Shadowing Practice: How Reading BOOKS Can Protect & STRENGTHEN Your Brain (Science-Backed Approach) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hello, my name is Bren Booth-Jones.
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Hello, my name is Bren Booth-Jones.
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It's good to see you.
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Come on in.
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In today's video, we are going to talk about three ways that you can use reading books to slow your brain's aging.
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There is some fascinating scientific research into the ways
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that we can combat that deterioration of our gray matter through very practical and fun and easily applicable habits.
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And I want to funnel some of the key findings of this research through the practice of reading books
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and encourage any of you watching this to seriously consider building a reading habit into your life.
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I will leave a link to an article to the BBC which is a good popular overview of some of this research.
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There are links within that BBC article to more specialized academic papers.
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Okay first of all this might seem obvious reading books making
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a habit of reading every day certainly every week of your life
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but I want to kind of elaborate on that principle a little bit more.
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For those of you
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that you know are regular viewers of this channel of course we talk about reading and about the reading life,
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the literary life all the time but in terms of enhancing your cognitive
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and neurological longevity I want to talk about challenging yourself through your reading.
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So research in neuroscience science shows that challenging oneself,
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giving oneself a rigorous mental and intellectual diet,
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learning new ideas, new skills,
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this is a very key way to keep your brain healthy and high functioning.
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And so of course reading is one of the first things
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that scientists would suggest as a way to keep yourself mentally engaged.
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But we can also become complacent as readers,
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especially when it is something that you have spent years and years or perhaps a lifetime doing
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we can kind of get into a comfortable frictionless rhythm reading books that are very familiar to us
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or genres that we're comfortable in books that entertain us more than enhance
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and evolve our thinking our methodologies our philosophies our critical frameworks and our phenomenological perceptions of the world.
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So I want to encourage you to not just read books
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that you're comfortable with but to actually inject into your reading diet works that have friction,
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that resist easy access, that offer new realms of thought,
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new stylistic approaches and with that sense of unfamiliar,
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with that sense of having to grope and scramble and clamber your way into those works you really
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and a sort of cognitive robustness a workout to to your reading and and thereby
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continue to build up a kind of gray matter muscle memory
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that will only serve you in the long term with healthier brain function
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so you could read in different languages
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and reading books in foreign languages is always a good way
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to learn languages read genres outside of the kind of comfortable circumference of what you're used to,
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read books from different time periods,
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different cultures, read works of formal daring,
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read lesser-known works, read works that challenge the status quo,
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read books that add voltage and a kind of locomotive force to your reasoning,
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to your contact with the world,
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works that fine-tune your empathy and your cognition and your volition.
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Okay, so let's look at an example from my own reading life.
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For those of you that watch the channel regularly,
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you know that I live in the Netherlands,
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that I'm a fluent Dutch speaker but I'm not a native Dutch speaker
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and so I'm always striving towards a higher level of fluency in my Dutch
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and so you know a good way to challenge myself is to read works of high seriousness
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and density in Dutch translation
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and I'm now reading Kafka in Dutch I've read everything he's written in English translation
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and perhaps one day I'll be able to read him in his original german
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but for now a sort of intermediary step is to read kafka in dutch translation
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so there's a couple of sort of levels of resistance there
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which are cognitively stimulating now what if you're somebody
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that just has never gotten into reading but you're open to starting
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that wondrously rich and rewarding journey don't be ashamed it's never too late to start.
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I have made a video talking about some books that are great gateways into literature,
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so I will leave a link for that video.
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Okay, the second activity that is scientifically proven to enhance your brain function
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and to ward off early signs of dementia and decomposition of your
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mental faculties research shows
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that staying socially active is is a key way to ward off mental decline
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and to consolidate your brain function and the dynamism of your synapses
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so how can we apply this principle to the the reading
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life we tend to think of reading as a very solitary activity something
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that gives us this private epiphany to inspire means to literally to breathe in
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but if we substitute inspire with conspire we can then think of breathing together
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and plumb profound depths of understanding through exploring the bookish life together
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and that's all very well you say but how can i practically get involved in a kind of communal
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bookish activity well i would say join a book club
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or join a reading community
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and we are blessed in 2026 to have such a massive
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panoply of options available for people in any far-flung corner of
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the world you might be lucky enough to have reading groups book clubs
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or other book related social events in your you know immediate vicinity.
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I'm very lucky to live in Rotterdam and I have a wonderful communal space in the city called Het Verheijs.
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It's in this gorgeous historical building and it's a very community-centered space for writing and for reading.
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There's workshops, there's all kinds of cool things happening here and yeah I'm I'm very lucky to have that.
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In fact, I do have to take the opportunity to say
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that I have an event coming up later this year in
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the Fear House with Sarah Ladipo-Munyeka a phenomenal multi-talented writer who
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I've talked about on the channel before we've talked about some of her books we are doing an event together
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so I will be posting more about that in due course
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but yeah the fear house is just a good example of a place where you can develop
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that that communal social aspect of your reading life
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that is scientifically proven to enhance
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and protect your your brain function they've also got my my books
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and other local writers books on display here
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and at the opening event of the fear house i met one of my best friends the fellow writer
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and translator Daniel Akerbaum so yeah I just had to shout out the Fairhouse and even
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if you do live in a kind of cultural hub where
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there are those kind of communities available in person sometimes it's just more comfortable to join an online community
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and like I said there are
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so many options out there I'm just going to mention a
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few off the top of my head right there's Adam Walker close reading poetry.
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He's a great academic scholar who is quite poetry-centric and American literature focused.
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In fact just so much of English literary history but generally through the lens of poetry.
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He has a YouTube channel and he has an online book community called Verst.
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I really recommend checking out Adam Walker.
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He's an extremely accomplished and erudite but also very down-to-earth scholar.
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Second of all another great online reading community is Life on Books.
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Tony and sometimes his friend Andy are just two great book lovers.
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They're so approachable and yet well read.
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They are engaging in the content that they produce.
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I mean I think it's mostly Tony with some guest appearances from Andy
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but other than the hirsute majesty of Tony's lush beard he really is somebody who is
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so consistent and dedicated to producing content
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that is a kind of gateway to reading
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but also building a really cohesive and an inclusive online community
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and a book club so I would recommend checking out Life on Books
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and then Maria from Strange Lucidity she is another fantastic academic
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and content creator who has recently launched her own Patreon to give a more intimate
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and in-depth approach to the communal aspect of reading and understanding literature.
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She also has produced several amazing online courses which are opportunities to to grow and
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hone one's literary skills in a really affordable way.
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I contributed to a couple of the modules on
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that on one of her courses as well and I was really honored to do that.
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So yeah, look up online if there are local book communities in,
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you know, in the geographical zone in which you live.
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If that's not a feasible option for whatever reason,
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seriously consider seeking out book communities online.
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And then the third aspect of brain health and longevity that this BBC article references is spatial navigation.
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Research has shown that people that in their daily work were required to have mnemonic systems
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and memorize large quantities of information tended to have longer lasting high caliber brain function now how can we apply
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that to this lens of the bookish life you know readers and lovers of literature
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create a spatial navigation in your own environment in your home
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space build a catalog of literature of reference works of great texts of fiction poetry
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and non-fiction philosophy history build a personal canon a personal library
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and then lay it out with care and solicitude
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and a coherent plan
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so what i've talked about on the channel in terms of
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my own cataloging of my own personal collection is I have a system of chronology
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so you can trace lineages of thoughts and movements
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intellectual and creative movements
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and waves through my library chronologically my library is also subdivided by sort of broad genres
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so poetry fiction non-fiction obviously there's loads overlap there
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that is a way to create a kind of memory palace in your mind to kind of constellate
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and interconnect to create really a web of interconnections of intellectual history
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and literary movements and ideas and it's such a profound way to fortify
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and enrich your own thinking and it will definitely give you better brain function and help you to navigate your life
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through cognitive processes and prolong the health of your brain for as long as possible.
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Another literary practice to fortify your memory
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and strengthen your brain function in the long term is of course to memorize literature
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and that most naturally takes the form of memorizing poems
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and here I've got a list stuck up in my office of poems
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that I have memorized or are in the process of committing to memory
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and they become sort of incantations that you know beat a tattoo in your heart
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and in your mind and and and give you solace
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and consolation in difficult moments and but also just improve your memory
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so I just wanted to include that as well something
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that I recommend people trying to to institute in their lives so yeah those are three
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key areas of research that suggest ways to prolong one's brain health
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and those were my sort of literary angles on all three of those perspectives or principles or approaches.
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I would love to hear from you guys.
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Let me know what you think about this issue and ways that you might work on your own neurological well-being.
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I would love to hear from you about that.
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Thank you to our channel members co-producers and executive producers
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that allow me to keep doing what i'm doing
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and to all of you
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that are part of this community please don't be shy to
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say hello down in the comments i would love to hear from you thanks for watching speak to you all soon
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Why practice speaking with this video?
In this video, Bren Booth-Jones emphasizes the cognitive benefits of reading books, particularly in relation to brain health and longevity. Engaging with the content not only enhances listening skills but also provides rich material for shadow speech practice. By observing the speaker's articulation and phrasing, learners can significantly improve English pronunciation through repetition and imitation. Using a shadowing app to practice alongside this video can help reinforce the connection between the spoken words and their meanings, leading to a deeper understanding and more fluid speech.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
The video introduces several key structures that are beneficial for English learners. Here are a few notable examples:
- “I want to talk about…” - This formal expression is often used to introduce subjects. Mimicking this structure can help learners articulate their thoughts clearly.
- “I encourage you to…” - This phrase is powerful for persuading others. Understanding how to use it effectively can enhance conversational skills.
- “This might seem obvious…” - This expression is a great way to acknowledge common knowledge while segueing into new information. Practicing this can provide a more natural flow in discussions.
- “We can also become complacent…” - Recognizing the passive voice in this example helps learners understand how to express ongoing situations or ideas.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As learners practice shadowspeak techniques, they may encounter specific pronunciation challenges inspired by Bren’s speech. Consider the following:
- “Cognitive” - The stress on the first syllable can be tricky. Practicing this word repeatedly will help solidify the correct pronunciation.
- “Phenomenological” - This complex term has multiple syllables and can be daunting. Breaking it down into parts during shadow speech practice can ease the process.
- “Frictions” - The 'ct' sound might be pronounced too quickly. Learners should focus on extending the pronunciation to prevent merging sounds.
By paying attention to these tricky words and committing to regular practice with a shadowing technique, learners can expect marked improvements in their English pronunciation skills and overall fluency. Shadow speech alongside targeted listening will not only elevate understanding but also enhance expressive capabilities in spoken English.
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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