Audio Files

Good thing: Shadow loops vastly improve retention, pronunciation, and listening.

Bad thing: Shadow loops can be extraordinarily boring.

I mean, it's just sentences repeated over an over again, yeah? Ugh. And yet, they really, really help to improve comprehension.

In particular, listening to shadow loops of sentences that you have already studied in Anki makes it much easier to do your flashcards every day. Reviewing flashcards tends to be a cinch because you've also be studying the phrases being covered in multiple formats.

So, yeah, give them a shot, if you dare:

Download

 Vocab_Mastery_Loops_Female.zip

Download

 Vocab_Mastery_Loops_Male.zip

How should you use these audio files?

Uh... everywhere... all the time.

The vague answer to this question is that you could listen to shadow loops while at the gym, grocery store, riding the bus, etc. I personally like to listen to them when I go for long walks. (Usually I get tired of them after 15-20 minutes and switch to a podcast. ^_^)

A more specific answer is that you could buy some Bluetooth earphones that you have sitting around your neck all day, like these ones:

When I'm very serious about my studies, that's what I do. Then any time I have a few moments to spare (e.g. when doing the dishes, going to check the mail, etc.), I can just put on the earphones, press the button on them, and my loops pick up where I last left off.

Do this often enough, and you will accumulate hundreds of hours of listening practice. I like to think of it as utilizing "low-quality study time."

Low-quality study time: Periods of time that are not well-suited to in-depth studying because they are too short or take place at times when looking at or concentrating on study materials is not feasible.

I mentioned earlier in this course that I've been repeatedly failing to keep up with my Korean flashcards, yeah? Listening to shadow loops of Korean sentences has been one of the only things that keeps me maintaining my current knowledge of Korean.