Shadowing Practice: How learning a language can be a messy affair - Learn English Speaking with Video
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So I think one of the things that's really interesting, that I find interesting, is how language changes.
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And it changes within groups.
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So you notice it particularly with teenagers.
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I've got teenagers in the house, so that's something that I pick up on.
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And teenagers will change the meaning of a word that I will recognize.
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So they'll say that something is sick, and I think, oh, that must be awful, terrible.
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But actually, no, for the teenagers, sick is a really good thing.
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So teenagers, to form their social group, their gang, they will deliberately change language and they'll make it their own.
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And they will use it within their group and they actually don't really want other people to understand it.
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So I think that's a really interesting area where you see a lot of language change.
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You obviously get it with the number of different speakers
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that we have around the world and different groups will use language in a different way.
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So to me it's a really interesting area.
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So it's very interesting.
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Language obviously is always evolving.
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But to me this idea that we play with language deliberately, you know, in order to consolidate our relationships,
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I think that's a really kind of interesting area to work with.
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And it's a good quality that we can work with our students on that, you know, being playful with language
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and allowing them to have the freedom to play with it a little bit as well is good for their confidence, I think.
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I think one of our jobs as teachers or something
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that I believe in very passionately is that we need to be authentic.
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So there's a tendency I think within education to simplify things for learners
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and to make it all very clear cut so
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that we have clear rules for the grammar and there's an answer and this is right and this is wrong.
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And learners like that kind of security.
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And I think as teachers, we often like that security as well.
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We have a rule, we can teach it, we can mark the work.
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But real language is much messier than that.
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The boundaries are not always so clear-cut.
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So for me, one of the jobs as a teacher is to try
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and gradually get your learners used to
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that idea get them used to tolerating ambiguity and being aware that there isn't always a clear right or wrong answer,
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there are lots of exceptions to the rules, and that they should just be okay with that.
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It doesn't matter all the time and you can make little mistakes, but so long as it's not really interfering with the communication too much,
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then we don't have to worry about it.
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So I think that's important for both teachers
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and learners to sort of get used to that idea that we can't control everything.
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It's a bit unrealistic.
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Language in the real world just doesn't work like that.
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About This Lesson
You're practicing English with "How learning a language can be a messy affair" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.
Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.
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.