My voice sample

I can only google a lot of links to works about Albanian of this scholar.

Jasper's method, in which one doesn't miss a single second when speaking, is a radically different style from just echoing the voice. I don't think you'd immediately remember by heart what is being said at a particular moment, but it helps you get your speech in sync with the audio's voice. But to make every single utterance right, you'd have to know how phonemes should be like, compared to your native language, and if there is any need for some conscious study.

Again, let me take English as an example. In my first (Cantonese) and third (Mandarin but second best) languages, there are no such thing as voiced plosives (b, d, g), ch and soft g sounds (as in change), r sounds, the dark L (as in call) and so on. Also, how do I know if there is something like assimilation (something I didn't know until I attended linguistics lectures) and something akin to French liaison (as in an apple)? This may be another issue, but I find it helpful to study a bit of English consciously. The problem is: if you were to recommend an adult friend of yours to learn "better", you just can't make things too abstract to understand, and I'd still say that, depending on the knowledge of an average Joe, a combination of this style of shadowing plus a bit of conscious study could work better.

For an utterly monolingual person, however, I'm afraid that s/he may have to rely on his/her ears entirely with some personal assistance. The fairly bilingual learner should be able to do it freely and even look into phonetics.

Achab:

1. Just do one sentence at a time. You have to listen to the target sentence a few times to know the content, before speaking along with it.

2. Yes, you speak along with the speaker. It's not hard. See number 1 above.

3. I don't remember the book. I apologize.

4. I heard about Newmark from reading some books written by Suzette Elgin, who'd worked alongside him for some years. The method, called "modeling" in her books, is lifted directly from one of them. I have corresponded with her several times via email. She loves hearing from her readers.

Roger, you are correct; it does take a great deal of time and effort, but it's really the only way I know to learn the tiny nuances of spoken language.

If you are interested in the method, I'd recommend going to the library, checking out some audiobooks...

...and trying it for five or ten minutes!! You'll very quickly learn why modeling/shadowing is such an effective method.

Achab, it was almost certainly Alaska, by James Michener, narrated by Peter Graves.

Hope this helps.

Jasper, don't help spies, thank-you!

Okay, joking aside, shadowing is effective. I don't use it to change my accent because I don't care if I have a mixed accent. I'm not from one place and it shows! However, I do use it with other languages and it helps a lot. I use it more for the flow of words, not individual words.

One thing not previously mentioned is that modeling/shadowing can also be used to change your voice quality, if your voice is too nasal, wimpy, breathy, high-pitched, or whatever.

Success with modeling/shadowing work for voice quality is very rapid; 25 hours should be plenty.

Accent reduction takes longer, depending upon chronological age, and natural linguistic ability.

I should post a caveat.

Modeling/shadowing can be overdone! Advocates warn students about this.

You don't want to sound EXACTLY like Peter Graves, do you?

For Jasper,

I'm still a bit puzzled over the "one sentence at a time" thing.

Let's say I have an audiobook in MP3 format. Now, do you actually mean I should stop my player (Windows Media Player) at the end of every sentence and then rewind the audio back at the beginning of the sentence for a few times? Sounds rather wearisome.

Reading a book on ink and paper and then shadowing its (unabridged) audio version in a straightforward way, i.e. without breaking up the modeling process at every sentence, would make a nicer approach,

This is merely theoretical speculation, though. I admit I've never done any shadowing. Will I ever try the two ways, I'll report back my findings in this avenue.

Quizzically,

Achab

Erm... "venue", not "avenue". :-)

My bad,

Achab

>>>Reading a book on ink and paper and then shadowing its (unabridged) audio version in a straightforward way, i.e. without breaking up the modeling process at every sentence, would make a nicer approach,<<<

Yes, you may. This is for 2 purposes: 1) Shadowing all the way from the first to the last sentence of the whole book, when you are ready and 2) understanding the content. As long as a large chunk of the audio is intended for A chapter (not a part [Teil] or anything very long), you may first get acquainted with this chapter, perhaps do some close reading and then "rehearse".

But when I was learning German in this way, I'd try to reply a tiny chunk for 10 times and more to get that little utterance right. In the first attempt, I wouldn't catch the "fine" points which would make my speech fluent; I'd then choose this chunk with goldwave (audacity would also do) and rehearse for multiple times. Now, when I play the old audios, I find no problems understanding something that I've read over and over. That might sound boring, but that's just my pov: I need some obsession to get all those little utterances right, and it's rewarding to, for example, replay 1984 for multiple times just to remember its most exciting scenes.

Achab, you're right; it is a pain in the neck, but it's VERY effective. It was easier with a cassette recorder. (I'm older than you; we didn't have Windows Media Player, etc). But yes, if you must, rewind that WPM, over and over, for each sentence, until you can match it perfectly.

Reading the passages, as the same passages are spoken, isn't as effective, because part of your attention is diverted to reading. You need to be Listening and Speaking. It would work, just not as well....

Achab,

You brought up a valuable article about shadowing. I found it of great interest. It's really inspiring. I will try and find more about this method.

Roger

As I see it this shadowing approach got some attention from you guys. Therefore I have a question for you, Achab, Jasper, Xie and others. Can it be possible to continue this thread and perhaps rename it so as to make it a kind of venue for shadowing practitioners? So far there have been lots and lots of voice samples posted by many learners seeking assessment from other English learners or native speakers of English.

This time one could post his/her sample to begin with and then post it again after working on it with shadowing approach in mind. Just for comparison. Some of you asked if this shadowing really works. Why not give it a try and share one’s experiences about it in this thread. What do you think?

Roger

Can anyone tell more about this shadowing?

Guest, it's really very simple.

Get an audio of someone whose voice you admire. Listen to the first sentence three or four times to learn the content, then rewind, and speak along with the speaker until your speech exactly matches his (or hers). Then, go on to the next sentence, and repeat.

While the method is simple, it does require dedication and hard work. Be patient.