Shadowing Practice: Your English Level | Don't Compare - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Welcome to the Effortless English Show with the world's number one English teacher,
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Welcome to the Effortless English Show with the world's number one English teacher,
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AJ Hogue, where AJ's more than 40 million students worldwide finally learn English once and for all,
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without the boring textbooks, classrooms, and grammar drills.
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Here's AJ with a quick piece to help you learn to speak fluent English effortlessly.
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Hi, I'm AJ Hogue, the author of Effortless English,
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Learn to speak English like a native.
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Go to EffortlessEnglishClub.com, the blog, EffortlessEnglishClub.com.
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Get my daily audio shows,
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now every day, new shows, EffortlessEnglishClub.com.
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Do you compare yourself to other English learners and other English speakers?
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Right?
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Do you feel sad or angry or upset because many other people speak English better than you?
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Their pronunciation is much better than yours.
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Their vocabulary is much better than yours.
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Their spoken grammar is better than yours.
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Their listening and understanding better than yours.
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It can feel bad to look around and see people who speak English much better than you do.
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Of course, in schools this feeling can be even worse because you're getting grades,
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you're getting tests, or even tests like TOEFL or IELTS.
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You have the score and then you know other people getting better scores, higher scores.
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This is a big problem.
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But the problem is not the other people.
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The problem is you comparing yourself to other people.
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Comparing yourself to other people equals weakness.
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Weakness.
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It will not help you.
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In fact, comparing yourself to other people,
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especially other English learners, other English speakers will make you feel worse.
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You'll feel upset, you'll feel sad,
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and your motivation will actually go down little by little.
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You'll lose your motivation when you do this,
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when you compare yourself to other people.
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When you lose your motivation,
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your energy for learning, for improving,
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for studying will go down and down and down.
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And so, you will be less successful with English.
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You will improve more slowly.
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You will learn more slowly.
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Comparing yourself to others will make you an unhappy person.
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This is true for all parts of your life, not just English.
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It's the same with money.
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We look around.
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So many people compare themselves to others with money.
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Oh, they have more money.
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So many other people have more money.
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And we wish we were like them.
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And then we feel bad.
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We feel like we don't have enough.
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This also makes us unhappy.
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But it does not help us become more successful.
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Because with money and success, it's the same problem.
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When you feel bad, you lose your energy,
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you lose your motivation, you become less successful.
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Because in life, there will always,
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always, always be other people who are better than you in some area.
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some skill, some part of life.
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Always.
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There will always be someone more rich than you are,
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who has more money than you, who's richer than you.
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Always, if you become a billionaire,
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there are still many people who will have more money.
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And in all parts of life,
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there will be people better than you.
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There will be people who are stronger.
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So you're a man, You want muscles.
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You want to be strong.
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Well, even if you lift weights all the time and you get really strong,
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and even if you took drugs and chemicals to get stronger,
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there will still always be someone, somewhere stronger than you.
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And so, if you compare yourself to other people, you'll always be unhappy.
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Even if you make great changes, great improvements, great success.
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But if you compare yourself to the people who are better,
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you'll still feel like it's not enough.
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You're not good enough.
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This is why comparing yourself to others always leads to, creates unhappiness.
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Don't do it.
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What's the secret to happiness?
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What's the secret to success?
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To increased motivation.
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It's comparing yourself to yourself.
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Only compare yourself now to yourself in the past.
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See, when you do that,
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then you are only focused on improvement, your own improvement.
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Do you speak English better now than last year, than five years ago? If yes, feel good.
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You have improved.
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That's fantastic.
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And that means next year,
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you can speak English even better.
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And if you follow effortless English, much, much better.
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Focus on improvement.
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That's why in the effortless English system we focus on improvement.
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Constant and never ending improvement.
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You can always improve.
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You can always learn another new word.
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You can always improve your accent,
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your pronunciation a little more.
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Your understanding a little better.
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Even me, I am a native speaker.
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I was born in the United States.
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But still, I still learn new vocabulary words sometimes.
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Still sometimes I'm reading something and oh, that's a new word.
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I don't know the meaning.
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So I'm still learning English also.
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Also there are people who speak better than I do.
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There are people who have better spoken grammar,
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who speak with almost perfect grammar all the time.
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There are people who know more vocabulary words in English than I do.
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It doesn't matter.
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Improvement is the key.
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You must focus on yourself.
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The more you focus on yourself,
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your own improvement, improving yourself,
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the happier you will become and the more you will improve.
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You will improve faster, you'll learn faster,
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you'll be more successful, and you'll enjoy it all much more.
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Now that's true for English,
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that's true for making money,
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that's true for your job,
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that's true for your relationships,
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it's true for your body and exercise and health, for everything.
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The secret is this, stop comparing yourself to other people,
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only compare yourself to yourself.
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All right, if you want more of my daily audios, go to EffortlessEnglishClub.com.
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New audios every day on the blog EffortlessEnglishClub.com.
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See you there.
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Thank you.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will focus on overcoming the challenges of language comparison among English learners. As you engage with the content, you'll learn valuable strategies to shift your focus from comparing yourself to others to improving your English speaking skills. This lesson emphasizes the importance of self-acceptance and personal growth in language learning. You’ll practice speaking English naturally and confidently, understanding that your journey is unique and should not be measured against others. Using tools such as a leading shadowing app, you can improve your pronunciation, vocabulary, and overall fluency while learning to celebrate your progress.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Comparison: the act of evaluating two or more things against each other.
- Motivation: the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.
- Pronunciation: the way in which a word is pronounced.
- Vocabulary: the body of words used in a particular language.
- Fluent: the ability to express oneself easily and articulately in speech.
- Shadow Speech: a technique used to improve language skills by repeating spoken words immediately after hearing them.
- Understanding: the ability to grasp the meaning of something.
- Success: the accomplishment of a goal or purpose.
Practice Tips
To enhance your English speaking through this lesson, try the following shadowing tips:
- Listen and Repeat: Use a shadowing app and listen closely to the video transcript provided. When you hear a phrase or sentence, pause the audio and repeat what you hear, focusing on emulating the tone and rhythm.
- Break It Down: If the speech feels too fast, break it into smaller parts. Shadow only a sentence or two at a time before moving on to longer phrases. This approach helps ensure accurate pronunciation and understanding.
- Mimic Emotion: Pay attention to AJ's emotional tone and inflection when speaking. Try to incorporate the same feelings into your practice to make your speech more engaging.
- Consistent Practice: Set aside regular time for English speaking practice. Consistency is key in language learning, and a simple daily session using your shadowing app can lead to significant improvements.
- Reflect on Progress: After practicing, take a moment to reflect on your performance. Instead of comparing yourself to others, celebrate the improvements you notice in your speaking capabilities.
By focusing on your personal journey and using effective techniques such as shadowspeaks and shadowspeak, you’ll not only enhance your English fluency but also boost your confidence in your language learning journey.
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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