Shadowing Practice: How BLACKPINK’s LISA Learned English Alone - Learn English Speaking with Video

I'm a new woman

Lalisa Manibal, better known as Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink, is incredibly admirable.

She was the first ever artist signed to a K-pop group by YG that is not ethnically Korean.

And she totally deserved it.

Not only is Lisa an incredible singer and dancer, but also a polyglot.

And language learners like you and me can learn a lot from her.

Lisa?

I'm a Thai-American.

I've been a Korean for 6 years.

How many languages do you have?

Three.

Four.

Four?

What?

Thai-speaking, Korean, Korean, Japanese.

So if you watch this lesson until the end, you will learn Lisa's six rules for speaking languages fluently and how you can apply them yourself.

So let's jump right in to number one.

Number one, connect to a clear burning purpose.

I was able to dance in the first class of 3.

I started from the beginning.

I started to dance dance competition.

I was a dance dance competition.

I think that the dog is like, why do you try to play a song?

Do you want to play a song?

I feel like we like the song and the dance.

And it's like a time when there's an audition for YG Pody.

I thought, okay, I should try for sure.

I want to start us off with a quote.

So Napoleon Hill, who studied and spoke to the most successful people of his time,

said, said, there is one quality which one must possess to win and that is definiteness of purpose.

The knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it.

So the first lesson we can take from Lisa is to cultivate a clear burning purpose

that will propel you or push you through the most difficult moments of learning the language.

That's why connecting to your purpose is a core part of of our RealLifeWay methodology, which we recommend to every one of our students.

By the way, all the words that you're seeing highlighted in blue are being saved as flashcards on the RealLife app.

That way, you can study these words, never forget them, and confidently use them in conversations, just like Lisa.

You can get free access to the flashcards with the link down in the description.

So back to Lisa, at just 14 years old, YG gave her the opportunity of a lifetime.

I was 14.

Such a kid.

But I didn't even know the Korean language, I didn't even know the name of the Korean language.

So it was a really new start.

However, Lisa either had to learn Korean or be kicked out of K-pop school and never achieve her dream.

And it wasn't easy.

YG told all the girls at the academy no English with LALISA, only Korean, so she would learn faster.

And Lisa shared that the first years at YG, she lived in a basement dorm that was infested by cockroaches and rats, yuck.

And she called her mom homesick every night, crying for hours.

Now given all this, it would have been easy for her to go back and study in Thailand.

But her dream, her definiteness of purpose, was so strong that it gave her a tremendous resilience.

She refused to give up despite no guarantee of success.

Five years later, Lisa debuted with Blackpink And they were a global success.

Since achieving that initial dream, learning languages has still been very connected to Lisa's purpose.

For example, English, Japanese, Mandarin, and other languages have helped Lisa to connect with her fans.

I'm going to eat this.

Let's go.

It's also been my own experience that there's no better purpose than friendship.

Amongst others, English was essential for Lisa to connect with Australian bandmate, Rosé.

We became like best friends.

But it took a little bit, it took a while.

Oh, yeah, I know.

But it was like, as soon as it was like...

Clicked.

Yeah, that's when it was like oh god.

As she says, they clicked, which means that they felt an instant connection or chemistry.

So you can ask yourself, how can I make learning English do or die?

In other words, connect to a purpose so strong that just like Lisa, you will not give up when it is difficult.

Number two, immerse yourself in the language.

When I first came to Korea, and my 선생님, she don't want me to keep speaking in English,

so she's trying to keep me speaking Korean. So we

can't deny that Lisa had great opportunities, like Korean classes from YG and living in Seoul,

and having a stepfather from Switzerland with whom she spoke English when she was younger.

But even if you don't have these opportunities, we can still learn from Lisa's survival mindset.

What does this mean?

It means don't translate, stick to the target language.

When you're used to always translating in your head, it leads to you speaking really slowly or freezing up in conversation

because you have to first think in your native language and then you have to think, how would I say that in English?

So as you can see, it just makes it not a very fluid process.

You're never going to speak fluently that way.

So you should get in the habit of not using translators, but using actual English dictionaries.

Or even better nowadays is many AI tools.

So usually for myself, for example, if I wanted to look up a word or an expression that I've seen in Portuguese, I have my very own chat where I will ask in Portuguese how,

what exactly that word or expression means.

And it's really great because I can give the context

that I saw it in and I'll make sure that I get the exact definition that I'm looking for.

And it even gives me other examples.

I can continue practicing with it.

And a little bit later, we're going to talk about how you can surround yourself with the language, even if you're not living in a country where it's spoken.

But let me give you some quick tips.

So you could make your home or maybe just a specific room in your home, your English speaking environment, meaning that anytime you're in that room,

you try to only think in English and even speak to yourself or other people in English.

And you can make English speaking friends.

They don't need to even be natives.

You can meet people online, or if you're in a big city, you can probably find English speakers there.

You just have to do a little bit of research and be creative.

100

Or even if you have other friends who you know also have a similar level to you in English

101

or speak better than you, you can make some plan to practice together.

102

Like say every Wednesday, let's go have pizza.

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And during that time, we're only going to speak English to each other.

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And if you reflect a bit and you're a bit creative, you can come up with all sorts of ideas like this.

105

But for now, let's move on to Lisa's next rule.

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Number three, speak at every opportunity.

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Do you have any foundational advice for someone who's trying to pick up a new language?

108

Like how do you do it?

109

I don't know, you just have to keep talking to people in that language.

110

I think I feel like I'm more, I feel more confident in English more than two years ago.

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So one of the most impressive things about Lisa is that she speaks the language that she knows at every opportunity.

112

As we saw earlier, when she first met Rosé, English was essential for them to connect.

113

Rosé even mentions that Lisa started picking up her accent.

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She started getting an Australian accent.

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See, she still has it sometimes.

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No, but she has it.

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No. Yeah.

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No. I don't know.

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I don't even know.

120

In fact, one of the most essential mindsets that I recommend you cultivate is curiosity.

121

Those of us who speak multiple languages, I include myself because I've learned six, tend to be motivated to connect with others because of curiosity.

122

I'm sure that Lisa would agree with Mandela's quote.

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If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

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If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.

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And English is this incredible tool that lets us connect with people from any country.

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So are you using your English as a tool for connection yet?

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How can you use your English as an excuse to cultivate more curiosity and get to know others?

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This also goes back to that clear burning purpose.

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With every language I've learned, connecting with others has always been my biggest motivator.

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I want to improve my skills so that I can better understand and be understood by the people I care about.

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So if you want to use your English to connect with others, something I can recommend is our global speak on the RealLife app.

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All you have to do is press a button

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and you'll instantly be connected to another English speaker in another part of the world for a short conversation.

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And doing this, you're going to discover all sorts of different cultures.

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It's really a mind-blowing experience.

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It's like traveling without having to get on a plane.

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So if you need to get a little bit more motivation, that might be just the ticket for you.

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In watching dozens of interviews, I noticed that Lisa doesn't panic when she can't think of the right word.

139

She's patient, taking her time to find the word that she's looking for, or she rephrases herself so that she can be understood.

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Her focus is on connection, not perfection.

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Pay attention to this with how she finds the right word, timing and shoot in these two interviews.

142

If you have good timing, you do something at the right time.

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We'll often collocate this with perfect timing.

144

For example, if your friend arrives to meet you a few minutes after you have finished work, you might say, perfect timing, I just finished.

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I think after I debuted with Blackpink,

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and then we all went to Thailand for like a trip or something to a shoot or something.

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We had like a fan waiting for us at the airport.

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I was like, oh wow.

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A shoot here is short for photo shoot, which is a session where people have their photos taken.

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Since Lisa is active in fashion, she often participates in shoots.

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Something else that Lisa does masterfully that helps her to sound more natural when speaking English is using lots of fillers.

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I think, you know, like, pay attention to that here.

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I just got into Popmart like early this year

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and I learned about this from my one of my close friends in Thailand.

155

And when I went to Thailand, she was like, oh, let's go to Popmart.

156

And I was like, what is Popmart?

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I was like what?

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It's just like, you know, it's just sell toys and stuff.

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We should go and check.

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And then I went with them.

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And I was like, to be honest, I was not into it at all.

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I was like, no, I'm not gonna spend my money on this.

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And then they came out and they were like, oh my God, the one that I want, it's sold out, it's so hard to get.

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I was like, hmm, is that that hard to get?

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And then they, you know, showed me a bunch of stuff and as soon as I got them, I go crazy.

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It's like, I spent all of my money.

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Notice that we sometimes use be like instead of said.

168

This is really common when natives are telling a story, like Lisa is here.

169

She also used two common related expressions.

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She says at first she was not into Pop Mart, but then she got into it.

171

This means that you like something.

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If you're watching this lesson, I imagine you're into K-pop.

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Or if you're not so into it, maybe by watching this lesson you'll be so impressed by Lisa that you'll decide to get into her music.

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And obviously Lisa has done a great job at mastering native speaking, like how we cut, reduce, and link our words together when speaking fluently.

175

We call this connected speech, like what we saw in the song at the beginning.

176

So when a word ending in T is followed by another word beginning with T, TH, or D, we usually only pronounce the second consonant.

177

Instead of want this, she said want this, want this.

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And just like a native, Lisa didn't say give me, she said gimme.

179

Why don't you try?

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Listen again and sing those lines just like Lisa.

181

Yeah, how you want this?

182

I'm a new woman You need a new woman Yeah Moving on,

183

number four, repurpose your English Wow, I'm...

184

If I'm a fan of a fan, I want to do what I want to do What I want to do I want to do my best Oh, really?

185

If you're wearing a mask, I'm going to wear a mask.

186

Oh, really?

187

You need an air conditioning?

188

I need an air conditioning.

189

I need an air conditioning.

190

You need an air conditioning?

191

Yes, I need a flex.

192

Yes, I need a flex.

193

I need a flex.

194

If you're a British and a British, you'll be able to flex.

195

So Korean and English were essential for Lisa's job as a K-pop artist.

196

And you might not have these opportunities given to you like Lisa was, but you can still create them for yourself yourself.

197

So the rule here is to repurpose your English.

198

Don't just have English be something you study, actually use it as a tool.

199

So for example, you could put all of your devices, like your computer and your phone in English.

200

When you need to look something up, either for work or for your studies, you can look it up in English.

201

And if you use AI for research, like I do, I would recommend you try your best to only speak to it in English.

202

In fact, AI works off of context, so you could give it the context to always correct your English

203

if you make a mistake and study other things

204

that you're interested in in English like if there's a book

205

that you want to read to learn something read it in English

206

or if you're watching a tutorial on how to fix something in your house try to see

207

if you can find a tutorial in English and

208

if you live in a city find groups that are about your interests

209

that meet in English for example here in Barcelona there are groups

210

that meet to talk about tech in English

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and Lisa's next rule is similar

212

but it's even more fun number five don't just learn English

213

live it okay now Now I need to know what you're watching on Netflix.

214

Oh!

215

It's a Korean drama.

216

Love next door.

217

So Lisa famously has watched American movies to learn English and K-dramas to learn Korean.

218

And for myself, this has been really crucial as well.

219

Like, I've talked often about learning Catalan with Bola de Drac, which is a Dragon Ball in English, of course.

220

And recently, I've been exercising my Portuguese watching novellas, for example, Beleza Fatal.

221

And it's obvious that living languages with media has helped Lisa to learn slang and to use it really naturally.

222

I'm such a nerd.

223

I can see you guys' faces like, what are you just talking about?

224

Do you like to drive fast?

225

I used to.

226

I used to be a reckless driver, but not anymore.

227

Safety first, guys.

228

But when you're singing karaoke, are there people who are not involved with the production there?

229

Like, do people lose their minds when they see you there singing karaoke?

230

They don't care.

231

They don't care?

232

Yeah.

233

Why?

234

I'm just, like, sitting in the corner of the room.

235

I'm just being like cheering them, hyping them up.

236

Oh, you don't sing?

237

I don't.

238

Oh, never.

239

I'm more like a dance.

240

I love to dance.

241

Next is sunglasses.

242

Oh my God. So dirty.

243

My face is small.

244

It's really hard for me to find the right shape.

245

I'm trying to find something like not too rounded.

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This is the one that suits me best.

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And if you want to live your English, there's no better place than here on Learn English with TV series, so be sure to hit that subscribe button

248

and the bell down below to not miss a single new lesson like this one.

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And Lisa's final rule is a mindset that she expertly embodies.

250

Number six, play and stay humble.

251

Why is it so important to take vacations?

252

Because if you don't, then you can lose your brain.

253

Lose your brain?

254

Go cuckoo.

255

Yeah, I think I'm going cuckoo right now.

256

Why do you think it's important to take a vacation, Lisa?

257

You know, your body needs a rest sometimes and you need to refresh, like what you said, otherwise you're gonna go cuckoo, right?

258

Take a vacation when you need it, please.

259

Exactly.

260

So one of the things that I admire most about Lisa is her ability to play

261

and have fun and to laugh at herself.

262

In this clip, she just learned this expression to go cuckoo, which means to become crazy, and she started playfully using it right away.

263

And as we see in this next clip, when it comes to language learning, Lisa's always open to experiment.

264

Whenever you're ready with that smile

265

So another lesson we can take from Lisa is to approach every situation with Playfulness

266

and a willingness to try like how she learned some phrases in French

267

and Tagalog to connect with her fans and promote her music I've been here for a good moment.

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I'm here for a good time.

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Let's go.

270

How was that Blinks?

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Hello.

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Hello Blinks!

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I hate this.

274

Hey, guys.

275

Finally, making mistakes is a fundamental part of the journey, and Lisa shows us that we don't need to fear them.

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We can use our mistakes as markers on the path to fluency.

277

Trust me, I watched a lot of interviews with her, and Lisa makes mistakes all the time.

278

But she doesn't sweat them.

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She doesn't get stressed about them.

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It doesn't matter.

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So I was just like, oh, like you said, we would just, well, one, two, then just friends, you know?

282

But here in Korea, I feel like my sister and sister are a little bit difficult.

283

So it was a little difficult.

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I don't know how to face it.

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And I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry.

287

I'm sorry.

288

Because we just don't know.

289

Because we don't know.

290

So let's recap Lisa's six rules for confident fluency in any language.

291

Connect to a clear burning purpose.

292

Immerse yourself in the language.

293

Speak at every opportunity.

294

Repurpose your English.

295

Don't just learn English, live it.

296

And play and stay humble.

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And there's one final idea I wanted to share with you before we wrap up today's lesson.

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Be a global citizen.

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So the pinnacle or highest point of our RealLifeWay methodology is something that we like to call Be Beyond Borders.

300

This means that you're using your English not only as a communication tool, but as a vehicle to grow as a human being, make your unique impact and connect authentically with the world.

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Without a doubt, Lisa is leveraging English and other languages to be beyond borders.

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So as you go about your journey to speak English confidently and fluently like Lisa, I want to invite you to embrace being beyond borders.

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The idea that no matter what divides us, race, gender, religion, politics, or sexual orientation,

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what unites us as human beings here on planet Earth is far greater.

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And this really is our mission here at RealLife English.

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So if you feel inspired by it, we really want the RealLife app to be a community for global citizens like you.

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So download it for free and be a part of this mission.

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Aww yeah!

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I hope that you enjoyed today's lesson.

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I had a lot of fun making it and getting to know Lisa's story better.

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If you want more lessons like this, please let us know by liking this video, subscribing,

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and you can even comment below letting us know who else you would like me to analyze the English of

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or the English learning journey of.

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And remember that all of those advanced expressions

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that we covered in today's lesson are waiting for you as flashcards on the RealLife English app

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so that you can never forget them and be able to confidently use them the next time you speak English.

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And if you're sticking here on YouTube, here's another fun lesson with Lisa.

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I think for me the big difference is language.

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Because English is not my first language.

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So it's challenging for me to answer or do an interview in English.

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Yeah, but you know what's amazing about you is you speak English, you speak Thai, you speak Korean.

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You're conversational in Japanese, conversational in Chinese.

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I've heard you rattle off French before.

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Who Can Benefit from This Video?

This video is perfect for intermediate English learners ready to move beyond basic phrases and focus on english speaking practice with real-world motivation. Whether you’re aiming to speak fluently for work, travel, or personal growth, Lisa’s journey offers actionable tips—especially if you struggle with staying consistent. It’s also ideal for those curious about how "polyglots" (people who speak multiple languages) stay motivated, making it a great fit for anyone tired of generic language apps.

Words & Idioms Worth Stealing

The video is packed with useful phrases to add to your toolkit. Let’s break down a few:

"Burning purpose": A strong, urgent reason that drives you. Example: "My burning purpose for learning English is to study abroad."
"Propel you through": Push you forward during tough times. Example: "Her support propelled me through my hardest exams."
"Infested by": Overrun by pests or unwanted things. Example: "The old house was infested by mice."

These phrases add color to your speech and make you sound more natural—try using them in your next conversation!

How to Get the Accent Right: Try Shadowing

Lisa’s clear pronunciation comes from practice, and you can replicate it with the shadowing technique (also called shadow speak or shadow speech). Here’s how: Play a short clip of Lisa speaking, pause, then repeat it immediately—mimicking her tone, rhythm, and stress. Focus on how she says words like "incredibly" (stress on "in-CRED-i-bly") and "opportunity" (four syllables: op-por-TU-ni-ty). The shadowspeaks method works because it trains your mouth to move like a native and helps you internalize natural intonation. Start with 1-minute clips daily, and you’ll notice your pronunciation sounding more confident in weeks. Remember, Lisa didn’t master languages overnight—consistency with shadowing is key!

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 been · has still been · have helped
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being saved · be kicked · was infested
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	clicked, which means · friends who you · shoot, which is

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 →

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