Shadowing Practice: Stop Translating! How to Think in English and Speak Fluently - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Today we are going to talk about something many English learners ask me.
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Today we are going to talk about something many English learners ask me.
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How can I stop translating in my head?
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How can I start thinking in English?
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Hello everyone, welcome back!
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Maybe you understand English well.
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You know grammar, you know a lot of vocabulary.
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But when you try to speak, everything feels slow.
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And you translate every sentence from your language into English.
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Does that sound like you?
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In this video, I want to explain what thinking in English really means.
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What academic research actually says about it.
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And most importantly, how you can train your brain to think in English step by step.
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I will also share my own experience of learning a second language to fluency.
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I will tell you what actually helped me.
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What does thinking in English really mean?
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What it really means is this.
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Your brain can access English words and phrases quickly and automatically without needing to search for them every time.
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It's about access.
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When you translate in your head, your brain does two jobs.
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First, you think of the idea in your own language.
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Then, you look for the English words.
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That extra step takes time and that is why speaking feels slow and difficult.
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Thinking in English means reducing that effort and this is exactly where research helps us understand what is happening.
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what the research actually shows.
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A recent study from 2024 looked specifically at what makes people fluent when they speak a second language.
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The study has a really long name.
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I'll put it here if you are interested in looking it up.
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The researchers focused on something called cognitive fluency.
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Let me explain.
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In simple terms, they studied how quickly the brain can recognize and retrieve or bring back words in a second language.
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Here's what they found some learners rely mainly on controlled processing that
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means their brain slows down to search for words and check
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choices the other learners show more automatic processing their brain
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recognizes words faster and retrieves them with less effort and the
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important result was this learners with more automatic word access spoke
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faster with fewer pauses obviously the study did not say these speakers were more intelligent or that they knew more grammar and vocabulary.
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No, it showed that their brains were simply better trained, trained to access English quickly.
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So when we talk about thinking in English we are really talking about how good your brain is at finding English words without stopping to calculate.
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Why translation slows you down.
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Translation is not bad.
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It is normal and at the beginning it is very useful.
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But if translation becomes your main speaking strategy it creates problems.
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The research helps explain why this feels tiring.
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Controlled processing uses more mental energy.
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That's why your speech may be correct, but slow, hesitant and unnatural.
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Fluency improves when the brain doesn't need to stop and check every step.
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When I learned my second language, French, I translated everything at first.
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every sentence every thought I could speak but it felt really heavy and I was always behind in the conversation.
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What changed everything for me was repetition and exposure.
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How much time I spent listening to my second language.
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I started hearing the same phrases again and again I stopped
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building sentences word by word I started using ready-made patterns and slowly my
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brain adapted not because I tried to think in my second language nothing was forced but because I used it
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often and naturally how to train your brain to think in English
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now let's talk about practical advice you can actually use work
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on collocations your brain does not like isolated words lists of words I
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say this all the time it likes predictable patterns a collocation is a predictable
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combination of words for example we can say heavy rain but not big
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rain because it doesn't sound right heavy and rain go together when
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you learn phrases collocations like make a decision heavy rain take
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responsibility your brain starts to anticipate the next word this reduces
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effort and speeds up word retrieval exactly what the research shows fluent speakers do better
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below in the description and the comments you can download a free pdf of 100 english
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collocations i have made for you learn them use shadowing shadowing means
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listening and repeating immediately out loud no translation no analysis just reaction this
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is one of the main techniques i used to become fluent in french this trains your brain to move from controlled processing to more automatic processing.
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This is exactly what we want to be able to think in English.
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Make sure you are speaking as much as you can, either with a partner or alone, every day if possible.
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Speaking, even with mistakes, forces your brain to find the words faster.
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And faster retrieval is what builds fluency and thinking in English.
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Use English stories for input.
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This is exactly why I post two story videos every month on this channel.
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You don't need to understand every word.
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In fact, understanding 60 or or 70% is good.
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It pushes your brain to predict meaning, use context and fill in the gaps.
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This is how your brain learns to connect ideas directly to English without translation.
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You need English input every day.
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Give yourself a realistic goal.
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Thinking in English is not a switch.
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It's a gradual change.
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Some days you will translate, some days you won't.
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That's normal.
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The goal is not perfection.
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The goal is less effort and more flow.
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Try and keep that in mind.
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So thinking in English isn't a myth.
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I know because I think in my second language.
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Research shows that fluency grows when your brain becomes faster at accessing words.
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If you train that speed through repetition, patterns and real use, your brain adapts.
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And one day, you won't be thinking about English at all.
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You will just be speaking.
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I will leave you a link below to a PDF with 100 English collocations and also a link to a video I made about some of the things that I did to become fluent in my second language.
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If this video has helped you, make sure you subscribe so I can help you more this year.
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I'll see you in the next video.
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Take care.
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Why practice speaking with this video?

This video offers a unique opportunity to improve your English speaking skills through engaging content that encourages active participation. By practicing with the phrases and techniques suggested, you can train your brain to think in English, which is essential for achieving fluency. When you understand how to move beyond translation, speaking becomes smoother and more natural. The techniques shared, such as repetition and exposure to English collocations, help to reduce mental effort and increase your ability to recall words quickly, making conversations feel effortless. As you learn English with YouTube videos like this, you are also exposed to authentic language usage, which enhances your understanding of context and flow in conversations.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Throughout the video, several key structures emerge that can elevate your speaking skills:

  • Collocations: The speaker emphasizes the importance of predictable word combinations, such as heavy rain and make a decision. Understanding these will help reduce hesitation in speech.
  • Comparative structures: Phrases like “better trained” and “more automatic processing” illustrate how to compare ideas effectively.
  • Conditional phrases: The use of “if” statements, such as “if translation becomes your main speaking strategy,” can help you articulate hypothetical situations or outcomes in your conversations.

Common Pronunciation Traps

There are specific words and phrases in the video that may pose pronunciation challenges:

  • Translation: This word can be tricky due to the emphasis on vowels; practice saying it slowly at first.
  • Cognitive: The pronunciation of this term requires careful attention to vowel sounds, particularly the middle syllable.
  • Predictable: Pay attention to the rhythm of this word to ensure you’re not stressing the wrong syllable.

To further your practice, consider using a shadowing app to repeat these phrases, enhancing your fluency through techniques like shadowspeak. Shadowing allows you to immerse yourself in the rhythm and tone of English speech, vital for developing a natural conversational style.

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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