Shadowing Discussed

[makeiteasyable]

thanks for the info it helps a lot

[marckami]

It's convenient to convert those videos into mp3 and listen to them on your mp3. Use this site youtube-mp3 [dot] org

[Haseeb2]

The motor cortex of the brain is used when doing any type of physical activity... this includes exercising and articulating speech. Also, whenever we listen and repeat words, we are using two parts of the brain called Broca's area and Wernicke's area. To optimize one's study time, we should minimize the activity in different parts of the brain as much as possible, not increase it. This is why from a neurological standpoint this technique is worst than sitting down and studying only.

[darthmop1]

i have several ways to study a language but this is the most interesting i've heard ever of. Today i met a 15 year old French, able to write perfect english and german, learning japanese on record time. He told me of this technique and that i should try it myself on mandarin. I say i give it a shot. Thank you for the all the detailed information.

[martinraeside]

I'm just about to complete the Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese course - mostly by taking my mp3 player for long walks - not shadowing, but I would certainly say my state of mind, attention, and concentration are always best outdoors. Plus it eliminates the conflict between finding time to study and also remain healthy. I also seem to be more willing to repeat and revise - the scenery changes anyway.

[jceja24]

Merci. Obrigado. Gracias. Thanks

[karlkid333]

Professor, perhaps it is that students are looking for an abstraction of the practice; a summary, without mention of all concrete details, so that they may follow an axiom rather than a schedule. Some prefer to compress the information of life rather than relay it bit by bit.

[4545454545asp]

tremendous sense of humor at 2:57

[19fas88]

All due respect Arguelles you did not invent the concept of shadowing. Whether or not you invented a variation of it; I have no idea.

[Yusuke1096]

The problem I ran into with learning foreign languages in a classroom setting was trying to learn while funneling the language through the filter of my own native language.

[shounenbat510]

@Yusuke1096 I still have that problem somewhat. When I'm listening to Japanese, I seem to want to translate it into English in my head first, and then formulate my response in English before translating it into Japanese. Hopefully, this technique will help me.

[scarabsl2000]

I practice the Shadowing method for learning French and have found it the best method for learning a language that I have come across. If I had know of it before I would have mastered my other languages far better in a far shorter time. And, because I saw some comments about it, I don't think that Prof. Arguelles is saying that it must be done outside in a park or else it is useless. If you only feel comfortable doing in your home walking around then so be it!

[HawkeHound]

I would like to try...but I have nowhere to do it without annoying (and worrying!) other people.

[XiaoCarl]

Education is the most important thing needed in someones life,thanks for the free lessons. I will try this technique tomorrow night while walking through the park, I'm not to worried about being stared at strangely as that's already the norm for us here in China.

[svsimon]

Is it important that you understand all of what is being said on the recordning that you are shadowing?

[svsimon]

No need to answer...I watched to longer video about shadowing

[inkstersco]

I'm delighted someone else endorses this technique. I discovered this technique for myself independently and thought I was the only one who did it.

[mekalika]

How do you edit out the pauses in Assimil..?

[ProfASAr]

Please watch the next video for more details on this.

[sebtuber]

What is one to do on cold periods of the year or in cold climates? Do you pace around halls of some empty building, or a treadmill during winter?

To all reading, this is not to mock this video or this approach. It is a legit concern of mine.

[ProfASAr]

Yes, either of these would be acceptable alternatives in truly inclement weather or frigid climates if you have been working with this method and find the motion to be as beneficial as I myself do.

[anne241163]

How about putting on clothes fit for the climate? That's what we do in Norway :)

[parasitius]

I was shocked to see you mention that a 30 minute segment should be used? Memory limits kill me if I don't break my audiobook (Japanese literature) into 40-60 seconds and repeat until each segment is very familiar to me. Of course after some days I could line them all up together. My big question is how do you handle 'knots'? I always reach 92% matching on a segment and have a tongue twisting headache-inducing 8% I can't—thus frustrating to repeat the 92% good bit 100x to fix the 8% bad

[ProfASAr]

I am sorry but I do not understand what you are asking me - please clarify.

[parasitius]

Sorry, the youtube comment limit forced me to butcher my original text to fit in the limit. I'll rewrite the question on the how-to-learn-any-language shadowing thread. Thanks.

[jmichaelrout]

Professor, we've waited a long time for this, thanks! Would you suggest using familiar materials? For example, would you suggest working through a book on your own first then go back and listen/shadow the audio? Is one way more advantageous than the other? I have the Living Language German audio and I've never used the course.

[ProfASAr]

This is itself a fine way to familiarize yourself with materials, so there is no need to plan on working through them in some other fashion first and foremost, but if you have already done so and still need to revise more in order to internalize the content, you could profitably switch over now, presuming your course has suitable audio and visual material (and I'm not sure that Living Language German does).

[jmichaelrout]

Okay, thank you. The reason I was asking is I'm mainly using a non-audio method now (Charles Duff-German for beginners. It's an excellent series from the '60s in 5 different languages. Kinda like TYS, etc.) but I really want to try this method out in addition. I don't think I'm advanced enough yet to enjoy any of the audiobooks I have though. Maybe I can play catchup an audio method since I probably already know a lot beginning material. Thanks Prof. A! Your videos are so encouraging.

[ProfASAr]

I really would recommend that you track down and invest in an Assimil German manual + recordings if you want to try this method in addition, particularly since you have the basics already: you will simply move swiftly through the course at first, solidifying your foundations, until you come to a point/period when you can really grow naturally into the language. As I said at the end of this video, in the next I will talk you through the stages a bit more.

[anglaismoyen]

hallo! I love thy videos, they are verily informative ond thy intelligence shines through. I aspire to thy level of linguistic ability.

[darkmatter88]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this!

[DandyPayday]

Thank you so much for uploading this video, professor Arguelles! I will try this method tonight with Spanish.

[Walshyman]

This video has removed a couple of misconceptions of mine about shadowing. Jonmahoney04's questions are almost all that is left to ask.

Just quickly though, what sort of recording would you recommend for someone at the beginner's level? Is there anything of note apart from Assimil?

[ProfASAr]

Assimil has the ideal format for this technique, the widest range of languages, and is generally simply the best method in most given cases. Linguaphone and some of the Cortina methods can also be used as they are. You can also edit the audio of FSI, TYS, Colloquial and other courses to make them suitable as well. Then there are small presses for individual languages... And at more advanced levels, you can use works of literature, of course.

[Walshyman]

Thanks.

I've been studying German on and off for three years alongside my uni degree. I'm at a level now where I can read or listen to something and very rarely miss much, so I think I can safely begin studying another language now.

I mention learning German since I learnt much of it by rote, with word lists and such, so it will be interesting for me to gauge shadowing against it when I take on Spanish.  I have some of the materials you mentioned, too, so I can start right away.

Thanks again.

[shedsevenfan]

Prof, I really don't understand why you find that Assimil is better than Linguaphone! I'd agree that Assimil is good, but the Linguaphone recordings contain more material, do they not? (And Linguaphone also includes many very good exercises to back up their main recordings!)

[ProfASAr]

This will be clearer after the next video. For this specific study technique, it has to do with the handy one volume bilingual format of Assimil. Also, when you edit out all the gaps, the average Linguaphone audio is less than 2 hours, while the average Assimil is 2+. Have you watched my video reviews of both methods? There I explain in detail why I rate Assimil best overall, and I also note that in many individual cases, a given Linguaphone course is the better.

[TensileStrength]

My drama teacher used a similar technique to help us memorize lines. When we had our lines only partly memorized, we would recite our lines while bouncing a ball against a wall. Focusing on the physical act made it easier for our minds to recall our lines and we were ready to perform faster than we expected.

[alto5alto]

Ha ha oh dude I just watched paulino's video, I foresee a whole new genre of videos that consist of people shadowing your video, that sht's gonna be funny!

[alto5alto]

yer a genius! I shadow while walking my dog, he's blind so it helps him follow me cuz he can always hear me speaking.

[Green4321]

Personally, I see this as a double benefit for myself and perhaps many others. Having a sedintary job, I need to walk/exercise more, and just for my own enjoyment I would like to improve my foreign language skills. Shadowing seems like a great way to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone!

I received a small iPod as a gift, so now it's just a matter of finding and loading the appropriate language content.

[paulinobrener]

i just tested this technique and posted it as a video response. i hope you like it. i have used this technique a long time ago when i started learning english. i used to listen to VOA all the time on the radio when i lived in Argentina and would repeat everything that i would hear on the radio (to the annoyance of my family!). this was about 20 years ago.

[jonmahoney04]

I suppose this answers my confusion. I couldn't understand how you would be able to recite along with the recording, but not I see that you're just almost echoing it. It seems to me that the only line between this and repetition is that here there are no pauses in the audio to repeat.

Am I missing something?

[ProfASAr]

I fear that you might be. The bridge video shows how it should be done: here I am giving an example of "bad practice" because of many requests that I allow you all to hear what I am listening to. Don't forget that I am not wearing earphones, and that although I am shadowing what I myself just said, this is still only the first time I have done it. If I were wearing earphones after having done these lines repeatedly, I would indeed begin to recite almost simultaneously with the recording.

[jonmahoney04]

Ah, I see. So one should use the same audio repeatedly? Eventually it would be memorized. That leads me to ask how long should the recordings be? How many times and how often should one be repeated?

[ProfASAr]

For learning a foreign language, the recordings that accompany didactic manuals that systematically teach the language by means of narratives and dialogues are usually 2 or 3 hours long. It is best if you can have more than one of these. You should work with 10 - 30 minute segments at a time, at least once a day, as many times as you need in order to internalize the material, most likely dozens of times, but this really depends on how difficult the language in question is for you.

[crazyparkourkid]

Great. These answers have helped a lot and make shadowing seem like more a viable study aide for me. You say most likely dozens of time. It seems to me that it would have to be repetitive in order to accomplish this sort of subconscious memorization effect, or could that just be replaced by using a text along with it, such as Assimil? Do you recommend using a text while shadowing? Mightn't it be dangerous at times, walking while reading?

[ProfASAr]

Yes, you should use a text while shadowing, and yes, you can trip or bump into something while reading and walking at the same time, which is why this should ideally be done on designated "shadowing grounds" at an intensive institute for foreign language skills, or at least on a relatively remote park path, and most certainly not on the street. Please wait for the next video as I will talk more about this.

[ProfASAr]

Although you may well come to literally memorize some of the lines, you do not need to make any conscious effort to do so. Are there not many songs whose titles and refrains you may be able to sing on your own, but whose complete texts you cannot, and yet when you listen to the music and sing along, you are able to do so? You only need to work for that effect rather than actually memorizing the lines of a character in a play in order to perform the role.

[scootermclean]

fantastic

[Theta910]

Thank you very much Prof. That helped!

[biantai888]

Ahh! There is a small lapse of time between the recording and the shadower.

That could actually improve fluid intelligence.

[zocurtis]

1st! Great vid once again Prof.