How to Practice Shadowing Chinese in Steps [Plus Tips and Resources]
Shadowing is a technique that a lot of linguists know about and have developed their own ideas around, but the most popular method was invented by Dr. Alexander Arguelles.
Dr. Arguelles defines shadowing as repeating a native speaker word-for-word, almost simultaneously, while also referring to texts or transcripts of the audio in both the target language and the learner’s native language. Another common name for shadowing is “parroting,” because that’s what you’re doing: being a parrot of the native speaker.
Allow me to enlighten you on how to use this method and why shadowing Chinese is a surefire way to improve your language skills.
Contents
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5 Easy Steps to Shadowing Chinese
1. Find a Good Audio Source
Although you can practically shadow anything that comes out of a native speaker’s mouth, you want to make sure it’s worth your time. Not all audio sources are suitable for shadowing, and some are far more beneficial than others.
Take a look at a few criteria a good audio source needs:
- Slow to moderate pace
- Short (two to three minutes preferably)
- Spoken by native speakers
- Enjoyable
- Optional: designed for learners
If it’s your first time shadowing, the rate of speech in the audio is important. Especially if you’re a beginner or intermediate learner, trying to mimic a native speaker who’s speaking really fast can be frustrating, demotivating and stressful.
If you’re listening to a video or podcast, you can always adjust the playback speed.
Additionally, the audio doesn’t need to be too long. Think about it: if you choose a 10-minute video, you’re going to be speaking (and possibly reading) for more than 10 minutes. Even longer if you need to pause and watch the video all the way through first.
Unless you have an hour to spare, choose a source that’s between two and three minutes long.
I’ve selected a few of my favorite resources for shadowing Chinese, from YouTube channels to movie websites.
- Easy Languages: This resource is especially useful if you’re planning to learn the Taiwanese dialect because they teach Taiwanese Mandarin in their videos. The videos are interviews with native speakers (you can adjust the playback speed if they speak too fast) focusing on interesting, everyday topics. Videos are five to six minutes long and subtitles are in English, Chinese characters and pinyin.
- FluentU: This language-learning program is an excellent resource for shadowing.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
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- Slow Chinese Podcast: The show is hosted by native speakers but they speak a bit slower and pronounce words clearly, making it easier to comprehend than most authentic Chinese podcasts. Most episodes are anywhere between three and six minutes, but they don’t come with subtitles or transcripts.
- Melnyks Chinese Podcast: With over 100 free lessons, Melynks Chinese Podcast teaches the language solely through audio and transcripts. Each lesson starts with a dialogue relevant to the lesson topic, followed by vocabulary explained in English. The dialogues in each lesson are only about one to two minutes long, making them the perfect length for shadowing.
- Popup Chinese Podcast: If you’re looking for an interesting podcast that covers nearly every topic on the planet, Popup Chinese is your best bet. Each lesson is accompanied by a minute-long dialogue featuring native speakers talking at their natural speed, a transcript, a vocabulary list and writing exercises.
- Viki: Even though movies and TV shows are quite long, you don’t have to shadow the entire thing. Choose one of your favorite scenes, or watch about three minutes into the movie or show, and then rewind to begin shadowing just that section. Subtitles are available in Chinese and English.
- Audible: Audiobooks are among the best—and most underrated—resources for shadowing any language. They work especially well if you’re following along with a written book, whether it be a digital or physical copy. But if you don’t have a book to read along with, try to find a Chinese audiobook of a story you’ve already read in English.
2. Listen to the Audio Once in Full
Why settle for listening once when you can listen twice? Or three times? Or four times?
Before shadowing the audio, listen to it all the way through. Not only will it allow you to prepare, but it’s also a great way to put your audio source to the test.
The last thing you want is to begin shadowing something you thought would be great audio only to find that it’s above or below your level.
If you’re watching a video that has subtitles in Chinese, read them while listening. Reading along with the audio encourages active listening, which is much more beneficial than passive listening.
Finally, enjoy the content while listening. Shadowing can be a stressful task, especially for first-time users, so it’s important that you enjoy the content you’re listening to.
3. Rewind the Audio and Slow It Down
After watching or listening to the audio once, at its original speed, rewind and adjust it to a lower speed. Adjusting the playback speed is easy with resources such as podcasts and YouTube videos.
If you’re using an audio course, make sure you’re using a lesson easy enough for you to shadow. That could mean going back to an old lesson at a lower level.
Sometimes, trying to shadow a native speaker at their original speed is a bit too challenging, and that’s okay.
For this reason, it’s important to start at a lower speed and then readjust it to the original.
4. Repeat After the Native Speaker Sentence-by-sentence
Before jumping into simultaneously repeating, try repeating each sentence.
Parroting sentences is a much easier version of shadowing, and the perfect preparation for the “real deal.” Another great thing about this approach is that you’re able to focus more on mimicking the accent and pronunciation of the native speaker.
The only challenge to shadowing sentence-by-sentence is that you have to remember each word that was said. Unlike simultaneous shadowing, you aren’t repeating as soon as you hear. If the sentence uses a word (or string of words) you don’t understand, it can be difficult to remember and parrot them accurately.
If you’re having trouble parroting each sentence, try making it every few words. The point of this step isn’t to test how long you can remember words you don’t know. The goal is to modify shadowing to an easier level before doing it simultaneously.
5. Repeat After the Native Speaker Immediately at the Original Speed
Finally, you’re going to rewind the audio yet again and start simultaneously shadowing. Only this time, you’re going to do it without any modifications to the speed or the way you shadow (such as sentence-by-sentence).
As soon as you hear a word, say it.
If necessary, pause or rewind the audio. Even if you’re using a relatively easy audio source, repeating each word while listening for the next can be an overwhelming task.
In your moment of deepest desperation, when you feel in over your head or have missed a few words in order to hear the next, pause the audio. Take a breather. Rewind if necessary.
The Benefits of Shadowing Chinese
- Shadowing improves your listening skills. If you’re going to repeat a native speaker verbatim, you’ll need to listen carefully and quickly. Oftentimes when listening to a podcast or TV show, it’s easy for a learner to stop and ponder on a specific word or phrase instead of moving on to the next. Shadowing doesn’t give you that opportunity. You simply must keep going, and if you need to know the meaning of a word, you can always go back and look it up later.
- Shadowing improves your speaking skills. Almost every language learner stumbles upon this problem: translating in their head. It’s hard to speak with confidence, speed and fluency when you’re thinking too hard about the meaning of your own words. Shadowing forces you to forget your native language and speak as soon as the word processes in your ears. You’re speaking quickly, without translating in your head.
- Shadowing improves your accent. When shadowing, you’re repeating after a native speaker, which means you’re working on your accent. Parroting a native speaker allows you to improve your pronunciation subconsciously. Without thinking too hard about a specific word, you’re simply saying it the same way the speaker did.
How to Use Shadowing to Your Advantage
While the simple act of simultaneously repeating a native speaker is bound to improve your skills, if you want an extra kick out of the exercise, make sure you’re doing a few more simple things.
- Embrace your inner parrot. The entire point of shadowing is to repeat what you hear word-for-word. You have to leave behind your native language and simply say what you hear. Parrots don’t know English, but when they hear an English word, they repeat it anyway. Do the same while shadowing Chinese.
- Walk while you talk. Dr. Arguelles considers walking while shadowing an essential step of the method. In his opinion, completing this exercise shouldn’t be done sitting at a desk or standing still. This has to do with automatic and controlled processing.
- Add in the transcript after a few sessions. Part of Dr. Arguelles’s method is using text to accompany the audio and reading it while repeating. He also recommends the text be in the target language and the native language. Blindly repeating a native speaker can be intimidating and challenging the first few rounds, but adding in a text can make it seem less daunting of a task, as you already know what’s coming.
- Listen to the audio before starting to shadow. Another way to approach shadowing for the first time is to listen to the audio before shadowing it. In his video guide on how to learn languages with YouTube, polyglot Luca Lampariello says he watches the entire video with subtitles in the target language before diving deep and studying it. Not only will it ease a few nerves before shadowing, but you’ll also get an extra round of listening practice.
Shadowing Chinese can be intimidating at first try, but being prepared is the best way to combat nerves. The goal of shadowing is not only to improve listening and speaking abilities but to also improve confidence.
Shadowing Chinese isn’t as hard as it looks, and with the right resources, it can be pretty fun.
So, why not give it a try?
It’s time to take those listening and speaking skills to new heights. Shadowing is one of the best methods for active listening and will improve your comprehension much faster than watching hours and hours of random Chinese media. And with one of these resources, we’re sure you’ll have a great time while practicing it.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
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