Shadowing Practice: The Best Way to Improve Your English Speaking | Jack Ma - Learn English Speaking with Video
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When people ask me how I learn English, they usually expect me to give them a secret.
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They want a shortcut.
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They want one technique, one app, one course, one magic formula that will suddenly make them fluent.
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But let me tell you something.
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Most people do not fail to improve their English because English is difficult.
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They fail because they are practicing the wrong thing.
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I meet many people who say, Jack, I want to speak English fluently.
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I ask them, how much English do you listen to every day?
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They become silent.
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Then I ask, how much English do you read every day?
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Again, silence.
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And then they tell me they want to improve speaking.
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This is like saying you want to play beautiful music without listening to music.
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It is like saying you want to cook a great meal without ever tasting food.
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Speaking is not the starting point.
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That surprises many people.
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They think speaking creates speaking.
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No, listening creates speaking.
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The words you speak tomorrow are being collected by your ears today.
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When I was young, I was not born into an English speaking environment.
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Nobody around me spoke English.
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I did not have foreign teachers.
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I did not have online courses.
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I did not have smartphones.
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What I had was curiosity.
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Every morning, I would ride my bicycle for long distance just to meet tourists.
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I wanted to hear real English.
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Sometimes I understood very little.
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Sometimes I understood almost nothing.
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But I kept listening.
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day after day, month after month, year after year.
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Most people underestimate what happens when they listen consistently.
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They think progress should be visible immediately.
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But language grows quietly, just like a tree.
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You don't see it growing every day.
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Yet one day, it becomes taller than you imagined.
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Many English learners become frustrated because they focus only on the moments when they speak.
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They judge themselves during conversations.
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They judge their pronunciation.
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They judge their grammar.
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They judge every mistake.
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But they forget that speaking is only the visible part of the process.
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The invisible part happens long before the conversation begins.
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It happens when you listen.
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It happens when you read.
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It happens when you expose yourself to English over and over again.
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The brain is always collecting patterns.
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Even when you think nothing is happening, let me ask you a simple question.
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Why can you understand much more English than you can speak?
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Think about that.
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Many learners understand movies.
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They understand videos.
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They understand podcasts.
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But when somebody asks them a question, they suddenly freeze.
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The problem is not intelligence.
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The problem is not vocabulary.
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The problem is that speaking requires instant access.
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Your brain knows the words, but it cannot find them fast enough.
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Why?
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Why?
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Because you're still translating.
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You hear English.
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You translate it into your native language.
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You create an answer in your native language, then you translate it back into English.
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That entire process takes time, and during that time, confidence disappears.
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This is why I always tell people that one of the most important skills is learning to think in English,
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not just speak English, think in English.
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The day you begin thinking in English, something changes.
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You stop carrying the extra weight of translation.
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You become lighter, faster, more natural.
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Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
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Jack, how can I think in English if my English is not good?
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Very simple, start small.
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When you wake up in the morning, Look outside and think, today looks sunny.
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When you drink coffee, think, this coffee is too hot.
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When you are tired, think, I need some rest.
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Do not worry if your sentences are simple.
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A child learns language through simple thoughts.
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You can do the same.
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Fluency is not built through complicated sentences.
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Fluency is built through thousands of simple thoughts, repeated every day.
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Many people wait until they become confident before they start speaking.
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That is another mistake.
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Confidence does not come first.
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Action comes first.
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Confidence comes later.
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I have started businesses without confidence.
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I have given speeches without confidence.
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I have entered rooms where I felt completely unprepared, and yet I moved forward.
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Because confidence is not something you find, it is something you build, brick by brick, action by action.
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The same is true with English.
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You don't become confident and then speak.
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You speak and become confident.
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That is the order.
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Every learner wants to avoid mistakes.
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I understand nobody likes feeling embarrassed.
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Nobody enjoys saying the wrong thing.
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But let me tell you something important.
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Your mistakes are evidence that you are learning.
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If you never make mistakes, you're probably staying inside your comfort zone.
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And comfort zones are very dangerous places.
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They feel safe, but they slow your growth.
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Imagine a child learning to walk.
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The child falls many times.
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Nobody says, this child is terrible at walking.
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Nobody laughs.
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Nobody expects perfection.
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Falling is part of learning.
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Why should language be any different?
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Every mistake teaches you something.
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Every awkward conversation teaches you something.
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Every misunderstanding teaches you something.
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Success leaves clues.
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But mistakes leave clues too.
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sometimes even better clues.
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One thing I noticed about successful learners is that they take responsibility for their own learning.
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They do not wait for teachers to save them.
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They do not wait for perfect conditions.
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They create opportunities.
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This is what self-learning really means.
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Self-learning does not mean learning alone.
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It means taking ownership.
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If you only practice when someone tells you to practice, progress will be slow.
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If you practice because you have decided to improve, progress becomes much faster.
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Today, you have tools that my generation never had.
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You have videos, podcasts, audio books, language apps, online communities, artificial intelligence.
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You carry more learning resources in your pocket than entire schools once had.
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The challenge is no longer access.
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The challenge is discipline.
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Many people collect resources.
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Few people use them consistently.
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The difference is enormous.
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Let me share something interesting.
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I have met people with incredible talent and I have met people with average talent.
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Very often, the average person wins, not because they are smarter, not because they are more gifted,
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but because they continue when others stop.
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Consistency is a superpower.
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Most people are looking for intensity.
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They want to study five hours today.
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Then tomorrow, they're exhausted.
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And next week, they quit.
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I prefer consistency.
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30 minutes every day one hour every day.
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Small actions repeated for years.
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That is how real transformation happens.
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If you want to improve your English, create habits that are impossible to ignore.
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Listen while walking.
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Listen while commuting.
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Listen while exercising.
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Read a page before sleeping.
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Speak for five minutes when you wake up.
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Make English part of your life instead of a separate activity.
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The more naturally it fits into your day, the longer you will continue.
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Now let me talk about something many learners struggle with.
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Practicing alone.
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Some people say, Jack, I don't have anyone to speak with.
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I understand.
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But let me ask you another question.
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Do you really need another person every time you practice?
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Not always.
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Some of the most effective practice can happen when you are alone.
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Talk to yourself.
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Describe your day.
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Explain your plans.
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Tell stories.
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Answer imaginary interview questions.
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Pretend you are teaching someone.
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Pretend you are giving advice.
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At first, it feels strange.
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I know, but so does every new skill.
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Soon it becomes normal.
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And more importantly, it builds fluency because fluency comes from producing language,
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not just consuming it.
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Record your voice.
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Listen to it.
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Most people hate hearing their own voice.
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That is exactly why they should do it.
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When you listen to yourself, you notice things, pronunciation, speed,
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clarity, confidence, improvement becomes measurable.
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And when improvement becomes measurable, motivation increases.
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There is another difference between successful learners and struggling learners.
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Successful learners focus on communication.
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Struggling learners focus on perfection.
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Communication asks, can people understand me?
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Perfection asks, did I make any mistakes?
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One question creates freedom, the other creates fear.
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If your goal is communication, you speak more.
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If your goal is perfection, you often remain silent.
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And silence never improves speaking.
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I have spoken English with mistakes.
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Many times I still make mistakes, but mistakes never stopped me from communicating.
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And communication created opportunities.
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English opened doors that would have remained closed.
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It allowed me to meet people from different countries, different cultures, different industries, different ways of thinking.
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Language is not just about words.
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Language is about access.
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Access to ideas.
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Access to relationships.
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Access to opportunities.
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Some people think learning English is only about getting a better job.
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A better job is good.
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But English can offer much more than that.
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It can change how you see the It can introduce you to people you would never otherwise meet.
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It can help you understand perspectives that are completely different from your own.
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And sometimes one conversation can change the direction of your life.
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I have seen it happen.
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The interesting thing is that most life-changing opportunities do not arrive with a warning.
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They appear unexpectedly.
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a conversation, a meeting, a presentation, a chance encounter.
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And when that moment arrives, your preparation matters, not the preparation you started yesterday,
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the preparation you built every day before that moment arrived.
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That is why I encourage you to stop asking, how quickly can I become fluent?
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Ask a better question.
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What can I do today that makes me slightly better than yesterday?
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Because fluency is not one big achievement.
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It is thousands of small improvements collected over time.
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A sentence learned today.
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A conversation practiced tomorrow.
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A mistake corrected next week.
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A habit repeated next month.
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And one day, you suddenly realize something incredible.
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You are no longer translating every thought.
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You are no longer afraid of every conversation.
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You are no longer searching desperately for every word.
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You are simply communicating naturally, comfortably, confidently.
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And when that day comes, you will understand something that many people never realize.
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The best way to improve your English speaking was never speaking alone.
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It was listening deeply, thinking differently,
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practicing consistently, embracing mistakes, taking responsibility for your learning,
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and trusting the process long enough to let the results appear.
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Because language grows exactly like success.
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Slowly at first, quietly for a long time.
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And then one day everyone notices what you have been building all along.
Why practice speaking with this video?
This video featuring Jack Ma emphasizes the importance of listening and reading in the journey to fluency in English. Many learners mistakenly believe that speaking should be their first focus. However, as Ma points out, true improvement happens when you immerse yourself in the language. By listening actively, you are not only building your vocabulary but also training your brain to recognize patterns and intonations that are essential for effective communication.
This approach is not just theoretical; it is practical. Imagine picking up phrases and expressions just by listening each day. Engaging with native speakers, whether through conversations or listening to content, lays a foundational knowledge that boosts your confidence and fluency. By practicing what you've absorbed, your speaking abilities will remain rooted in reality and context, making them more natural and spontaneous.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
In the video, Jack Ma uses several structures that are beneficial for English learners:
- Present simple vs. continuous: "I ask them, how much English do you listen to every day?" Here, Ma utilizes the present simple tense to discuss habits, which is useful for learners to express regular activities.
- Conditional structures: "If you want to speak English fluently..." This conditional form helps indicate possible outcomes, a vital part of many conversations.
- Comparative adjectives: "It is like saying you want to cook a great meal without ever tasting food." This comparison is an effective rhetorical device that clarifies his point about the necessity of prior experience to achieve desired skills.
By practicing these structures and embedding them into your conversations, you not only improve your grammatical accuracy but also make your speech more engaging and relatable.
Common Pronunciation Traps
One of the captivating aspects of Jack Ma's speech is his clear pronunciation, but there are still a few tricky words that learners might stumble over:
- Fluently: The pronunciation of this word can often be deceptive for learners. It should flow easily, emphasizing the "flu" sound.
- Listening: Pay attention to the "stin" part; it's crucial to articulate it correctly to ensure you're understood.
- Conversation: Many learners tend to rush this word, but slowing down to emphasize each syllable will help clarity.
Using a shadowing app can significantly aid in overcoming these traps. By utilizing the shadowing technique and mirroring Ma’s speech, you’ll not only improve your pronunciation but also create natural, fluent speech patterns. This shadow speech method enables you to reproduce language while internalizing its rhythm and flow. With consistent practice, you will find yourself speaking with increased confidence and proficiency.
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.