Shadowing Practice: Want Better English? Stop Trying So Hard! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I want you to imagine two people learning English.
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Let's call person one Alex.
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All right, Alex downloads five apps,
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language learning apps, buys a grammar book and commits to two hours of English a day.
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And by day four, Alex is a little exhausted.
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And by day 10, Alex has likely felt the overwhelm and potentially given up.
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Now, person two called Catherine does something that looks almost embarrassingly small.
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Catherine just does five minutes of listening a day and she catches, say, three new phrases in those five minutes.
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That's it, right?
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Let's go forward a year.
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A year later, who do you think is more likely to be the person
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having a more fluent conversation with me in a pub in London?
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Alex or Catherine?
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The one that had all the motivation
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and decided to go all in on it or the one
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that decided to add just five minutes of practice to their day-to-day routine?
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The second one, right?
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Catherine.
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Catherine did better.
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And today I want to go beyond the obvious message of slow and steady wins the race.
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I'll be using an idea from a book that's got very little to do with language learning,
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but it explains how to be a better language learner in a way that you perhaps have never even heard of.
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So the book I'm referring to is called Atomic habits.
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It's been a bestseller for quite a few years now.
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It came out over nearly 10 years, no, eight years ago, right?
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Something like that.
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2018, I think.
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And I remember reading it when it came out and loved it.
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And then the other day, I felt like I was slacking in my daily routine
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or life just a bit and quite a bit actually let's be honest I was sad
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and I was wanting some inspiration so I went back to it
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and my god I am
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so grateful I did each point in this book makes me
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think oh my god oh my god yes yes this is
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so good this is so true and then I thought oh this is this is brilliant for language learners too.
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So let me tell you some learnings just from chapter one alone.
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And if you have read this book, I reckon this lesson will be a welcome reminder.
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And if you haven't, then you are in for a great aha moment.
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So where to begin?
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Well, there's a story about British cycling in the book.
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For decades, Team GB, Great Britain, Team GB were rubbish at cycling,
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genuinely one of the worst in the world for the best part of a whole century.
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Then they got this bloke in as a consultant or new team manager or something like that.
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And he came in with a rather strange plan.
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He didn't look for this big change or big fix that needed to happen.
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He looked for hundreds of tiny,
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tiny ones, like a better pillow for the riders to get deeper sleep.
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They tested different massage gels for improved muscle recovery.
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He even went as far as getting a doctor to come in
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and teach them how to wash their hands properly so that they'd get ill less often.
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None of these things on their own meant anything.
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But stacked together, five years later, they were dominating the Tour de France, you know, the biggest cycling competition.
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And a few years after that, Olympic gold after Olympic gold.
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Now, here's the bit that matters for you.
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They never chased one dramatic transformation.
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They chased a 1% improvement again and again and again.
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If we were to apply that thinking to you as a language learner, on paper, if you get 1% better every day.
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After a year, you're roughly 37 times better at English than you are today.
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And that's not 37% better.
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That is 37 times better than you are today.
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You are 37 times a better speaker of English than you are.
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That's insane.
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That's what they call compounding, the compounding effect.
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Small things stack on top of each other and they multiply.
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If you're into your finances, you know all about this.
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I don't.
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That's why I'm a teacher.
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No, let's change that identity.
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Teachers can be wealthy.
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Yes, they can be wealthy.
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That'll be a chapter two tip, actually, if you are interested.
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I'll talk about chapter two next time.
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But yes, let's stay focused.
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So let's put a number on, you know, the 1%.
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So let's say you, like Catherine, you learn three new phrases a day.
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Flat maths says that that's, you know, easily that's just three times 365.
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You know, that's how many days are in the year, right?
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That would just be over a thousand phrases in a year, which is already pretty cool,
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you know, to have a thousand more phrases in your vocabulary one year on, that's not bad.
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But what actually happens is very different.
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Those three phrases a day don't stay isolated.
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Every phrase you learn makes the next one easier to grab.
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And you start spotting the same grammar patterns, the same word pairings, the same rhythms showing up again and again.
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So the three a day isn't just adding up, it's picking up speed.
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By month six, you're not just further along,
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you're absorbing faster than you were on day one off the exact same five to 10 minutes of effort each day.
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So you'll more likely be gathering five to six phrases a day, let's say.
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And that's the same 1% engine from the cycling story, just speaking to you in a more direct way as a language learner.
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So the year end total of,
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say, the vocabulary you learn ends up far beyond just three times 365 because of this compounding effect.
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The problem is, though, nobody feels
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that happening in real time on day 12 you feel exactly the same as as day one
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and and you know you've put in
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that effort you've you've been quite strict on yourself for 12 whole days
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and in this day and age that's remarkable right with all those distractions left right and center
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doing something for 12 days straight is respectable, but nothing's really changed yet.
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And that's very often where most learners quit.
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And that is right before the interesting part starts.
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It's where the compounding starts to peel away and make it impactful.
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And there's an idea in the book called the plateau of latent potential.
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And I think every single person listening to this has lived through it without knowing what to call it.
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So let's picture an ice cube sitting in a room that's slowly warming up.
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So, you know, you just take in the ice cube out of the freezer.
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So it's probably about five minus five degrees.
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Right.
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So it's sitting there.
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Then it drops down, drops down, goes up, I suppose, goes up to minus four degrees, then minus three degrees and nothing's happening.
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It just sits there looking extremely cool.
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Um, exactly the same block of ice that it was when you got it out of the freezer.
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Then it crosses zero, and only then does it actually start to melt.
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All that warming from minus five up to zero,
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it wasn't nothing happening even though it looked like nothing happening it was the necessary part
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but almost invisible to the naked eye right
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and this is why you can listen to British podcasts for two months
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and feel like nothing's sinking in and then
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if you keep going one day you realize
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that you've understood an entire conversation out in the real world and you've got no idea when that clicked,
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when that switch flipped, it wasn't like there was that day you realized,
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oh, I can understand English the way natives speak it.
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It came from all of the invisible days of listening practice that came before it.
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So that's the invisible bit, the compounding, the plateau, why it can feel like nothing's working when something actually is.
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But now let's talk about the part you can actually control on a random Tuesday.
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And I'll start with a line from the book
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that I think about more than almost anything else I've read in this book.
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You do not rise to the level of your goals.
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You fall to the level of your systems.
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I'll say it again just to be annoying.
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You do not rise to the level of your goals.
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You fall to the level of your systems.
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So translate that into English learning.
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And it sounds like I want to be fluent next year.
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That's a goal, right?
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It feels good to say it changes absolutely nothing about what you do on a random Tuesday evening.
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Whereas if you say I listen to 10 minutes of British English every day before bed.
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That is a system.
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It's a fairly straightforward, boring system, and nobody's going to be that impressed by it.
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But it's the only one of those two that actually gets you there.
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Or I could say it like this.
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If you took away every single goal you've ever set for your English and kept only your daily systems,
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you'd still be learning English, right?
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Right.
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And just to simplify systems really means the repeatable things you do that get you where you want.
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Yeah.
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The repeatable things you do that get you where you want.
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That is a system, right?
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And now let's compare keeping your goals and not your systems.
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So if you kept your goals, but didn't think about your daily systems, then you're not learning.
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You're not making progress.
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You only have empty goals.
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So goals, well, they're a bit empty.
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Not only do they often distract you from the systems you need to put in place,
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but they also make you feel either like you've achieved your goal and you're allowed to be happy,
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or that you haven't gotten to where you want to be.
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So you're forced to feel disappointed with yourself.
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And if you think about it, that makes happiness in relation to language learning rather hard to come by and very fleeting.
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Because what do you do if you do succeed in achieving a goal?
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You set a bigger one.
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So that window of satisfaction is so, so small and short-lived.
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And this feeds the idea that happiness is something that the future you will find, which is such a fallacy.
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And if you believe that, then you'll likely always struggle with your language learning.
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Instead, you want to find a way to fall in love
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with the systems you put in place with language learning and allow yourself to genuinely enjoy the every day of it.
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So we need to forget about what the view will look like,
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you know, at the top of the mountain and instead learn how to love the actual ascent,
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if you will, or steps you're taking to hike up the mountain.
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And I don't know many other activities
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that compare to language learning in the sense that you never really stop being a learner of the skill.
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I mean, think about your native language.
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You're probably still picking up new vocabulary.
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You could still become a better communicator in your native language.
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And you've been speaking it your whole life.
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So it makes sense that with English, however fast you improve, you'll likely be learning it for many, many years, too.
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That's not a failure.
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That's just what the skill is. And
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so it's even more fundamental for you to find a way
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to enjoy the journey rather than wait for the satisfaction of achieving a goal.
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Remember, finding joy in the daily system is not hindering your growth.
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It's the absolute opposite.
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And that actually reminds me of a quote from Steve Jobs, you know, Mr. Apple.
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What was it?
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Um, the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
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The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
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So, uh, let me coin a new one for you.
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The only way to make great progress is to love the way you do it.
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The only way to make great progress is to love the way you do it.
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Now, you can absolutely do all of this on your own.
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Genuinely, everything I've just talked about, you can build for yourself.
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You can simply pick your five or 10 minutes, decide on what you'll be doing within that time frame
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and then stick with it past the point where it feels like nothing's happening.
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And as long as you've chosen to do things that are challenging you at the right level, then you will be making that gradual compounding progress that I've been talking about.
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But if you'd rather not build that system from scratch, if you want the structure,
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the daily nudge, the actual content sat there waiting for your 10 minutes instead of you having to go find it yourself,
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that's exactly what I built the academy for.
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and right now you can apply to join and
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if accepted you could be in with a chance of trying
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the whole experience for just five pounds for the first month
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and i'm not suggesting it
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because you can't progress without being part of a paid membership you absolutely can
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but i do encourage you to try my solution
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because well i mean i've spent the best part of six maybe seven yes seven years working endlessly on something
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that makes the boring invisible bit a lot easier to stick with
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and dare I say good fun
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so either scan the QR code on screen click the link in the description box below
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or head to the britishenglishpodcast.com slash apply regardless of whether you apply
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or not I'd love to hear what you took from this
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video in the comment section do you want more videos on how to be a better learner of languages
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because I love the psychological aspect.
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So yeah, I'd be keen to give you more, but let me know.
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Now, if you're building that system and thinking, right, what do I actually do with my 10 minutes?
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I encourage you to go and watch the video on screen right now
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because there's a mistake almost everyone makes with their daily practice
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that makes it feel like progress when it's actually not doing much at all.
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I break down exactly what that is right there.
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So let's continue the conversation in that video.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 214 sentences and 2415 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:18. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| compound noun | /ˈkɑmpaʊnd/ | Anything made by combining several things. |
| invisible adjective | /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/ | Unable to be seen; out of sight; not visible. |
| minus | /ˈmaɪ.nəs/ | Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity). |
| genuinely adverb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ | In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| compare verb | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it… |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| chase verb | /t͡ʃeɪs/ | To follow at speed. |
| happiness noun | /ˈhæpinɪs/ | The emotion of being happy; joy; elation. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| wealthy adjective | /ˈwɛl.θi/ | Possessing financial wealth; rich. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| satisfaction noun | /sætɪsˈfækʃən/ | A fulfilment of a need or desire. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| drop down verb | To sail, move, or row down a coast, or down a river to the sea. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| add up verb | To take the sum of; to total. | |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
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 speaking · I've been talking |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have never even heard · have read · you've put |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | year, which is · find, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 53 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, disappointed /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪnɪd/
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 phrase, compound, invisible.
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.