You’ve all heard of “listen and repeat” but have you heard of “shadowing”?
I won’t say it’s a little known concept because I know many language learners that have used this technique or something very similar in their own studies without ever encountering the term itself. They simply stumbled upon it themselves through their own trial and error. The term itself came into play from Professor Arguelles, a polyglot of many languages.
So, let’s take a well-known concept like “listen and repeat” and move from there. The idea with listen and repeat is that you listen to the audio, then repeat it. The idea behind “shadowing” is that when your hear the audio you say it… simultaneously.
Sounds impossible or confusing right? It’s not too difficult to grasp in reality. Basically, all you need to do is as soon you hear something then you try to imitate it. If all else fails… imagine you’re a 7 year old trying to annoy your parents by constantly repeating what they say. That about sums it up!
With practice, your imitation will usually become closer in speed, accuracy of intonation and pronunciation when compared to the original audio. When it comes to coming to grips with the audio you are shadowing, it is pretty helpful if you have a matching text that you can following through some of the steps – maybe not in those initial stages as you want to feel the audio first, but definitely when you have developed that feeling for the audio and you want to work on the accuracy.
So in reality, “shadowing” builds on “listen and repeat” and takes it a step further. It’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a go. I personally like to use a combination of “listen and repeat” and “shadowing” through the various stages of working on a script or audio. I find that this combination helps me to clarify intricacies in my own mind and develops my pronunciation further.
Try it out, see what you think. And drop us an email to give us your thoughts… or modifications you have made for your own situation.
