Shadowing Practice: How I Learned English Without a Teacher - Slow and Easy English For Beginners - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Welcome to English Listening Channel.
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Hello everyone!
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Welcome back to the channel.
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Today's title is How I Learned English Without a Teacher.
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In this video, you will listen to a natural conversation between two co-workers, Aaron and David.
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David shares his real experience of learning English by himself,
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without a teacher or a school.
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Don't worry, I will speak slowly and clearly,
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so please relax and enjoy listening.
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You can listen while working, studying, or resting.
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Before we start, I have a small question for you.
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Please listen carefully and try to find the answer.
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Here is the question.
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How long did it take David to learn English?
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The answer appears in the conversation between Aaron and David.
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If you find the answer,
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please write it in the comments section.
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By writing your answer in English,
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you can practice output and improve your English more effectively.
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Alright, are you ready?
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Let's start the story.
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Hi, David.
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It's good to see you again.
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Hi, Erin.
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It's good to see you too.
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How are you?
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I'm doing well.
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How about you?
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I've been good.
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Busy with work, but good.
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That's nice.
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David, I heard something interesting about you.
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Someone told me you learned English without a teacher.
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Is that true?
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Yes, that's true.
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I studied by myself.
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No teacher, no school, just me and some materials I found online.
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That's amazing.
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How did you do it?
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I want to know your story.
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I'd be happy to share.
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It took me about 18 months,
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but I learned a lot.
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Not just about English, but about how to learn anything.
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I'm so curious.
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Where did you start?
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Well, when I first decided to learn English, I felt lost.
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There are so many methods, so many teachers online.
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I didn't know which one to choose,
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so I did research for about two weeks.
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And what did you discover?
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I discovered something important.
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Many successful language learners did the same thing.
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They focused on input first.
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Input?
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What does that mean?
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Input means listening and reading.
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They didn't start with speaking or grammar.
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They started by absorbing the language, like babies do.
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Like babies?
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Yes.
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Babies listen for many months before they speak.
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They build a foundation first.
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So, I decided to do the same thing with English.
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So, what exactly did you do?
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For the first three months,
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I only listened to English.
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I didn't practice speaking at all.
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Three months without speaking?
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That sounds difficult.
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It felt strange at first.
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I wanted to speak, but I reminded myself to be patient and build my foundation first.
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And what happened during those three months?
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Something amazing happened.
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Slowly, English started to feel natural.
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At first, everything sounded like noise,
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but after a few weeks,
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I started to recognize words.
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After a few months, I understood phrases and sentences.
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So, your brain was learning even without speaking?
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Exactly.
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My brain was absorbing the language naturally.
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And I didn't study grammar during this time either.
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No grammar at all?
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No grammar for the first six months.
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I wanted to learn like a child learns their first language.
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Children don't study grammar rules.
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They just hear people speak and eventually start speaking too.
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That's interesting.
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But didn't you make mistakes?
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Of course I made mistakes, but that's okay.
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Mistakes are part of learning.
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The important thing is that after six months of listening,
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I had thousands of English sentences in my head.
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Grammar study came later, just to organize what I already knew.
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So grammar is important, but not at the beginning.
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Exactly.
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First, make a base with lots of listening and reading.
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Then check grammar to understand the patterns better.
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What did you listen to?
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What materials did you use?
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That's a great question.
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And I actually made a big mistake at the very beginning.
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What mistake?
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On my first day, I was really excited.
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I went to YouTube and searched for English news.
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I found a BBC news video and started watching.
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And?
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It was terrible.
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The speaker talked very fast.
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She used difficult words like economy, legislation, infrastructure.
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I understood almost nothing, maybe 5%.
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I felt so discouraged.
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That sounds frustrating.
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It was.
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I almost quit on the first day.
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But then I thought, maybe I just need easier materials.
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So I searched for Easy English for beginners.
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And that was better?
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Much better.
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I found channels made for English learners.
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The speakers talked slowly, they used simple vocabulary,
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and most importantly, I could understand about 60 or 70 percent.
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60 to 70 percent?
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Yes, that's the key.
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If material is too difficult,
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you feel frustrated and quit.
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If it's too easy, you don't learn anything new.
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But if you understand 60 to 70 percent, that's perfect.
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You understand the main idea,
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but you're still learning new words.
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That's a helpful guideline.
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What channels did you use?
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I used channels like Easy English and podcasts like ESL Pod.
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I also read Graded Readers.
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Those are books written for language learners with simple vocabulary.
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And you repeated everything multiple times?
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Yes.
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Repetition is essential.
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I watched the same video at least five times.
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Each time, I understood more.
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By the fifth time, it felt easy and natural.
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So repetition helps things become automatic.
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Exactly.
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When you hear the same sentences many times,
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your brain just knows what sounds right.
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You don't have to think about grammar.
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So after three months of just listening, what happened?
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After three months, something interesting happened.
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English started appearing in my thoughts.
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In your thoughts?
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Yes, I would be making coffee.
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And suddenly I thought, I'm making coffee.
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In English, not in my native language, it just appeared naturally.
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That's when I knew I was ready to start speaking practice.
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So you started speaking with people?
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Not yet.
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First, I talked to myself.
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Talked to yourself?
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Yes.
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When I was alone, I described what I was doing out loud.
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I'm making coffee.
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I'm pouring water.
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I'm stirring it.
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It felt silly at first, but it really helped.
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That sounds like a good way to practice without pressure.
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Exactly.
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I also had conversations with myself.
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I asked questions and answered them.
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What did you do today?
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I went to work.
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I had a meeting.
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I ate lunch.
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Did you do anything else?
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Yes.
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I used my phone to check my pronunciation.
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I used the voice recognition feature.
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I would speak English and the phone would type it.
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If the phone understood me correctly,
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I knew my pronunciation was good.
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That's clever.
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It's free feedback.
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After about three more months of practicing alone,
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I started having conversations with language exchange partners online.
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How did that go?
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I was so nervous for the first conversation,
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but the other person was kind and patient.
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We talked for 30 minutes.
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It wasn't perfect, but I could communicate, and that felt amazing.
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You mentioned YouTube, podcasts, and books.
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How much time did you study each day?
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About two hours per day.
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But I didn't sit and study for two hours straight.
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I integrated it into my daily life.
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How?
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In the morning, I listened to a podcast while eating breakfast.
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Twenty minutes.
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On the bus to work, I listened more.
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Thirty minutes.
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During lunch, I read for fifteen minutes.
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After work, I watched YouTube videos.
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Thirty minutes.
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Before bed, I practiced speaking or listened to something relaxing.
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Twenty minutes.
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That's about two hours total.
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So you broke it into small pieces.
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Yes.
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That made it much easier.
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And I did this almost every single day for 18 months.
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Every day?
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That's impressive discipline.
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Thank you.
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But I won't lie.
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It was hard.
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After the first month, the excitement wore off.
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Some days I felt stuck.
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I thought, I've been studying for two months and I still can't speak well.
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Did you want to quit?
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Many times.
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But I had a rule.
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On bad days, I only had to study for 15 minutes.
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Just 15 minutes.
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And usually, once I started,
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I would continue for longer.
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But even 15 minutes kept the habit alive.
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That's smart.
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Consistency is more important than intensity.
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It's better to study 15 minutes every day than 4 hours once a week.
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Your brain needs regular exposure to the language.
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Did you track your progress?
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Yes.
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I kept a simple journal.
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Each day, I wrote what I studied.
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When I felt discouraged, I looked back and saw how much I had done.
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It showed me I was actually improving,
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even when it didn't feel like it.
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So, after 18 months, where were you?
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After 18 months, I could have comfortable conversations about everyday topics.
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I could understand most movies and TV shows.
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I could read novels in English.
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I wasn't perfect, but I was functional.
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That's a huge achievement.
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Thank you.
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But learning English gave me something even more valuable than language skills.
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What's that?
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Confidence.
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Before I learned English, I didn't believe in myself much.
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I thought some people were just naturally talented and others weren't.
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But learning English proved to me that I could do difficult things if I was patient and consistent.
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That's powerful.
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Yes.
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After English, I used the same method to learn other skills.
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Web design, guitar, even Spanish.
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The principles are the same.
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Lots of input, repetition, consistency, patience.
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So you learned how to learn?
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Exactly.
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Now when I face a challenge,
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I don't think I can't do this.
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I think I can learn how to do this.
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It might take time, but I can figure it out.
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What advice would you give someone who wants to start learning English on their own?
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First, believe you can do it.
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You don't need to be special.
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You just need patience and consistency.
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Second, start with input.
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Listen and read a lot.
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Find materials at the right level,
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about 60 to 70 percent comprehension.
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Third, repeat everything multiple times.
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Fourth, be patient about speaking.
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Build your foundation first.
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Fifth, don't worry about grammar at the beginning.
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Study it later as a reference.
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Sixth, be consistent.
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Study every day, even if just for 15 minutes.
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And finally, be kind to yourself.
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You will make mistakes that's normal.
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Just keep going.
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How long will it take someone to learn?
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It depends on how much time they have.
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With two hours per day,
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maybe 12 to 18 months to reach a comfortable conversational level.
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With one hour per day,
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maybe two to three years.
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The important thing is to start and keep going.
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What about people who say they're too old or too busy?
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Age is not the problem.
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I was in my 30s.
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I have friends who learned languages in their 40s and 50s.
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And everyone has some time.
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Even 15 minutes per day is enough to make progress.
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Think about it this way.
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18 months will pass anyway.
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You can spend those months wishing you could speak English,
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or you can spend them actually learning.
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Either way, time will pass.
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Where do you want to be in 18 months?
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That's a powerful way to think about it.
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Time will pass whether you use it or not.
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You might as well use it to learn something valuable.
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David, thank you so much for sharing your story.
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I think many people will be inspired by this.
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I hope so.
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If my experience can help even one person believe in themselves and start their learning journey,
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then sharing it was worth it.
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You don't need to be special.
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You don't need expensive courses.
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You just need patience, consistency, and belief in yourself.
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Thank you again.
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Thank you, Aaron.
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How was it?
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I hope this story helped you feel more confident about learning English.
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David's story shows us that you don't need to be special and you don't need a teacher to start learning.
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Now let me ask the question one more time.
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How long did it take David to learn English?
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Did you find the answer?
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If you did, please write it in the comments section.
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Even a short English sentence is great practice.
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Small output like this helps your English grow step by step.
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On this channel, we share slow and easy English stories for beginners.
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You can listen, relax, and learn naturally every day.
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If you enjoyed this video,
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please like the video and subscribe to the channel.
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Your support really helps and makes me very happy.
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Thank you so much for watching.
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I hope to see you in the next video.
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See you next time.
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Bye!
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will engage with a natural conversation between two co-workers, Aaron and David, who discuss David's journey of learning English without a teacher. You will practice your listening and speaking skills by following the dialogue, while also gaining insights into self-study methods that can aid your own English language acquisition. This session is tailored for beginners, ensuring you can learn English with YouTube effectively. By listening to the slow and clear speech of the speakers, you’ll become familiar with conversational English and improve your ability to understand and participate in discussions.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Learn English - The process of acquiring the English language.
- Self-study - Learning without direct instruction from a teacher.
- Conversation - An informal talk between two or more people.
- Materials - Resources such as books, websites, and videos that assist in learning.
- Method - A systematic way of doing something, such as learning a language.
- Practice - The repeated exercise of a skill to improve proficiency.
- Output - The act of producing language through speaking or writing.
- Experience - Knowledge or skill acquired through involvement in an activity.
Practice Tips
To enhance your learning experience, utilize the shadowing technique while listening to the video. Focus on mimicking the speakers' words, intonation, and rhythm. Since the conversation is delivered slowly and clearly, aim to repeat phrases immediately after hearing them. This shadow speech practice will help reinforce your pronunciation and fluency. Additionally, consider pausing the video after key phrases and try to repeat them aloud to solidify your understanding. Incorporating shadowing into your IELTS speaking practice can be particularly beneficial, allowing you to adopt natural conversational styles while building confidence. Remember, consistency is key, so practice regularly for the best results!
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.
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