Shadowing Practice: I learned 3 languages to C1 with a 30-minute routine, so you can just copy me - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I am a native English speaker, but I have also learned German, Portuguese, and Polish.
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And after learning three foreign languages, I have tried so many routines.
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I have ranged from studying five, six, seven hours a day to five minutes a day,
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trying to find this balance between really just going through the language as quickly and intensely as possible, just trying to take it in.
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and on the other hand not doing very much just micro
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habits after learning these three foreign languages I found this perfect balance in the middle
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that is only a 30 minute routine and
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when I was learning Portuguese the most recent language
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that I learned I implemented this 30 minutes a day routine
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and it was life-changing
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so today I'm going to share with you exactly how those 30 minutes are comprised for me
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and how this routine can simply take you from an A1 to a C1 level.
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So let's get started.
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My routine is broken up into four simple parts.
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Vocabulary, pronunciation, input, and output.
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Now I know that may sound not simple at all or maybe it sounds too simple, but for me the easiest way to break it down is really just in a couple of categories.
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That is easier for me than saying okay I'm gonna do 20 minutes on this app, 20 minutes on that app, watch YouTube for 10 minutes, right?
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Like that makes it too complicated.
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We're just gonna break it down by sections.
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So vocabulary, pronunciation, input, and output.
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Now vocabulary lasts for about 20 minutes because this is the bulk of your language learning.
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This is the most important part.
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Words make up the language okay grammar is a part of the language too
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but the language is actually just comprised of words with grammar that's it it's actually very simple
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and so the more words that you know the more you can understand
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and the more you understand the sooner you will be able to speak
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so that is the language philosophy I follow and what I have found to be the most successful
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times I have learned a language focusing primarily on vocabulary I have learned it
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so much faster and I'm not saying you just forget grammar
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and you know a million words
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but you don't know how to say a single thing
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and you sound like a caveman with no grammar whether you are at a a1 level
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or b2 level you need vocabulary you need vocabulary
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that is tied to your level so that is the bulk of your learning routine every day.
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So you're going to spend about 20 minutes doing that.
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Now for this part of the routine, I like to have a list of the most common words in that language that I'm working through.
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So maybe you are at word 50 or maybe you're at word 5,000.
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You are still working through that list.
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And then at this stage, it is also your job to figure out how you learn best, how you learn language is best,
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how you memorize best, how you remember best.
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So for me, that means that I actually like to write it down by hand.
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So I use physical, real paper flashcards.
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There are tons of fantastic learning materials out there.
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But for me, I personally like real life paper flashcards.
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That's how I remember it better.
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For me, it helps physically writing it down, but it also helps holding it and I almost attach like a memory to the flash card itself to the color pen.
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So I spend about 20 minutes either writing out words on the flash cards or actually studying them like playing games.
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But 20 minutes is dedicated to vocabulary.
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That is the most important part.
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Then the next part of this 30 minute section, these 10 minutes are used to focus on pronunciation.
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Now there are also a bunch of ways that you can do that.
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You can do language shadowing.
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So you can watch a YouTube video, a podcast, music.
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And after every sentence, you pause it and you repeat that sentence back.
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And what we're looking for here is training your pronunciation, right?
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So you need to focus on rhythm, intonation, cadence, everything.
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The goal is to repeat the sentence exactly how you heard it.
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And at first, this feels strange.
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It feels like you are dressing up.
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You're playing costume with your voice.
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It feels like you're faking an accent.
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It's a little bit of a strange feeling.
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But that's because you are.
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You are learning a whole new way of speaking.
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You have to teach your mouth, your jaw, your tongue, your lips, your throat.
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You have to teach yourself how to speak in this new language.
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It does not come automatically with learning the language.
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It is something that you have to learn and it's something you have to focus on.
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And focusing on it early on will make a huge difference in your language learning journey.
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When your pronunciation is off, it's harder to understand people and it's harder to speak.
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Even if you're speaking the correct words with the correct grammar, if people can't understand you, it is pointless.
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You need to have clear pronunciation.
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This is also going to help your language confidence.
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It is so hard when you are learning a foreign language to speak confidently.
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And when you are pronouncing things wrong, your confidence just goes away like that.
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It is so fast.
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In the past, when people have corrected my pronunciation, for some reason, that just cuts to the core.
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Vocabulary, okay, yeah, I can learn that.
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Grammar, yeah, I don't know that yet.
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I'll admit it.
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But pronunciation, oh, something about it, it just feels like a knife.
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Like, people know that you learned it, but you didn't learn it enough.
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You know, it just, and sometimes you pronounce things, and it's so embarrassing.
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I remember when I was learning german for months i had been ordering pistachio ice cream
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and i had been pronouncing it so incorrectly i can't even remember what it was
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but it sounded like a kid was ordering it basically
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and every time the person behind the counter would just smile at me
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and i thought that she thought i was sweet i don't know
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and then i found out i was saying it so completely wrong and i was so embarrassed.
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Now, all of us have a story like this in a language that we are learning or have learned, and you just remember it.
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It is so embarrassing.
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So focus on pronunciation and focus on it early.
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You will be so much more confident.
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Your language skills will improve faster, and you can thank me later.
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If you're learning English, I have an English pronunciation guide linked below,
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but any other language, just search language pronunciation drills or practice language shadowing.
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And so you're going to do this 10 minutes every day.
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And now I know you're probably thinking, okay, we've already hit 30 minutes and we've only done two things, vocabulary and pronunciation.
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So everything else.
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And yes, you are right.
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There's a lot more to do, but this is all separate from those 30 minutes.
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The rest is all about incorporating it in your day.
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taking things you are already doing and then also focus on the language.
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So the rest of the time
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that you are going to spend learning the language is not sit down focused language studying energy time.
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It's completely different.
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And let me explain how
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so the first thing is input throughout the day I like to use time
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that you already have so commutes if you have to take a bus somewhere
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if you're driving somewhere if you're walking somewhere to school
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or work every day utilize that time that is blank time in your day that is literally scheduled every single day.
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So if I'm walking somewhere every day, I like to listen to a podcast in that language.
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So I'm just practicing.
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If you're feeling super tired and you're like, I just simply don't have the energy to listen to a podcast in a foreign language, heard.
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Then you put on music in the foreign language.
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You can be creative here and that's the goal.
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You need to be extremely creative and integrate the language into your life.
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Try to create an immersive experience for yourself without living in the place and really bring the language to you.
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So just having things going throughout the day, songs, podcasts, YouTube videos, movies, whatever it is, whatever works for you, whatever you are already doing,
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switch it into that language.
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When I'm cooking, I love to get recipe books in that language.
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You know, you're practicing as you're cooking, you're reading through it, you're practicing the ingredients, and then you're also interacting with them.
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So you look, you're like, oh, flower.
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That's how you say that.
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Okay.
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Flower.
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Yeah.
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Eggs.
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Okay.
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Eggs.
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Yeah.
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That's an egg.
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Right.
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So you're interacting with it a little bit.
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I think it's playful.
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It's fun.
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And it's a way to bring the language to you.
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There are many things that you do throughout the day that you can bring the language into.
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So really try to be creative, really analyze your day and think, where can I add this language into my life?
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Where can I interact with it more?
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How can I make it more fun?
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How can I make it enjoyable?
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What are things that I already love to do?
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I love to go on runs.
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Okay, so when I'm on a run, I'm going to listen to music in that language, right?
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So try to be creative and really incorporate the language into your life.
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Then the last thing you need to do is output.
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Everyone's least favorite, especially early on, but as you get better it becomes your favorite.
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So here you need to create the language.
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You need to practice with everything that you've learned and create.
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So for me I like to practice by thinking in the language a lot of the time.
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Sometimes it's hard to be speaking out loud.
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So every time I shower I'm thinking in the language.
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When I go on runs I'm thinking in the language.
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When I'm out on a walk, I'm thinking in the language.
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And then sometimes I just talk to myself in the language.
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And if you have friends who speak the language, you can call them, talk to them in the language.
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You can text in the language, right?
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So just you can send voice messages to friends in the language.
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You can talk to chat GPT in the language by holding down the microphone button.
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You can be very creative here and you can do all kinds of things.
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But once again, it's about involving the language into your daily life.
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If you are already riding your bike 20 minutes a day, okay, during those 20 minutes, you're going to think in the language.
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So you're still going to be creating sentences, building words, building sentences, creating output as you're riding your bike.
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And it doesn't have to come out loud.
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You can get by with just making sure you're thinking in the language 20 minutes a day, but that be throughout the day.
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Another thing that's great is sometimes when you're bored
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and you're just waiting in lines or you're running errands and you're waiting and you're just a little bored,
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just look around and just start talking about what you're doing to yourself in that language.
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I'm here at the post office and it's taking forever and it's hot and I'm tired, but you're doing it all in foreign language
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and you're going to run into words you don't know you're gonna run into expressions you don't know, but they're all real life things that you would actually talk about
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because you're just right there in that moment practicing the language.
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Start by just thinking in the language more.
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Then if you're using this routine, it's actually so simple and it's such a small portion of your day.
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It's just 30 minutes a day sitting down, focusing on vocabulary, focusing on pronunciation
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and then the rest is all involved in your day
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and once you set the habit of doing this you will see
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that your language skills grow
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so much faster now of course it takes some time to
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adjust you are not used to thinking in the language
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that you're learning 24 7 and you don't have to be
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but just adding it in a little bit more throughout your
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day even after a week you'll be more in the the habit, you'll be more comfortable with it and you will see a huge shift in your language skills.
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The other thing that you're going to notice is that the language is always fresh in your mind.
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When you sit down studying for a couple hours and then you are so exhausted, you're like done, I'm done with that blank, I can't do it anymore.
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Then all of a sudden you kind of lock off the language, you shut it off and then if someone randomly starts speaking to you,
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it takes a few minutes to jump back in and you have built up this barrier that's a lot harder to break.
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When you are in more of a fluid motion with the language going into it, going out, you're a little more fluid with the language, you don't have these strict barriers in your mind,
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it also comes back to you so much quicker.
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If you find yourself randomly meeting someone that speaks that language,
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it's already on the tip of your tongue because you're used to thinking of it just as part of your daily routine.
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So as I started doing that, I started to see a huge shift, not only in my language skills,
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but also my confidence because the language just felt so much closer and more accessible to me.
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And honestly, I just started getting way better at the language way faster
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because I was doing it in a way that I could actually stay consistent with.
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And that actually was building over time
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because as I was learning a little more I was practicing with it a little more.
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Now this is all good and honestly you can learn a language by just doing this much.
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So this is a great starting point.
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In my experience if I wanted to do extra after this then I would add in two things.
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I would add in a workbook that I would do a chapter of every day
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and so this would extend my studying time probably by 30 minutes to an hour of just pure workbook.
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So grammar, vocabulary, all of it, just mixing that in.
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And then the other thing I would introduce are classes, personalized classes, group classes, classes in the place,
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whatever it is, some kind of class where you're getting some real active feedback and corrections.
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Those are the two other essentials, I think but honestly I would consider those extras
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if you are doing your vocabulary you're doing your pronunciation you're getting input
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and you're producing output you are good then workbook
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and classes are great they're helpful but they are extra so
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if you're in a season of life where you're like I
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can take on more I've got time I've got energy I want to learn this language I can take on more, then by all means add that in.
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But that does not need to be your daily minimum.
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It does not need to be.
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That is an extra thing.
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Now that is the routine that I ended up adapting in order to learn three foreign languages.
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And honestly, it really helped me.
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And so I hope it helps you in your language learning journey.
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I will catch you in the next video.
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Thanks for watching.
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Bye.
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Master English Speaking with a 30-Minute Daily Routine (Inspired by Language Experts)
Imagine this: You’re trying to learn English efficiently, balancing busy days with the goal of reaching fluency. The video shares a proven 30-minute routine that took a language learner from A1 to C1 in multiple languages—and it works for English too. This isn’t about endless apps or grammar drills; it’s about focusing on what matters: vocabulary, pronunciation, input, and output. Let’s break down how to adapt this for English speaking practice and even IELTS speaking practice.
Useful Chunks & Collocations to Boost Your Fluency
- "Bulk of your learning": Refers to the most important part of your study time (e.g., "Vocabulary is the bulk of my daily routine").
- "Tied to your level": Materials that match your current proficiency (e.g., "Choose words tied to your level, not too advanced").
- "Life-changing": Something that dramatically improves your progress (e.g., "This shadowing technique was life-changing for my pronunciation").
- "Figure out how you learn best": Identify your optimal study methods (e.g., "I wrote flashcards to figure out how I learn best").
- "Attach a memory to": Link new words to a mental image or experience (e.g., "I attach a memory to each flashcard to remember it better").
Your Shadowing Challenge: Practice Like a Pro in 10 Minutes
Shadowing is key to improving pronunciation and fluency—and it’s easy to start. Here’s your task: Find a short English video (try a 2-minute clip from a learn English with videos channel) and use a shadowing site or app like shadowspeak to slow it down. Listen to one sentence, pause, and repeat it immediately, mimicking the tone, stress, and rhythm. Focus on matching the speaker’s intonation—even if you make mistakes. Do this for 10 minutes daily, and you’ll notice your speaking sounds more natural in a week. For IELTS speaking practice, try shadowing IELTS sample answers to master exam-style phrasing. Remember: Consistency beats intensity. Start today, and turn 10 minutes into confident English speaking.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have also learned · have tried · have ranged |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are comprised · is broken · is actually just comprised |
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.