Let me introduce you to Prof. Argüelles, a highly renowned linguist and poliglot (see here).
He is one of the polyglots listed in Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages (see here), and has been described by The New Yorker as “a legendary figure in the polyglot community”.
Prof. Argüelles is highly proficient in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Catalan, Swedish and Korean, and has a knowledge of more than 60 languages.
But what makes him truly fascinating is how he learned all these languages.
He didn’t follow the traditional classroom route. Instead, he follows a highly disciplined, self-taught approach—one built on autodidactic learning.
He’s a strong advocate for independent learning, and believes that anyone can reach high levels of fluency on their own, using the right techniques.
I’d like to introduce you to 2 of his core learning techniques that he uses when learning a language.
Now, you’ll be very surprised when you learn about these techniques, since they are rarely (if ever) taught at school or traditional language courses and you might not even have heard of them.
One of those methods is called Shadowing.
What is shadowing?
In simple terms, shadowing means listening to a native speaker and repeating what they say out loud, as instantaneously as possible.
So you literally “shadow” or mimic their voice.
This technique focuses on pronunciation, fluency, and active listening by having the learner mimic the sounds and rhythms of the target language
Prof. Arguelles recommends doing it while walking.
Here’s a short video where Prof. Argüelles describes it and here’s a video where you can watch him demonstrate shadowing in action.
Want to give it a try?
If you want to try shadowing yourself, there’s an easy way to start.
In my daily Verb-Juggling podcasts, I speak one sentence of German at a time, and you can simply repeat the sentence out loud—ideally, try to match my rhythm and pronunciation as closely and as quickly as you can.
So after trying yourself to give a correct answer whenever I ask “How’d you say:…?”, try to mimic me when I give the right answer after the silent period.
You don’t need to be perfect. Just try your best.
Next time, I’ll tell you about another one of Professor Argüelles’ unusual techniques. Stay tuned!
Talk to you soon. Bis bald.
Gruß
Manuel
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you take your German to the next level.