Shadowing Practice: Hear like native speakers hear - The Fluency Habit Podcast - Learn English Speaking with Video

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If you want to improve your English,

then listening to as much audio content as you possibly can is one of the best ways to do so.

Especially if you're at like an intermediate or advanced level

and you feel a little bit stuck or plateaued

and you don't know what you can continue to do to continue improving your English, this is definitely the way to do it.

But you need to stop listening to boring content.

I mean, that kind of news in slow English

or like how to order a coffee in English

and this kind of stuff especially this kind of language focused content in

which the person who's speaking is modifying their voice to be more easily understood by you.

That is, they are over enunciating and they're speaking slower than they normally would.

And in this kind of content, they're often talking about things that I find to be kind of repetitive

or like this kind of content that I've already thought about before.

And so therefore, to me, it is frankly a little bit boring.

And that's the kind of content I think doesn't really serve you once you're past the beginner level of learning a language.

So in today's episode of the Fluency Habit podcast,

I want to talk about what kind of content I do think you should be spending your time listening to

that will make the process actually fun, interesting, entertaining, and enjoyable, which to me is kind of the key of making sure that it actually works.

My name is Meredith.

I am the creator of phoneticfluency .com where my goal,

my mission, is to help you fill the gap in your English that you need to finally become fluent.

And for so, so many people out there, that is phonetics and pronunciation.

You can go to phoneticfluency .com to learn more, or you can click the link in the description of this

video to download my free pronunciation guide to kind of see what kind of things I teach.

So again, in today's episode, So that's our topic is how to make listening practice fun because this is my opinion,

but I also think there are studies that back this when you're learning another language, receiving as much of the auditory language to absorb

it into your brain is one of the most important parts of it because the language doesn't come from inside you.

You don't have like, if you're not a native English speaker,

you don't have English like resting dormant inside you that's gonna awaken when you speak a lot, and same for any other language.

The language comes from outside of you, and you need to absorb it in order to have it in your brain,

and then be able to output it yourself.

So the more listening practice you can do, the better, but you need to do the right listening practice

so that you're not bored and so that you stick with it.

So this kind of boring, repetitive content is bad for two main reasons.

When the presenter or the teacher or the content creator

or whatever is speaking artificially slow or over enunciating in a way that they wouldn't normally do.

This might work if you're a beginner, but if you're beyond the beginner stage,

this is actually kind of training your ears and your brain to understand a non -real version of English,

a version of English that is more closely connected to how English is written

and is spoken in a way that people frankly don't really speak in real life.

So this is kind of setting you up for bad listening habits.

In my content, I don't modify my speech at all.

I speak exactly the same way that I would to any other native speaker of English.

And that is intentional because if you're listening to me and you understand, you know, 80 % of what I say,

then I think just through listening to me over time, your ear is going to adapt to how i say things

and the kind of contractions and reductions that i make

and eventually you're going to increase from 80 up to 90 95

or maybe even 100 understanding 100 of what i say

if that's not the case and you are like maybe lower than 80

and you hear me and there are ways that i reduce

or contract words that you don't understand at all then you can turn on the captions

and kind of analyze it

because this kind of understanding of english how it's actually spoken in real life basically tuning your ear to

that sound is going to be very important for you

because in real life people aren't going to modify their speech for you usually not especially

if you're in like a group setting with tons of native speakers and if you're maybe not the only

if you're maybe the only non -native speaker

then you've got to catch up you've got to be able to hear the way

that native speakers hear and the only way to do

that is the same way that native of speakers learn in any language, which is by constantly being exposed to the real language

and just having this ear brain connection catch up to how the real language is actually spoken.

I went off a little bit on a tangent there,

but basically when you listen to content where people are speaking artificially slow or artificially over enunciated,

this is setting you up for kind of bad speaking or sorry, bad listening habits.

The other part of this content.

more about the content side of it like what is actually being talked about i find i find

that a lot of that content tends to circle around the same topics over

and over these kind of topics

that always feel somehow connected to language learning somehow connected to like day -to -day stuff

and i don't know i just kind of get bored of like day -to -day stuff type content

so i think that when you listen to this kind of content, which is boring, your brain gets bored and so it shuts off.

And so whatever audio that you're listening to,

it just becomes background noise and it's not actually giving you the benefit that it should be giving you.

Now, I just want to say this is a matter of taste.

So even if these kinds of topics feel a little bit boring to me, they might not be for you.

I mentioned at the very top of the video, like news in slow English when I was learning Spanish.

And now that I'm learning

Portuguese, well, I mean, now that I'm learning

Portuguese I don't do it because I've learned from my past experience

but when I started learning Spanish of course one of the most popular tools

or resources that people recommend is that kind of content like news in slow Spanish

and I tried and I was like god this is

so boring and the thing

that clicked for me is like I don't even listen to the news in English

if I don't listen to news in my native language

then why would I listen to it in a separate language nowadays I do listen to news sometimes

but uh anyways that's besides the point my point is we need to make a new rule which is

if you wouldn't listen to it in your native language

then you shouldn't listen to it in your target language either

i firmly believe this is one of my core beliefs about language learning

that it has to be enjoyable and fun or it probably won't work

if it's like pulling teeth by the way this is a common english expression something is like pulling teeth

if it's like like something you have to fight yourself to do or fight someone else to do.

Like if you are trying to, let's say you have a kid and you're trying to get them out the door and in the car,

you could say that that's like pulling teeth because they're resisting you every step of the way.

So if learning a language, if doing the steps that you need to do, like your homework and listening practice, if that's like pulling teeth,

then it's my belief that you're always gonna be relatively limited in how far you can go with that language.

So it has to be fun, it has to be interesting, and it has to be enjoyable for it to actually work.

If we keep my philosophy in mind, then it's pretty clear that listening to content that is boring

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or does not interest us at all is not really going to have a good effect on our language learning outcomes.

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Pragmatically speaking, if you think about it,

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listening to content that you enjoy naturally is going to make the learning process a lot faster and more efficient.

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Because whatever you're listening to, if you are genuinely interested in it and enjoy it,

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then you want to know what's going to happen like imagining it's a story it's like what's gonna happen next

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or if it's a podcast like what are they gonna say next

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so because of that your brain is going to start looking for context clues

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and kind of filling in the gaps of the things

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that you don't know which is going to make you learn faster as i said

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when we learn our first language as children

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this is basically how we learn it there's a lot of other stuff involved

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but essentially we're absorbing a lot of language

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and making connections in a natural way rather than in like a studious way of like, okay, this means this and this means this.

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But we absorb the language and our brain kind of does the work for us of making connections.

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And so if you are listening to content that you find fun, entertaining, enjoyable, interesting, or whatever,

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then your brain's going to start doing that on its own because you care about the content.

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And so this subconscious language learning process that's going on in the background is going to happen faster and more efficiently,

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which is going to bring you to your ultimate goal a lot faster

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and you're gonna have fun while you do it

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because the thing about learning a language is it's not fast

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I know a lot of people build businesses around this idea of like fluent in however many weeks

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or however many months because in language learning I have noticed there's a strong focus

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and concentration on like how many hours do I need how

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many weeks how many months how many years until I become fluent

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so the strong concentration is on the end result of fluency

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and this can be damaging because you're gonna lose interest

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or you're gonna become demotivated

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because it is a long process like I am to this day after six years still learning Spanish

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so you kind of have to let that go

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and that's another part of the reason I have this philosophy

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that the task of language learning the things you do as part of language learning have to be fun

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and enjoyable because you have to maintain motivation over a very long period of time like years

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because the final result is going to be years away

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or maybe you never really get there

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because i'm even still i think we're all still improving in our native languages

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so language learning is a lifelong thing so you need to be okay with

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that and having fun as you do it is kind of a necessary part of that equation

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when you listen to this content that's designed for learning i think a lot of times people listen to it

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and are like okay i want to get to the point where i understand 100 of what to hear.

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Let's replace that goal with

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I want to be so entertained or engaged in the content

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that I'm listening to that I actually forget that it's in English.

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Now I've explained to you why it's important that you do consume a lot of audio content,

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a lot of comprehensible input in English or whatever target language, but also that it's super important that you actually enjoy this content

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that you're listening to in order for it to have the desired learning outcomes.

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This episode wouldn't be complete if I didn't give you some of my recommendations for things

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that you can listen to in English.

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So if you're an English learner or trying to improve your English, or even if not, these are some really good suggestions.

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These are based on my interests.

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These are the things that I like and enjoy.

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So if you don't like and enjoy them, then you have bad taste.

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Just kidding.

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But no, obviously it's something that's subjective.

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So the things that I like and enjoy, maybe you will or maybe you won't also like and enjoy them, but they're pretty good.

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So you probably will.

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I'm going to divide this into categories, and the first category is going to be podcasts, and the second category is YouTube channels or videos.

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And then after that, I'm gonna tell you about the secret third thing

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that I think that a lot of people do not know about.

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People are sleeping on.

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This is a very common slang phrase recently.

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Like, to be sleeping on something is like, something is there, but people aren't giving it the attention that it merits.

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So people are sleeping on this third option.

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We'll start with the first category, which is podcasts.

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And I think podcasts are just one of the most excellent ways to really create a virtual auditory immersion in English.

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So this is a way that you're constantly listening

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and constantly absorbing the melody and cadence and words and phrases

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and all these things that you need to absorb in order to improve your English.

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I personally listen to a ton of podcasts.

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I don't know, something about it just works very well and does something very positive for my ADHD brain.

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So if I'm doing activities that don't require me to hear the people

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or things around me and don't require me to speak, then I probably have headphones in or earbuds in and I'm listening to a podcast.

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So I have a lot of podcast recommendations.

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I'm going to limit it here to three podcasts.

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And these are like top tier, very well produced podcast

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that have also a very large backlog of past episodes for you to go in and dive into and listen to.

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I tend to listen to podcasts mostly in English

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and I think that's mainly because I think

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that the podcast medium has had the longest amount of time to marinate

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and really pop out some very good content in English specifically more

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so than other languages until now I've kind of tried to find podcasts in Spanish

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and I found some that are good but I've never found a podcast that really just

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like gripped me the way these recommendations

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that i'm going to give you have in spanish so far

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so if you have recommendations for very excellent podcasts in spanish

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that you think could be at the level of the ones i'm going to recommend please leave them in the comments

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what i'm kind of looking for is i don't really love podcasts where it's completely unscripted

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and there's not like a kind of flow to it like

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i don't like these kind of podcasts where it's just like

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a couple guys around a microphone just kind of saying whatever comes to their mind

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I like podcasts that have a specific topic that's being explored

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and it's kind of like they guide you through the topic in phases

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and especially if they involve other people or like have sound design or these kind of things.

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So well -produced podcasts that cover certain topics, even if those topics are very varied, it doesn't matter.

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That's the kind of thing I like and those are the kinds of things I'm going to recommend to you.

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So if you have any recommendations like that in Spanish or in Portuguese, leave them in the comments.

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In Portuguese, my level probably isn't at that point where I could

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realistically understand enough of the content for it to be useful for me, but maybe sometime in the near future.

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So you can leave that kind of those kind of recommendations in the comments for me.

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Now let's go ahead and get on to my recommendations.

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The first one I will recommend the for me top podcast in English is Radiolab.

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Radiolab is an amazing podcast and it's very difficult to say what Radiolab is about.

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We could say Radiolab is kind of about science,

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but I think that's putting it in too small of a box because Radiolab can really be about anything.

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It's a show where the topic changes episode to episode, so in each episode, which is quite long,

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which I enjoy, they will dive very deeply into one particular question, and that question can be about science a lot of the time,

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but also about things like philosophy or legal cases or or basically anything like history or even linguistics.

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There have been a couple episodes that are sort of linguistically related.

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And one of those I will mention later

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when I tell you what episodes are my favorites so you know what episodes you can start with.

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Why I think this podcast is good generally, but also specifically good for people, maybe like yourself who are English learners

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and are trying to listen to a lot of audio content in order to level up their English.

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One thing I really like about it is that even though it is a very famous podcast, it is very well produced,

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high production value, it's also very deep and all this stuff, the people, the hosts that is, they still talk like normal people.

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What I mean by that is like they don't have this kind of specific radio broadcaster voice

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and I think this is really good for me as a listener

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because I think that kind of artificial radio voice can be very tiring to listen to but

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if you're a learner of English I personally would rather

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you be exposed to real English like the kind of English

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that people are going to speak to you at work

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or in your friend groups or or any kind of like natural non artificial situation

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so I love

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that they use real voices they don't over enunciate they don't speak extra slow they use filler words

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and they don't cut them out they don't cut it doubt

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if they stutter or need a moment to think or compose themselves

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and think about what they're going to say just like I'm kind of doing in this podcast.

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Another thing that I think is very cool

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and also is one of the reasons that this podcast is quite famous is their amazing sound design.

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So if I recall correctly, I think the origin story is that the creator of the podcast, Jad Abumrad, came from an audio engineering background.

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And so when he created Radiolab, he was like, okay, How can I make a podcast that involves these complex audio editing features?

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So for example, imagine that the two hosts are talking about what the topic is going to be.

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And the other thing, kind of a digression,

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but it just feels like you're in one scene and then that scene will end and it will cut to another scene.

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Just like in a movie, you're in one place and then there's a cut and then now you're in another place,

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which is a different scene of the movie

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and they managed to achieve this in an audio like sonic way through changes in sound

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and music and tone and voices and i think this is

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so interesting it keeps me super super engaged it feels almost like watching a movie

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but in an audio way

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so going back to like the sound design that's something they do through the medium of sound design

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so imagine the two hosts are talking

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and they're talking about like I don't know some special fish

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or like bacteria and they're like okay

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and to learn more about this we're going to first travel to the such

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and such river

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and then in the background you'll start hearing like the sound of a babbling river in the background

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and then that's going to lead you kind of into the next segment

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or the next like I think then like scenes another thing is it's learning in a way

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that never falls into this feeling like a boring dry lecture

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so these are two people who are quite intelligent

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and know a lot about science and a lot of the topics

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that they cover

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but everything that's explained guides you into what could end up being a very very complex topic in a way

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that never begins to feel overwhelming and never ends up feeling like a boring lecture

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so I'm really into learning all the time and

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so I like learning about things

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that maybe otherwise I wouldn't have taken the time to investigate on my own

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and they do this in a way that feels

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so natural like imagine people explaining to you as

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if you were like a reasonably intelligent high school student

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but one who didn't have previous background knowledge of whatever the topic is

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so it feels very light -hearted and easy to listen to

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while at the same time covering very complex and in -depth topics

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my favorite episodes of radio lab at least off the top of my head

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that i can remember after after years of listening to this podcast.

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Eye in the sky, Hello, and the Woobie effect.

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So if you're looking for a starting point to dip your toes in the water, this is an English expression to say,

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like to kind of test something to see if it works for you or if you like it,

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the way you would dip your toe in the water to see

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if the temperature is good so that you can get in the water.

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If you wanna dip your toe in the water with Radiolab, these are the episodes you can start with

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because I think they're some of the most fun and interesting ones and see if you like them.

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And then from there, you can listen to all of them because there are like by this point,

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probably hundreds of back episodes that you can listen to.

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That's Radiolab.

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And the next podcast I want to recommend is quite different.

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It's called If Books Could Kill.

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And it's got a different vibe

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because it doesn't have all of the high production audio engineering kind of stuff that Radiolab has.

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And I mentioned earlier that I don't love

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that genre of podcast where it's just like a couple guys around a microphone riffing.

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Riffing is a term english that means like kind of like improvising

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but with your words

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so whatever the person

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you're talking with just said to you you kind of like think of a clever witty humorous reply

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and you kind of go back

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and forth with each other based on what the other is saying that's what riffing means

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so i said that i don't really love

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that genre of podcast where it's just a couple guys are on a microphone riffing

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and that's kind of what this podcast is but it's different

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because they deep dive into one topic and there is a certain layout.

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There is a flow, like a, what's the word I'm looking for?

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Like an outline of what they're going to cover throughout the episode.

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So they cover books, but in a critical lens through a critical lens.

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So basically what this podcast is about is it's two guys tearing apart.

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best -selling non -fiction quote -unquote airport books.

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Their definition of airport books are like books, for example, like Outliers or Rich Dad, Poor Dad, these kind of books

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that you will find in any kind of airport bookstore that are usually sort of self -help adjacent.

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And when I say that they tear these apart, they kind of basically say, okay, these books tend to make some pretty bold extreme claims,

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so let's see if that actually holds up under scrutiny

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and let's see where their sources actually come from

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and let's see you know like you should just listen to it

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and get an idea

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but why i think this podcast is good why i personally enjoy it even as a native speaker

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and why i think it would be good

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if you're a non -native speaker who is trying to uh improve your listening comprehension

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and improve your english in general is because these guys are

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so funny like i can I've basically listened to them talk about anything because the two hosts have hilarious,

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amazing chemistry, like the way they riff off of each other.

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And some of the episodes that I've listened to, because at this point I've listened to all of the free episodes,

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some of the stuff that I have listened to are books

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that I have not read and about topics that frankly I don't know very much about at all.

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And frankly, I'm not that interested in, but even still I will listen to it because these guys are just

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so funny and also very smart that I like listening to them talk about essentially anything.

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I think this is a kind of a unique combination, which is very complex social or societal topics,

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but being covered and spoken about in a way that's really funny and fresh and uses slang and like

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filler words and sarcasm and humor.

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So I think it is excellent for those reasons.

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So I just think it's really funny.

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That's the main reason I listened to it.

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And I tend to agree with the points of views of the hosts, I mean not always, but I think in general they're relatively fair.

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They tear apart these books and a lot of the times when you listen to them you will realize like,

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whoa I never would have thought it was that deep,

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you know, because these books sometimes seem kind of harmless and then as you listen to them, like I said these are two really smart guys,

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you'll be like oh maybe it's not as harmless as I thought.

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So it's interesting and hilarious.

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My favorite episodes, just off the top of my head, the ones that I can recall having listened to and thinking

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that they were funny

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or interesting were malcolm gladwell's blink um i was laughing my ass off during

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that episode so that one's really really funny and

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a classic episode from them because it's a classic famous like self -help type book

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which i will admit i have read maybe

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i don't know 10 years ago rich dad poor dad that's a good episode as well

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but honestly you can listen to basically any episode moving on to my final podcast suggestion is a podcast

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that has been canceled or discontinued but not before fortunately for us having made tons

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and tons of episodes

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so there are like I don't know how many like let's say 200 back episodes you can go back

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and listen to and

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that podcast is reply all again this is the podcast

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that's a little bit difficult to describe they I think their self branding was a podcast about the internet

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but that is kind of a misleading catchphrase or slogan

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because in fact if hear

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that a podcast about the internet it kind of makes it sound like perhaps it would be like techie

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and i guess somehow it is techie but you know i don't consider myself a particularly techie person

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but i am able to enjoy the stories that they tell

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because that's how i would describe it it's more of like a podcast

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that dives deeply into very interesting and also very human stories stories

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that you somehow feel like i don't know reveal something about humanity which sounds very deep and it's a funny podcast,

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but at times it can be very deep.

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So why it's a good podcast in general and why I think it's good for non -native speakers for improving their English.

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I think maybe you have caught onto a theme of my personal tastes,

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which is I really like when there manages to be a balance between funny and entertaining and very deep and intellectual,

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which this podcast manages to do.

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So once again, it's super interesting.

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It's super engaging.

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It's super fun so it doesn't feel like homework or doesn't feel like a lecture when you listen to it.

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So it's just going to feel like something you do for entertainment.

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And once again, just like in my other recommendations, again, this is a recurring theme because it is super important, they speak completely authentically.

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It's a 100 % authentic dialogue.

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It's unscripted.

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So you're going to hear a full use of modern slang, laughter, natural interruptions, filler words.

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And these guys have good chemistry as well.

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So it's basically going to be like you eavesdropping on what

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it sounds like for two close friends to be like chatting

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about Sometimes deep topics in a natural casual way as two

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native speakers would do my favorite episodes are the snapchat thief and long distance parts one and two.

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You can start with any episode.

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And honestly, this podcast is so good that you could start with episode one

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and listen to that and then just work your way through the entire catalog.

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But I also feel that way about all of the podcasts that I have recommended.

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So let's move on to the next category, which is YouTube.

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Obviously YouTube is a video based platform, but if I'm watching something that the visual element is necessary, then I'll obviously watch the video.

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But I spent a lot of time just listening to YouTube videos.

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When it comes to YouTube videos, unlike the podcast recommendations, which were very general, that is, no matter what your personal interests are,

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these podcasts are varied enough that I think you will find something that you enjoy about them, the YouTube videos

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that I tend to watch are going to be more specific to my own unique interests

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and whatever I'm into at the moment.

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So my suggestion for finding YouTube content

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that you like is just look at what kind of content do I vibe with

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and listen to and enjoy in my native language

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and then try to find similar content in English or whatever your target language is.

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For example, when I was learning Spanish, I watched a lot of videos by Luisito Comunica, who is, I think, the most famous Mexican YouTuber.

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And the reason this worked very well for me is because he makes content that's not geared towards learners.

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So what that means is he can talk about anything.

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So I'm getting exposed to, I guess, mostly travel content but a wide variety of expressions

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and vocabulary and and context so

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that therefore i don't get bored by hearing the same kind of learning oriented content over

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and over and also that means he's not modifying his speech to make it more clear for non -native speakers however

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him in particular i do think he has a very clear

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and enunciated way of talking naturally so even though he's not modifying his speech, it's still like real Spanish,

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let's say, I still find him very clear and easy to understand, which helped me a lot as a learner.

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The other part is that because he's Mexican, obviously a lot of the slang that he uses and cultural references

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and these kind of things would work for someone like me who was learning specifically Mexican Spanish

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and who was later going to end up living in Mexico.

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So that's just an example. For English, what I listen to

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or watch varies a lot depending on what is kind of like the thing I'm most into at the moment.

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So for example, recently I'm kind of getting into calisthenics.

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So a lot of that kind of content comes up on my feed and I might watch or interact with that content.

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Additionally, like I kind of like personal finance and productivity type stuff personally.

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So when those kinds of channels come up, I tend to watch those kinds of videos.

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So anyways, the suggestions I make right now might not even be the same thing

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that I'm watching a year from now or

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that I was watching a year ago

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but for example I recently am really into the channel I will teach you to be rich

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which is basically like a personal finance

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podcast slash YouTube channel Ramit Sethi is the host

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and I really vibe with him like all the perspectives

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that he tends to have about life and travel and personal finance

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because all of it comes together in the channel I really vibe with it

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so I enjoy his channel a lot recently another example of something

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that I listen to

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that has nothing to do with the former is I listen to two main kind of podcasts slash channels

411

that are about like

412

Reddit stories, which are Opie said and Smosh reads Reddit stories.

413

And this is purely entertainment.

414

I, when I have like nothing to nothing in particular, I want to listen to,

415

or kind of like, and I just want something kind of almost like background noise.

416

This is the kind of content I will go for

417

because it doesn't require me to be constantly learning

418

because I do think you can oversaturate your brain with too much learning

419

if you're constantly listening to like very deep stuff like Radiolab.

420

This is kind of my reality TV equivalent in podcast form.

421

So Opie Said is a trio of three British girls who are super funny

422

and I really like the contrast between when I listen to their content

423

and when I listen to Smosh Reads Reddit Stories because Smosh Reads Reddit Stories, I am not familiar with like their other content necessarily.

424

I know obviously they have this channel, but they're like professional actors and comedians, so the style, the way

425

that they can make jokes with each other is a little bit more like something

426

you would expect from a professional comedian, right?

427

Or a group of professional comedians.

428

But at the same time, they tend to be extremely nuanced on points.

429

They say, well, this but that and this but that.

430

Whereas on the other hand, the girls from OP Said are not professional comedians

431

but they are very very naturally funny but they are pretty like firm

432

when they read a story they're like this is wrong

433

and here's why and you're dumb because you should have done this

434

and i think that's so funny so i like the balance of these two

435

and again this is just my kind of like content

436

that i listen to when i'm just bored

437

and want something to listen to

438

and the final thing i recommend i don't think i've seen

439

that many of his videos but this guy is really really famous Matt D 'Avella and he makes videos basically about, I don't know, like productivity,

440

lifestyle, fitness, and those are topics that recently I'm kind of into.

441

So I give these recommendations in order to give you something, but it's really going to depend on what you're into.

442

So go out and explore

443

and find whatever content vibes with you in English the same way that it vibes with you in your native language.

444

And that's what's going to work best for you for comprehensible input listening practice.

445

Now it's time for the final secret third category I mentioned at the beginning.

446

And And obviously it's not a real secret, but it just feels like a secret because when I talk to people,

447

whether they're from the US or not, whether they're a native speaker or not, when I talk to people about this,

448

most people don't know about it previously.

449

And what I'm talking about is the Libby app connected to your library and specifically the Great Courses,

450

which is a collection of audio book courses, which is available for free through this app.

451

We're going to talk about all of it

452

so growing up in the U .S for me

453

it was really really normal to go to the library I've had a library card for my entire life and

454

when I moved to Mexico there's a little bit of a cultural difference

455

there like there are libraries here in Mexico City like for example

456

La Biblioteca Vasconcelos and I've been there and you can get a card

457

and you can check out books

458

but it's not the same like I there's not a library in every kind of district of the city

459

that you can go to the same way that there is in the US.

460

But anyways, so I am still using my US library card

461

or I was still using my US library card for this app until it expired.

462

And then I had to get a new library card from a different area.

463

And I will talk about that in just a second.

464

Essentially what this is, is the Libby app is an app that you can get for free on Android or iPhone.

465

And once you get this app, the first thing it's going to ask you for is your library card information.

466

So you need to have a library card, which is totally possible to do, even if you don't live in one of these countries.

467

But according to this Google search I just did, if you live in one of these countries, you can go to your most

468

nearest your nearest local library get a library card and then be able to connect it to Libby That is the US,

469

Canada, Australia, the UK, Finland, Thailand, Switzerland and Malaysia I don't know entirely how accurate this list is

470

But I know in my experience like

471

if you're from the US Whatever library you go to that's near you and if you get a library card there

472

Almost certainly you will be able to connect it to Libby without any problem

473

So, imagining you live in one of these countries and you go get the library card, so you're just going to go on Google Maps,

474

type in library near me, and then go to that library with you know,

475

like some kind of proof of address and your identification and then you'll get a library card.

476

So now that you have the physical library card with a number

477

and probably a pin number that they will send you via email, on the Libby app you will add this information

478

and that's how you kind of log in and now you have access to your local library's entire digital collection.

479

If you do not live in one of these countries

480

and therefore can't go into a local branch and get a library card that works with Libby, like in my case, once my library card expired,

481

I wasn't going back to the US anytime soon.

482

So I had to find another option because I use this app like crazy.

483

So what I did is I Googled like libraries in the US that will allow me to get a car,

484

like a digital card, even if I don't live in the region.

485

And so I found a library that allowed that

486

and instead of it being free because

487

if you go to your public local library and you actually live in

488

that region it's going to be free which is incredible right

489

but um i did have to pay a fee it was like 50 a year

490

or something like that which to me absolutely worth it

491

so once you have your physical library card

492

or digital library card whatever the case may be you log in to the lippy app

493

and then you have access to this entire digital catalog of books ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, all kinds of stuff.

494

And in fact, I probably haven't even explored half of what is available through Libby.

495

But the one I want to talk about today, the one that I

496

super love that I discovered somehow years ago on Libby by accident is a series called The Great Courses.

497

What the great courses are.

498

And again, when I talk to people, like people do not know about this.

499

And I'm like, bro, this is like revolutionary and no one knows about it.

500

But the parent company is called the teaching company

501

but it's a company a branch of a company where they

502

make audio courses with collab in collaboration with world famous professors in different areas of knowledge

503

so it's like any area of knowledge

504

you can think of they probably have a course on they take these professors

505

and they design together a course that will bring you through whatever the topic is

506

and it's like a recorded lecture in this case the let's say downside is

507

that unlike all the other resources I've mentioned until now,

508

you're not going to hear quote unquote real speech because these are university professors and they're doing an audio course.

509

So they do have a little bit more of

510

that like radio voice where they're talking perhaps in a more formal way than they normally would

511

and maybe not using as many contractions, but it doesn't matter because these courses are so freaking good

512

and there are so many of them and they're so interesting and like

513

As you can tell by probably this whole video, I'm really into like knowledge and learning and kind of like always expanding my mind.

514

So these courses are super, super awesome.

515

So what you need to do is get your library card, get the Libby app, sign up, and then you have access to all this stuff.

516

And not every library has access to the great courses, but I think a lot of them do.

517

So I'm going to tell you the names of my favorite great courses that I have listened to since I discovered them,

518

which are Ancient Civilizations of North America, The Story of Human Language, which is by Professor John McWhorter,

519

who is a linguistics professor and a linguist.

520

He has multiple courses with the Great Courses, so basically anything by John McWhorter with the Great Courses is gonna be good,

521

but a really good starting point and the one

522

that I enjoyed the most by him that I have heard so far was The Story of Human Language.

523

And then finally, the most recent one that I've listened to that really knocked my socks off was Death, Dying, and the Afterlife.

524

10 out of 10, amazing course.

525

Very interesting, sensitive if you are dealing with grief recently, but if you feel like prepared for a topic like that because it is heavy,

526

it's really life -changing.

527

I didn't add this to my notes or to my list, but because the Odyssey movie just came out and I saw it yesterday,

528

it reminded me that there are also two courses.

529

There's one about the Odyssey and there's one about the Iliad, and those are both excellent as well.

530

So those are all of my recommendations.

531

These are good recommendations, obviously, if you're a native speaker like me, because I just think they're really entertaining and fun and interesting to listen to.

532

But I also think they would function very, very well for this specific purpose,

533

which is if you're a non -native speaker who's kind of at an intermediate

534

or advanced level and like you're no longer benefiting from this kind of boring teaching type content

535

and you're ready to level up your English, then this content is definitely gonna do it for you.

536

Like I said, it is a subjective thing.

537

So these are the things that I think are good.

538

But the part that I don't think is quite as subjective is the fact

539

that you need to be listening to audio content.

540

You need to be creating like a virtual immersion of English

541

or whatever your target language is and absorbing as much of

542

that language as you possibly can so that you are picking up subconsciously even on slang, on idioms, on filler words that we use,

543

turns of phrase, like the rhythm and cadence and melody of the language.

544

So to do all of those things subconsciously, you need to be absorbing as much of the language that you can through audio content.

545

So these are my suggestions.

546

What you can do with this can be defined as passive learning or active learning or passive listening and active listening.

547

So in passive listening, pretty self -explanatory.

548

You would just listen while you're doing other things or whatever.

549

And the point of this is, again, the absorption like obviously you're paying attention and you're listening to it

550

but maybe not like in this focused way

551

that you might do in active listening

552

so for active listening what would be different the only thing

553

i would say would be different is in active listening

554

you might be actually taking the time to shadow what you hear like speak along with the speaker

555

or the narrator trying to mimic their cadence and melody

556

or every time you hear like a idiom or phrase

557

that you're not familiar with you take the time to add

558

that to your enki spreadsheet so

559

that you can study it in your enki set later which I have covered obviously in my Enki setup tutorial video,

560

which you can find on my channel.

561

That's it for me for today.

562

If you're ready to start listening to content for native speakers that's going to have actual English as the way

563

that you will hear it in real life, but you're a little bit nervous about being able to understand it fully,

564

go ahead and use the link in the description below to download my free pronunciation guide.

565

This will give you kind of a starting point of some of the sounds

566

that might be a little different from your native language as you use them in English phonetics.

567

That's it.

568

Leave me a comment, like, all that stuff.

569

You already know how YouTube works.

570

And I will see you in the next episode.

571

Bye.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Hear like native speakers hear - The Fluency Habit Podcast”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: podcast, content, language, english, listen. This video has 571 sentences and 7846 words to shadow. The speech runs for 38:58. The speaker talks fast, about 201 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
podcast noun	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
bore verb	/boɹ/	To inspire boredom in somebody.
audio adjective	/ˈɔ.di.oʊ/	Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight.
recommendation noun	/ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/	An act of recommending.
absorb verb	/æbˈsɔɹb/	To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in…
vibe noun	/vaɪb/	An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing.
suggestion noun	/səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/	Something suggested (with subsequent adposition being for)
enjoyable adjective	/ɛnˈd͡ʒɔɪ.ə.bl̩/	Pleasant, capable of giving pleasure.
modify verb	/ˈmɑ.dɪˌfaɪ/	To change part of.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
lecture noun	/ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/	A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group.
frankly adverb	/fɹæŋkli/	In a frank or candid manner, especially in a way that may seem too open, excessively honest, or slightly blunt.
comedian noun	/kəˈmiː.di.ən/	An entertainer who performs in a humorous manner, especially by telling jokes.
entertain verb	/ˌɛntəˈteɪn/	To amuse (someone); to engage the attention of agreeably.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
tear apart verb	/ˈtɛɚ əˈpɑɹt/	To destroy.
catch up verb		To pick up suddenly.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We'll start with the first category, which is podcasts.
I'm going to limit it here to three podcasts.
There is a flow, like a, what's the word I'm looking for?
That's the main reason I listened to it.
That's it for me for today.

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 already thought · I've learned · have noticed
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is written · is spoken · being exposed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	language, which is · content, which is · rule which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 190 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, suggestion /səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, concentration /ˌkɑn.sənˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, comedian /kəˈmiː.di.ən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/

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 podcast, topic, bore.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Hear like native speakers hear - The Fluency Habit Podcast - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?