Shadowing Practice: A2 English Listening Practice - Relearning a Language - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey English learners!
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Welcome to this A2 English listening practice video.
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Today, I'm gonna talk about relearning a language.
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So, I am currently relearning Greek right now.
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It's not the first time that I've learned it.
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I studied Greek many years ago, and I stopped about four and a half years ago,
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or maybe a little bit more than that.
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But now I'm relearning Greek and I'd like to talk about
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that today because it's a pretty interesting process to relearn a language.
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It's not the same thing as learning a language for the first time.
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So, I'll talk about some of those differences today and some of the things I've been experiencing while relearning Greek.
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And I hope that you enjoy this video.
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And of course, it's good practice for your listening.
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If you feel like you need to advance more and you want to get better at understanding fast English,
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then make sure to check out my advanced podcast episodes.
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If you want those, the link is down below.
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In those episodes, I speak at normal speed, not slowly like in these videos.
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By the way, people sometimes ask me if they speed up these YouTube videos,
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like make it faster, if that's the same thing as using my advanced episodes, it's not.
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You can do that with these YouTube videos, but when I slow down my speech,
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like in these videos, I change the way that I stress and reduce words.
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It's not the same as when I speak normally.
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And so if you make these videos faster,
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it's not the same thing as the way I say words and phrases when I speak in my advanced episodes,
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by the way.
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Because yes, you're making this video faster, so that's good, but it's not going to sound natural
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with the same type of stress and reduced speech
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and rhythm as a normal video or podcast episode where I'm speaking at normal speed.
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So I just wanted to mention that because people always ask about that.
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Okay, let's talk about relearning a language.
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I started relearning Greek maybe four weeks ago, something like that.
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So it's pretty recent, but I've already learned a lot and I've learned some lessons from these weeks of relearning Greek.
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So when you learn a language for the first time, it's the first time you've seen it.
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You're creating new connections in your brain.
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Okay?
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This is a different process from when you're relearning a language.
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When you're learning a language for the first time, it's really easy to forget things.
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It's very easy to see a word, even a simple word like great or something,
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and you see it, you note it down, and you forget it afterwards.
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That's really common when you're learning a language for the first time.
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This is because you have no foundation,
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you have no base, so you're You're just seeing new things
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that have no significance to you and you've never seen anything like
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that before and things just don't make sense to you yet.
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And a big thing is that things don't sound right or wrong to you yet.
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Now you're learning English, you're not a native speaker,
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but I'm sure if you hear another English learner say something that's really incorrect,
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you can probably feel that it's wrong.
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You probably feel that it's incorrect, even though you're not a native speaker.
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And when you're learning a language for the first time, you're just starting out, you have no foundation,
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you don't have this feeling of right and wrong.
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You don't know what sounds right.
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You don't know what sounds wrong.
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Everything is just completely new and arbitrary, meaning it's It's kind of random.
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You don't have any connection with these sounds or words or grammar.
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It's all new for you.
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On the other hand, when you relearn a language, you're not starting from scratch.
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Even if you think you've forgotten everything, you haven't.
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It's not completely gone.
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Maybe you can't think of that thing in that moment,
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but that information might still be deep down in your brain.
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This is something I've noticed.
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Before this past month, I felt like I just did not have any Greek in my brain.
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Like I forgot almost everything except for some basic things.
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But even though it feels like this,
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even though it feels like the information you've learned is completely gone, it's not.
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So in the past month,
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I've been relearning Greek and like I said before this, I couldn't say anything.
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I didn't remember how to say things or I couldn't understand things.
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It seemed like the words were gone.
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But when I started relearning Greek, I realized, oh, I recognize that word.
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Oh yeah, I know that word.
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Oh, of course, I know that word.
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That's been happening over and over again throughout this past month.
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And so I realize that this information has not completely disappeared.
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I just have to revive it, bring it back to life.
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Okay?
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So let me talk about some things that I've been noticing.
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Like as soon as I see or hear a word that I used to know,
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I have this click and I recognize it immediately.
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Oh yeah, I remember that word.
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That keeps happening over and over again and it's like, we say this in English,
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like a light bulb moment where the light bulb goes off like, oh yeah, wow, that's right.
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I've been having this again
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and again suddenly this word comes back to me like oh yeah I know
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that word and then suddenly it's obvious like oh of course I know how to say
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that and that's strange because right before
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that it's like I had no idea how to say that I had no idea what that word was in Greek,
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but then suddenly I see it and then it's super obvious.
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It's not like when you're learning a language for the first time and you see a new word and it's like,
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okay, another new word to learn and it has no meaning for you yet.
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When I relearn these Greek words, I see it and immediately it has meaning.
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Immediately I remember that word.
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Immediately it re-establishes that connection in my brain.
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It's really cool.
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I've even started remembering other words,
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other random words, without even seeing them or hearing them again.
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So one thing is when I relearn the word, I see it or I hear it and I say, oh yeah, I remember that word.
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But I'm also experiencing this where I don't even see the word
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or hear the word and I just remember suddenly how to say drive
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or some random verb like I'm just practicing and suddenly I go,
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oh I remember that drive is this word.
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Even though no one said it, I didn't see it anywhere, I just randomly remember how to say that word.
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That's happened a number of times already.
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So as I'm relearning Greek, information is surfacing as we say,
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meaning it's coming and becoming visible and suddenly I know it again.
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Even in some cases when I don't even see the word.
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I just randomly remember how to say certain things.
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Or maybe I'm gonna look something up and before I even see the result, I kind of remember like,
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I think it starts with this letter.
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And then I look up the word and I realize that yes, it starts with that letter.
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So all of this is reviving.
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It's coming back to me.
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It's coming back to life.
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And I feel that relearning all of this information,
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relearning words and phrases and all that.
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It's making these connections stronger in my brain.
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When I first learned these words and these phrases, the connection was not that strong and
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so I had to strengthen this connection over time by seeing the word or hearing the word again and again.
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But now when I relearn a word, I have that connection more quickly.
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I don't need to see it as many times again to really establish it in my brain.
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I remember it better.
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It has more meaning for me quicker, more quickly.
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So I think that forgetting something and then relearning it is a very powerful thing.
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I know there's research about this.
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I'm not really familiar with all of the studies and the results,
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but I'm pretty sure that there is established science about this,
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about forgetting things and then relearning them and how that's a really powerful thing.
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So the fact that I've forgotten all of these words and phrases in Greek,
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and now I'm relearning them,
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that's a powerful way to establish strong connections in my brain.
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So I guess a lesson that you can take from that is that you shouldn't be afraid to forget things.
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Sometimes we have this fear of forgetting information, forgetting words that we learn.
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Don't worry about this.
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You'll relearn them when it's necessary,
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when you need to, and then you'll probably remember these words even better once you relearn them.
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That's what's happening to me right now in Greek.
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I think that I'm gonna remember my vocabulary now better than before.
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And I think the process of reaching the level
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that I was at
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when I stopped is gonna be a lot faster than the process of reaching that level for the first time.
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So if it took me a year to reach a certain level before,
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maybe it will only take me eight months now or something.
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I'm just randomly saying numbers here.
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I don't know.
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But I feel like the process is gonna be faster now that I'm relearning Greek
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and not learning it from scratch for the first time.
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So remember that I haven't learned Greek in a long time, like over four and a half years.
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It's been quite a while since I've learned Greek and that's a long time,
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but the knowledge that I have of Greek is still there in my brain.
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So that's really cool because sometimes we can think that
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when we stop learning a language and we take a long break that we've wasted our time.
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I wasted a year and a half learning English years ago, and now I have to start again.
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Why did I stop?
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I wasted that time.
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And of course, it's better not to stop learning the language.
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But what's cool is that you didn't waste your time.
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I didn't waste my time learning Greek in the past.
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I felt like that maybe last year when I didn't know any Greek and I couldn't remember anything and I thought,
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oh, why did I spend all that time and then stop?
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But now I realize that that time,
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that effort, that energy that I spent many years ago was not in vain, meaning it was not useless.
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It actually had results and now I'm benefiting from that.
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I'm relearning Greek and the process is going faster than
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when I first learned it and I'm remembering these words that I learned, I'm reviving them.
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That knowledge is still deep in my brain.
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So I'm very happy about that.
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I hope that if you've had this experience of learning a language and stopping,
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I hope now that you realize that you can revive a lot of that information and establish stronger connections now.
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So don't be too discouraged if that has happened to you.
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Remember that you can check out my advanced podcast episodes in
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which I speak fast by clicking on the link down below and signing up for those.
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So make sure to challenge yourself and use that advanced content so you can reach the next level in your English listening.
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Okay?
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Thank you all for watching this A2 English listening practice video, and I'll talk to you in the next one.
About This Lesson
Welcome to your A2 English listening practice session focused on the process of relearning a language. In this lesson, you will gain insights into how language acquisition evolves over time and the distinct challenges and benefits associated with revisiting a language. This understanding can enhance your approach to learning English and improve your proficiency. As you listen, you will also practice understanding natural speech patterns, which is vital for effective communication. This session aligns well with IELTS speaking practice, helping you to develop your listening skills while preparing for verbal assessments.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Relearning: The process of learning a language again after having previously learned it.
- Connections in the brain: The mental links you develop when learning new vocabulary or concepts.
- Foundation: Basic knowledge that serves as the starting point for further learning.
- Stress and reduce words: Techniques used in natural speech to emphasize certain syllables and shorten others.
- Natural speed: The pace at which a native speaker typically communicates.
- Wrong or right: The ability to recognize incorrect grammar or vocabulary through intuition, even as a non-native speaker.
Practice Tips
To effectively enhance your English pronunciation and comprehension skills, consider using a shadowing technique. This method involves listening closely to the spoken content of this video and trying to repeat it simultaneously. Here are some specific tips to make the most of this practice:
- Start by playing the video at normal speed. Listen carefully to how words are stressed and how certain sounds blend together, just like you would in a shadowing app.
- After you understand the general flow, pause the video every few sentences and repeat phrases aloud. Focus on matching the speaker's tone and rhythm, which is crucial for improving English pronunciation.
- For a challenge, try speeding up the video a little. Doing so may help you grasp how native speakers use their language quickly, enhancing your listening abilities for situations like IELTS speaking practice.
- If possible, record your repetitions. Listening to yourself can reveal areas for improvement and reinforce your learning process.
By incorporating these strategies into your practice, you can achieve a deeper understanding of the language, improve your fluency, and increase your confidence during real conversations. Remember that relearning a language can be a rewarding journey, leading to greater mastery and enjoyment of the English language.
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.