Shadowing Practice: How I make money by speaking different Languages | Translating with No Experience - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello, I'm Zeliha and I'm a fourth year medical student studying in the UK.
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If you're a bilingual person who's looking for a job with no experience,
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hopefully you can learn from this and apply for the companies I'll be recommending and start earning money.
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These are the points we'll go through, so let's go for it.
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I earn between £2 ,700 to £3 ,000 a month.
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This depends on how many hours I work.
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This is through working as an over -the -phone interpreter for a translation service agency.
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Most of my clients, around 80 % of them, are healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, midwives, caregivers and the ambulance.
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Rest of the 20 % of my clients are from Metropolitan Police in London, UK or from FBI in the US.
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And also sometimes I get calls from bank and from gas and electric companies.
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In summary, my clients and the nature of the calls I translate for can vary a lot.
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You translate a specific language like Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, whichever language yourself and the customer can speak to English.
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Then you translate from English back to that language.
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I thought the best way to explain how over -the -phone translation works is to show you guys an example of it.
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So I hope you guys appreciate my terrific acting skills.
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Hello, this is Zeliha, interpreter ID 00 for Turkish.
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This call may be monitored for training and quality assurance purposes.
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Is your customer with you or would you like me to call them for you?
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Hello interpreter.
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I'm a doctor working in a GP surgery and I'm here with my patient who's a baby and his dad.
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Could you please ask the dad what's the problem and how can we help him today?
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How can I help you today?
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What's your problem?
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My son has been having diarrhea for the last three days.
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Alright, could you tell me a bit more about this diarrhea?
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I genuinely enjoy this job because you get to witness the most real moments of the lives of strangers.
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You hear about their life stories and it helps you appreciate the difficult
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and different lives that other people live and I feel humbled to be able to help them.
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On top of that I earn money when I'm in my pyjamas and from the comfort of my own home.
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Also if you'd like to see a vlog of how I earn money
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and spend my day as a freelance interpreter you can see
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that on my channel as well and I'll put the link here.
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This is a common question that I get asked by family
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and friends when I tell them I work as a freelance interpreter.
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I get paid for every second that I'm on the call for
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so if I don't receive calls then I don't get paid
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but most of the time that I'm logged into the interpreter portal I do receive calls
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because I get calls from both the US and the UK clients.
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So if it's night time for the UK and there is no translation services to do for them, then there is always calls coming from the US.
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Because for them, it would be daytime and they would be in need of translation services.
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Mostly between 8am to 6pm, I get calls from the UK.
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And after 6pm, I usually get calls from the US.
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This is the online interpreter portal.
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So here, each one of these are calls that I have received
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that day and the duration of those calls are shown in seconds.
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For example, this call lasted for 6703 seconds which would make almost two hours.
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How much I get paid is calculated by adding up all these seconds.
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If you receive a call, you don't have to be actively translating in that call to get paid. For example, if a doctor is examining a patient or taking blood from them
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and there is nothing to translate during that time
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but I still get paid for the time that I wait for them to finish what they're doing. Or
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when a banker puts me on hold to write down some notes on his computer then I get paid for
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that as well.
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Basically every second that I'm on the call for I get paid, doesn't matter if I'm actively translating or not.
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There are so many over the phone translation companies because after Covid hit, as you know, everything moved from face to face to over the phone
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and it stayed that way even after most of COVID restrictions have been removed
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and thankfully finally companies started caring more about inclusivity and equal opportunities of people with cultural and language barriers.
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But these are the top three companies I'd suggest you to apply with no experience in translating.
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First company that I would recommend especially if you have no experience at all is Language Line Solutions.
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I personally work for them and this is the third biggest language service provider in the world.
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And when I first applied, I had no experience in translation at all, other than the unofficial translations that I've been doing for my family and friends.
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I get paid £14 .40 per hour and I've been working under them for the last two years.
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Also, I'll put the links of these companies in the description box of this video, so if you want to see that, you can check that out.
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Second company that you can apply for is Language Empire.
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This is a company that does face -to -face translation services, so it's not over the phone.
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But this company is the easiest one to get into, in my opinion, because both myself and my friend, who had no experience in translating at all,
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applied to this place and got the job offer.
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So it's definitely worth a try.
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As this company does face -to -face translations, you need to travel to the place that your translation service is required, but the travel costs are paid for.
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The hourly rate for this is £14, so 40 pence lower than the previous company.
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Also, when I researched them, the employer reviews and employee satisfaction weren't great.
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But I'm not sure how accurate this is because even though I got the job offer, I've never actually worked for them because I prefer working from home.
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Third company is TransPerfect.
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This is the biggest language service provider in the world.
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Professional proficiency in over -the -phone consecutive interpretation is required.
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So I assume they're not as beginner friendly as the first company
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which was LanguageLine because on the LanguageLine's website this qualification is only preferred not required.
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According to Glassdoor this company also pays 1440 to their employees.
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There are three stages in the application process that you'll be required to pass to get the job offer.
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First one is an obvious one uploading your CV, second one is interview and the third one short translation test.
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For the first stage
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which is uploading your CV my top tip would be to
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look at the skills they're looking for in the job description
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and add those to your CV to prove that you have those skills
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and relate those at least one of your past experiences.
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This doesn't have to be a job experience, it can be an experience you acquired from your university
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or from your school i took a module called fundamental skills for scientists
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and in that module we had to send a cv for a specific job
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that they assigned us and i scored 100 out of 100 in
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that assignment and the tip
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that i've just given you probably helps me a lot to get
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that full mark second stage is the interview my top tip for this would be definitely just proving them
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that you know about the importance of confidentiality of your customers
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and of your clients and that you're confident you won't let any confidentiality breach to happen
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because of a mistake that you do.
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Because in the calls that you'll be translating personal and financial information will be discussed.
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So you need to show them that you know how to protect
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that information and how to get rid of that information safely.
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For example by practicing clean desk policy and by not speaking about the conversations you translated to anyone.
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Because confidentiality breaches cost millions of dollars to these companies
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and to refresh your knowledge on confidentiality you need to complete
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a yearly compliance training on their learning portal third stage is the short translation test
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if you've come to this stage well done this is the easiest stage to pass in my opinion
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because here they only test if you actually speak the language
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that you claimed you do before this test they send you a list of around 300 key terms
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that could come up during your assessment these are mostly medical
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and financial terms so my top tip would be for you to familiarize yourself with those terms
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so that's basically it i hope this was useful consider subscribing and i'll see you in the next one my patient
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memory has been hello interpreted i'm gonna have to time
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okay baby it's done oh yoni yoni yoni yoni yoni yoni yoni yoni you
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
This video offers a dynamic context for english speaking practice, focusing on real-world over-the-phone interpretation. The dialogue mirrors everyday professional interactions—from healthcare to law enforcement—making it ideal for learners aiming to master practical communication. By shadowing the speaker, you’ll refine your ability to convey complex information clearly, a skill critical for IELTS speaking practice and real-life scenarios. Plus, the casual tone (e.g., "earn money in my pyjamas") balances formality, helping you adapt to diverse conversational styles.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The video uses key structures that boost fluency. Here are 3 to focus on:
- Conditional phrases for flexibility: "If it's night time for the UK... there is always calls coming from the US" shows how to link time zones and outcomes, useful for explaining schedules in shadow speech.
- Passive voice for professional contexts: "This call may be monitored for training" is common in customer service. Practice this to sound polished in formal settings.
- Gerunds for describing actions: "I get paid for every second that I'm on the call for" uses "for + gerund" to explain payment terms. Mastering this helps clarify processes in speaking tasks.
Common Pronunciation Traps
Watch for these tricky sounds to avoid miscommunication during shadowing technique practice:
- Diarrhea: Pronounced /ˌdaɪəˈriːə/, not "die-uh-ree-uh." The video emphasizes clarity in medical terms—critical for healthcare contexts.
- Interpreter: Stress the second syllable (/ɪnˈtɜːprɪtər/), not the first. Misplacing stress can confuse listeners in professional calls.
- Duration: The speaker says /djuˈreɪʃn/, not "doo-rah-shun." Practice shortening the "u" sound for natural flow.
Tips for Effective Shadowing
Use the video with a shadowing site to improve pace and intonation: Pause after short segments (e.g., "I earn between £2,700 to £3,000 a month") and repeat, matching the speaker’s rhythm. Focus on linking words like "and" and "but" to sound conversational. This method not only builds confidence but also prepares you for the spontaneous nature of IELTS speaking practice.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | has been having · I've been doing · I've been working |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | may be monitored · are shown · is calculated |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have received · have been removed · I've never actually worked |
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.