Video on Shadowing
Shadowing is a language learning/improvement technique. In this video someone demonstrates the technique with Mandarin Chinese. Watch it and imagine the language you are studying. Would walking and using headphones help you get your target language down?
I wouldn't do this in a public park. People would find it strange. Perhaps it's in a private area or on an estate.
I wouldn't do this in a public park. People would find it strange. Perhaps it's in a private area or on an estate.
I can only say: do treasure your own physical environment when you can shadow so loudly without disturbing others. At least in the big cities of Southern China, you can't possibly find a park as big and as cosy as this one (in California?). This practice takes a lot of time, and while I see its point, I can only do it silently when out.
A more important issue, though, may be how you can improve your speech. The professor suggests
1) blind shadowing, until you are familiar with the phonemes and rhythms
2) start reading the teaching language (not the native text)
3) ... and the native language
4) digesting the whole messages of the audios
I did a linguistics test (about absolute pitch) and found that I had a rather high score for recognizing sounds even without any special training; yet, that doesn't help me recognize brand-new phonemes and I'm always so much tempted to at least see it in the IPA. I find it rather frustrating to always shadow and miss loads of syllables. Though, it's been interesting to see how individuals among us use the most bizarre techniques to get something right, like shadowing a trill sound only by listening - but, well, when you already know it's a trill, something not present in your L1.
A more important issue, though, may be how you can improve your speech. The professor suggests
1) blind shadowing, until you are familiar with the phonemes and rhythms
2) start reading the teaching language (not the native text)
3) ... and the native language
4) digesting the whole messages of the audios
I did a linguistics test (about absolute pitch) and found that I had a rather high score for recognizing sounds even without any special training; yet, that doesn't help me recognize brand-new phonemes and I'm always so much tempted to at least see it in the IPA. I find it rather frustrating to always shadow and miss loads of syllables. Though, it's been interesting to see how individuals among us use the most bizarre techniques to get something right, like shadowing a trill sound only by listening - but, well, when you already know it's a trill, something not present in your L1.