Shadowing Practice: Think in English and Speak Faster in Conversations | Stop Translating - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Imagine you and I are having a conversation.
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Imagine you and I are having a conversation.
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Maybe you're joining one of my classes and you're the first student to arrive in my online classroom.
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So I look at you and I say,
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what did you do over the weekend?
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It's a pretty simple question, right?
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But perhaps you're feeling a bit nervous.
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So you start to think of the answer first in your native language,
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and then you struggle to translate it into English.
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By the time you're ready to speak,
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another student has joined the class.
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The conversation has moved on and you missed your opportunity.
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Super frustrating.
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As you and I both know,
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this process of translating from your native language into English is time consuming.
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It slows you down and inhibits fluency to top it all off.
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It leads to those missed opportunities,
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the missed opportunity to say what you want to say,
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to connect with others and express your thoughts.
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So what if you could skip translating altogether and just respond in the moment in English?
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What if you could begin thinking in English and confidently participating in conversations?
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This leads to saving time and building automaticity.
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Now, If you're one of my fluency school students or a member of my Confident Women community,
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then you absolutely know what automaticity is.
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Automaticity is the ability to do something automatically without a lot of effort or stress,
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like the ability to say what you want in English automatically.
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That's not just possible.
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It's exactly what I'm going to show you in this Confident English lesson.
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I'm going to walk you through a step-by-step process to stop translating and begin thinking in English.
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And I'll share how to know that you're making progress.
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So be sure to stick with me.
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Now, before we go any further,
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if this is your first time here,
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I want to share a quick welcome.
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I'm Anne Marie, an English confidence and fluency coach.
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If you would love to discover years of lessons just like this and free resources for me.
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You can find all of that and more over at my Speak Confident English website.
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To get started, I want to be very clear about one thing,
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shifting from translating in your head to thinking in English and expressing yourself in the moment doesn't happen overnight.
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It requires persistence, patience, and practice.
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Kind of like training for a marathon.
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I know, I know, I know know training for a marathon might not sound awesome right now,
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but hear me out.
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I want you to think for a moment about your proudest achievement,
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something you feel great about accomplishing.
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I would bet that accomplishment didn't come easily.
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I imagine that you worked for it.
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The best things in our lives come from things that we put effort into.
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Imagine having easy, fluid, effortless conversations in English,
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conversations where the words just flow.
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It would feel amazing, right?
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Every step, every bit of effort that you put in toward that achievement is worth it.
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So let's dive in to the process of how to begin thinking in English.
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I'm going to present several action strategies with you.
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Now, depending on your English proficiency level and your current abilities to think in English,
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you might want to start with strategy number one,
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or perhaps you're ready to get started with strategy four or five.
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I want you to start where you need to start.
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And no matter where that is, it's totally okay.
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Do what works best for you.
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Strategy number one is start small.
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I want you to take a moment to look at the room around you.
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What do you see?
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Pay attention to the objects and start naming those objects in English in your mind,
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naming the objects around you as you move through an environment helps you to recall vocabulary that you know.
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It also helps you to recognize where you might be lacking vocabulary.
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The best thing about this is you can do it anytime and anywhere.
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As you notice vocabulary that might be lacking,
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you can take a note of that.
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You can take a mental note or write it down in a phone app or in a notebook that you keep.
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In addition to naming the objects that you see,
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you might also consider colors,
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textures, shapes, and so on.
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Then you can go on to strategy number two, build word pictures.
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This means to create a description or a mental picture in your mind using words.
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Now we're not getting into full sentences yet here.
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We're simply taking a look at what's around us,
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naming the objects and then naming other words that we associate with those objects.
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What are the other words that come to mind for you?
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Let me give you an example.
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Let's say you walk into a room and you see a box of tissues.
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You might begin building a word picture by naming other words you associate with that box of tissues,
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like rectangle, blue, cardboard, empty,
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cold, sick, sneeze, blow, throw away, restock, and flu season.
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Now I haven't given you any sentences there,
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But as I gave you that list of words,
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there was probably a mental picture that started to come to your mind.
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This process allows you to expand the association that you have with a particular object and expand your vocabulary.
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Strategy number three is connect to the first encounter.
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Now this is specific to learning new vocabulary,
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a new phrase or expression.
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As you learn something new,
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I want you to take a mental snapshot of the place,
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the context or the situation you were in when you learned that new vocabulary.
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This connection helps you to recall that word later.
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For example, if you recently learned the word savvy in a work conversation,
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you might recall that you learned this in a conversation
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that took place in the break room about a colleague who was learning a new tech process.
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Not only does this help with your ability to recall that word later,
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it also helps you understand the kinds of situations in which we use that vocabulary word.
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Strategy number four, complete your thoughts.
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This is where we transition from naming objects and the words you associate with that object into sentences.
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And I recommend if you're just beginning that you start with simple sentence structures,
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for example, I see, And then you might talk about what you see in the room around you.
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For example, I see a blue rectangular box of tissues that reminds me of when I got sick,
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I was sneezing a lot and now it's empty.
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So I need to restock it.
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That's my first sentence.
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All I'm doing here is taking that list of word associations I've created and starting to put it together.
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Now you can do this in two ways.
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You can certainly write down a few sentences in a vocabulary notebook,
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for example, or you can practice saying them aloud.
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I always encourage my students to not only say something out loud,
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but to record it.
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This allows you to go back and listen so that you can evaluate how you did.
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And if you want to,
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or need to make adjustments.
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Now, if you're not sure about this entire process of recording yourself speaking English,
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I have a recommendation.
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After you watch this lesson,
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I want you to go over to my speak confident English website
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and download my in-depth English fluency training called how to get the confidence to say what you want in English.
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It is the answer to an effective,
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efficient way to get speaking practice so that you can build your English confidence and fluency.
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Once you're ready, you can go on to strategy number five,
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dig deeper and apply.
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Once you're comfortable with the basic expressions,
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begin to focus on the specific contexts in which a phrase might be used.
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How do you use various expressions appropriately?
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For example, if you recently learned the expression to be in over one's head,
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you might think about using that in a conversation with a colleague about some challenges happening at work.
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Once you've got that first situational context in place,
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you can start to think about other situations that are similar.
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Doing this builds up a library of knowledge in how various expressions and phrases in English can be used.
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Strategy number six, immerse yourself.
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This means to dive head first into the English speaking world.
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Do everything you can to absorb English and to use English.
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Watch English language media, read in English,
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switch your device settings to English and encourage your friends,
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coworkers, or family members to communicate with you in English as much as possible.
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If you don't have anyone around you who can do that,
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consider finding an online speaking partner or joining an online English speaking community like my Confident Women community.
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And then strategy number seven, dive deep and discuss.
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This means two things.
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First, engage deeply with topics that interest you.
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So this might be reviewing a variety of articles and listening to podcasts on one very specific topic.
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And then after doing that,
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spend time talking about it with someone else.
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What I love about this process is if you read two articles and listen to a podcast on wellbeing,
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for example, you're going to start hearing the same vocabulary,
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the same sentence structures over and over.
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So it reinforces your vocabulary.
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And then when you use it in conversations,
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you're actively using that vocabulary,
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not just passively learning it and getting to have fun talking about something you love in English.
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Now for this, you do need someone you can practice with.
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It might be a friend,
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a coworker, again, an online speaking partner or small group,
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whoever it may be.
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I have one recommendation.
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If you're just beginning to practice speaking aloud,
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Make sure that the person or the people you're practicing with are trustworthy.
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You trust them and you feel safe with them.
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This will help to remove some anxiety so that you can think and speak more clearly.
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It will also open you up to trying some new things.
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It can be scary to try a new word for the first time
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if you're not a hundred percent sure how to use it.
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But if you trust the people you're speaking with,
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it's a little bit easier to do that.
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And you can get feedback from them on whether it was understood and used correctly,
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or whether you might need to make a small shift in how it was used.
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If you consistently put this process in place and apply these seven strategies,
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you will absolutely transition from needing to think first in your native language
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and then translate into the ability to think in English and English and express yourself more quickly in conversations.
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Now you might have a couple of questions right now,
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like, how do I know if I'm making progress?
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You'll know that you're making progress
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when you're able to express yourself without translating from your native language as often and with fewer pauses or hesitations.
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On top of that, your conversations will likely include more complex sentences,
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and you'll be sharing more detail in your conversations.
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You might also wonder why the transition from thinking in your native language to thinking in English is taking so long.
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Learning a new language is like training a muscle.
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It takes time, mental effort,
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and consistent practice to improve.
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So I want you to be patient with yourself and know
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that every step you're making is helping you reach that goal and it's worth it.
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Lastly, you might be thinking,
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Anne Marie, I've done some of this and I still get stuck.
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I still need to translate sometimes.
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What am I doing wrong?
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If this happens when you get stuck,
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I want you to just pause for a moment and step back,
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observe what's going on and use this as a learning opportunity.
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Try to identify the specific word or concept that you're having a difficult time thinking about and talking about in English.
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Then there are two things you can do.
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Number one, if it's in the middle of a conversation,
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you'll need to find a way to move forward.
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So you could use a synonym or try to explain it with some kind of definition to get your idea across.
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The second thing that you want to do is pay attention to where you got stuck.
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Again, what was the word or concept?
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Make a note of that because that might be a particular area where you need to do a little bit more work.
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You might want to go back to one of the previous strategies,
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read some articles on that topic in English,
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listen to some podcasts so you can hear how others talk about it,
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the language that they use,
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and then go on with the other strategies
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that we've used here to finish this lesson on how to begin thinking in English.
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I want you to remember this one thing like any significant change in life.
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This transformation takes time, practice, and perseverance.
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Start small with the strategies we've discussed here and be patient with yourself as you make progress.
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Every day you are moving closer to thinking fluently and effortlessly in English.
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Now it might not always feel like it.
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If you've ever taken a strenuous hike,
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then you know there are times when you're climbing up and moving forward.
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And there are times when you might be headed back downhill before the next big climb.
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That is a natural part of the learning process.
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Your level of stress, tiredness,
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and so much more can impact how you feel on any particular day or any moment.
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However, if you're practicing consistently, you are making progress.
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And when you feel those small victories,
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when you have a conversation that was so much fun in English
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and you didn't feel worried or panicked and you didn't need to translate,
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celebrate, celebrate those moments.
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They are signs of your growing mastery.
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As you get started with this process,
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I would love to hear from you.
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I want to know what strategies are most helpful to you.
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And you can share that with me in several ways.
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You can always give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and share a comment about your experience down below.
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If you get my weekly Wednesday emails,
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you can also click reply to any one of those emails.
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I would love to hear how this goes for you.
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Thank you so much for joining me today.
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And I look forward to seeing you next time.
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Context & Background
This video centers around a common struggle faced by English learners during conversations: the tendency to translate thoughts from their native language into English before speaking. The speaker, Anne Marie, illustrates a scenario where a student feels nervous and hesitant, resulting in missed opportunities for engagement. By prioritizing the ability to think directly in English, learners can enhance their fluency and confidently participate in discussions without the frustrating delay of translating words in their heads. This shift not only boosts conversational skills but also fosters a deeper connection with others.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- What did you do over the weekend? - A simple yet effective way to initiate small talk.
- I’m feeling a bit nervous. - An honest expression that can lead to empathetic responses.
- Could you repeat that, please? - A polite request for clarification in conversation.
- I'm still learning English. - A statement that sets the stage for understanding and patience.
- What do you think about that? - An excellent way to engage others and invite their opinions.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To tackle the challenges highlighted in the video and embrace the concept of shadowspeak, follow these outlined steps for effective English speaking practice in your learning journey:
- Listen Actively: Watch the video carefully and focus on how the speaker articulates phrases. Take note of the rhythm and intonation, essential for shadow speech.
- Repeat Aloud: Try to repeat after the speaker, mimicking their tone and pace. This practice helps you to internalize the language patterns rather than translating literally.
- Think in Context: Instead of just memorizing phrases, think about how you would use them in real conversations. Engage with the material and visualize the scenarios.
- Record Yourself: Listen to your attempts at shadowing. Recording your voice can reveal areas for improvement and boost your confidence as you hear your own progress.
- Practice Regularly: Make shadowing a daily habit. Consistent practice helps to build automaticity, allowing you to respond quickly and fluently in conversations without the need to translate.
By using these strategies, you can enhance your English speaking skills and bridge the gap in your communication, ultimately leading to more fluid and meaningful conversations. Embrace the journey of shadowing and watch your confidence soar!
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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