Shadowing Practice: To get fluent in a language… find another interest - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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You know, I've been struggling recently with my Arabic
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and I'm going to talk a bit about that
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and why I've come to the realization that in order to become fluent in a language, you have to change your focus.
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I've done this in the past.
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I'm going to do it in Arabic and I'll explain to you what I mean.
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So we all know, or I've said before, that when we start in a new language, there is that initial period of achievement, triumph.
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We're learning something new, which is always stimulating for the brain.
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We all of a sudden understand certain things.
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There's a lot of high -frequency vocabulary.
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So we're kind of climbing a steep hill, but we're getting that sense of getting somewhere.
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And then we realize that actually it's a long, long road.
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There are a lot of words to learn, a lot of low -frequency words to learn.
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It takes a long time for the brain to get used to a new language, even if we understand certain rules of grammar
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or we understand in theory how the new writing system works
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it takes a long time for the brain to get used to these things so with my Arabic,
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unlike say Persian where I had a lot of interesting content some of it prepared by our tutor at LingQ, Sahra on the history of Iran
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and different aspects of the culture of Iran with Arabic I've
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kind of bounced around from standard Arabic to Egyptian Arabic to Levantine Arabic,
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and I haven't been able to find that same kind of interesting content that I had for Persian, for whatever reason.
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And now I was helped by my tutor Sahra, who not only created good content, but found stimulating podcasts.
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So when I'm engaged in a podcast on a subject of interest, I'm not aware that I'm learning Persian.
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I'm just enjoying the podcast.
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So it turns out
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that there are four reasons why changing your focus from the
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language you're learning to some other subject of interest is essential to staying the course and therefore eventually achieving fluency.
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So point number one, apparently when you engage with a subject of interest, there are all kinds of effects in your brain.
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It opens the door.
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There's sort of a dopamine effect which makes you better at learning, better at remembering.
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It's that reward for discovering things of interest to you that you're intrinsically interested in and you're learning more and more about.
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Apparently, the brain is better able to focus.
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So what I've always felt to be the case, that I learn better when I'm focused on a subject of interest,
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there are lots of neurologic or brain research, cognitive science research, which supports that premise.
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Now, the second reason why it's important to change focus
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and to focus on a subject of interest is not based on cognitive science or, you know, brain research.
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It's the fact that if I have a subject of interest, if I have, say, a podcast on history, I'm interested in getting to the next episode.
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It's something that attracts me back to the language.
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I'm not just fighting to improve in the language.
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My focus is not how quickly can I learn this language?
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Am I learning?
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The focus is rather, you know, on something else beside the language.
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And it attracts me back.
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Again, this is recognized.
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There is a teaching practice called CLIL, Content and Language Integrated Learning.
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So this is something that happens in the classroom, where in some universities, people study a subject.
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Say, if you're at school in English, you'll be learning some of your material in the language that you're trying to learn.
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It's kind of similar to French immersion in Canadian schools or elsewhere.
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The difficulty with this is that very often it's used to favor learning English.
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So kind of, in a way, reinforces the sense that English is the only language worth learning.
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And second of all, of course, it's in a classroom.
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And to some extent, you know, if you're doing your chemistry in a language that's not your native language, you may, in fact, have trouble learning that subject.
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So to that extent, CLIL in schools, to my mind, is less obviously a win than if you're doing it based on your own interests.
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So I don't care if I'm doing the history of the Levant in Arabic and missing some things, because it's that sense of discovering things,
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however imperfectly, in the language that I'm learning that matters to me, not whether I learn it as well as I might have learned it in English.
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And nothing prevents me from, you know, increasing my knowledge by adding to my reading in English.
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But while I'm engaged in the language that I'm learning, in this case, the Arabic, I am in the zone, so to speak.
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And that's the third point.
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If I'm engaging with something of interest to me, I'm less impatient.
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I'm not questioning myself.
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Am I learning right now?
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Am I improving in my Arabic as I sit here and I save words or I listen or I read?
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It's almost as if...
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The language I'm learning, and I mentioned this with regard to Montaigne, it's like a companion.
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I'm not out there to master the language, to defeat the language, to become perfect in the language.
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The language is kind of my companion as I discover other things that are of interest to me.
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And that increases my ability to stay persistent and patient in my learning
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and therefore to stay the course until I achieve a level of fluency.
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It also turns out that if you are learning something of interest, you have a reduced stress level.
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Apparently, there's cortisol in the brain, which is a sort of an indicator of stress.
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And if you can reduce that, you know, production of that stress, which is a resistance to learning, then you will learn more efficiently.
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And finally, point number four, which I have experienced, is if you are focusing on a subject of interest,
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which in my case might be history or for a while it was evolution in my Persian podcast.
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If you stay with the same subject for a while, a number of things happen that are very beneficial for language learning.
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First of all, you become increasingly familiar with that subject and comprehension is based on two things, vocabulary and familiarity with the subject.
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So if you stay with the same subject, you become increasingly familiar with that subject.
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You understand more and more there are more things that you know
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and therefore you notice more new things
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that add to your knowledge of the subject
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but also to your knowledge of the language
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and second of all of course if you're staying with the same subject
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or a limited range of subject matter you know a lot
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of the same low frequency vocabulary is going to appear more often than
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if you had a scattered approach
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so in other words you will increase your ability to learn low frequency vocabulary
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so that's another good reason to stay with a subject of interest,
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to move your focus from learning the language to learning a subject of interest.
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So it becomes less stressful.
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It approximates what a famous Hungarian, I believe, educator talked about as the,
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the flow, that zone where you are engaged with something that you know is,
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is difficult, but you're so interested in it that it feels less stressful,
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less pressure, you're not aware of the fact that you are learning.
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And so if I look at my current situation with Arabic, where I kind of bounce back and forth between going at the mini stories again,
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which is beneficial because I'm hearing the same material over and over again.
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I'm reinforcing my knowledge of some of the basics of the language, which is a good thing to do from time to time.
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But by the third or fourth mini story that I've done before, Or my interest declines.
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So when you are less motivated, you learn less.
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So then I go from the sort of repeated listening to many stories to difficult content on, for example, MTV Lebanon.
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It's difficult and yet I can make it easier for myself by using sentence mode and all these other things.
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But intrinsically, I have a limited amount of interest in the political parties in Lebanon, for example.
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If I had similar content on the history of the Levant, you know, from the Phoenicians, the Syrians, the Roman Empire,
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the Ottoman Empire, all the stuff that I find fascinating, then I would learn faster.
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So fortunately, I have now engaged with a new tutor who is promising
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that he will put together some of his ideas on the Levant, the cities in Levant, the histories in the Levant, all of that in Levant in Arabic.
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And he may also help me find some podcasts on similar subjects
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so that I can start to build up the same kind of wealth of material
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that helped me in my Persian learning and even my Turkish learning
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and make that available now as I struggle to improve in my Levantine Arabic or Arabic learning.
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I'll still do a bit of standard Arabic, and so by changing my focus from learning the language itself to learning about a specific subject,
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which in this case is going to be the history of the Arabic world, and more specifically the history of, call it, you know, the Levant.
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So just thought I would update you on where I stand in my Arabic learning
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and suggest to you
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that you might benefit from changing your focus from learning the language to developing an interest
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that can keep you going for the long haul.
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Thank you for listening.
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Bye for now.
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Boost Fluency by Shifting Focus: The Secret to Sticking With a Language
Speaking Goals for This Clip: Master Persistence & Natural Learning
This video targets a key fluency milestone: moving beyond "language learning mode" to using the language as a tool for curiosity. It teaches you to stay motivated long-term, a critical skill for IELTS speaking practice and real-world communication. By focusing on interests, you’ll speak more naturally—no more forced memorization!
Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions for Learning & Motivation
- "stay the course" (keep going despite challenges)
- "intrinsically interested in" (naturally curious about)
- "bounced around from... to..." (tried different things without focus)
- "in the zone" (fully engaged and focused)
- "reduced stress level" (less pressure, more enjoyment)
Fix Your Weak Spots: Shadowing with Purpose & Rhythm
The shadowing technique thrives when you’re engaged—and this video shows you how! Instead of repeating phrases mechanically, use shadow speech to mimic the speaker’s tone while focusing on their message. This improves rhythm and pronunciation because you’re connected to the content. Try a shadowspeaks exercise: pick a podcast on your hobby, play a 30-second clip, and repeat it immediately. A good shadowing site can help you practice this daily. By linking learning to interest, you’ll reduce stress (and cortisol!) and speak more fluently—fast. Remember: the goal isn’t "learning the language"—it’s using it to explore what you love. That’s how you stick with it, and that’s how you win at IELTS speaking practice and beyond!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've come · I've done · I've said |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was helped · is not based · is recognized |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | new, which is · effect which makes · brain, which is |
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.