Have You Heard of Shadowing? 🎧

Have you ever heard of "shadowing"?

Shadowing is a practice method where you listen to audio and repeat it out loud, just a split second behind, like a shadow.

It is widely known as a very effective way to study a language.

At Tomo Japanese Language School, our lessons place particular emphasis on speaking, out of the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

The main purpose of shadowing in our classes is to experience native speed and get used to it, so that you can understand Japanese even when it is spoken at a natural pace.

In my classes, we do shadowing at the end of each lesson. The key point is that we always do it right after the listening activity.

First, we listen to the audio and check that we understand the content.

Then we shadow the same audio.

Because you already know what is being said, there is no confusion about the meaning, and you can focus purely on speed.

If you can't understand what is being said because it is too fast, the practice loses much of its value.

But when you already know the content, the same audio becomes much easier to follow.

That is what makes shadowing so interesting.

It may feel difficult at first, but shadowing is not something that works after just one try.

That is why we practise it regularly at Tomo. Little by little, the speed and rhythm of Japanese will start to feel natural to your ears and your mouth.

Let's keep practising together and get used to native speed! 🎌