ฝึกพูดภาษาอังกฤษด้วยเทคนิค Shadowing จากวิดีโอ: Can Adults Learn a New Language?

Is it possible to learn a language as an adult and if it is possible,

how is it different from learning a language as a child?

In this episode we are going to be speaking all about the process of learning a language as a grown-up,

as an adult and I'm going to talk about my absolute

favourite thing which is how I as a 23 year old I'm not 23 now

but when I was 23 I learnt my very very first kind of extra language

so prior to that point I only spoke English

and I want to kind of explain what

that experience was was like for me some of the feelings I had at various different stages of language learning

and maybe some of these stages will be in the same point

that you are maybe you will relate to some of the things

that I explain and you can know that hey

if you are studying English everything you're feeling right now is probably very very normal my name is Evie

and you are listening to the English podcast,

a podcast to help English learners practice their listening comprehension while they do other things.

So listen to this while you walk the dog, listen to this podcast while you brush your teeth, anything.

It's for you to practice English while you are a busy person basically.

I am really really interested and really really passionate about the process of learning a language as an adult.

So I work as an English teacher and I only work with with adult students.

I also make YouTube videos with with adults in mind

so I will swear in my videos it's

because all of my audience is adult

but I wanted to explain like a little bit about my background

and kind of my linguistic background as well so you can understand why I became so passionate and interested in languages.

I grew up in the UK so I am from the UK,

my family only speak English and in the UK we do study languages in school but it's not,

you will struggle to find British people

that speak languages other than English unless they maybe grew up in a family

which has you know grandparents or parents which speak another language as their mother tongue.

It's quite uncommon to find British people who speak French or Spanish or,

you know, something like this for any reason other than their parents are from there.

We do study languages in school in the UK, but it starts typically, it starts when you are, how old?

11 or 12 years old when you go to secondary school, which is, it's like our high school.

And you normally study French, Spanish or German.

And it's not even compulsory in many schools.

So in my school, you have to study it for two years, French or Spanish.

But then you can choose if you want to study or which one you want to do.

I, in school, this is so crazy now with my job, but I hated languages.

I found them really, really boring.

I couldn't speak and I misbehaved in class like all the time.

I was so badly behaved in school.

So I did not study French.

I did not study Spanish.

I just I just could not understand like languages.

For some reason, my brain was just not interested.

My whole life, basically all of my childhood and adolescence, I only spoke English.

The moment for me where this began to change is when I was at university.

So I went to university in London.

I had my friend group, you know, all English speakers.

And then I went on a study abroad.

So I had a year studying abroad in the United States.

And if anyone here has been on study abroad before, you'll probably know that usually all of the international kids or like adults,

students, they all group together I guess because we're outsiders

because we're only there for one year

so we find other people who you know are only there for a short time as well

and you kind of all go together

so I made friends with lots of people from all over

the world um in particular there were three Spanish people two boys

and girl and we all became friends like this big group

and I had another friend who spoke English

and Japanese another friend who spoke like Mandarin and English

and I was literally wowed by my friends like they we would go to Mexico

and they could switch languages they would go on the phone with their parents

and they could just switch between like English and Japanese

and I was so impressed like I was so fascinated too

because my brain only understood English the idea of having a brain

that could think of things in two different ways

or with two different linguistic structures was so fascinating to me and so impressive and I,

my poor friends, I had so many questions.

I was like, what language do you dream in?

Which language do you think sounds more beautiful?

I had so many questions for my friends and they were very lovely and answered all of my questions,

but I was so inspired by them and admired them

so much and their ability to move to a new country and speak English.

I just thought they were amazing. And eventually,

um I started dating one of the Spanish guys it's my boyfriend he's he's still dating me now

and we started dating and I went to Spain to visit his hometown

and meet his family and meet his friends

and I only spoke English still I had not tried to learn Spanish

and I went to Spain and I would go to like the bars

or go to the restaurants and I would meet his friends

and obviously if they're all together

and they all speak Spanish they're going to speak Spanish so

and some people don't actually you know speak great English

or don't feel very confident with their English

which is you know I can't expect everybody to change just for me

so I would be sat there

and my boyfriend would have to like translate absolutely everything into Spanish

so I would always be like 20 seconds behind in the conversation I couldn't really contribute

and I just remember feeling like this is actually embarrassing

because as a Brit we go away we go anywhere in the world

and we just expect everybody to speak in English with us,

we do, like we go abroad and we will quite confidently order food in English

and just hope that everybody will speak English with us

and I remember feeling like okay I really need to try

and try and learn Spanish so that when I go to Spain, I can interact with people and like form a relationship with the,

you know, the loved ones of my partner.

But I was, I was really worried because I,

I genuinely believed at this point that you could learn a language as a child or maybe as a teenager,

100

but once you became an adult, I just believed it was impossible.

101

I don't know if I had read that online

102

or whether it's just something that people say they say

103

that yeah when you're a kid your brain is like a sponge

104

and you can learn languages really easily but

105

when you're an adult it's basically like never gonna it's never gonna happen is what I I believed um

106

but I decided you know what like I'm not I'm not

107

stupid like I'm a clever person like I well I hope

108

so but I I was like I'm smart like I'm sure I can I can do this

109

so I had to go back to the UK for my final year of university

110

and I decided to enroll in a beginner Spanish course my degree was in history in international history

111

so languages had nothing to do with what I studied

112

but I signed up

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and I was feeling like confident guys I was like you

114

know what like my like boyfriend is Spanish like I will

115

be able to practice Spanish with him like surely I'm gonna go into this class

116

and I'm gonna like I'm gonna smash this I'm gonna I'm gonna get straight A's

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and I went into that first week and I left and I was absolutely mind blown.

118

Like I was trying to understand the fact that

119

language does not only exist in one way and there were really really basic concepts that were completely blowing my mind.

120

After like a few weeks I was beginning to like sit some exams, like sit some writing exams, sit some speaking exams.

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And I was doing absolutely awful.

122

Okay, like I was getting B's, but I'm somebody, I want A plus, you know.

123

And I was there for three months and I was studying, I was going home and writing flashcards,

124

and my grades still sucked.

125

And I could not understand why I was so shit at Spanish

126

and I was like oh my god what have I done

127

I have signed up for this class knowing full well

128

that I'm 23 and I'm too old to ever learn a language

129

and it was the last year of my degree

130

and I was super stressed and it got to a point where I

131

I went to my Spanish teacher and I started crying

132

so dramatic now it's like oh my god there are bigger problems in the world

133

but I was just feeling so disheartened

134

and I felt like learning a language was seriously impossible um

135

and then I decided okay like my teacher told me don't worry this happens to everyone,

136

like you are actually doing really well, so stop panicking basically.

137

And I decided to go away and go on Google and start searching like okay how,

138

what do people recommend to learn Spanish on your own?

139

And when I was on Reddit I found a post of somebody talking about a website called Dreaming Spanish

140

which is basically like a website with videos for Spanish learners starting at like super beginner

141

so somebody who knows nothing

142

and going up to like an advanced level it's not super advanced

143

but a more complicated level

144

and the way these videos worked were they were designed to be understandable even

145

if you did not know any of the words.

146

So right now I'm holding a glass of water

147

and the video would be like this is a glass of water okay like you can understand

148

that right and I was like okay if people on reddit

149

you know not a good source of information but

150

if people on reddit say

151

that this is the way to study spanish then that's what i'm going to do

152

and basically every single day in january i would listen to

153

videos in spanish for i think like at the beginning it was only half an hour every day

154

and my brain would hurt.

155

I don't know if you have had this before, if you listen to lots of videos in English, like your brain actually starts aching like it's done a workout

156

and in the beginning that was what was happening to me

157

but with time I could listen to more and more

158

and more and I started going to like an hour a day

159

and then two hours a day and then three hours a day,

160

crazy, of listening to Spanish and this was the real moment where I started to see great progress with my language abilities.

161

So in the beginning I was only listening to Dreaming Spanish

162

and then I started listening to like a gaming channel made for beginners called Spanish Boost Gaming

163

and a podcast by Español Con Juan

164

and these two things like changed it for me like changed learning Spanish

165

because I would listen to the podcast when I was doing other things

166

and the gaming videos were just so entertaining to watch

167

that I could watch them for hours every day and not feel like I was studying.

168

So shout out Spanish Boost Gaming because that is one of the things

169

that inspired me to make this channel was the feeling of kind of watching these videos.

170

Anyway, I was feeling great.

171

It was coming up to the final exam for my Spanish course at university

172

and I decided it would be a good idea to visit my boyfriend in Spain, have like a week where I only spoke Spanish.

173

So I went to Spain, I was feeling so good, like for the first time I felt like I could actually sort of have a conversation.

174

I was really bad at using like proper grammar, my past tense was rubbish but I went to Spain

175

and my boyfriend said oh let's go hang out with with my friends you know the people

176

that I had previously been sat there and not saying anything

177

and I was like okay yeah like I've got this

178

and we went there was like 10 people sat at this table

179

and everyone is speaking Spanish and guys I could not understand a single fucking word like

180

not one and I remember in this moment feeling so disappointed and upset

181

because I had literally spent hours every day for months studying Spanish it had like taken over my life

182

and I really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed the process

183

but to work so hard at something and then be in this situation

184

and be completely like helpless was so discouraging and disappointing

185

and you know I could not understand a word like it

186

might as well have been Arabic like I just could not understand anything

187

and I remember leaving this dinner

188

and just again a lot of crying I cried I literally left this dinner

189

and cried because in English I think I I feel very confident like speaking with new people

190

and I feel very confident and outgoing

191

but in Spanish I had this inability to be myself

192

and it was really it really like made me feel awful

193

um again I I tried to bounce back from it I went back to the UK, I did my exam, it went really well, I got a great grade,

194

flex, but I got a great grade and then I was like, okay, if I'm going to, you know, understand these people in Spanish,

195

like I need to try and listen to more native content, I can't stay with the learner content,

196

so I began to listen to some easier native content

197

and I've mentioned this in a few videos

198

but from my experience with Spanish

199

if you can understand my videos the easiest native content to then understand is like true crime,

200

reality tv, especially dating shows and before you tell me like that's bad advice

201

because they don't speak properly oh just it doesn't matter it's for learning.

202

You don't have to speak like Molly May, who is a famous reality TV star, but it's just good to practice.

203

You don't have to speak like them, okay?

204

So true crime, reality TV, gaming videos are usually very descriptive of what is happening

205

and some streamers as well will repeat themselves multiple times so the chat like can catch up with them, so that's another good one.

206

And once I started doing this, I feel like I started getting better.

207

And then I started taking Spanish classes like one on one.

208

And then in January of 2025, no, 2026.

209

But this this January, I went back to Spain.

210

And for the first time, I could understand groups of people

211

and it was literally it was the best like most rewarding feeling

212

because I'd spent so many hours studying

213

and I finally could actually communicate in a in a conversation and participate in a group setting

214

my Spanish is not perfect but I now feel like it's actually usable

215

so that was the most amazing thing ever

216

and it just made it all feel worth it this this moment

217

when I went to Spain it was a whole week only in Spanish

218

and there were very few moments where I felt out of my depth like uncomfortable with my abilities.

219

The reason why I'm telling you this story, and I know it's very long, it's because it's like my favourite thing to talk about,

220

but also I want you to know that it is actually possible as an adult.

221

I think many people say like you can learn a language as a child

222

or you as an adult need to learn a language like you did

223

when you were a child

224

and as an adult you feel like you're on the back foot when it comes to language learning.

225

I have been doing like a little bit of reading about this.

226

I am by no means an expert.

227

I feel like with my linguistics reading.

228

I'm a bit, I'm still a bit behind, like I'm still in the 1900s reading, I need to get some more up-to-date stuff.

229

But adults can still learn languages,

230

it's just obviously a little bit different from when you are a child

231

and a lot of that is to do with mentality.

232

So adults actually learn languages quicker than children do.

233

And you might be like, no way, but think about it, children, their brains are still developing, so it takes them years to learn a language.

234

Adults can understand rules much faster than children can,

235

but one thing that holds adult learners back is they always want to understand why.

236

They will be told a grammar rule and they think, why

237

or adults are very prone to it's very common for them

238

to research like I know I've done this I will research

239

how to learn Spanish instead of actually engaging with the language

240

or studying so just try and avoid doing that too much try

241

and keep we say like the eyes on the prize okay Keep the eyes on the prize.

242

Focus on what it is you should be doing,

243

which is engaging with English in a way that is fun and enjoyable and that you like to do.

244

I have many students now, like I mentioned before, all of my students are adults

245

and they range from like 18 to I don't know how old my oldest student is, but in his 60s.

246

And I see improvement in my students every single week, every single month.

247

If you want it and you're an adult, do not let your age stop you because you can improve

248

and you will improve if you keep working and if you enjoy it, if you engage with it.

249

In particular, a lot of linguistics papers will speak about adult brains having like a filter.

250

okay it's like a filter it's something which prevents information from going in to your brain

251

um adults I feel like are worse at this because we try

252

and analyze things because we lack confidence we actually prevent ourselves from fully engaging

253

and enjoying and learning in a way that's fun.

254

So this is why I make videos that are maybe more like vlogs or more casual, I think.

255

It's because I was A, really inspired by this Spanish Boost gaming channel,

256

because that was one of the things that made me improve so much with Spanish, is when I stopped overthinking it so much

257

and having language learning be something that I feel nervous about

258

and sick about and awful then I just improved and improved and improved so enjoy English if you can.

259

If you ever want recommendations for you know native content do let me know.

260

I have one video where I talk about some of my favourite YouTube channels

261

but I would also love to make one on like maybe TV shows or documentaries.

262

I just don't know what streaming platforms you guys have.

263

Obviously, my audience is very international.

264

So in the UK, we have like Netflix.

265

Some people have Amazon.

266

Some people might have like Disney Plus.

267

I only have Netflix, but I would love to know what you what you have

268

and what you watch and then maybe I can give some some suggestions from there

269

if you are trying to get a question to me I

270

am often better at checking comments on like my recent upload

271

so anyway just pop it in there or on my Instagram I do check Instagram um but yeah

272

I just wanted to say I hope this was inspiring

273

or useful that you know now

274

that learning a language as an adult learning English as an adult is possible

275

and you can do it and

276

if you are listening to this podcast you are doing it there are lots of phrases

277

and expressions and some good vocabulary Larry in this one

278

so I hope that you enjoyed it

279

and have a lovely rest of your morning or your afternoon

280

or your evening thank you so very much I will see you in the next one bye

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ฝึกพูดภาษาอังกฤษด้วยเทคนิค Shadowing จากวิดีโอ: Can Adults Learn a New Language?

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