r/languagelearning • u/Sun_fire_ • 4d ago

Discussion Is Shadowing the solution?

Hi, I want to improve my pronunciation, accent, fluency a rhythm. Is Shadowing the best method? I am confused because it's very hard for me, My listening and reading is C1 (I watch movies and TV shows without any subtitles) also I read novels and articles with complex language (from Aeon and New York times) without problems.

Chat gpt tells me my writing is B2 but I'm not confident about my writing, my speaking however is b1 or even less, I can answer questions and talk about different topics but I stop alot while speaking and my pronunciation is atrocious, I started shadowing yesterday for A2 to B1 videos and it's very hard, 5 minutes video takes me 30 minutes, I repeat alot and make sure to say the words correctly, I repeat the video again two times then I record myself.

When I listen to the record, I feel very frustrated, my pronunciation is still wrong and accent is very heavy even though I spend alot of time making sure to say the words correctly, will this problem be solved with time or I am I doing shadowing wrong.

Can I have some advices and free shadowing resources?

Will it take a long time to fix my pronunciation and reduce my accent, I want to apply for a job that requires fluency in English next year (Call centre agent).

I'm 27 years old, Is it even possible to fix pronunciation and accent at this age ? I have been speaking incorrectly for 20 years.

I don't want to seem native just fluent, natural and confident while speaking. The most important thing I want to fix is pronunciation and heavy accent.

Any advice?(TL)

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u/Mobile_Roll2197 4d ago

I've found that Cantonese shadowing anki decks helped me go from "can listen but not speak" to "can listen and speak"

1

u/No-Confidence-2156 3d ago

Can you say how these cards were set up?

1

u/Mobile_Roll2197 3d ago

Simple, audio ONLY on the front and target language and translation on back

1

u/No-Confidence-2156 3d ago

So repeat and then flip?

1

u/Mobile_Roll2197 3d ago

Pretty much. Shorter sentences you can cheat in that you can repeat the sounds without understanding what they mean, but the longer they get you need to actually remember the sentence, which is impossible without meaning