Shadowing Practice: New York City, What Languages Do You Speak? - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B1
What are some of your favorite languages in the world?
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What are some of your favorite languages in the world?
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I never thought about that before.
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I mean, English is good, but Spanish is best.
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That's a sick set.
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That's a cool set, man.
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What are people's favorite languages in New York City?
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Let's ask them and find out.
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What's your name?
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I'm Charlie.
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Good to meet you, Charlie.
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What are some of your favorite languages?
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I like Chinese, I like Korean, I like French.
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Very English is good, too.
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I never thought about that before.
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I'm part French.
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I think the French language sounds really nice.
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I think the French language is a very beautiful language.
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I think Italian is a cool language.
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My favorite is Korean.
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Korean?
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Yes.
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Because I'm Korean.
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Amazing.
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What's yours?
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Me too.
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I'm Korean because my favorite language is Korean.
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Good to meet you, Kate.
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What are some of your favorite languages in the world?
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Since it is my first language,
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I would say I communicate most with English and that's the way I connect with people.
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My favorite language.
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My native language is French, I would say.
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I'm more comfortable in French.
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Spanish, obviously.
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Yeah.
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Punjabi.
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I like French.
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French?
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What are you?
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Catalan.
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Amazing.
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I like the way French sounds.
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I like the way Swahili sounds.
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Yes, sir.
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Yes, sir.
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And I like English because I speak it.
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Let's see.
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I know a little Hindi.
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Yes, sir.
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So like that was pretty cool.
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Arabic.
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Yeah, I think I want to learn Arabic, but I don't know.
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I guess like either Japanese or Korean.
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French and then Korean.
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And what are your favorite languages?
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Spanish.
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Spanish?
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Yeah, it's the best.
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I agree.
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I agree.
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That's what I learned.
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I mean, English is good, but Spanish is best.
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French and I like Russian.
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Okay.
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I also like French.
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Russian is new.
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She likes Turkish as well.
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Definitely French because my husband's French.
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Amazing.
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Japanese.
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Japanese.
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Nice.
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Japanese.
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Spanish and English only.
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Okay, I thought I was gonna like Japanese all the way.
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What are some of your favorite languages?
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Well, I speak Chinese and I speak English.
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Very cool.
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My favorite language is probably Chinese and French and probably English.
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English.
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Thai.
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Thai.
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It's my native language.
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Japanese, Spanish and Swedish.
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That's a sick set.
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Yeah.
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That's a cool set, man.
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And do you speak any other languages besides English?
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Yeah, Swedish and a bit Spanish.
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Nice, how did you learn Swedish?
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I'm from Sweden, originally.
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I'm born and raised here and then I moved to Sweden with my family.
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Do you speak any other languages besides Arabic and English?
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I speak a little French.
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I speak Hindi, but when I hear Punjabi,
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it's like nice, like my roots, you know?
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I'm trying Italian and French.
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Do you speak any other languages besides English?
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A little bit of French.
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Yeah?
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Spanish.
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Spanish.
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And you're learning Catalan.
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So my mom lives in Barcelona,
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and so I get to hear it whenever I listen to her and it's really beautiful.
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Incredible.
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Do you ever spend any time in Spain?
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Yes, a lot.
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Do you speak any languages besides English and Spanish?
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Portuguese and Chinese.
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You speak Chinese?
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Yeah, but Portuguese is better.
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That's so cool.
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Do you speak any other languages besides Korean?
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Oh, no, not at all.
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Are you speaking English?
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Yeah, it's just a little bit.
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No, that's pretty good.
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What about you?
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I can speak English a little.
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A little?
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Oh my god.
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I love how you're always so humble.
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Like, people, when we learn other languages,
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we're like, Oh, I'm fluent in Spanish, but barely speak Spanish.
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When other people learn English,
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they're like, I know a little bit,
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and they're really good at English.
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I am mediocre with Spanish.
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Spanish, and a little bit of Portuguese, and English.
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Wow, so you speak Spanish?
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I speak Spanish, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
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Japanese and Spanish.
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Badass.
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But need to practice more.
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Japanese and English.
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Spanish and English only.
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Do you speak any other languages besides Thai?
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Not really.
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English.
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Yeah, I was gonna say.
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Can you teach me one word in a language other than English that you know?
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Chutia.
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Chutia?
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It's like a swear word in Hindi.
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Chutia, like...
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I like it.
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She only teach me like bad words in Hindi.
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Amoripas, peace and love.
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Can you teach us one word in Arabic?
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Bahatbek.
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Bahatbek.
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Because I love you.
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Wow, that's beautiful.
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Annyeonghaseyo.
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Eso, eso.
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Namaste.
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Puella.
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What does that mean?
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Girl in Latin.
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Let's go.
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Can you teach us something in either Portuguese or Chinese?
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Hello, how are you?
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Oh, what does that second thing mean?
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How are you?
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Very cool.
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I can teach you how to say bus in Chinese.
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Let's do it.
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It's gong jiao chu.
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Oh, that's hard.
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One more time.
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Gong jiao chu.
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Gong jiao chu.
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Yeah.
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If something is beautiful or if you say something is pretty like bonita,
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I think that's one of my favorite words.
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Hello in Turkish.
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Oh, let us know.
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Let us know.
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It's merhaba.
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Merhaba.
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Merhaba.
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Yeah.
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What about yours?
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I learned how to say kiss kiss for like Italian.
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It's like bachi bachi or something like that.
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Very cool.
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You ready to travel?
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We're ready.
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We're ready.
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Do you remember any German words?
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Speak in German.
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You're a little bit older.
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You're a little bit older.
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Pequeñita in Spanish.
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It means like little but in an endearing way.
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My word is fubutsushi, which is like objects and environmental surroundings that make you feel the seasons.
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Japanese?
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In Japanese, fubutsushi.
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My word would be shogunai ne.
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Shogunai ne.
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Which means it cannot be helped.
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Shahumoru.
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Shahumoru.
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Like, hi, how are you?
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Nice, nice.
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I would love for you to teach me a word in one of the languages that you know that's not English.
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Let's say apple in Chinese is...
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Okay, how is it?
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Pianguo.
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Pianguo.
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That's good.
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Nice!
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Last one.
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Do you think it's still important to learn languages?
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Now that we have tech and all that stuff that can translate for us?
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I mean, absolutely.
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You gotta speak.
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You can't just walk to people and be like,
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here's my cell phone and I'm going to let my cell phone talk to you.
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I think it's very disrespectful and very inefficient in conversation. Of course.
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Like to learn different cultures and to be able to interact with other people, of course.
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And do you think that it's still important for people to learn languages now
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that we have tech that can translate for us?
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You still need to learn basics because I was working in multiple languages.
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So sometimes you need translator who can't speak it very much.
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Like even a little that's still good.
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You still impress that people can speak that language.
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100% it's a lot easier now to call it in.
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You'll just go from anywhere,
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even from your own world.
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If I didn't speak Japanese,
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I would have never met any of these people.
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Yeah, yeah, of course, for sure.
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If I don't speak English,
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I can't do anything here, I think.
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I think learning other people's language helps you not only to communicate,
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but also to understand the way they think.
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You really need to learn the language to fully understand.
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Translation is never fully enough to truly understand a culture.
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Yeah, for sure, because I just think it helps you connect with people, right?
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We speak a different language, they appreciate it more.
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Instead of always having to rely on your phone or something, for sure.
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Do you think it's still valuable or important for people to learn languages now
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that we have technology that can do it all for us?
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100% yeah.
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Why do you think so?
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Like human connection and like I mean
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if you talk as a man they pull out their phone like wait let me translate it's gonna ruin the vibe.
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Sure I think language is such an authentic part of being human
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and being able to speak more than one is just a beautiful gift
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that people should take advantage of in order to connect more authentically with others.
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Yeah, I think so.
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Because you can't replace like communicating with a person and not in person.
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So like in conversations and stuff.
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I think it's important to learn and communicate with other people instead of just typing it in your phone and translate.
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Yes, first of all, English is the most important thing
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because we have to communicate with many people who are from another country.
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So it's very important to learn English.
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Do you think that it's still important for people to learn other languages now
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that we have tech that can translate for us?
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You want to go anywhere.
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It's just like there's going to be other languages.
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And I feel like you're not going to want to be the type of person
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that looks like you're just pulling out your phone to like communicate with others.
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So I do think learning new languages is important.
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Because sometimes there's places like I want to go and like things I want to see.
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And it can be kind of intimidating like when you travel outside the U.S and you can't really like communicate.
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But I feel like like,
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you know, if we learn languages like a younger age,
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especially it can like take some of that stigma like fear out of the way.
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That's so true, that's so true.
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Oh yeah definitely.
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You think so?
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Yeah.
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Why?
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Well it's really good for your brain first of all
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and then I think that it's also just a sign of like respect and appreciation for other people.
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I like that.
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It's also the association that you have with words so the way we interpret them as well as use them.
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The way someone might just say something is red versus maroon.
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And also there is a barrier between us and a computer when someone and translate it.
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That's the AI's version, so that's someone else's interpretation.
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Last question is, do you think people should still learn languages now that we have technology that can translate for us?
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Yes.
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It opens like a whole new college church for you.
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I think it's just like nice to be able to expand your mind with languages and I don't know,
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New York City is a very good city to do it in.
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You find people from all around the world and you can
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definitely learn new languages and I think it's really nice to do that.
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Want to say anything?
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Yeah, like we bonded over speaking multiple languages.
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That's awesome.
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Here's the place to do it.
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Context & Background
In a vibrant and multicultural setting like New York City, languages create a unique tapestry that reflects the city's diversity. The speakers in the transcript share their personal preferences for various languages, highlighting their cultural backgrounds and connections. This casual dialogue serves as an excellent example of how people relate to different languages, articulating their favorite ones and expressing their experiences. Engaging with this content not only helps learners pick up new vocabulary but also allows them to understand the nuances of language appreciation as communicated by native speakers.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "What are some of your favorite languages?" - A great conversation starter!
- "That's a sick set." - Informal slang indicating approval or admiration.
- "I never thought about that before." - A phrase indicating surprise or new consideration about a topic.
- "I like the way [language] sounds." - A personal expression that allows you to share preferences.
- "Good to meet you." - A polite way to greet someone new.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively improve your speaking skills using the dialogue from the video, follow this shadow speech guide:
- Listening: First, listen to the video transcript multiple times. Pay close attention to the pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm of the speakers.
- Selecting Portions: Choose phrases that resonate with you or that you find challenging, such as "What's your name?" or "My favorite language is Korean."
- Repeating and Mimicking: Begin shadowing by repeating the phrases along with the speakers. Focus on mirroring their tone and pace, a technique known as shadowspeak.
- Recording Yourself: As you practice, record your attempts to compare your pronunciation with that of the original speakers. This can highlight areas needing improvement for your English speaking practice.
- Daily Practice: Integrate this practice into your daily routine, dedicating at least 10-15 minutes a day to enhance your fluency. This is also useful for IELTS speaking practice as it helps refine your speaking skills under various contexts.
By regularly engaging in this shadowing exercise, you will not only expand your vocabulary but also improve your overall communication skills in English, while appreciating the diversity and beauty of different languages mentioned in the video.
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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