Shadowing Practice: How English Has Changed - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

257 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.

Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 149 of the Listening Time Podcast.

I hope you're all ready for some English practice and this episode in particular is going to be about English itself.

In today's episode, I want to talk about how English has changed over the centuries.

And I had this idea

and I thought it would be really cool to look at some different verses from the King James Bible,

which is from 1611, so over 400 years ago.

and I thought it would be cool to show you how the language has changed a little bit since then.

It hasn't changed that much.

It's still completely understandable if you read the King James Bible nowadays and you're a native English speaker.

However, there are some interesting changes that we can see.

And I'm a language nerd.

I like languages and I like learning about languages.

So this type of topic is really interesting for me.

And I know that not all of you are language nerds like me,

but I'm sure that you'll still find this episode interesting and

you'll like learning a little bit about some of the different ways that English has changed over the years.

And I want to read another review that I received on Apple Podcasts

because I did that a couple episodes ago and I want to do

that from time to time just to thank my listeners who are also leaving reviews for me.

This one is from Darwish B and this person says,

your episode helps me a lot to gain more vocabulary and ideas, nice words, slow speech, anyone can understand.

Many thanks.

Darwish, thank you for listening and for writing a review.

I really appreciate that.

And if any of you listeners leave me a review on any of the podcast apps,

then I might read it here in an episode.

And of course, remember that if you want my advanced podcast episodes, you can sign up to become a Listening Time family member.

The link is in the description below this episode.

And you also have the link down there to sign up for my U.S.

Conversations podcast, in which I talk to different English teachers from around the country about many things.

It's a lot of fun and great practice for your listening.

So both of those links are down below.

Alright, let's get started.

Are your ears ready?

You know what time it is.

It's listening time.

Okay, let's talk about some of the ways that English has changed over the years.

But first, before we talk about modern English,

I want to mention Old English and Middle English.

Most of you probably aren't too familiar with the different types of English that have been spoken

throughout the centuries.

So Old English is the earliest form of English.

It was the earliest form of English,

and it was spoken between the 5th and 11th centuries, okay?

So a long time ago.

And what's really interesting about Old English is

that native English speakers nowadays can't understand it unless they have studied it before.

So before recording this episode, I read an excerpt.

An excerpt is a short part of a book or an article.

I read a short excerpt from Beowulf.

This is one of the most famous,

if not the most famous works of Old English,

and from this excerpt I understood maybe 5% of the words.

So that shows you how different Old English was from modern English.

So it's almost completely incomprehensible,

meaning it's not understandable at all, even to native English speakers nowadays.

So Old English was a different language really,

and many people make the mistake of using the term

Old English to refer to older modern English like English from the 1600s

or the 1700s for example.

That's not old English.

That's still modern English.

It's just older than today's English.

But the term Old English actually refers to an older language that doesn't really resemble today's English.

So just be careful with that phrase Old English because many people use it incorrectly.

And then after Old English,

there was Middle English from the 12th to the 15th century.

And maybe the most famous or one of the most famous works of literature from this period

was the Canterbury Tales, and before recording this episode,

I also tried to read an excerpt from this work,

and I understood much more of it than Beowulf.

So Middle English is a lot closer to modern English than Old English is.

So Middle English has a lot of words that we can still understand nowadays in modern English.

However, there are a lot of words that we don't understand.

So it's still a different language, kind of.

It's not a different language in the sense that it's Spanish, right?

It's still English, but it can still be very hard to understand for a native English speaker nowadays.

So that was Middle English.

And then after that is when modern English was established, let's say.

And so from that point until now, people have spoken modern English.

However, maybe today, the English that we speak in 2024,

this might be considered contemporary English.

It's not a different language.

It's still modern English.

But if we want to differentiate between the English spoken today and the English spoken in the 1600s,

for example, maybe we can use the term contemporary English for today's version of the language.

So that was a little bit of the history of English.

So now I want to talk about a few different changes

that English has undergone in the past 400 years or so.

By the way, the past participle undergone,

this comes from undergo, this means that you go through some process.

So in this case, English underwent changes.

It went through this process of changing.

So there are many examples that I could point out.

The phrasal verb point out means that you highlight something,

you draw people's attention to that thing.

So I could point out a lot of examples,

but I chose just a few because my time is limited.

100

So maybe the first thing that people will notice

101

if they read something from the 1600s or a little earlier,

102

maybe, they'll notice some different pronouns being used.

103

Pronouns like thou, thee, thy, thine.

104

These pronouns that start with th and then also the pronoun ye, y-e.

105

So let me read you a verse from the King James Bible.

106

This is Romans 10, 9,

107

chapter 10, verse 9, and this has three of these different pronouns in this verse.

108

So listen while I read it.

109

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus

110

and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

111

So you'll notice that we have some interesting pronouns there.

112

We have thou, that if thou shalt confess.

113

We have thy, thy mouth.

114

And we also have thine, thine heart.

115

You might be wondering what those mean.

116

Well, in the past, English distinguished between the second person singular and the second person plural.

117

What does that mean?

118

Well, if you're talking to one person, you're talking in the second person singular,

119

but if you're talking to more than one person, you're talking to the second person plural.

120

So in the second person singular, in the past, in English,

121

people would use these TH pronouns.

122

Instead of saying you, they would say thou,

123

if they are using you as a subject.

124

And if if they wanted to use it as an object.

125

Instead of saying, to you, they would say, to thee.

126

And then the possessive pronouns,

127

instead of saying, you're, if it's just one person,

128

people would say thy or thine depending on the word after it.

129

If the word after this pronoun was a word starting with a vowel

130

or an H many times like in this verse thine heart then people would say thine

131

but if it was any other word with a consonant other than H then it would be thy,

132

thy mouth, like it says in this verse.

133

And then I'll read one other verse that has the word thee in it.

134

So in John 3, 3, it says, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee,

135

except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

136

So here, Jesus is addressing one person.

137

He's talking to one person here.

138

So he uses the instead of you.

139

And then what about if someone was talking to multiple people?

140

Well, instead of using these th pronouns, they would use the y pronouns, right?

141

Ye, you, etc. So, for example, in John 8, 32, Jesus says,

142

and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

143

So, you see there that he uses ye as the subject and then he uses you as an object later on.

144

So in that case, he's speaking to more than one person.

145

So you might wonder why were there different pronouns?

146

what was the purpose of differentiating like that?

147

Well in many other languages,

148

probably most other languages, there is a difference when you address one person and when you address more than one person.

149

If you speak Spanish or if you speak French or many other languages,

150

you know what I'm talking about.

151

You use a different pronoun and probably a different verb conjugation if you're talking to one person or more than one person.

152

And this is actually a very helpful thing

153

because it allows your audience to know if you're talking to just one person

154

or if you're talking to all of them because nowadays we don't know

155

that we only say you whether or not we're addressing a single person

156

or multiple people so for example if I call you

157

and you're with a friend and I say what are you doing

158

and you say I'm at John's house

159

if I say you should come over to my house you don't know

160

if I'm only referring to you or if I'm referring to you and John I could be saying either thing, right?

161

You should come over.

162

That could be used for one person or multiple people.

163

So I actually think that the way

164

that people used to speak in the past was more helpful because it eliminated this mystery.

165

It it made it clearer who you were speaking to, right?

166

So that's a big change that we can see.

167

Obviously, we still understand when we read this in the Bible or in other texts.

168

However, it is a notable difference, right?

169

And another notable change is with th endings.

170

So nowadays when we talk in the third person singular,

171

the verb usually ends with an s, like he walks.

172

I walk, he walks, right?

173

However, in the past, this third-person singular verb ending had a TH instead of an S.

174

So, for example, we can see this in the most famous verse of the Bible,

175

John 3.16, which says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,

176

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

177

So you see that instead of saying believes, it says believeth.

178

That th represented the third person singular in the past.

179

So walketh instead of walks.

180

Pretty interesting, huh?

181

I actually really like how that sounds.

182

I like that extra syllable, that if at the end of verbs.

183

I think it sounds really cool,

184

but maybe that's just because older styles tend to sound interesting and cool.

185

to modern ears like mine.

186

Maybe that's why, but I really like the way that sounds.

187

He doeth instead of he does.

188

To me, that sounds pretty cool.

189

You might not agree, but I actually really like that,

190

but I doubt that we'll ever go back to speaking like that again

191

and then one other kind of category of changes I wanted to highlight is just certain words

192

that had different forms in the past that are kind of archaic now,

193

but we can still understand them.

194

So for example, the past tense of the word speak is spoke, right?

195

However, in the past, people would say spake.

196

So for example, in John 8 30,

197

it says, as he spake the these words, many believed on him.

198

So really it's saying when Jesus spoke these words, that's how we would say it in modern terms.

199

However, at that time it was spake, as he spake these words, many believed on him.

200

So that's one example.

201

Another word I can think of is art, for example, instead of saying are,

202

like you are in the past,

203

they might have said thou art, right?

204

So for example, in John 6,

205

69, it says, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.

206

He doesn't say you are, he says thou art.

207

I also really like that form.

208

I like that art instead of are,

209

but again that might just be me thinking that the archaic version sounds cool.

210

And then another one that you'll notice if you read the King James Bible

211

or some other text that is from that time, you'll hear the word shout,

212

which is like shall, which nowadays in the US we don't even really use this word anymore.

213

So that's already kind of old sounding to us.

214

And then shout with a T on the end is even older.

215

So thou shalt not kill, for example.

216

You might remember that from the Ten Commandments, right?

217

So that's another one that you'll see that we don't use nowadays.

218

So there are a lot of other examples that I could have pointed out,

219

but I just wanted to highlight a few.

220

And you might ask, can native speakers read English like this and understand it easily?

221

I would say yes.

222

We just have to get used to it.

223

The first time you encounter these words,

224

you might be a little bit confused if you've never heard this used before.

225

However, once you realize what that word means, then it's pretty obvious after that.

226

So you just have to get used to it, but it's very understandable.

227

And for example, in high school in the U.S., many of us had to read Shakespeare,

228

William Shakespeare, and his style of English was very similar to the style that we saw today,

229

and we read that in high school.

230

We were teenagers when we read that,

231

so it's definitely understandable, but you just have to get used to it, get used to those different words,

232

the different pronouns, the word endings,

233

things like that, but it's understandable and it's not a problem to read these things.

234

And how much will English change in the future?

235

400 years from now, will English be really different?

236

I don't know, to be honest.

237

I'm sure the slang will be very different.

238

Idioms and expressions will probably be pretty different.

239

The grammar will probably be slightly different because we can see grammar changes that happen over the years slowly but surely,

240

so I'm sure the grammar might be a little different.

241

So I don't know.

242

Hypothetically, If 300 years, 400 years from now,

243

people are speaking English, it will probably be similar to today's English,

244

but with some pretty noticeable differences like what we just saw.

245

But I would guess that it would still resemble the English that I'm speaking now.

246

So I don't know, but that's what I would guess.

247

All right, I hope that you found this episode interesting.

248

I know this one was a little bit different, but I really wanted to talk about this in an episode.

249

And if you feel ready to practice with my advanced episodes, make sure to become a Listening Time family member.

250

The link is in the episode description down below.

251

That's patreon.com slash listening time.

252

And if you want my other podcast in which I talk to different English teachers about different topics,

253

you can go down and click on that link.

254

It's also down below.

255

That's patreon.com slash US Conversations.

256

And remember to give this podcast a five-star rating and write a review, and I might read it in the future.

257

All right, thank you for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

📺 Same Channel

603

✨ Recommend Video

253 sentences

English Listening Podcast - Why is it Hard to Become Advanced?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

321 sentences

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

272 sentences

English Listening Podcast - How I Learned Spanish

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

481 sentences

10 Real ENGLISH Conversations: Can you understand them?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

569 sentences

English Podcast for Daily Life English Conversation | Talk About Fast English Movie | Part 2

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

55 sentences

5 Must-Listen Podcasts That Will TRULY Help Your English （American pronunciation）

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

142 sentences

English Listening Practice | Build a Relationship with English | B1-B2

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

426 sentences

Read your way to better English - a British Council English podcast

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

How English Improves | English Reading and Listening Practice #englishforbeginners #easyenglish

109

11 sentences

How English Improves | English Reading and Listening Practice #englishforbeginners #easyenglish

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

851 sentences

Day 5: American English vs British English — Key Differences | English Listening Practice (B1–B2)

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

360 sentences

Stop Wasting Time: Learn English with Podcasts the Right Way | SpeakPowerDaily

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

227 sentences

Practice Your English Listening - English Listening Story for A2 B1 B2 Learners

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 257 sentences and 2745 words to shadow. The speech runs for 28:02. The speaker talks slowly, about 98 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 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 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

nowadays /ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/ (adverb) — At the present time; in the current era.
verse /ˈvɝs/ (noun) — A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme.
podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ (noun) — 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…
singular /ˈsɪŋ.ɡjə.lɚ/ (adjective) — Being only one of a larger population; single, individual.
understandable (adjective) — Capable of being understood; comprehensible.
verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
excerpt /ˈɛɡzɜː(p)t/ (noun) — A clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work such as a news article, a film, or a literary composition.
refer /ɹɪˈfɜː/ (verb) — To direct the attention of (someone toward something).
undergo /ˌʌndɚˈɡoʊ/ (verb) — To experience; to pass through a phase.
highlight /ˈhaɪˌlaɪt/ (verb) — To make prominent; emphasize.
grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (noun) — A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
ear /ˈɪə̯/ (noun) — The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
helpful /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ (adjective) — Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
notable /ˈnəʊtəbl̩/ (adjective) — Worthy of note; remarkable; memorable; noted or distinguished.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
point out (verb) — To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body.
go through (verb) — To travel from one end of something to the other.
come from (verb) — To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
come over (verb) — To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse.
go back to (verb) — To stem from; to originate in.
go down (verb) — To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
look at (verb) — To observe or watch.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 46 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shout /ʃaʊt/, differentiate /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, distinguish /dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/, conjugation /ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: differentiate /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/, eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, incorrectly /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/, conjugation /ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like nowadays, verse, podcast.

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	has changed · hasn't changed · have been spoken
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	have been spoken · was spoken · was established

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: How English Has Changed - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

A1 English Listening Practice - Transportation

A1 English Listening Practice - Language Learning

A1 English Listening Practice - Money

B1 English Listening Practice - Immigration

A1 English Listening Practice - Cooking

A1 English Listening Practice - Daily Routine

A2 English Listening Practice - Travel

A1 English Listening Practice - Supermarket

B2 English Listening Practice - Living Abroad

B2 English Listening Practice - Airplanes and Flying

B1 English Listening Practice - Adulthood

A1 English Listening Practice - Soccer

A2 English Listening Practice - Learning

A1 English Listening Practice - Productivity

A2 English Listening Practice - Names

A2 English Listening Practice - Emotions

A1 English Listening Practice - Technology

B1 English Listening Practice - American Culture

B2 English Listening Practice - Extreme Sports

A1 English Listening Practice - The English Language

English Listening Podcast - Why is it Hard to Become Advanced?

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

English Listening Podcast - How I Learned Spanish

10 Real ENGLISH Conversations: Can you understand them?

English Podcast for Daily Life English Conversation | Talk About Fast English Movie | Part 2

5 Must-Listen Podcasts That Will TRULY Help Your English （American pronunciation）

English Listening Practice | Build a Relationship with English | B1-B2

Read your way to better English - a British Council English podcast

How English Improves | English Reading and Listening Practice #englishforbeginners #easyenglish

Day 5: American English vs British English — Key Differences | English Listening Practice (B1–B2)

Stop Wasting Time: Learn English with Podcasts the Right Way | SpeakPowerDaily

Practice Your English Listening - English Listening Story for A2 B1 B2 Learners

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?