Maintenance: the shadowing protocol
P45.speaking-to-b2.21 · Audience: guest, language-pro, it-ml · Prerequisites: Maintenance: the weekly 2-minute voice-note protocol
Unité PO-34 · campagne 22 · borrow a native mouth for ten minutes.
Shadowing is imitation, assumed and total: play a short native extract and speak right behind it, half a second late, copying everything — rhythm, liaisons, melody, even the breaths. You are not analysing; you are letting your mouth copy what your ear hears. Ten focused minutes on one 30-second extract beats an unfocused hour.
The protocol:
- Pick a 30-second extract you like (podcast, interview — anything with one clear voice).
- Three passes listening, eyes closed, no speaking.
- Five passes shadowing — speak over/behind the voice, matching its débit. Falling behind? Drop words, keep the melody: rhythm first, completeness later.
- One pass alone: say the passage without the model.
Then verify the transfer here: say the two model sentences below (both native-voiced — listen, shadow, then record) and watch the liaison and rhythm scores — they are what shadowing trains.
Say: Nous avons attendu deux heures.
Say: La bibliothèque universitaire est fermée.
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Later in Speaking to B2
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