跟讀練習: Why I Quit Learning Languages - 通過影片學習英語口語

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104 句

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When I first started learning languages, I was obsessed.

It was like I finally found my purpose in life.

I studied all day, every day, starting first with French.

I would wake up and immediately listen to the language, then eat breakfast while looking at a French textbook, drive to work, French podcast,

lunch break, study French, go home, study French, then sit in calls on the internet until the early morning speaking French.

Things evolved and I added other languages, and then in 2020 when I was stuck at home, I walked, I kid you not,

at least 10 miles every single day while listening to podcasts and learning lingos for countless hours.

It became my entire identity, and because I loved it so much, I improved so fast.

When I wasn't learning languages, I was practicing them, and if I wasn't practicing them, I was talking about them.

I saw it as a game, a way to unlock communication DLC with new NPCs around the world.

As a formerly sheltered American, I started studying maps, and I finally learned where every country is and which languages they all speak.

Then I'd fall asleep fantasizing about which languages I'd ultimately learn and where I could go travel to use them.

And I spent a ton of time watching polyglot YouTube.

I was so motivated seeing people who were ahead of me speaking even more languages.

Of course, some were better than others, some just wanted me to buy their course, but I was especially a fan of Steve Kaufman,

whose lifelong dedication to languages inspired me like none other.

I genuinely wanted to become the greatest language learner of all time, and I would stop at nothing to achieve that.

So funny enough, I started filming myself in private, roleplaying as a polyglot YouTuber, flexing all my languages.

So one day, I stopped LARPing, and I made my own YouTube channel.

I had always dreamed of being a YouTuber, but now I finally had my niche, an obsession that I was truly passionate about.

I started sharing my unique perspective in the community.

I wanted to convey that language learning is the most fun

and rewarding hobby in the world that doesn't need to be overly academic, serious, or complicated.

I also wanted to show that people who lie and exaggerate their levels in languages are cringe, and that French is gay.

And people liked my videos.

I mean, a lot of people hated them, but the controversy kept them coming back for more.

So after consistently making videos for a while, I was blessed with an amazing community, more subscribers and views than a man could ever dream of having,

and a sense of purpose in life that I finally felt aligned with.

And then my idol, the guy I looked to for advice on my favorite hobby, the guy I wanted to be like,

Steve Kaufman, publicly complimented my language skills.

I've only heard you in Arabic, I've heard you in Russian, and you are very good.

All of that success felt amazing, and I'm truly grateful for everything.

But behind the scenes, there was a lot going on in my head.

You see, pretty early on in my YouTube career, a major shift occurred.

That passionate, unrivaled energy I had for language learning started to fade.

Because the countless hours I would spend studying languages

and trying to become the best polyglot ever were now being spent making videos about language learning.

So anytime I'd sit down to study, I'd feel like I'm procrastinating the more important thing, the YouTube channel.

It always felt like my time would be better spent researching, writing, editing, or brainstorming ideas.

So for the first time since I started, I wasn't improving my languages.

And pretty quickly, this shift started to hurt me.

I lost a big part of myself.

Arguably the best and most positive part of me.

The part of me who lived for the joy of learning languages.

And I'd constantly try to fix this and start studying again.

I used to be able to stick to and not cheat on a language for a very long time,

but now I'd get excited about a language for a month or two before slowly drifting away from it.

I kept desperately trying to recreate that obsession I once had, but it just always felt forced.

The version of me that used to spend every waking hour thinking about languages just seemingly wasn't there anymore.

And it became a negative feedback loop, where the worse I felt about it, the less I'd try, which would make me feel worse about it, and I'd just avoid things more.

But in parallel, my YouTube success led me to great places.

I've now been to all sorts of different countries for language exchange events, and I've met so many remarkable people who are genuinely impressive with all the languages they speak fluently.

I am blown away seeing other people's passion for this hobby, and it is unbelievably inspiring seeing what people are capable of.

But often in these circles and at these events, I've just felt like such an imposter.

Everyone around me has continued to improve in their languages, but I've just stagnated in private and it's frustrating.

It's frustrating because I know I'm capable of so much more

and I miss that feeling of progress and achievement that I used to have all the time.

I used to be able to talk about languages for countless hours without stopping, but now, if someone even mentioned them,

it would bring up deep feelings of shame and remind me of all the lost time.

So due to all that, I quit learning languages.

I seemingly didn't like them anymore, and there was too much self-imposed negativity for me to even consider trying again.

I'd pop on YouTube to make videos that I did genuinely enjoy,

but there was a huge disconnect between the guy making videos about language learning and the guy actually learning languages,

which just further amplified things and made me pretty depressed.

So I went and spent time with other hobbies, but under the surface, it was just escapism.

I never was able to find anything that scratched the same itch.

So why am I making this video and saying this all now?

Well, recently, something changed.

A little while ago, I finally had the clarity to see what went wrong.

I was looking at things backwards.

I was putting the cart before the horse.

I kept waiting for the passion to magically reappear before I started learning again, and that just wasn't working.

I just spent my days depressed about all the time I had seemingly lost.

So instead of waiting for the magical motivation fairy to come visit me, I just started.

I started studying again.

And I picked something I'd been procrastinating for years, improving my Spanish.

For so long, I felt that my Spanish was underdeveloped.

So I started showing up every single day and learning it again.

And most importantly, I did it without judging myself.

And I made it the priority ahead of making videos.

And then something unexpected happened.

All of the positive feelings around language learning slowly started to come back and I became excited again.

I began to reconnect with the past version of myself whose life was consumed by language learning and it feels so good.

I've started to daydream again about the future and all the adventures I could go on with my languages.

And as I'm writing this video, last night for the first time in a long time, I fell asleep thinking of the languages I could learn in the future.

I thought that I had to find passion to create action, but it was the other way around.

Taking action rekindled my passion.

So now I'm proud to tell you

that I've been sharing what I learn every single day for more than 120 days with my supporters on Patreon.

And now I feel reconnected to my dream of becoming the best language learner ever, and I'm gonna do it.

And as for YouTube, yeah, it's gotten in the way at times, but that's because my priorities were backwards.

I don't need to quit YouTube.

Perhaps this could be a new beginning of sorts for me.

But if I'm gonna share my passion for languages again, I need to be actively living it.

So from now on, I'll always prioritize my hobby and my mission, and then my videos will naturally follow from that.

And I'm very sorry, mother, but I think it's time we grow the beard back out.

That beard I had in 2022 was a symbol of my undying dedication towards polyglottism, and shaving it was the worst mistake of my life.

Half of my languages were stored in there.

And I think it's time I do what most YouTubers do when they get a bit more serious.

100

I'm gonna change my channel name from Language Simp to my actual legal birth name.

101

Language Simp.

102

I'd like to continue to inspire people to join me in this wonderful hobby, the greatest hobby that the universe has ever given us.

103

And as always...

104

...Vseem i di naaaaaaach!

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節 B2 級別的口語課以影片“Why I Quit Learning Languages”為素材。影片中反覆出現的詞有：language, learning, Youtube, French, felt。這段影片共有 104 個句子、1551 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 8:35。說話人語速較快，每分鐘約 181 個詞，會出現較多連讀和弱讀。只有 78% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙難度較高。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中最難的 15 個單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
hobby 名詞	/ˈhɑ.bi/	愛好 /愛好, 嗜好
polyglot 形容詞	/ˈpɑlɪˌɡlɑt/	多種語言 /多種語言, 多語 /多語
countless 形容詞	/ˈkaʊntləs/	無數 /無數
inspire 動詞	/ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/	授意, 鼓舞
frustrate 動詞	/ˈfɹʌsˌtɹeɪt/	令人失望, 挫折
learner 名詞	/ˈlɜɹnəɹ/	學習者 /學習者
procrastinate 動詞	/pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/	耽擱 /耽擱, 拖延
backward 形容詞	/ˈbækwɚd/	逆向
obsession 名詞	/əbˈsɛʃən/	著迷, 著迷
beard 名詞	/bɪɹd/	хўзы, 喙鬚 /喙須
passionate 形容詞	/ˈpæʃənɪt/	多情, 熾熱 /熾熱
depressed 形容詞	/dɪˈpɹɛst/	沮喪 /沮喪, 鬱悶 /鬱悶
podcast 名詞	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	播客
brainstorming 名詞		頭腦風暴 /頭腦風暴, 腦力激盪 /腦力激盪
daydream 動詞	/ˈdeɪdɹiːm/	做白日夢 /做白日夢

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	發音	釋義
bring up 動詞		撫養 /撫養, 養大 /養大
come back 動詞		回來 /回來, 返回
show up 動詞		露面
wake up 動詞	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	醒, 醒來 /醒來

影片中的語法

說話人最常用的結構，並附上影片中的原話：

結構	影片中的用法
“used to” used to + 動詞 — 過去的習慣或狀態，現在已不再如此	used to be · used to spend · used to have
現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事	I've only heard · I've now been · I've just felt
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	being spent · was underdeveloped · was consumed
定語從句 who / which + 從句 — 補充說明人或事物	people who were · people who lie · people who are

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 40 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 I'd, I'm, I've。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: obsession /əbˈsɛʃən/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/
長單詞——注意重音位置: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, procrastinate /pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, escapism /ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm/, exaggerate /ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 hobby, polyglot, countless 這類單詞。

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: Why I Quit Learning Languages - 通過影片學習英語口語

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