Akihiro's Journey: Echo the Words

Welcome back to English Listening World! I'm Les Perras, and this is the third episode in our series "Akihiro's Listening Journey." In our previous episodes, Akihiro discovered the rhythm of English with its stressed and unstressed syllables, and learned to break sentences into manageable chunks. Today, he'll discover an even more active technique: shadowing. Shadowing is a powerful technique where you speak simultaneously with what you hear - like a shadow follows its object. This trains your brain to predict what comes next and helps you process speech in real-time. Let's join Akihiro as he makes this important discovery!

Chapter Three: Echo the Words Akihiro closed his notebook, feeling a small surge of satisfaction. Two weeks since he had started tracking his English listening progress, and he could already notice improvement. He glanced at his calendar. The quarterly client presentation was just days away, and his team would expect him to participate more actively this time. "Alright everyone," Mr. Wilson said, gathering the team around the conference table. "We've got most of the slides ready for the Thomson presentation. Akihiro, your data visuals look excellent." "Thank you." "Let's touch base next week to finalize everything." Akihiro froze. He understood "Let's" and "next week" clearly enough, having applied his chunking technique. But "touch base"? He visualized the words but couldn't make sense of them.

"Akihiro, does that work for you?" "Yes. Where is this base we will touch? At the client's office?" A moment of awkward silence fell over the room, followed by a few chuckles. "It's just an expression. It means to check in or communicate." "I see." Akihiro felt heat rise to his cheeks. Another idiom he had missed. Despite his progress, these expressions still tripped him up. During lunch, Akihiro sat at a table near the window, reviewing project notes. His attention drifted when he heard Japanese being spoken nearby. Tanaka-san sat a few tables away with her laptop open, headphones on, speaking quietly. Curious, he observed her for a moment. She wasn't just listening – she was speaking almost simultaneously with the audio, matching the speaker word for word with barely any delay. It looked almost like she was dubbing a movie in real-time. When she paused her video to take a bite of her salad, Akihiro walked over. "Excuse me, Tanaka-san. May I ask what you are doing? It looked like you were speaking at the same time as the recording." "Ah, Akihiro-kun. Yes, I'm practicing shadowing with my online tutor." "Shadowing?" "It's a technique where you speak along with what you hear, almost simultaneously – like a shadow follows its object." "The challenge is to speak as the words come, not after. Your brain must constantly predict what comes next." "But how can you say words before you fully hear them?" "That's exactly why it works. Your brain learns to anticipate patterns in English. Remember how you learned about chunking? Your brain starts recognizing common chunks and can predict the next word before it's fully spoken." "But you already speak English very well." "I still practice. Even after ten years here. Shadowing trained my ear to catch idioms and expressions that aren't in textbooks. Having trouble with idioms?" "Today I didn't understand 'touch base.'" "Business English is full of those phrases. Try shadowing with recordings first. Focus on staying with the speaker, not waiting until they finish. It feels impossible at first, but your brain adapts quickly." Back at his desk, Akihiro searched for information about shadowing. It seemed counterintuitive – how could you speak words you hadn't fully heard yet? He found a meeting recording from last week and played it through his headphones. As Mr. Wilson's voice came through, Akihiro tried to speak along with him, just a split second behind. "We need to prioritize the client's concerns..." "We... need... to... pri...or..." He stumbled immediately, falling several words behind. This was much harder than he expected. He tried again, focusing intensely on staying with Mr. Wilson's voice. On his third attempt, he managed to stay just slightly behind, like an echo chasing the original sound. That evening, Akihiro stayed late at the office. Finding an empty conference room, he practiced with more recordings – starting with slow, clear speech and gradually challenging himself with natural conversation speed. He wasn't just repeating; he was trying to speak along with the audio, forcing his brain to anticipate what might come next based on the chunks he'd learned to recognize. When he came across a recording containing "touch base," he struggled to shadow it at first – the unfamiliar idiom broke his flow. But after several attempts, his brain began to treat "touch base" as a single chunk rather than separate words. The next day, Akihiro had a video call with the client's technical team. He kept his notebook open, ready to jot down any phrases he didn't understand. Thirty minutes into the call, the client's project manager said, "Let's touch base on Friday about the final data sets." "Let's touch base on Friday about the final data sets." This time, something different happened. His brain recognized "Let's touch base" as a familiar pattern before the sentence was even complete. He understood the idiom instantly. "That works for me. I'll have the preliminary analysis ready by then, and we can touch base about any adjustments needed."

He had not only understood the idiom but used it correctly himself. The client nodded approvingly, and Akihiro spotted Mr. Wilson giving him a thumbs up from across the room. That evening on the train home, Akihiro added to his growing list of listening techniques:

"Technique #3: Echo the Words (Shadowing) Speak simultaneously with what you hear, like a shadow Train your brain to predict what comes next Start with slow recordings, then increase speed Forces your brain to recognize common patterns and chunks Improves recognition of idioms and expressions Combines rhythm awareness with chunking knowledge" He downloaded a news podcast app on his phone and practiced shadowing short segments during his commute. At first, he could only shadow a few words before falling behind, but each day he improved. His brain was learning to anticipate common patterns in English speech. Three techniques now, each one more active than the last. From recognizing rhythm, to processing chunks, to now predicting what comes next. Each technique built on the previous ones, creating a foundation for understanding. Tomorrow would be better than today. And Friday's client call? For once, he was actually looking forward to it.

And that's how Akihiro discovered his third listening technique: shadowing! To practice shadowing yourself, try these simple steps: Find audio with clear speech at a manageable speed Try to speak along with the audio in real-time, just a fraction behind Don't worry about perfection - staying with the speaker is the goal Practice with short segments first, then longer passages Notice how your brain starts to anticipate common patterns Combine with the rhythm and chunking techniques for best results Join us next time when Akihiro discovers how high-intensity repetition can dramatically improve his recognition of challenging phrases! Thanks for listening to English Listening World. Don't forget to subscribe and practice what you've learned today!