Shadowing - how to do it? (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

Shadowing - how to do it?
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Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

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Jamopy
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Message 1 of 69

18 September 2013 at 1:55pm | IP Logged

Alexander Arguelles recommends two techniques of his for learning languages - Scriptorum
and Shadowing. I've started using scriptorum already and find it useful and easy.
Shadowing i'm finding hard to use. I'm supposed to have access to to a text and a spoken
word copy of the same text in order to be able to use it, but i can't find that in the
language i'm learning (Swedish). Does this method work if you just shadow a random
conversation, say a radio broadcast/podcast, with no idea what many of the words mean?

Any help would be appreciated.
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prz_
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Message 2 of 69

18 September 2013 at 3:15pm | IP Logged

A little help here... http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=36168&PN=1&TPN=2
...and a little help there http://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowing .
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jeff_lindqvist
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Message 3 of 69

18 September 2013 at 4:28pm | IP Logged

Actually, there's no need to have the text in order to shadow audio. Just speak as simultaneously as possible. This is also called blind shadowing, and that's something I've done long before I heard of Arguelles or the method.

However, having access to the text can be helpful if the audio have tricky passages. And of course, to follow for instance Arguelles' method regarding the Assimil courses, you're supposed to have the book.
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Arekkusu
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Message 4 of 69

18 September 2013 at 6:20pm | IP Logged

Jamopy wrote:

Does this method work if you just shadow a random
conversation, say a radio broadcast/podcast, with no idea what many of the words mean?

Depends what you want to achieve! Shadowing can be used to help you retain dialogues, etc., and it can help with flow and perhaps general intonation, but if you expect it to help your pronunciation significantly, I'd look elsewhere.

Would it help you learn to sing if you just started singing songs from your favourite artist? Everyone sings songs from their favourite artists and most people are not stellar singers. To improve on your pronunciation, you need to focus on the finer, technical details of speech, whether this is done in linguistic or empirical terms.

In essence, you can't be listening to language and concentrate on reproducing all of its subtleties at the same time. And if you are shadowing at the same time, then by the time you hear the text, it's already too late for you to alter the way you speak. It would be a lot more efficient to focus on one sentence at a time, stop the recording, try to mimic it and start over a few times, taking the time to focus further on the sounds that give you trouble or leave you uncertain.

Edited by Arekkusu on 18 September 2013 at 6:20pm
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Jamopy
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Message 5 of 69

22 September 2013 at 2:16am | IP Logged

Arekkusu wrote:

Jamopy wrote:

Does this method work if you just shadow a random
conversation, say a radio broadcast/podcast, with no idea what many of the words mean?

Depends what you want to achieve! Shadowing can be used to help you retain dialogues,
etc., and it can help with flow and perhaps general intonation, but if you expect it to
help your pronunciation significantly, I'd look elsewhere.

Would it help you learn to sing if you just started singing songs from your favourite
artist? Everyone sings songs from their favourite artists and most people are not
stellar singers. To improve on your pronunciation, you need to focus on the finer,
technical details of speech, whether this is done in linguistic or empirical terms.

In essence, you can't be listening to language and concentrate on reproducing all of
its subtleties at the same time. And if you are shadowing at the same time, then by the
time you hear the text, it's already too late for you to alter the way you speak. It
would be a lot more efficient to focus on one sentence at a time, stop the recording,
try to mimic it and start over a few times, taking the time to focus further on the
sounds that give you trouble or leave you uncertain.

That makes sense, but doesn't that contradict the whole basis on shadowing? I'm not
being deliberately argumentative, just trying to understand.
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Jamopy
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

Message 6 of 69

22 September 2013 at 2:19am | IP Logged

jeff_lindqvist wrote:

Actually, there's no need to have the text in order to shadow
audio. Just speak as simultaneously as possible. This is also called blind shadowing, and
that's something I've done long before I heard of Arguelles or the method.

However, having access to the text can be helpful if the audio have tricky passages. And
of course, to follow for instance Arguelles' method regarding the Assimil courses, you're
supposed to have the book.

As far as i know there isn't an Assimil course for Swedish, so blind shadowing would
appear to be my only option.
1 person has voted this message useful

Jamopy
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EnglandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4579 days ago
26 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

Message 7 of 69

22 September 2013 at 2:20am | IP Logged

prz_ wrote:

A little help here... http://how-to-learn-any-
language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=36168&PN=1&TPN=2
...and a little help there http://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowing .

Thanks, but the first link only leads me to the forum start page?
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Arekkusu
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Message 8 of 69

22 September 2013 at 2:32am | IP Logged

Jamopy wrote:

Arekkusu wrote:

Jamopy wrote:

Does this method work if you just shadow a
random
conversation, say a radio broadcast/podcast, with no idea what many of the words mean?

Depends what you want to achieve! Shadowing can be used to help you retain dialogues,
etc., and it can help with flow and perhaps general intonation, but if you expect it to
help your pronunciation significantly, I'd look elsewhere.

Would it help you learn to sing if you just started singing songs from your favourite
artist? Everyone sings songs from their favourite artists and most people are not
stellar singers. To improve on your pronunciation, you need to focus on the finer,
technical details of speech, whether this is done in linguistic or empirical terms.

In essence, you can't be listening to language and concentrate on reproducing all of
its subtleties at the same time. And if you are shadowing at the same time, then by the
time you hear the text, it's already too late for you to alter the way you speak. It
would be a lot more efficient to focus on one sentence at a time, stop the recording,
try to mimic it and start over a few times, taking the time to focus further on the
sounds that give you trouble or leave you uncertain.

That makes sense, but doesn't that contradict the whole basis on shadowing?

Hmm... yup.

1 person has voted this message useful

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