're listening to something, maybe you don't fully understand it.
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There are many words that you don't understand.
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Maybe it's an interesting story you want to understand the parts
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that you missed so that you can better understand the whole story.
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So the listening is going to trigger you to do other things.
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It's going to trigger you to read that story.
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It's going to trigger you to look up words, possibly review the words.
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So again, the listening starts the process and triggers the curiosity.
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And that's very important.
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Anything that keeps you going on your learning tasks is good.
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Now, number five is that listening gives you a sense of familiarity about the subject matter.
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You may find in listening to something new that you're not interested in it, or you may find that you're very interested in it.
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But the listening creates the atmosphere.
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You can't smell the smells, but you can feel the atmosphere of whatever it is you're listening to.
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I still remember when I listened to, you know, Russian novels or Italian novels, you know, at Cidiechi, in the case of Russian, while jogging around the field here,
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or while, you know, listening to I Prima Cisposi, pardon me if I like 19th century literature while learning Italian.
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It gets you in the mood.
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And once you have that mood and familiarity, it's so much easier than to read.
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Again, number seven, it's sort of related to this idea that you gain some familiarity with the subject matter, but it's more than that.
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It's this idea that you gain momentum.
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So you have heard it.
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You've heard the rhythm of the language and phrases and words have bounced around in your brain.
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And you've got the intonation and then you've heard the person's voice
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and all of that gives you momentum so that when you go to read, because when we read inevitably we sub vocalize, you've got some of that momentum,
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that intonation, and it pushes you forward.
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You're not fighting inertia.
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You've got some momentum going in your favor if you have been listening first.
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So that's the seventh reason why I think listening comes first.
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Now people are going to say when I listen, I can't maintain my focus.
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That's all true.
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And our ability to focus varies according to many different factors.
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I, for example, find that I am least able to focus
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if I just sit in a chair and don't do anything else.
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I can't just sit there and listen.
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I got to do something.
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Now, how much am I able to focus in?
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It's going to depend on my level in the language, on my interest in the subject matter, the audio quality, the narrator's voice quality,
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all of these things affect how much you're able to concentrate.
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Also, certain activities lend themselves more to staying focused.
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So I'm able to focus quite well while driving.
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If I'm exercising or lifting weights or even trying to organize my garage, it's much more difficult to stay focused.
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It doesn't matter because if you can listen to a lot, you're getting this rhythm, the intonation, as I've said, all those good things.
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But you're also picking up words and phrases.
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And you may not get them all, but whatever you do get goes into your database, into your reserve memory.
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And when we are reading or listening in the language, we're constantly predicting what's going to happen in the language.
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This is based on MRI research.
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So we're trying to predict what's going to come at us.
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We don't know to what extent these little bits and pieces of words and phrases that we noticed while listening, even though we weren't totally focused the whole time,
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to what extent is our ability to predict what's going to happen influenced by these little bits and pieces, these words and phrases.
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Similarly, when we go to speak, we know from research that we tend to grab words that we're confident, confident we can use or grab structures that we're confident we can use.
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And we kind of shape our utterances around things that we're comfortable using, or we think are going to work.
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And again, it's this error driven process that's either confirmed as being, you know, is working or not working.
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But in many cases, I think, again, we will grab some of these words and phrases that for whatever reason we heard or noticed while listening,
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even though we were of sort of fading in and out of the content while listening.
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So I think people shouldn't take the position that I'm only going to listen if I understand everything.
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That's not how listening works.
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You're going to understand better sometimes than at other times, and you're going to be able to focus better in some situations than other situations.
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So to summarize, input is so important, listening and reading.
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Obviously we all want to get to speaking and we want to speak a lot, but we need to have that listening and reading to give us the weapons,
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the words, the phrases, the familiarity that we need in order to have successful interactions in the language.
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If we listen, and listen a lot, it's going to improve our ability to read, it's going to improve our ability to learn from our reading, and because it's easy to do, it's going to keep us going.
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So I'm not saying that listening is more important, but if I'm asked which do I start with, then I start with listening for all of the reasons that I outlined,
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and I'd be interested in hearing your views on this subject.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “7 reasons to listen before you read”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: listening, exercise, listen, words, language. This video has 112 sentences and 1697 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:11. The speaker talks fast, about 207 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| familiarity noun | /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/ | The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy. |
| momentum noun | /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/ | Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products of its… |
| intonation noun | /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/ | The rise and fall of the voice in speaking. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| predict verb | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of… |
| reptile noun | /ˈɹɛp.taɪl/ | A (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake… |
| motivate verb | /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/ | To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. |
| stationary adjective | /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/ | Not moving. |
| curiosity noun | /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/ | Inquisitiveness; the tendency to ask and learn about things by asking questions, investigating, or exploring. |
| bicycle noun | /ˈbaɪsɪk(ə)l/ | A vehicle that has two primary wheels, one behind the other, a steering handle, and a saddle seat or seats and is usually propelled by the action of a rider’s… |
| rhythm noun | /ˈɹɪð.əm/ | The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter. |
| inertia noun | /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/ | The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass. |
| multitasking noun | The simultaneous execution of multiple tasks (programs) under the control of an interrupt-driven operating system. | |
| summarize verb | /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/ | To prepare a summary of (something). |
| symbiosis noun | /sɪmbaɪˈoʊsɪs/ | A relationship of mutual benefit, especially among different species. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's the first thing I do in the morning.
- There are many words that you don't understand.
- It's going to trigger you to read that story.
- It's this idea that you gain momentum.
- I can't just sit there and listen.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've jotted · has been done · I've actually experimented |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been done · are exposed · is based |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/, inertia /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/
- Long words — get the stress right: familiarity /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/, momentum /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like familiarity, momentum, intonation.
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.