How to use shadow techniques to learn English

Looking for ways to learn English effectively? Shadow technique can be one of the most effective techniques you could ever encounter. Using shadow techniques to learn English can help you with your memory, accent, and stress points.

The shadowing technique is very straightforward. To shadow, something is to imitate it. In English, this means paying attention to someone else’s speech before attempting to mimic their sounds.

It’s sometimes referred to as the “listen and repeat method,” but the concepts are the same. After listening to the audio, you should summarize what you heard. There are numerous advantages to this, which we will discuss in more detail later.  We advise using the shadow technique because it has always helped people speak more clearly.

Why shadow technique is good

People frequently believe that such a simple technique won’t be of much use to them. Those individuals are highly mistaken. The shadowing technique has a lot of advantages.

Building muscle memory

There are probably some sounds in English that are not there in your native language. To create these new sounds, you must therefore move your face, lips, and tongue in various ways. The best way to achieve this is to practice using the right muscle movements. The more you practice, the simpler it becomes.

The process is exactly the same if you want to speak with new sounds. You must practice using the proper facial, lip, and tongue movements if you want to produce the sounds correctly. Although it will take some time, shadowing is a great way to practice these abilities.

Learning stress

English is among the languages based on stress. This implies that we emphasize particular word sounds or individual words within a sentence. Not all languages function in this way. Even other languages that use stress handle this differently.

However, it is very challenging to learn stress. It’s not like vocabulary or grammar. The only way to really learn this is through a lot of listening and a lot of practice. The best way to learn and practice English stress patterns is by shadowing. Because you practice making the same sounds and you will eventually understand how to stress the words and sentences as a native speaker would.

Among all your goals for learning English, learning stress needs to be one of them. As it will make you sound like a native English speaker.

Reduction of natural accent

A natural accent is not a bad thing. However, if your accent is very strong naturally, it might be very challenging to understand what you are saying. For example, many people speak “Katakana English”. This is where the Japanese language sounds are used to pronounce English words. It can be very challenging to understand because the words sound different due to the different sounds that the sounds make.

The shadowing technique is a great way to practice if you want to have a more natural accent when speaking English, which will also make it simpler for other English speakers to understand. You will develop your own natural accent by imitating a native speaker.

Try following the same English sentence structure and accent used by native speakers and you will eventually end up sounding like them.

How to start using the shadow technique

Now that you are aware of what shadowing is and its benefits, you probably want to try it. To practice shadowing, all you need to do is a calm environment where you can speak without being interrupted, have some free time, and have some audio for shadowing.

You can try TV shows, movies, radio, music, podcasts, audiobooks, and YouTube videos. Simply select the item that appeals to you the most because any of these would be appropriate for shadowing. Simply look for content that includes a transcript or subtitles so you can read the sentence you are attempting to copy. Although not necessary, it is very beneficial.

Once you have found the audio that you want to use, it’s time to get started. Shadowing basically has 3 steps:

Step 1:

While you are listening to the audio you have selected, read the transcript. Keep listening through to the very end without pausing. Be less concerned about fully comprehending what you hear. Just some extra time for you to listen to the audio you will be copying.

Step 2:

Replay the audio while pausing at the end of each sentence this time. Then try the sounds you just heard. Before moving on to the next sentence, practice the previous one 3-5 times. Try to pay close attention to how the words sound and how they are stressed.

Step 3:

As soon as the audio gets finished your work for today is complete. The only thing left to do is repeat these three steps whenever you want to practice shadowing.

If you are looking for a professional English language learning platform, you can check out italki. Here, the English teacher online will help you with vocabulary building, pronunciation, sentence structure, techniques like shadowing, etc. With italki, you can learn English online by getting guidance from native instructors. It also provides the facility of a free trial before official enrollment.

Meaningful tips for using shadow technique to learn English

Use audio featuring native speakers

In order to find a native speaker you like, there are tons of resources available. A great place to start is YouTube. You don’t even have to look for materials created for language learners. Listen to someone talking about the topic of your interest. Most likely, this will increase your interest in the information and your motivation to listen and observe.

Don’t panic if you don’t understand

Do not be concerned if you cannot understand the audio you are listening to because the purpose of shadowing is to practice the sounds. Shadowing is merely a method for enhancing your verbal abilities and delivery.

You will naturally pick up some new words along the way, but this is not the goal of shadowing.

Avoid overuse of the shadow technique

Although shadowing is fantastic, avoid doing it constantly. It becomes boring if you do it too frequently. If it’s monotonous, you won’t find it enjoyable and stop using this strategy. We advise shadowing 1-2 days a week for 10-15 minutes each time. You will get some good results from this, and it won’t be too much to get boring.

Like everything else in English, if you do it too frequently, you will grow bored. Don’t forget to work on your other abilities as well.

Record yourself

There are voice recording apps for smartphones. A good way to hear how you actually sound when speaking English is to record yourself while shadowing. Although it is initially embarrassing, listening to yourself speak is a great way to identify your areas of weakness. It is simple to improve your weaknesses if you are aware of what they are.

Consider making a recording of yourself while you are shadowing and then playing it back a few days later. You will embrace your improvement.

Frequently asked questions about the Shadow technique

Q. How can the shadowing technique help improve learners’ accuracy?

A. You can refine your gestures by shadowing to make sounds more precisely. In a real conversation, you must arrange your thoughts, choose the appropriate words, and construct phrases. However, if you mimic someone else’s speech, you can just concentrate on the language’s sounds.

Q. Does shadowing help in language learning?

A. Learners can independently use the advanced language learning technique of “shadowing” to enhance their intonation and pronunciation. It’s a pretty straightforward idea: you listen to a model, such as a video or audio of someone speaking, and you immediately repeat what they say.

Q. What does the overuse of the shadow technique leads to?

A. The overuse of the shadow technique leads to excessive boredom.

Conclusion

You can also learn English conversations for beginners using different techniques and tricks. Try using the shadow technique to learn English but do not overuse it. Look for other techniques as well and design a good learning strategy for yourself.