Shadowing Practice: 【地道英式Podcast】學了10年英文還是開不了口？99%成年人學英文都踩過的陷阱｜對話練聽力｜讓英文突飛猛進｜B1 聽力Podcast｜Mind the Gap 系列 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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381 sentences
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The other day, I came across a video online.
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It was about a little boy, probably five or six years old, who'd moved to the UK with his family.
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Two years later, he was chatting away with his friends in English as if he'd lived there his whole life.
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And I'll be honest, my first thought wasn't admiration.
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It was, hang on, that's not fair.
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I mean, a lot of us have spent years learning English.
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We've sat through lessons, memorised vocabulary lists, listened to podcasts, watched videos, probably forgotten the same word three or four times,
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learned it again, forgotten it again and somehow this little kid seems to be flying ahead of everyone.
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That's the part that hurts, isn't it?
10
Because I think nearly every language learner has had that moment.
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You see somebody making it look effortless and you start wondering if you're doing something wrong.
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And it's not even about comparing yourself to children.
13
Sometimes it's another learner online.
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Sometimes it's a colleague.
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Sometimes it's that friend who says, oh, I just picked it up naturally.
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Meanwhile, you're sitting there thinking, right, but how exactly?
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By the way, if this is your first time listening, welcome to Mind the Gap.
18
I'm Casey.
19
And I'm Jen.
20
Around here, we usually chat about everyday English, the kind people actually use in real life.
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And one question comes up again and again?
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Why have I been learning for years and still struggle to understand people sometimes?
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Why can I understand more than I can speak?
24
And why does English still feel harder than it should?
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The funny thing is, most people assume the answer must be age.
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They think, well, children learn faster, don't they?
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End of discussion.
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Yet the more I looked into it, and the more people I spoke to, the less convinced I became.
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Because some of the biggest obstacles adults face have very little to do with getting older.
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That's what we're getting into today.
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Because maybe the real question isn't why are adults bad at learning languages?
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Maybe it's what's actually going on inside our heads when we try to learn one?
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And once you start looking at it that way, a lot of things suddenly make much more sense.
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That idea about age is everywhere, though.
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You hear it so often that eventually you stop questioning it.
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Someone struggles with a language and the answer is, well, you're not a child anymore.
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End of story.
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It's become one of those things people accept without really thinking about it.
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At first glance, it sounds perfectly reasonable.
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You see a child move to another country and start chatting away within a couple of years.
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Meanwhile, an adult studies every week and still feels stuck.
42
Looking only at the result, you'd probably say, well, children must be better language learners.
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That's pretty much what I used to think, especially when I first started learning English.
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I'd see stories online about someone becoming fluent in no time, and I'd think, right then, Clearly, I'm missing something.
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The funny bit is that we're often comparing completely different situations.
46
Imagine a six -year -old who moves to Manchester with their family.
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They wake up hearing English.
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They go to school in English.
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They play football in English.
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They watch cartoons in English.
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Even arguments in the playground happen in English.
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English isn't a subject for them.
53
It's just life.
54
That's a good way of putting it.
55
For most adults, English is something we have to fit into our day rather than live in.
56
You finish work, make dinner, deal with whatever needs dealing with, and then maybe you've got half an hour left to study.
57
If you're lucky.
58
That's exactly the point.
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People often compare a child's immersion with an adult's study time as if they're the same thing.
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They're not even remotely similar.
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One useful word here is immersion.
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You'll hear it a lot in language learning.
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It simply means being surrounded by the language so often that your brain can't really avoid it.
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Almost like falling into a swimming pool instead of reading a book about swimming.
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That's actually not a bad comparison.
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One approach teaches you about the water.
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The other forces you to deal with it.
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Hearing
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that makes me feel slightly better about all those years i
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spent in classrooms classroom learning isn't the problem most of us learned a huge amount
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that way the issue is
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that we sometimes expect classroom results to look like immersion results thinking back i spent years collecting vocabulary.
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Hundreds and hundreds of words.
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Yet if somebody spoke quickly, I still felt lost.
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That's where another difference appears.
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Children and adults don't only learn in different environments, they often learn in different ways.
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Researchers have found that children are remarkably good at picking up patterns without consciously thinking about them.
78
They hear something again and again, and eventually it starts to feel natural.
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Which sounds slightly unfair when you put it like that.
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Perhaps.
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But adults have a habit of doing something children rarely do.
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We analyse everything.
83
We want to know the rule, the exception to the rule, and, preferably, a chart explaining both.
84
That's painfully accurate.
85
I can't count the number of times I've stopped halfway through a sentence
86
because I suddenly started wondering whether the grammar was right.
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A child would probably just keep talking.
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Even if it was completely wrong.
89
Precisely.
90
Adults tend to rely on conscious learning.
91
We try to build the language piece by piece.
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Children often absorb first and analyse later, if they analyse at all.
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Which explains why so many learners feel exhausted.
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It isn't just learning, it's constant thinking.
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You've nailed something important there.
96
A lot of adults aren't struggling because they're incapable of learning, they're struggling because they're trying to manage,
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organise, translate, analyse and monitor everything at the same time.
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Which sounds suspiciously like what happens in my head every time I try speaking English.
99
Hold on to that thought, because in a moment I'd like to look at something that sits right at the centre of all this.
100
The habit of translating everything through our first language.
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That translation habit is probably the story of my life when it comes to learning English.
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I don't even notice I'm doing it half the time, it just happens automatically.
103
There have been so many moments when I knew exactly what I wanted to say in Chinese, but turning it into natural English felt surprisingly difficult not
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because I didn't know the words more because I wasn't sure
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if that's how people would actually say it a really simple example is
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when I'm excited about something in my head the sentence starts as then I freeze for a second
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because I'm searching for the English version of
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that exact sentence sometimes I know the answer is I'm looking
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forward to it other times my brain starts digging through every possible option.
110
And suddenly, something that should take one second takes ten.
111
That's fascinating because most learners assume the problem is vocabulary.
112
They think, I need more words.
113
Yet, quite often, the issue sits somewhere else.
114
The sentence already exists in your mind.
115
The difficulty comes from the route you're taking to get there.
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That sounds a bit philosophical.
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Maybe.
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Let me put it another way.
119
Imagine every English sentence has to pass through a Chinese customs checkpoint before it's allowed out of your mouth.
120
That is alarmingly accurate.
121
The process is usually English to Chinese, Chinese back to English, and then a final safety inspection before speaking.
122
By the end of it, the conversation has moved on.
123
which explains why listening can feel exhausting sometimes.
124
You're not only listening, you're translating at the same time.
125
Exactly.
126
Actually, perhaps processing is a better word.
127
Your brain is trying to do several jobs at once.
128
Here's a classic example.
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In Chinese, we say 开冷气.
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Many learners naturally arrive at open the air conditioner.
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Which sounds completely reasonable if you're translating directly.
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That's the trap.
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It feels logical because the sentence follows Chinese logic.
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Native speakers would normally say, turn on the air conditioning.
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So the mistake isn't really grammar?
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Not usually.
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The grammar might be perfectly fine.
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The thought process is simply different.
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Another one I hear quite often is, I forgot to bring my key.
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That's one I've definitely said before.
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To be fair, there's nothing wrong with it.
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People will understand you.
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Yet, in everyday conversation, many native speakers might say, I left my keys at home.
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Same situation, different way of looking at it.
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That's exactly it.
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Language isn't only about words.
147
It's also about perspective.
148
Looking back, I think that's why direct.. translation causes so many problems.
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We assume every sentence has an equivalent version in another language.
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Whereas real languages don't work like mirror images.
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They organise reality differently.
152
Take pronouns, for instance.
153
Chinese speakers sometimes mix up he and she when speaking English.
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Which I've definitely done more than once.
155
It makes sense when you think about it.
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In spoken Chinese, ta and ta sound exactly the same.
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English separates them, Chinese doesn't in speech.
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So sometimes people aren't making random mistakes.
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They're carrying habits from one language into another.
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That's known as mother tongue interference.
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It sounds technical, but everybody experiences it.
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Articles are another famous example.
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Words like a, an, and the.
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Ah yes, the tiny words that somehow cause enormous problems.
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That's one way of describing them.
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Chinese doesn't really use articles in the same way, so many learners leave them out without even noticing.
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Which means the brain isn't being lazy, it's following the rules it already knows.
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That's the key point.
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Adults often blame themselves for these things.
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They think, why do I keep making the same mistakes?
171
In reality, the brain is trying to be efficient.
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Funny enough, that's slightly comforting.
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It should be.
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Because once you understand what's happening, the solution becomes clearer.
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The goal isn't to stop thinking completely.
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The goal is to stop translating every single thing word for word.
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Which sounds easier said than done.
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True.
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And that's where another challenge appears.
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Even when adults know they shouldn't translate everything, many of them still hesitate before speaking almost like there's a
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little voice in the background checking every sentence before it leaves the building that's a perfect description let's talk about that next
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that little voice you mentioned a moment ago i know
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that voice far too well sometimes i can have an entire
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sentence ready in my head word for word everything seems fine then right before i speak something happens.
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Suddenly, I'm wondering whether the tense is correct.
186
Then I start thinking about whether it sounds natural.
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A second later, I'm worrying about whether it sounds polite enough.
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Before long, five or ten seconds have gone by, and I still haven't said anything.
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What's interesting is that almost every adult learner laughs when they hear that story, because they've done exactly the same thing.
190
The frustrating part is that you know the answer.
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That's what makes it so annoying.
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Nobody is standing there asking me a difficult philosophical question.
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It might be something as simple as, how was your weekend?
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Yet somehow my brain reacts as if I'm being interviewed on live television.
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That's a brilliant description.
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The strange thing is that language learning isn't purely intellectual.
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We often treat it as though it's just a memory exercise.
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But there's a strong emotional side to it as well.
199
When we speak, especially in a language we're still learning, we're exposing ourselves in a way.
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We're allowing other people to see what we can do, what we can't do, and where our weaknesses are.
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That probably explains why making mistakes feel so personal.
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I think so.
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Research into language anxiety has found something quite revealing.
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Many learners aren't actually afraid of forgetting a word.
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What they're really afraid of is being judged.
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They worry about sounding foolish.
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They worry about making a mistake in front of someone.
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They worry about appearing less capable than they really are.
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Hearing that makes me think back to school.
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Sometimes I'd know the answer to a question, but I'd still avoid raising my hand because I wasn't 100 % sure.
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That's a perfect example.
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The answer wasn't the problem.
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Confidence was.
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Looking back, that habit probably followed a lot of us into adulthood.
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It certainly did for me in some situations.
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Here's the difference between adults and children that people don't talk about very often.
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Children are surprisingly comfortable looking silly.
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That's true.
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Watch a child learning anything – a language, a sport, even riding a bicycle.
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They'll make mistakes constantly, fall over repeatedly, and then carry on as if nothing happened.
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Adults don't seem to get that luxury.
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Not quite.
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By the time we're adults, we've spent years building an image of ourselves.
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We want to appear competent.
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We want to know what we're doing.
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We don't particularly enjoy Which creates a rather awkward situation when learning a language.
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Because learning a language almost guarantees confusion.
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That's unavoidable.
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Nobody becomes fluent without sounding awkward at some stage.
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Something else comes to mind.
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I've heard learners say things like, I understand everything, but when it's my turn to speak, my mind goes blank.
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That's incredibly common.
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Another one is, I spent 10 minutes preparing a sentence that lasted five seconds.
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I've heard that one too.
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In fact, some learners practically rehearse every sentence before speaking.
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They test it, edit it, improve it, test it again, and only then decide whether it's safe to say aloud.
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Which sounds exhausting when you describe it like that.
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That's because it is exhausting.
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Imagine having an editor sitting in your head all day.
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Every sentence has to pass inspection before publication.
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Meanwhile, the other person is already talking about something completely different.
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That's where overthinking becomes such a problem.
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The conversation keeps moving, but you're still trying to perfect your previous sentence.
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There's another expression I hear quite often.
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People say they become tongue -tied.
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That's a very useful phrase.
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If you're tongue -tied, you know what you want to say, but somehow the words won't come out properly.
248
Almost as if the exit door is blocked.
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That's a surprisingly good image.
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And the blockage isn't usually a lack of knowledge.
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More often, it's self -consciousness, self -doubt, or fear of getting it wrong.
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So when people say, I know the grammar, but I can't speak, they're not necessarily describing a language problem.
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Quite often, they're describing an emotional one.
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That's interesting, because most learners spend all their time trying to fix the language side of things.
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Whereas the obstacle might actually be confidence, pressure or fear of embarrassment.
256
Which brings us to a slightly more encouraging question.
257
If adults face all these challenges, do we actually have any advantages at all?
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Funny you should ask, because I think that's where the story becomes a lot more hopeful.
259
I have to admit, after everything we've talked about so far, it does start to sound as though adults are carrying a backpack full of disadvantages.
260
More translating, more worrying, more overthinking.
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It's not exactly an encouraging picture.
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That's often where the conversation stops, though.
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People list all the difficulties and conclude that children must have the advantage.
264
What rarely gets discussed is the fact that adults bring quite a few strengths to the table as well.
265
I'm listening very carefully now.
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Fair enough.
267
Let's start with something simple.
268
Adults understand people better.
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That's not the answer I was expecting.
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Most people expect me to talk about discipline or study habits.
271
Those things matter, of course.
272
Still, one overlooked advantage is that adults have years of social experience behind them.
273
Think about everyday communication.
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Language isn't only grammar and vocabulary.
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It's understanding intentions, emotions, humour, politeness, sarcasm, frustration, hesitation.
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Adults are generally much better at reading those things.
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That actually makes a lot of sense.
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A child might understand the words, but not necessarily understand what somebody really means.
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Exactly.
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Adults usually have a more developed understanding of other people's perspectives.
281
In psychology, there's even a term for this, theory of mind.
282
Put simply, it's our ability to imagine what's happening in someone else's mind.
283
That skill becomes surprisingly useful when learning a language.
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Because communication isn't really about sentences.
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It's about people.
286
That's beautifully put.
287
If someone says, it's getting a bit chilly in here.
288
They're not always commenting on the temperature.
289
Sometimes they're hinting that they'd like the window closed.
290
Which means understanding language often involves understanding hidden meaning.
291
Precisely.
292
Adults tend to have more experience with that side of communication.
293
There's another thing I've noticed about myself.
294
When I was younger, I'd spend hours memorising individual words.
295
Nowadays, I prefer learning whole expressions.
296
That's a very effective shift.
297
For example, I don't just learn the word appointment anymore.
298
I'll learn a sentence like, I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow.
299
The interesting thing is that when I need it later, the whole phrase comes back.
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I don't have to build the sentence from scratch.
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That's one of the smartest things adult learners can do.
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Instead of collecting isolated words, collect chunks of language.
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Native speakers rely on chunks all the time.
304
We don't construct every sentence from individual pieces.
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A huge amount of language comes out in ready -made patterns.
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Which probably explains why some expressions feel so natural, while others feel strangely difficult, even when the grammar is correct.
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That's often because one exists as a chunk and the other doesn't.
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Looking back, some of the most useful English I've learned didn't come from textbooks at all.
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Where did they come from?
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Podcasts, television series, interviews, random conversations online.
311
I'd hear something often enough that eventually it just stuck.
312
That's a great example of passive exposure.
313
Which sounds much more productive than scrolling social media for an hour.
314
Probably.
315
Passive exposure simply means being around the language regularly, not necessarily studying every second,
316
just allowing your brain to encounter it again and again.
317
Over time, patterns stop feeling foreign, expressions become familiar, certain responses become automatic.
318
Which sounds a lot closer to how children learn.
319
That's an important observation.
320
Adults don't need to copy children completely.
321
What we can do is borrow some of the conditions that make learning easier.
322
So more real -life exposure, more context, more interaction.
323
And less obsession with perfection.
324
That's probably the hardest part.
325
Perhaps.
326
Still, adults have one final advantage that's worth mentioning.
327
We usually know why we're learning.
328
Children learn because the world around them requires it.
329
Adults often learn because they've chosen to.
330
Whether that's work, travel, relationships, immigration, or simply curiosity.
331
Exactly.
332
Purpose is a powerful thing.
333
It helps people stay consistent long after motivation comes and goes.
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Which means the story isn't really children are better and adults are worse.
335
Not at all.
336
The real picture is far more balanced than that.
337
Adults face different challenges, certainly, but they also possess strengths that children simply haven't developed yet.
338
Which brings us neatly to the big question we've been circling around all episode.
339
If age isn't the real villain in this story, then what is?
340
You know, when we first started this conversation, I genuinely thought we'd end up saying, saying, well, learning a language is harder as an adult because adults are older.
341
That seemed like the obvious conclusion.
342
At first glance, it does seem that way.
343
Yet after unpacking all of this, the picture looks rather different.
344
We talked about immersion.
345
We talked about translation habits.
346
We talked about overthinking and fear of making mistakes.
347
None of those things are really signs that adults can't learn languages.
348
If anything, they sound like side effects of being an adult.
349
Well, that's one way to describe it.
350
Adults aren't struggling because they're incapable.
351
Quite often they're struggling because they're carrying habits that have worked brilliantly in every other part of life.
352
We analyze.
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We plan.
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We compare.
355
We check for mistakes.
356
Those are useful skills in work and daily life.
357
The problem is that language learning sometimes asks us to be a little messier than that.
358
Which is probably why children seem so fearless.
359
They don't spend much time worrying about whether a sentence is perfect.
360
They simply use what they have and keep going.
361
Looking back at my own learning, I think one of the biggest lessons is that not every thought needs to pass through Chinese first.
362
That's a powerful realization.
363
The goal isn't to erase your first language.
364
The goal is simply to give English a direct route into your thinking.
365
And maybe to be a bit kinder to ourselves along the way.
366
I couldn't agree more.
367
Learning a language takes time.
368
There isn't a shortcut.
369
But there also isn't an age limit.
370
On that note, we'd love to know what you think.
371
Have you ever caught yourself translating everything in your head?
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Or maybe you've experienced that moment where you knew exactly what you wanted to say but couldn't get the words out.
373
If today's episode gave you something to think about, do consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who's also learning English.
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And if there's a topic you'd like us to explore in a future episode, let us know.
375
Some of our favorite discussions start with a simple question from a listener.
376
That's all from us this week.
377
Thanks for spending a bit of your day with us.
378
Keep learning, keep listening, and don't be too hard on yourself.
379
Sometimes progress is happening long before we notice it.
380
Until next time.
381
Take care, and thanks for listening to Mind the Gap.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “【地道英式Podcast】學了10年英文還是開不了口？99%成年人學英文都踩過的陷阱｜對話練聽力｜讓英文突飛猛進｜B1 聽力Podcast｜Mind the Gap 系列”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: adult, language, learning, English, word. This video has 381 sentences and 3620 words to shadow. The speech runs for 25:48. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| translate verb | /tɹænzˈleɪt/ | To change spoken words or written text (of a book, document, movie, etc.) from one language to another. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| analyse verb | UK standard spelling of analyze. | |
| immersion noun | /ɪˈmɝʒən/ | The total submerging of a person in water as an act of baptism. |
| exhaust verb | /ɪɡˈzɔst/ | To draw or let out wholly; to drain completely. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| surprisingly adverb | /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/ | In a way that causes surprise because it is unexpected, or unusual. |
| overthink verb | To think or analyze too much. | |
| organise verb | Non-Oxford British standard spelling of organize. | |
| fluent adjective | /ˈfluənt/ | That flows; flowing, liquid. |
| chunk noun | /t͡ʃʌŋk/ | A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone. |
| incapable adjective | /ɪnˈkeɪpəbl̩/ | Not capable (of doing something); unable. |
| glance verb | /ɡlæns/ | To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| look back verb | To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight). | |
| pass through verb | To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another. | |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come out in verb | to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body) | |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's the part that hurts, isn't it?
- Meanwhile, you're sitting there thinking, right, but how exactly?
- Why can I understand more than I can speak?
- They think, well, children learn faster, don't they?
- That's what we're getting into today.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have I been learning · we've been circling |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if that's how people would actually · if there's a topic you'd like |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have spent · We've sat · has had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being surrounded · being interviewed · being judged |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 133 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, they're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: immersion /ɪˈmɝʒən/, inspection /ɪnˈspɛkʃən/, foolish /ˈfuː.lɪʃ/, obsession /əbˈsɛʃən/, frustration /fɹʌsˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/, philosophical /ˌfɪl.əˈsɑ.fɪ.kl̩/, remarkably /ɹɪˈmɑɹkəbli/, embarrassment /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like learner, translate, habit.
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.