Comments

How I Discovered my Daily Shadowing Limit — 10 Comments

  1. Maybe it´s time to start using this technique.
    Actually I read your previous post about shadowing but I haven´t tried it yet because I thought it was kind of boring. But it seems it has good effects so I will give it a try.

    • Yes, please do. Try it while doing something else, and this will lessen the initial boredom. Also make sure it is something that you would enjoy repeating.

  2. Thanks a lot for this article. Also, I never even thought about doing it while doing chores, let alone stretching, you absolute genius.

    Also, the biggest hurdle for me is too many unknown words (or words I simply can’t hear well) flowing through, resulting in me not being able to repeat what they’re saying. How do you go about tackling this? Just listen ad infinitum until you’re used to it?

    • You don’t need to repeat word for word. There can be large gaps of words that you don’t hear, and you can just skip them. Just repeat whatever parts whenever you can, for every single sentence. The more you do this the better your hearing will get. And since it is not about vocabulary or grammar (you can shadow something without knowing what it means), it just takes time to get used to it.

      • Thanks. Is your biggest focus still audiobooks?

        Also this might be off topic but I really recommend Yin Yoga, it really feels incredible, and should be great for shadowing too. It’s simple, you’ll just stay in one stretch position for 5 minutes or longer. You can find more about it on google.

        • Yes, audiobooks I find to be the most engaging and easiest to shadow.

          Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check that out!

  3. I’ve recently started with shadowing following the first volume of Shadowing: Let’s learn Japanese. I was surprised to see the recommendation in the book to be 10′ a day, and given its a short book, be adviced to go over it in a 3 month period.
    Anyway, I’ve finished the first of 5 units and I’m very happy, I can see how this can turn out a great tool. It took me 2 weeks (10 lessons) and I’m looking forward to make it into an habit.

    Still not shure how to mix this and a walk in the city…. so I’m a sitter :-)

    • Give it a try for a few minutes while walking. It takes a bit of practice to get used to it, but can make a big difference in the long run.

      Also, you may want to try to eventually expand it to native (non-lesson format) material listening as well.

  4. Adam, I’m curious if you could share your results of shadowing. According to this post you’ve done it for like 1.5 years. Obviously it’s probably hard to track results specifically tied to your shadowing practice for that period but if you have any thoughts on how you’ve seen growth through it, that would be helpful. Thanks!

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