Shadowing Practice: The language learning system I wish I knew years ago! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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These days, I maintain five languages, but I only actively study two of them.

I'm going to show you my exact tiered language learning approach, which only requires one hour a day.

And I'm also going to address common myths or questions related to active and passive learning.

You're also going to learn five principles that can help you maintain languages in a structured way.

The languages I'm focusing on now are Hungarian, Korean, Japanese, French, and Spanish.

So I got to a good conversational level in most of them at various points, but then everything started slipping away.

I tried everything.

I tried to fit all seven plus languages into a month, trying them a few a day, a few a week, etc. But I burnt out.

So please don't make the same mistakes.

The truth is that starting a language is easy, but maintaining it is the hard part.

Without consistent input and output using the language, your proficiency fades faster than you think.

If I haven't used Japanese particularly for a few months, when I try and speak again, my accent is off, I forget words,

but I gradually get back into it.

And it's embarrassing, but there are a few languages that I was good in and now I've forgotten because I didn't practice.

First important thing I want to tell you that I changed in my mindset is I stopped treating all languages equally.

Just because I'm learning five plus languages doesn't mean I need to do 10 minutes of Korean, 10 minutes of Japanese, 10 minutes of French, Spanish every single day.

Each language has its own goal, its own purpose, and resources that work for one language that might not work for another.

So let me give you a little pyramid graphic, a tiered language approach, the one I use these days.

Tier one is active focus.

These are high effort languages and the ones that are really crucial to me right now.

Hungarian is very important to me because I'm moving to Hungary soon, so I take about one or two 45-minute language lessons online every week.

If everything is fine, I'll probably live in Hungary.

and working through some books because I really like reading.

I do have time before bed.

I don't scroll on my phone these days before bed.

Finally, I've reached that habit and I read.

And a lot of my time is spent reading in Korean.

Maintenance.

My language is in maintenance mode with some effort.

So Japanese will be reading articles about topics I like, like tech and culture, as well as a few books

that I've bought in Japan related to creating planners and journals and productivity.

I also bought quite a few books on World War II, which I'm very interested in,

and I am still going to make a Japanese bookshelf tour video coming up soon

but Japanese again is just maintenance mode pretty much the same

as Korean except Korean I put in more effort to practice

grammar then for French I do an online group lesson once

a week this is for an hour long it's through my

friend Riley's online language school it's called pardon my language

and it's the pardon my French branch I have my two

French notebooks here I'll put some overlay video of my language notes here, but I'm really enjoying the group lessons.

It's a nice change of environment from having to teach myself or work through a textbook, etc. And it's a nice opportunity to really have a lot of speaking practice.

And I call this one minimum effort as well, because all I have to do is show up for a lesson, speak during the lesson, and take some notes.

Then tier number three is passive maintenance.

This is the low effort tier, just enjoying the languages.

And actually, I might throw Dutch in here because my Instagram feed is just Dutch memes and I hear it a lot.

I'm not really learning it, but I went to the Netherlands recently and I got to use Dutch.

Anyways, and in this category also falls Spanish and maybe sometimes Mandarin Chinese when I'm feeling like it.

My Chinese is dusty.

I haven't touched it for a while.

The goal for this tier is high volume contextual input.

For this tier, what I really need is listening and reading together.

It sounds like a bit of high effort, but if you have a script and you're listening, a transcript, or subtitles, that is super useful.

Now, why I say it's low effort is you are just

consuming content with a little bit of effort where you might be writing down new words, reviewing flashcards, etc. Well, not you,

but me, and you can try this.

So, Spanish, I pretty much just chill with Spanish.

You'll see in my previous videos, I do a lot of shadowing.

That would be repeating what someone is saying to get the natural tone, intonation, speed, whatever.

Just watching random shows on Netflix doesn't really help sometimes because I've noticed the audio doesn't always match subtitles.

It's extremely frustrating when I want to properly learn what they are saying, especially for difficult languages like Norwegian and Danish.

But I have a better solution.

This is where the app Lingopie really helped me with this tiered approach, especially for Spanish.

You can watch movies or TV shows in a bunch of different languages

and it gives you dual language subtitles where you can click on the word,

learn its meaning, can ask about a specific grammar point or context on where to use the specific word that you've learned.

They have integrated review flashcards and other types of review games.

These quizzes and flashcards help you ensure retention, reinforce your learning, and memorize words and never forget them.

Watching one TV show, I can learn about 30, 40 new words.

And Lingopi has this built-in feature called Say It, where it can test your pronunciation.

It'll play something for you, you have to say it back, and then it'll mark if your pronunciation is accurate or not.

Lingopi is currently running a 58% discount promotion for Black Friday, so use the link in the description to claim your discounts.

In summary, these are my key approaches for learning multiple languages.

If you are an aspiring polyglot or just maintaining a bunch of languages, this is what you can use as well.

Number one, tier your languages.

Do not treat every language in the same way.

You can rotate your focus.

So it could be two active languages, three maintenance languages, and swap that around.

I usually do that in a monthly system.

So for three months, I'll focus on two languages actively.

And then for the next three months, I will swap it around and take the passive languages and shift them up to active.

Number two for your passive languages, input is non-negotiable.

Try and do at least 30 minutes a week of reading or watching content.

It's also really crucial that you listen and read at the same time.

Use transcriptions, scripts, subtitles.

That's really, really helpful.

Principle three, structured is better than random. Have structured.

Don't just willy-nilly, randomly learn a language.

Have a list of ideas that you can implement and do those each week.

Doesn't matter when you do it or how long it takes, but have a method.

Principle number four, this one is very important.

Enjoyment equals sustainability.

If it is hard, you're suffering through it.

I mean, okay, that's how I feel about grammar.

But if you're like, I don't enjoy it, it's not going to be sustainable.

So do things that you enjoy, learn topics that you're interested in.

If a tool or resource doesn't work for you, scrap it.

Doesn't matter if everyone on YouTube says Anki is great.

This is personal experience.

Anki is, it doesn't work for me.

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Just use something else.

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I mean, you can use Anki, but in principle, if you don't like it, try something else.

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If you're enjoying this video, please consider subscribing.

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A bunch of you who watch these videos are not subscribed and it's really, really going to help my channel.

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So if you want to see more languages, more videos about language learning, productivity, mindset, travel, design, whatever, please subscribe.

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Thank you.

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So for your active languages, you can read based on your interests.

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For example, for Korean, I like to read brunch.kr.

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This is a kind of like culture, art, tech blog.

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And you can also get a few medium articles in French, maybe Spanish.

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For Japanese, there's also satori reader, which has a bunch of stories.

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And then a ton of languages have like news in slow language.

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And then principle five is track your languages, but don't obsess over it.

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You don't need the most perfect plan and schedule.

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You don't need to study every single day.

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Consistency is just building a habit where you're doing it a few times a week.

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You can have a weekly checklist, you can have a language journal, even a spreadsheet or something on Notion.

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And really all you need to do is, did I touch this language?

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Did I engage with this language?

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Yes or no. You don't need to how many minutes or how many hours you did passive active.

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I used to do that.

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It was fun.

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I got cool data and charts from it, but I'm old and lazy now.

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So my habit tracker just has like the languages listed

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and like tick tick tick if I've done anything in the language no matter how small.

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It feels nice.

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Myth or question number one.

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Do I not feel guilty when I just leave languages in passive or maintenance mode?

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Yes and no. I've identified that guilt is one of the worst things you can have in language learning.

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It kills your motivation, you compare yourself, and you just get sad.

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A few videos ago, I made a video about language guilt, and you guys responded really well to it, saying, oh, this was really what I needed to watch.

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So if you haven't seen that video, it is this one.

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But some days I only do passive maintenance, and that is fine, because it's better to do something in a language instead of doing nothing.

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Like I've said, I rotate my languages based on importance.

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Obviously, Hungarian is a main focus for me now before I move, whereas Spanish, not so crucial.

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Another question you may have, How do you choose which language goes into each tier?

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Active focus will be languages related to travel plans, career, maybe relationships you have, work, your current passion.

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You pick the ones that feel the most important, the ones you are most likely to engage with and use often.

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Active maintenance languages are ones that you already have a strong base in, that you're not just going to forget if you leave them,

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but you don't need to actively study every single day.

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And passive, you also need a good foundation.

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I'd say about B1, B2, maybe A2.

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Doesn't really matter as long as you feel comfortable to some extent

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and you can converse because it's in maintenance mode so you don't want to forget if you just know the basics.

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These are ones that you might have a cultural interest in and ones that you're okay with maintaining slowly.

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Your progress is obviously going to be much slower in these languages so you have to make peace with that fact.

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Think of it visually in this way.

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Active learning is going to be a steep improvement curve and maintenance is kind of going to go like that.

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Another question, what if I only have 30 minutes a day total and not one hour?

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Very normal.

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Same.

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I try and do an hour or a few hours a week, but I do be tired and many days I only also have half an hour.

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In that case, you can have one active language and the rest are passive.

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You can implement 20 minutes of active studying and 10 minutes of passive learning, or you can kind of pile it up and not do something every day,

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but you can spend weekends doing it actively.

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So passive can be whatever amount of minutes each evening if you're reading or watching something, and then active can be on the weekends where hopefully you have more than half an hour.

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Long-term view, zoomed out view, I'm still doing something each month in a language.

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It is better than nothing.

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I am not a perfect polyglot who studies every single day.

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So to close off, remember that active learning is for growth and maintenance is just for retention.

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So if you're an intermediate learner, a polyglot, try this system and let me know if it works for you.

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If you have a different system you would recommend, drop it in the comments.

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And thank you so much for watching.

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I appreciate you being here and I'll see you in the next video.

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Bye!

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Who Is This Video For?

If you’re an English learner juggling multiple languages or struggling to maintain progress without burning out, this video is a game-changer. It’s perfect for those who want a structured, time-efficient approach (just one hour a day!) to balance active learning, maintenance, and even passive exposure. Whether you’re aiming for conversational fluency, keeping skills sharp, or simply enjoying a language, the tiered system here will help you avoid common pitfalls like spreading yourself too thin.

Words & Idioms Worth Stealing

The video is packed with practical phrases for discussing language learning. Here are key terms to add to your toolkit:

Burn out: To become exhausted from overwork (e.g., “I burnt out trying to study seven languages at once”).
Maintenance mode: A state of keeping skills at a steady level without intense effort (e.g., “My Japanese is in maintenance mode”).
Contextual input: Learning through real-world, meaningful content (e.g., “Passive maintenance relies on high volume contextual input”).

These phrases are great for IELTS speaking practice when describing your own language journey!

How to Get the Accent Right (and Maintain It!)

The speaker emphasizes that consistent input and output are key to avoiding “slipping” accents—and the shadowing technique is a perfect way to practice. Here’s how to apply it:

Active focus languages: Use shadow speech during lessons or while reading aloud. For example, if you’re learning English, repeat sentences from a podcast or video immediately after the speaker, mimicking their tone and rhythm.
Maintenance languages: Shadow short clips from articles or group lessons. The speaker uses group classes for French, which provides natural conversational flow to imitate.
Passive maintenance: Even casual exposure helps! Watch English YouTube videos (try “learn English with YouTube” content) or follow English memes—your brain absorbs pronunciation without extra effort.

The key is to make it a habit: replace phone scrolling with reading or shadowing, and you’ll notice your accent stays sharp. Remember, consistency beats intensity—even 10 minutes a day of shadowing can make a huge difference!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If everything is fine, I'll probably
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've forgotten · I've reached · I've bought
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is spent · are not subscribed

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: The language learning system I wish I knew years ago! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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