Speak English Clearly! Practise with the Imitation Technique

Video Transcript
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Hello! Welcome to the very first video training lesson for the imitation technique! Thank you so much for signing up! I know you are going to love this training.

Now, imitating something is similar to copying something.

Usually, ‘imitating’ is copying actions or words. So this technique is all about copying something that a native speaker is saying – exactly. It teaches you to listen to the sounds and patterns of English and trains you to make those same sounds yourself. You’re training your mouth with your ears. So you’re listening to the sounds and you’re not training your mouth with your eyes by reading and guessing the pronunciation of words. You are training your mouth with your ears.

By practicing with this technique, you will reduce your accent and pronunciation problems more quickly and become a clear and more confident English speaker.

Now, there are 3 steps that you’ll need to remember when you’re using the imitation technique.

First, you’ll need to listen to me and read the text at the same time. So, when I talk on this video, you’ll see the words come up at the bottom of the screen.In the text, the important stress has been marked. So you’ll be able to hear the stresses in my expression and read them as well.

Then it will be your turn. So you’re going to hear me read each sentence again, but there will be a pause after each one and this is where you’ll need to copy exactly what I’ve said. Listen for my pronunciation, the stress, the pause, the intonation and then you’ll need to copy it – exactly.

You can do this step as man times as you need to before you move onto step number 3.

Then, the bigger challenge is for you to shadow me which is to copy everything that I’m saying, again but this time you won’t have any text on the screen. You’re just listening to the words that I’m saying. Now, it might be a little bit tricky, especially the first time because you’ll be listening to me and speaking at the same time. So it might take you a few times to get comfortable doing it!

And remember that you might not understand everything that’s being said as I’m saying it but that’s not the point of this training. We’re not testing your understanding of English. We’re testing and practicing your pronunciation and speaking skills. So if you don’t understand it, don’t worry!

But do it again and again and again until the sound that you are making sound very similar to the ones that I’m making in the video and that’s it! The imitation technique is simple, yet so effective.

If you practice this technique regularly soon you’ll sound more natural, more confident and more relaxed when you’re speaking English. Let’s try it!

I love to travel to different countries. I love meeting new people and tasting different foods (that’s my favourite part!) To date, I think I have visited about twenty-two different countries but there are so many more places on my list. Almost every person that I know who has a decent income does some sort of travel every year, usually overseas to a different country. In my opinion, travelling overseas and to different countries makes us more accepting of each other’s differences and teaches us respect for different cultures, traditions and beliefs. It also helps me to tell some pretty interesting stories about my adventures. I love talking to people about places they’ve visited and things that they have seen in the world. I think it’s because I can easily relate to them and it’s easy for me to share my stories and experiences with them. Plus I love giving recommendations about places to visit. It helps me to plan where my next holiday is going to be.

Okay, now for step number two. You’re going to imitate exactly what I say, the pronunciation, the stress, the pause. And there’ll be a pause after each sentence that will let you do that.

Ready?

I love to travel to different countries.
I love meeting new people and tasting different foods.
(that’s my favorite part!)
To date, I think I have visited about
twenty-two different countries
but there are so many more places on my list.
Almost every person that I know
who has a decent income,
does some sort of travel every year,
usually overseas to a different country.
In my opinion,
traveling overseas and to different countries
makes us more accepting of each other’s differences
and teaches us
respect for different cultures,
traditions and beliefs.
It also helps me to
tell some pretty interesting stories about my adventures.
I love talking to people about places they’ve visited
and things that they have seen in the world.
I think it’s because I can easily relate to them and
it’s easy for me to share my stories
and experiences with them.
Plus, I love giving recommendations about places to visit.
It helps me to plan where my next holiday is going to be. 

This is step 3, where you’re going to shadow exactly what I’ve said as I’m saying it. So you’ll be listening to me and speaking at the same time. Remember, it might take you a couple of goes to get this right – but that’s okay!

Ready?

I love to travel to different countries. I love meeting new people and tasting different foods (that’s my favourite part!) To date, I think I have visited about 22 different countries but there are so many more places on my list. Almost every person that I know who has a decent income does some sort of travel every year, usually overseas to a different country. In my opinion, travelling overseas and to different countries makes us more accepting of each other’s differences and teaches us respect for different cultures, traditions and beliefs. It also helps me to tell some pretty interesting stories about my adventures. I love talking to people about places they’ve visited and things that they have seen in the world. I think it’s because I can easily relate to them and it’s easy for me to share my stories and experiences with them. Plus I love giving recommendations about places to visit. It helps me to plan where my next holiday is going to be. 

So that’s it!

Tomorrow I’m going to send you a new lesson to practice with. If you’re watching this on Youtube and you haven’t signed up on my website yet, you will need to do that to get the next lesson for tomorrow. So you’ll need to write your email address on my website www.mmmenglish.com/signup.

So then, come and join us! We’ve got four more lessons to go through! See you tomorrow!

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