Shadowing Practice: This will change the way you learn languages FOREVER - Learn English Speaking with Video
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If you've been struggling to learn a language thinking
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that you're never going to get fluent this video is for you my friend.
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I want you to know
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that it's not your fault you're not bad at languages it's just
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that the whole school system the way it's set up is kind of destined to make us all fail at learning languages.
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I was lucky because I had parents
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that kind of exposed me to languages in very different
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and fun ways and i'm now a language coach
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and a translator i've been living in spain for about 25 years
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and i help people get unstuck with their fluency
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or with their language learning so that they can reach fluency quickly
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and effortlessly there's two things you can do
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that will make a massive difference in your language learning
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and start to get you back to that innate brilliance
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that you have within you and learning in the ways
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that really make it fast and effortless and meaningful
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so the first thing let's go for a walk along the cliffs here in beautiful noja northern spain
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and i'm going to tell you the two things
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that need to change in your language learning if you've been struggling and feeling stuck and these will make
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a difference to your life and your language learning forever
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so the first thing i'm not sure where i'm supposed to be going here
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that way i think uh the first thing is
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the thoughts that you have about your language learning
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so what are the habitual thoughts
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that go around your head about your language learning oh I used to be better at this
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or oh this is hard I'm not learning very fast it's difficult I should be learning
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and I'm not I should be better by now I've been studying for
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so long all these kind of shoulds and guilt trips
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and all the negativity that goes around our heads i think i've come come the wrong way
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but never mind um those things stop us from getting fluent those things are not helping
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and they're taking us away from our innate brilliance and our natural ability to learn languages so
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so i've got a simple trick that i use
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and i've used this most of my life to help me get braver stop procrastinating on the things
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that i want to do but i feel are too hard
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and take baby steps in the direction of my big dreams i'm not sure
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if i'm lost here or
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if i'm to end up where i wanted to go anyway let's just keep going and see what happens so
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how do we change those thoughts there's a very beautiful simple hack
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that you can do at bedtime every night
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when your head hits the pillow just say a few affirmations
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a few words of comfort to yourself a few notice a few things
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that went well that day and the more
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that you do this the more you will change your mindset
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and your subconscious thoughts that you're having about your language learning
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and this will make such a difference and you'll see
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that things start to become easier and they start to become
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and your language learn and your language learning starts to feel lighter and more enjoyable and suddenly you're making great strides.
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So as your head hits the pillow say some affirmations like I'm open to learning in new ways.
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I am starting to see that it's possible for me to get fluent in this language.
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I'm noticing my wins more.
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I'm noticing the good things that are going well in my language learning.
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I'm doing better than I thought.
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I'm doing better than I was.
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I learnt a new word today.
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It doesn't matter what you say, any of these thoughts that you have
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that are more encouraging than the old thoughts that you've been having habitually that have kept you stuck,
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all these are going to take you in the right direction to get you more fluent more confident
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when you speak your target language and when you listen to native speakers
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and because the more relaxed you are and the more
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self -belief you have the easier it'll come okay and the more you keep showing up as well so
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It's all about just keeping showing up in language learning.
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Fluency is actually kind of inevitable.
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If you keep showing up and you keep learning new words and new phrases, the fluency will actually come.
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It doesn't, and I'm not talking about perfection here.
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I'm talking about the ability to communicate.
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I'm talking about the ability to, yappy dog.
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Am I going the right way?
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i'm talking about the ability to express yourself comfortably without translating without um struggling over your words
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that will happen sometimes it happens in our native tongue as you can see right
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now i'm giving a great demonstration of that and and it's all okay life's messy life's chaotic and language learning is too.
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It has to be a lot more like life, our language learning.
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It has to be really lived and it has to be something
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that we do often in tiny moments throughout our day or in big moments if you've got a bit more time.
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It doesn't matter just so long as you keep going.
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Okay so that's the first thing, the mindset needs to change and when we change our mindset
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and our beliefs beliefs beliefs when we change our mindset
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and our beliefs oh look at
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that that's like an old I think
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it's a bunker bunker from the Civil War I did not come this way
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so I'm a little bit lost let's just hope
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I'll get back all right I'm going back to my hotel now
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so once we've changed our mindset
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and we've got a lot more kindness in the way
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that we speak to each to ourselves rather
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and the way we encourage ourselves to keep going in our language
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and a lot more fun we will find new ways to show up in our language learning
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that feel good to us okay
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because that's the other thing that's kind of wrong with language learning in traditional contexts
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you know we were sitting in a classroom
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and we're learning all this theory all these dissected chunks of language
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that kind of together they will make up the whole language
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but that's not the way we learn naturally the way we learn naturally is by using all our senses,
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looking at things, listening to things, feeling things, seeing things, touching things,
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smelling things in our target language in as many different ways as you can.
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So get really creative so you can add that seed into your subconscious mind as well.
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As you go off to bed at night just drop that seed into your subconscious mind.
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I am finding new ways of soaking up my language that feel fun and effortless and it's getting easier every day.
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Just have those kind of thoughts as you drop off to bed and our thoughts change our behaviours
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and the behaviour of showing up in fun ways is what will get us fluent fast.
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So I'm doing this by listening to
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so I'm doing this with my three rusty languages I used to be a polyglot I never used to say
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that anyway I've never said that in my life but it's kind of a quick way of saying it online
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I used to speak five languages
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when I was in my 20s living in first Paris
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and then Madrid with a corporate job that in an international business
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that I was using my language every day
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and I had kind of advanced level university level type degrees
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and qualifications and studies languages are my life I've loved languages most of my life
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and why am I telling you this
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but it doesn't have to be your life no it doesn't have to be the way you
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oh gosh I've definitely gone wrong on my path I'm completely lost
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this is not where I was supposed to be going I'm sure of it
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and I've lost my train of thought come on Louisa you can do it
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when we speak kindly to ourselves
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we can find our way through it gets a bit messy in the middle
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it gets a bit messy messy at times and chaotic and
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that does not matter that is how we make progress in life
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and in language learning so change the way you talk to yourself
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plant some little seeds of more encouraging thoughts
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and notice your wins as you're going off to bed at night everything that went well
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both in your life and in your language learning
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and watch how life
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and language learning just gets a lot more joyful a lot easier as you keep doing
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this try this for 21 days plant some
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positive seeds in your conscious in your subconscious mind at night time just as you're dropping off to sleep
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and maybe the first moments of your day as well set some intentions for the day ahead.
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I'm open to finding new ways to soak up my target language effortlessly
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that fit in with my life and that feel good to me.
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Let me know if this resonated for you.
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Leave me a comment and tell me what your subconscious seeds are going to be
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that you're going to plant at night time
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or first thing in the morning
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when our subconscious mind is the most susceptible to changing our our thought patterns
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and the most open to making these big shifts
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that will really really change the way we show up in our life
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and in our language learning forever i'll see you in the next video thanks for watching
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “This will change the way you learn languages FOREVER”. This video has 136 sentences and 1645 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:10. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| fluent adjective | /ˈfluənt/ | That flows; flowing, liquid. |
| messy adjective | /ˈmɛsi/ | In a disorderly state; chaotic; disorderly. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| seed noun | /siːd/ | Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| behaviour noun | British standard spelling of behavior. | |
| pillow noun | /ˈpɪl.oʊ/ [ˈpʰɪɫ.ö̞] | A soft cushion used to support the head in bed. |
| bunker noun | /ˈbʌŋ.kə/ | A hardened shelter, often partly buried or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks. |
| chaotic adjective | /keɪˈɑtɪk/ | Filled with chaos. |
| soak verb | /soʊk/ | To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it. |
| trick noun | /ˈtɹɪk/ | Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle. |
| comfort noun | /ˈkʌm.fət/ | Contentment, ease. |
| brave adjective | /bɹeɪv/ | Strong in the face of fear; courageous. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| get back verb | Return to where one came from. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm noticing my wins more.
- I'm doing better than I thought.
- I'm doing better than I was.
- It doesn't, and I'm not talking about perfection here.
- Am I going the right way?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | you've been struggling · i've been living · I've been studying |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be · used to speak |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | i've come · have kept · we've changed |
| Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things | better than · more encouraging than |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 59 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/, demonstration /dɛmənˈstɹeɪʃən/, perfection /pɚˈfɛk.ʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, demonstration /dɛmənˈstɹeɪʃən/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like belief, mindset, fluent.
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.