Shadowing Practice: Stop Translating in Your Head ❌ | Speak English More Fluently - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Okay, today I am answering the question I always get asked.
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Okay, today I am answering the question I always get asked.
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How do I speak English fluently without thinking?
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Is it even possible?
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And the answer is yes, absolutely.
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And today I'm going to show you exactly how to do it.
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First, let's talk about why you think so much when you're speaking English.
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It's not because you're bad at English,
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it's because your brain is having to do too much work.
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You're trying to juggle grammar rules,
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translate from your native language,
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remember vocabulary, and think of the next sentence all at the same time.
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That's like trying to cook dinner while reading during an earthquake.
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Fluent speakers don't do that.
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Fluent speakers use automatic language.
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Their brain retrieves English in the same way that you retrieve your native language instantly.
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So the real goal here is not necessarily to learn more English,
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it's to make the English you already know more automatic.
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So let me give you some great techniques to make your English more automatic.
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Okay, technique number one.
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Stop thinking word by word and start thinking in sections.
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Small ready-made pieces of language that you can memorize as one unit.
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Yes, of course, it's very good to know lots of words but it's much better to learn phrases,
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sentences and sections.
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It will make your speaking faster,
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more natural and way easier.
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So let's look at some ready-made sentences you can add to your vocabulary.
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Repeat after me.
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To be honest, here's the thing.
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What I mean is, The point is,
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if you think about it,
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as far as I know,
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at the moment, from my point of you believe it
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or not i'm going to teach you the next technique
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while i get ready so this technique is called the five second rule the rule is simple
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when someone asks you a question in english answer within five seconds even
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if it isn't perfect yes mistakes will get made
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but we're not trying to reach perfection right now we're trying
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to encourage our brain to speed up the output relying on
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the knowledge you already have this forces your brain to stop translating
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and it stops you overthinking and pausing for example
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if i ask what did you do yesterday don't pause
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and think for 20 seconds just say something it might not be great english
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but don't worry about that right now Even if it's just something really simple like I went to work,
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I went to the shops, I watched TV.
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It's not amazing English, you don't sound like a poet but at least it's automatic,
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at least it's quick.
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You know this is not the exercise for developing your vocabulary or perfecting your grammar,
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this is just an exercise to speed up the process of thinking, translating and speaking.
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So just say something.
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Okay, all done.
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Let's practice.
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I will ask you some questions.
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I want you to pause the video and answer straight away.
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Here we go.
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What is your favourite thing about your job?
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What do you think of dogs?
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Describe the town or city you live in?
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What would be your dream holiday?
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What were you best at at school?
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The next technique is shadowing.
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Shadowing is when you listen to a native speaker and repeat them, like a shadow.
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You can shadow movie scenes,
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podcasts, YouTube videos like this one, audiobooks.
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It can be anyone, as long as you're shadowing someone whose voice you like.
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Shadowing improves pronunciation, rhythm, sentence structure,
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speed, and most importantly, confidence.
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Try it like this.
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Find someone who speaks in a way you really like.
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Listen to them saying one sentence,
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pause, and then repeat it instantly.
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Even if you don't know the meaning of all the words.
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Repeat it exactly with the same speed, rhythm, intonation and tone.
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And once you feel confident with that,
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then you can look up the words you don't know to expand your vocabulary.
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So let's try this technique together.
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I will show you how I would do it
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and it'll just give you an idea of the kind of thing I mean.
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So who shall we shadow?
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Oh, let's shadow Emma Watson.
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Emma Watson is very popular with my students.
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Lots of people want to sound like her.
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So let's try Emma Watson.
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Hi, I'm Emma Watson and I'm headed to London.
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Hi, I'm Emma Watson and I'm headed to London.
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There we go.
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I've copied the ups and downs.
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Exactly like that.
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Let's hear another sentence.
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You know, you never know when you're going to need just a quick,
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straight glass of gin.
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You never know when you're going to need a quick,
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straight glass of gin.
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You might have to listen to sentences a couple of times to remember what she's saying
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or you can write it down before you say it.
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Whatever works for you.
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And this is what I have with me when I'm at the airport.
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This is what I have with me when I go to the airport.
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So that's the idea.
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Take it slowly.
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Don't worry if you're not very good at it to begin with.
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It takes a little bit of practice.
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Here's another simple but powerful exercise.
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Narrate your life in English.
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During your morning, say things like I'm pouring the filtered water into the kettle.
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I'm closing the lid of the kettle and turning on the kettle.
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I'm opening the cupboard and I'm grabbing a mug.
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I'm grabbing the jar with the tea bags in.
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I'm opening the jar and grabbing a tea bag.
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I'm placing the tea bag in the mug.
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You can do this out loud or in your head if you're in public.
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I need to catch the bus.
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Oh, I'm late.
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I really hope it's not crowded.
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By doing this, you're training your brain to think in English in everyday life,
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creating a constant stream of English rather than only using it when you have a lesson.
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You will never be able to speak English without thinking if you only speak English in a controlled environment like a lesson.
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bring English into your everyday life make it just a part
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of your routine make it as normal as brushing your teeth
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or getting in a shower that's where you'll see real progress
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the next technique I want to share with you is based off an old radio show called just a minute
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and I have memories of sitting in the back of the car
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while my mum was driving and she would listen to this and I would kind of fall asleep while listening to it.
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And the concept is you are given a topic,
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maybe a word or a topic of some kind,
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and you have to talk about that topic for a minute.
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And you are not allowed to hesitate or repeat yourself or stop talking, basically.
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So that's the challenge.
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You have to say something new.
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You can't pause.
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You can't think for too long.
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I think they allow two seconds of thinking time maybe.
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And this is an excellent activity to do
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if you are serious about speaking English without thinking because you've got that pressure of,
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oh my goodness, I have to keep talking.
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Just talk.
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Even if mistakes get made,
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even if you say ridiculous stuff,
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it doesn't matter right now.
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You are training your brain to just get words out no matter what.
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I'm going to do it for you to show you that it's possible.
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I'm not saying I'm going to be good at this.
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It's hard.
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It's really difficult, but I want to give you an idea.
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Okay, I'm going to set a timer for one minute and I'm going to talk about golf.
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I know nothing about golf,
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but I'm going to try to talk about golf for one minute.
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Go.
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Golf is a very interesting sport.
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I think it has its history in Scotland.
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There seems to be a big link between Scotland and golf
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and I'm not quite sure why because I'm not massively into it
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but I know a lot of men stereotypically get involved in
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golf although a lot of women play golf now as well
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which is fantastic but when I picture a golf club I picture retired people
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because they have more time to go and enjoy that sport
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and I think a lot of footballers enjoy golf as well
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because it's so different to football because you can just switch off.
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It's still very physical so you're walking around,
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you're using your muscles, you're not just sitting down.
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So I think a lot of footballers enjoy being physical but without the pressure and the speed that football comes at.
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But personally I've never played golf.
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I think I would be truly horrific if I ever tried.
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One minute!
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That wasn't so bad.
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So notice when I did that, I wasn't speaking quickly.
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I didn't do, golf is a crazy thing and golf is blah blah blah.
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Calm.
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You can speak slowly.
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You can take your time.
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That is allowed.
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You don't have to speak really, really quickly.
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So try it.
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See what happens.
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I promise you, if you can do that once a day,
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so one minute every day, so good, so good.
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And the last technique I want to tell you about is probably my favourite one.
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Oh, is this the swap it or describe it rule?
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You bet it is.
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So the swap it or describe it rule is basically,
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when you're speaking and you forget a word,
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don't think about that word for more than three seconds.
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If you can't think of the word in three seconds,
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either swap the word for something different,
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or try to describe the word that you can't remember.
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For example, imagine you're speaking about driving and you forget the word for motorway.
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You can either swap it for the American word,
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highway, or you can swap it for the German word, autobahn.
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Or if that fails, describe it.
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The big road where cars go fast.
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Or let's say you forget the word profession.
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You can't think about that word for more than three seconds,
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but you can swap it for job or career,
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or you could describe it,
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that thing you go to every day and you get paid for it.
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Don't worry about sounding stupid.
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This is all about practicing flow and building momentum.
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And there you go.
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I hope at least one of those techniques will be useful for you.
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Try them out.
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Maybe one of them will be completely useless,
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but the other one will be really really useful for you so try see.
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The most important thing is that you keep talking,
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you will never get better at speaking English if you don't speak English,
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that is the moral of the story.
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Thank you so much for watching,
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if you enjoyed it please press subscribe,
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like this video, do all of that.
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We have a website smashingenglish.com where you can find everything else,
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we have courses, we have information about becoming a member on this channel which is really exciting
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and you can book a one-to-one lesson with me or Bez
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so go to smashingenglish.com for everything and I hope you have fun there.
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Thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time.
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Context & Background
In the quest to enhance English speaking skills, many learners grapple with the challenge of fluency. Constantly translating from their native language to English slows down their speech and affects their confidence. The key to overcoming this hurdle lies in creating a more automatic speech pattern, where English feels just as natural as one's mother tongue. In this video, the speaker provides invaluable insights and practical techniques that enable learners to speak English more fluidly without getting bogged down by grammatical rules or vocabulary limitations.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- To be honest, I feel this is an important topic.
- Here's the thing: English can be mastered with practice.
- What I mean is, it's okay to make mistakes.
- As far as I know, fluency comes with consistent effort.
- If you think about it, practicing daily can lead to improvement.
Incorporating these phrases into your daily conversations can significantly speed up your English speaking practice, making your interactions sound more natural and effortless.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively use the shadowing technique and tackle the challenges presented in this video, follow this step-by-step guide:
- Choose a short segment: Start with a small clip from the video, ideally where the speaker demonstrates a phrase or technique.
- Listen attentively: Pay close attention to how the speaker pronounces words and phrases. Focus on intonation and rhythm.
- Repeat immediately: Without pausing, repeat what you hear within five seconds. This helps your brain form a quick response.
- Practice aloud: Say the phrases you’ve learned while trying to incorporate them into your own sentences. The goal is to minimize translation time.
- Review and reflect: After practicing, think about areas that felt challenging and revisit those sections. Consistency is key, so keep practicing regularly.
This shadowing guide, combined with the phrases you learn, will aid in reinforcing your English speaking skills. Make the shadowing technique a regular part of your practice routine, and watch as you begin to speak more fluently and confidently.
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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