Can learn a foreign language as an INTROVERT?

so you're an introvert and you want to learn a  foreign language but of course it's extremely  

challenging for you because you feel uncomfortable  and shy when talking to new people and talking  

to new people in a different language sounds  absolutely unattainable the first technique that  

I recommend you try is shadowing this technique  involves listening to a native speaker and then  

repeating what they say as an introvert you might  find it less intimidating than holding an actual  

conversation you can use podcast audiobooks or  movies or videos with subtitles to be able to  

do that first you select your audio material for  example let's say you're watching a YouTube video  

by a native speaker make sure there are subtitles  because that's important the second step is you  

listen actively you pay close attention to their  pronunciation intonation and Rhythm and also of  

course make sure you understand everything for my  experience to be able to Shadow as successfully  

as possible I really need to understand all the  information and be confident that I know ever  

single words then you repeat immediately as you  listen repeat what you hear out loud in real time  

try to mimic the speaker's exact pronunciation  imagine you're an actor or an actress and play  

the role as an introvert myself I find it easy  to do if I'm alone obviously if I'm alone in my  

apartment I'm like okay time to Shadow I'm fine  of course I don't want to do it in front of other  

people because you know introvert stuff basically  try to speak and sync with the audio and next you  

can try using headphones I have recently realized  that when I use headphones I'm like more focused  

I'm shadowing and I can hear everything every  single sound and I am definitely more focused  

on the speakers intonation their Rhythm and their  pronunciation I believe that nowadays many people  

think that being an introvert is a disadvantage  especially when you're learning forign languages  

but I person believe that introverts have a huge  Advantage I have watched a few videos on YouTube  

on this topic and there are many people who say  that usually introverts store all this energy  

inside their bodies instead of just bragging  to other people about their successful success  

they do it they do it quietly and they achieve  great results if you're an introvert you're quiet  

you're more likely to just sit down and learn  the language instead of just walking around and  

tell tell everyone how much you want to learn  Chinese or how difficult it is for you to learn  

Korean there's so many people in the world who  just talk about all the things they want to do  

without following through and there are doors  people who actually do the difficult things of  

course I'm not saying that extroverts cannot be  doers they cannot be successful and actually do  

things no that's not the point the point is is  to share with you that being an introvert is not  

a dis Advantage you can definitely leverage your  qualities and learn a foreign language this way  

if you love listening to podcasts to improve  your English I highly recommend checking out  

my podcast the bridging borders podcast I think  it's the first time when I'm actually talking  

about my podcast here on my YouTube channel and  I'm very excited for you to give it a listen I  

host the podcast with Sam he's a native English  speaker from Great Britain he has a beautiful  

British accent and I think our conversations are  very interesting we talk about lots of different  

things and our podcast is perfect if you're  intermediate and higher especially if you're  

Advanced like or Upper Intermediate if you want to  get to this advanced level if you want to listen  

to different accents I'm a non-native speaker I  try to speak with the American accent and Sam is  

a native speaker so you will definitely hear  the difference in our English the way I speak  

and the way he does that's how it all Chang  changed for me there is a quote I think it's  

by dosi and I think he said I could be wrong on  both accounts here that money is coined Freedom  

so if you want to check it out the link will be  down in the description the next thing you can  

do is record yourself when you record your voice  while speaking the language first of all this lets  

you analyze your pronunciation and maybe even see  your mistakes and plus you get to have this huge  

library of your progress because often times we  feel like we're not making any progress and since  

I started my YouTube channel I can tell you guys  that I'm definitely making progress in English  

because my very first videos were very different  and my English was very different back then but at  

the same time if you're naturally not a very big  talker in your native language don't try to talk  

a lot in a foreign language unless you want to of  course the goal of learning a foreign language is  

being able to communicate your thoughts in a clear  and effective way and if you're used to doing it  

in just a few words in your native language it's  fine you don't need to become an extrovert in a  

foreign language and if your goal is to just learn  more about the culture and not really communicate  

much then it's fine too I know lots of people  who are just like oh I'm learning this language  

because I want to watch movies in this language  or I'm learning this language because my favorite  

TV show is originally in this language and they  have no interest in actually communicating to real  

people in this language try to always stay true  to yourself and your goals now let's talk about  

written communication if you are an introvert  like me it's probably a lot more comfortable for  

you to express your thoughts on paper that's why  I Journal a lot because sometimes when I actually  

have to communicate what I'm feeling what I'm  experiencing it's hard for me it's easier to do  

all of this on paper first to analyze all of this  list and then actually communicate my thoughts in  

a clear way likely for you right now there's so  many different apps and resources where you can  

text people like message people you don't actually  need to you know hop on a call with them if you  

feel a little bit shy and uncomfortable at first  you can also practice journaling in your target  

language and on my YouTube channel I have a video  about how I journal to improve my language skills  

so you can check it out right now as well I  know that in this video I talk a lot about by  

staying true to yourself and yes it's absolutely  correct however what I also noticed especially  

among introverts is that we like to wait we often  say oh I'm not ready yet to speak I like to wait  

I want to wait give me a year and then I'm only  going to start speaking here it's important to  

remember that are you using this as an excuse or  are you actually not comfortable yet to speak the  

language if you're you're using this as an excuse  then waiting is a waste of time at the end of the  

day if you want to improve your speaking skills if  you want to communicate to real people to native  

speakers you need to put yourself out there and  talk to people and finally let's talk about solo  

travel if you have an opportunity you can try  going to the country where your target language  

is spoken and just be there as an introvert I  have realized that it's a lot easier for me to  

travel by myself ESP especially when I have to  speak the language because then I don't feel the  

pressure like maybe other people are expecting me  to know everything probably a lot of you guys are  

going to resonate with what I'm about to say when  we were kids our parents would always say oh say  

something in English or oh we're going to go on  vacation so you're going to talk to all the people  

there in English right you're studying English  in school and as a kid you're like yes but I'm  

only 10 yes I'm learning English in school but  you know all I can say is my name is Veronica  

that's it when I moved to Mexico originally I  really did not want to learn Spanish because I  

was so stressed out I had other things going on  but then at one point I realized that I have to  

like if I want to live here I have to speak the  language and that like really motivated me to  

start and it still does like this idea of oh like  I'm a guest here like I'm not from this country  

and people are not supposed to speak English to me  here most people here speak Spanish and if I want  

to understand the culture of this country I have  to learn Spanish that's it for this video remember  

if you're an introvert you can also learn the  language and you can start speaking the language  

it's possible and I'm a great example of that  don't forget to check out my podcast the Bri and  

borders link will be down in the description and  in the pin comment if you like this video don't  

forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe  to my channel and I'll see you in my next

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