4 Steps to SPEAK English Like a Native

Hey, your new couch is just beautiful.

Do you like it?

Well, I like the color, but it's a little uncomfortable.

I got to go.

We've all been there, right?

As language learners, we often understand words and know what they mean.

But when we try to speak the words just don't come out right.

If you've ever felt like this, let us know down

in the comments what you did in that situation.

One exercise that I find works for this is shadowing.

If you have no idea what shadowing is or if you've heard about it,

but never tried it before.

Today's lesson is just for you. To begin with

this is how I use shadowing to practice Portuguese.

If you still aren't sure about the shadowing technique

don't worry, because today we're going to remove all your doubts.

And by the end of this lesson, you'll be a shadowing expert. First,

I'll explain the difference between shadowing and the mimic method.

Then we'll practice both these methods just for you to experience the difference

and how they can help you advance your English.

And finally,

we'll get deep into shadowing and practice some fun exercises together.

But before we get started, each week, we create lessons like this

to help English learners like you go from feeling like lost an insecure

English learner to being a confident and natural English speaker.

If that sounds like something that you want to do, then be sure to join

our community of over 350,000

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So you never miss out on any of our new lessons.

The mimic method is a technique that helps improve your accent,

pronunciation, and understanding of the language you're learning

by tuning your ear to the musicality of the sounds of the language.

So it's not simply about repeating words.

It's about feeling and understanding the sounds and rhythm of the language.

Here is how to do it.

Remember my friend who was helping me practice Portuguese?

Well, we practiced the mimic technique together.

Learning languages requires patience.

If you truly want to be successful

Learning languages requires patience.

If you truly want to be successful,

Learning languages requires patience.

If you truly want to be successful.

Shadowing

also helps with pronunciation and accent reduction.

With shadowing

recording yourself repeating the words is optional and you can practice

almost anywhere if you're comfortable with repeating words out loud in public.

Also, the best part is you can do it on your own.

All you need is your laptop, your smartphone, and some earphones.

If you're not sure where to start when it comes to finding

the right audio to practice, shadowing and mimicking.

Don't worry because we've got just what you need on our RealLife English app.

You'll have access to full episodes of our podcast

with interactive transcripts and vocabulary definitions

Having a great teacher can be life changing.

But I know many of you cannot afford that and have to learn on your own.

And this is why we have made the RealLife English app

a free resource that you can use to practice your speaking.

So download it now for free by clicking up here

or down in the description box below.

Or you can just look for RealLife English in your favorite app store.

Each time before you practice.

Ask yourself what is it that I want to improve?

This way you get the most out of your practice time because you know exactly

which sounds to focus on. As you listen closely to the speaker's voice

you'll get used to the melody and tones of the language

which we use to express emotion and meaning.

Soon you'll start to feel the rhythm of the language

almost intuitively without thinking.

This helps you improve your pronunciation.

Both these techniques will help you develop the confidence

you need to actually express yourself in English.

You're training your brain to focus on the sounds as you hear them,

and soon you'll notice that your mouth will start to copy or produce

the right sounds. To make sure you get the most out of shadowing and mimicking

here are four tips that will help you advance.

Find a native speaker whose voice you really enjoy listening to.

Someone you wish to sound like. This will help you enjoy

shadowing and keep you motivated while listening to the audio.

Take note and write down any sounds, words,

or phrases that you have difficulty pronouncing.

This way you can focus on these when you listen to it again,

or listen to the

audio and pause after each sentence or word

so that you can focus on specific sounds for

Learning languages requires patience if you truly want to be successful.

And the second option is:

Learning languages requires

patience and requires requires patience.

If you truly, truly, truly wants to be successful.

Now that my friend has demonstrated it,

why don't you join in by shadowing these sentences with us?

You can start by repeating the sentences really fast, like in the first example.

Then you can come back and redo the exercise as

in the second example, pausing the video and repeating

sounds that you feel you need to improve on.

Are you ready? Let's do it.

Don't worry if you found this a little challenging.

You can always play this lesson again until you're able to pronounce

each word perfectly.

Also, we'd love to hear your shadowing, so feel free to record yourself

and share it with us on Instagram at RealLife.English.

I hope you guys enjoyed this lesson.

And if you did, please like this video.

And don't forget to share it for the friend who is also learning English.

To continue your learning

be sure to check out this lesson we recently did.