Shadowing Practice: How to Understand More in The IELTS Listening Test - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Do you ever feel like native speakers just talk way too fast in the IELTS listening test?

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Do you ever feel like native speakers just talk way too fast in the IELTS listening test?

Well, don't worry, you're not the only one.

A lot of students have problems in understanding spoken English.

So in this video, I'm going to show you why it's hard to understand native speakers,

what doesn't actually help to improve your listening.

And then finally, I'm going to show you some simple exercises you can do at home

that will make it easier for you to follow real English conversations.

So let's get started.

All right, so there are five main reasons why you can't understand everything you hear.

The first one is connected speech.

The second one is different accents.

Now before we go on to the third one,

if you're looking to get a band seven or higher in listening and in the IELTS test,

make sure you check out our preparation course

which is going to teach you everything you need to know to get a high band in each of the four skills.

The link is in the description.

Alright, so the third thing is lack of vocabulary or not having enough vocabulary.

Next is speed of speech or how fast native speakers speak.

And finally, the last reason is real English is different to textbook English.

So let's start with the first one which is connected speech.

Have a look at this sentence on the screen right now.

It clearly says, what are you doing?

Now, that's how it's written in English and that's fine.

But if a native speaker says this sentence really quickly,

it sounds like this, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

So, even though you understand the phrase, what are you doing?

If you hear it pronounced like this, what are you doing?

Well, you might not understand it because you don't know connected speech or you don't understand connected speech.

So this is just one example of connected speech and you might be thinking well what is connected speech?

Well it's when sounds disappear,

change or blend together in fast natural English.

There are five main types of connected speech and

if you're interested I recently made a video about that which you can find in the description below.

But here are a few examples.

In written English it clearly says pick it,

but in spoken English it sounds like picket.

Picket.

That k and that i come together,

and when we say these two words it just sounds like one word, picket.

Here's the next one, I saw it.

Well with this one we add a r sound between the saw and the it,

so we don't say I saw it.

No, we say I saw it.

I saw it.

Here's the next one. Must be.

Well, in fast spoken English,

we drop that T sound.

We say must be. Must be.

And here's the next one.

Red dress.

Again, we drop a sound here.

There are two Ds, but we only say one.

We say red dress, not red dress.

So, make sure you learn connected speech.

It's not only going to help improve your listening skills,

but it's also going to help to improve your speaking skills as well.

All right, let's move on to the second one now,

which is different accents.

So, some people say that there are around 160 different accents in English.

That's a lot of accents, right?

So, that means you might be used to listening to one accent

but in the IELTS listening test you could hear several different accents

and if you're not used to those accents it might make understanding quite difficult.

So here are some quick examples of differences in pronunciation when it comes to accents.

So I'm going to do my best to say some of these words with an American accent.

Now the first one you you can see on the screen is pronounced tomato in US English tomato

but in UK English

and Australian English we would say tomato tomato here's the next

one in US English they would say schedule schedule however in UK English they say schedule schedule

and here's one more in America or the US they'd say data, data.

Whereas in the UK and in Australia, we say data, data.

So how do you fix this?

How do you learn this?

Well, it's pretty simple.

You've got to listen to different accents.

The three main ones are,

of course, US English, UK English, and then Australian English.

Moving on to the third one now,

which is a lack of vocabulary.

So it doesn't matter how good your listening skills are,

if you don't have enough vocabulary,

you're probably not going to understand what you hear.

And this is one of the biggest issues that prevents students from getting a high band in IELTS.

They simply don't have enough vocabulary.

So let me show you some examples.

On the left, we've got a basic English phrase, not allowed.

But a more advanced English way to say that is prohibited.

So maybe you understand not allowed,

but if you don't understand the word prohibited,

and that's what you hear in the IELTS listening test,

well, you're obviously not going to understand.

Here's the next one.

Start something.

That's very basic English.

A more advanced way to say that is initiate.

Here's one more example.

Be on time.

That's very basic.

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But a more advanced way to say that is to be punctual.

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So let's pretend that in the question it says on time,

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but the speaker actually says punctual.

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Well, you need to understand what that means to get the answer right.

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So don't ignore this one always try and improve your vocabulary

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and it's going to help you in all four parts of IELTS.

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Moving on to the fourth reason now which is speed of speech.

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Native speakers speak very quickly and they often join or connect words together.

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If you're not used to this speed it can be quite hard to understand even if you know all of the words.

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So let me give you an example.

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You should have given it to him.

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You should have given it to him.

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Well, what did I just say?

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Well, I said, you should have given it to him.

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And you probably heard that I didn't actually say it like that.

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Instead of saying should have,

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I said should have, should have.

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Instead of saying given it,

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I said given it, given it.

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And instead of saying to him,

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I said to him, to him.

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We drop the H sound and we replace it with a W.

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So you need to get really used to listening to fast natural English.

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Let's move on to the last reason now,

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which is real English versus textbook English.

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Real English that native English speakers use is very different to textbook English,

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which is written for non-native speakers.

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And if you only know textbook English,

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you're going to have a big problem in understanding real English that native speakers use when they are talking to each other.

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So let me show you some examples of what I mean.

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In textbook English, they might say something like, please help me.

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And this is not used very often.

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The more casual and relaxed way to ask for help is to simply say,

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could you give me a hand, please?

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Could you give me a hand, please?

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Here's another one.

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It is very expensive.

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Now, there's nothing incorrect about this,

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but in a casual spoken English conversation,

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a more common phrase would be, it costs a fortune.

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It costs a fortune.

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So, now you might be thinking,

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well, how do I learn this?

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How do I learn real English?

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Well, it's pretty simple.

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You have to listen to real English and watch how native speakers actually talk to each other and interact with each other.

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And that's the key thing.

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You have to watch native speakers talking to other native speakers.

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Let's move on and talk about what will probably not improve your listening skills.

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The first thing is just doing a lot of practice tests.

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A lot of students think that just doing a lot of practice tests is going to improve their listening band score,

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but unfortunately it doesn't work like that and there are a few main reasons for this.

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If you only do practice tests,

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you're just checking your score.

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You're not or you might not actually be improving your English listening skills.

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Now, I'm not saying that you should never or you should not do listening tests.

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What I'm saying is that they should be used to practice your strategies and to see what level you're at.

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Think about practice tests like weighing yourself.

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If you just keep stepping on the scales,

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well, that's probably not going to help you to lose weight.

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Now, let's move on to the second reason.

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practice tests are there to see how many answers you can get right

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and they don't really train your ears to understand fast natural speech.

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Think about it like this,

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you know, it's like trying to get fit or stronger by just taking fitness tests.

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Well, that's probably not going to help you because you actually need to train to see results.

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Well, it's exactly the same in listening.

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Now the final reason is that a lot of students just do listening tests,

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look at their band score and then they don't do anything else and that's a big problem.

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That's the wrong way to approach listening tests.

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You should be asking yourself at the end of every test,

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what did I do well and what did I do not so well?

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Why?

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Well, because to get really good in anything you do in life,

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you need to think about what you're doing well

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and what you're doing not so well so you know what to work on and what to improve.

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Now let's move on to mistake number two,

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which is translating every word.

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This is another thing that I see a lot of students doing,

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and it probably doesn't help you to improve your listening skills.

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And again, there are a few main reasons for this.

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The first one is very simple.

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It's just too slow.

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In the IELTS listening test,

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answers come very quickly and you don't have time to be translating from your language to English.

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So if you're always translating in your head,

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it's going to be impossible to keep up

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because you don't have time to think and you might miss the next part or the next question.

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The second reason is you might miss the overall meaning.

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Yes, you might understand the meaning of one word or two words or three words,

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but you might not understand the full meaning of the sentence or what the speaker is really saying.

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Sometimes one word is not important.

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It's the overall idea that matters.

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And you can miss that if you're too focused on understanding every single word.

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And finally, some English words and phrases just don't have direct translations in other languages.

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So if you try to translate,

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this might actually confuse you.

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And another thing is, a phrase in English might mean something different when it's translated word for word.

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So it's better to understand the overall meaning rather than to try to understand every single word individually.

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Okay, moving on to mistake number three now,

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which is expecting immediate improvement.

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A lot of students I have seen tend to get very frustrated after they practice listening just a little bit

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and then they don't improve.

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Well, that's not how language learning works.

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It's a process that takes time.

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Think of it like going to the gym.

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You can't build muscle in just a week.

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You need to go for months and months,

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if not even years to make progress.

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And the thing that is most important is consistency.

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You want to be getting a little bit better every day because if you do get a little bit better every day,

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then you're going to have big results in the long term.

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And that's what life is about.

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Life is long term.

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Life is not short term.

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Now on the other hand,

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if you just do occasional study,

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maybe once a week or once a fortnight,

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well you're probably not going to move forward very quickly.

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Now let's talk about what you should do to improve your listening skills.

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So I'm going to show you a few different methods.

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This is the first method,

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it's called the YouTube shadowing method.

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If you want to train your ears for real English,

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this method is very helpful.

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So here's what you need to do.

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First, you need to pick a YouTube video you enjoy which has subtitles.

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Now, make sure it's a video for native English speakers,

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not something made specifically for English learners.

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The more natural it is,

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the better it will be.

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Also, make sure you choose something interesting so you don't get bored.

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Next, you should watch it once without subtitles.

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So, just try to understand as much as you can.

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Don't worry if you miss some words,

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just focus on the general meaning.

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This is going to train your ears to process English more naturally.

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Next, watch it again with subtitles,

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and note any new words,

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and watch and listen for connected speech.

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So, pay very close attention to how words are linked together in fast, natural speech.

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Write down any new words and phrases that you didn't catch the first time.

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And finally, watch it one last time and shadow.

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That means repeat after the speaker while listening.

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So try to repeat exactly what the speaker says and copy their pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.

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This exercise called shadowing is a great exercise and it's going to help you to sound more natural when you speak English.

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If you do this again and again and again,

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you're going to start to notice patterns in how native speakers connect their words.

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And over time, listening is going to feel much more easy for you.

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The key is repetition.

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Don't just watch it once and move on without learning from it.

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Use every video as an opportunity to learn.

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Now another great way to improve your listening is the one minute summary method.

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The first step is to pick a piece of content that is designed for native speakers.

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Now this could be a YouTube video,

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a podcast or even an audio book.

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After that you should listen to one minute of that content and then pause it.

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Step three is to try to summarize what you just heard in your own words

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And the goal here is not to focus on every single little word,

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it's to focus on the overall general meaning.

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Now, if you can summarize it,

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that's a good sign and it probably means that you understood it.

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On the other hand, if you can't summarize it,

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don't worry, listen a few more times with subtitles and then try to summarize it again.

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Keep doing this until you get it.

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This is a great exercise because it trains you to understand meaning without always using translation.

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Now let's look at one last method.

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This last method is called copy the speaker.

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Now one of the best ways to train your ears and improve your pronunciation, it's very simple.

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Just copy native speakers.

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So the first step is to pick a short clip.

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Choose a video, podcast or audio clip where a native speaker is talking naturally.

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The next step is to listen very carefully and focus on how they pronounce words,

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their intonation, so their ups and their downs,

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and then also focus on how some words blend together in connected speech.

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Step three is to repeat immediately.

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So try to copy exactly what they say and copy their tone, speed and emphasis.

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Don't just focus on words.

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Pay attention to the flow of the whole sentence.

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The next step, step number four, is compare your version.

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So record yourself speaking and then listen to the original and your version side by side.

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And then you need to ask yourself or think about the three things which make you sound not like a native speaker.

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So, for example, you could ask yourself,

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am I pronouncing the words the same way?

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Is my rhythm similar?

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Does my speech sound natural or is it too slow and robotic?

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Now, the goal isn't to sound perfect,

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but it's to just improve your speaking so you get closer to natural spoken English.

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The more you do this,

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the more natural your listening and speaking will become.

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If you're looking to improve your listening skills even more,

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check out this video right here where I talk about connected speech.

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See you in the next lesson.

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Take care and keep studying hard.

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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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Speak English fluently using the Shadowing technique. Listen to native YouTube videos, repeat sentence by sentence, and build real pronunciation and fluency — used by IELTS learners worldwide.

Shadowing Practice: How to Understand More in The IELTS Listening Test - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Shadowing Practice: How to Understand More in The IELTS Listening Test - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?