How to Hear any Language with Absolute Precision

[@sledgehog1]

Hey there, glad I found this channel! This "first principles"(at least phonetically) approach is also what I do when learning a new language. Great job breaking this down phonemes wise! Since my native language is Portuguese(the European-Lisbon variant) I think you did an amazing job and your ears did not deceive you at all(althoughone small correction is that it should be "... - ð̼ɐv - ..." instead of "... - ð̼ɨv - ...")! What's funny is that originally it should be "dɐv". So you're actually hearing what's believed to be a recent phenomenon in European Portuguese, where the articulation for some voiced fricatives relaxes and changes the phoneme slightly when the fricative is located between vowels creating allophonnes like these. Some examples are this "d" into "ð̼", "g" into "ɣ" and "v/b" into "ʋ". Bear in mind, though, that the proper pronunciation should be "d", "g" and "b/v", at least according to the documented phonology. Dialects and allophones can still happen.

[@Nnamdinnamah]

This method is the shadowing method but crystallised. very interesting and probably the only way people actually get native pronunciation. whether consciously or unconsciously

[@FlaBoy321]

Glad to see you're back posting bro. Keep killing it man!

[@MimicMethod]

Thanks buddy! I'll be posting more often

[@grujcyk]

Definitely not for me but it's cool to see a method for those people who would say that without a doubt sense of hearing is their dominant sense. It's good to see when people try to approach language learning from a different angle - whatever works for you is a good method! Just remember not to be afraid to change methods while you're looking for the one that works best for you.

[@mumin.azraaq]

You're STILL awesome after all these years.

[@BrunoBittar]

I like your entrepreneurial spirit as well as your ear for phonetics and phonology.

[@MimicMethod]

thank you!

[@crooniegrumpkin4415]

Thanks for the video.

[@ronanlegall3337]

Wahow, it's so obvious explained like that! I'm looking forward to check your method and go through your courses

[@druidactual]

Where's the link to the course?

[@FitProVR]

Would this work for mandarin? Doesn’t seem suited to pick up tones well

[@leouch9380]

Is there a English Course in the new curriculum for people who want to learn English ?

[@gavinleaves]

Amazing video as always! Idahosa, could you please share with me the name of the software you were using in this video? I also need a software to record myself while sharing my screen. Thanks in advance!

[@MimicMethod]

App is called Loom. I record with it then download the video and upload to youtube

[@gavinleaves]

@@MimicMethod Thank you very much!

[@VIKA_15118]

This is so impressive and interesting !

[@rodneymanwaring9396]

Wow this makes alot of sense that language is alot about sounds

[@WilliamDunBroch]

hi! whats the program you're using to record your face and the screen? thank you!

[@heroicIV]

I feel like if you're starting a new language, especially like French or German, you can't totally start without reading the words. When using authentic media where people are speaking naturally there are a lot of subtle sounds you won't catch unless someone helps you become aware of them. If i can "read" them I can probably try to find their IPA pronunciation or something but If I can't I might not catch these subtle sounds on my own no matter how many times i replay the segment.

[@vconsumer]

I started to learn french from scratch via the mimicmethod and progressed RAPIDLY. Native speakers complimented me for my very good accent

[@wardm4]

I'm on the fence on this. If you try to correspond the words to the sounds in order to hear the sounds, then you will likely insert sounds that don't exist in native speech. If you are really careful at first and slow down the audio and you genuinely don't hear something, then it's likely that sound doesn't exist (especially in Germanic or Latin root languages where the sounds are *that* different). I could see some languages where this could be a problem where clicks or whistles or tonal shifts are relevant where you need to spend time up front understanding that.

[@heroicIV]

@@vconsumer I don't doubt the method I'm just trying to fill in some gaps in my understanding of the method

[@ganqqwerty]

@@vconsumer one of the problems with mimic method is that I don't see many testimonials and progress videos on youtube. Could you record your thoughts on the method or write some blog post?

[@hisky.]

​@@ganqqwerty fr that comment looks fake or like a bot

[@jenniferjohnson2320]

I’m definitely a word processor!!!

[@LingGuzman]

Can you pls do an example with chinese please

[@veepotter307]

A very interesting method. I subscribed to know more about this…..

[@ihatekillerclowns]

what exactly is the method?

[@lusiusquietus7510]

Learning a language with a different alphabet helps with this a bit. There’s no false information coming in because it has no connection with your native language when reading. But a lot of people do fall into relying on latinized spelling. Do the alphabet and pronunciation first people!

[@ganqqwerty]

Is it possible to see the results of the people who went through this program? I mean it’s a lot of sacrifice to be made, is it justified by native pronunciation and prosody for example?

[@luisgreengrass]

great video! my main problem with my English-speaking students is IPA vowels. They see an "e" and they pronounce it like an "i". Sadly I decided to ditch the IPA with some students for this reason!

[@MimicMethod]

Yes i should have been more clear that learning IPA is NOT required in my system. I actually teach people to feel and understand the phonemes from an anatomical perspective first, withholding any use of symbols until AFTER they've rooted their understanding in the sound and feeling.

[@jorgeibarra5572]

Carajo, eres un idolo.

[@bigstv15]

This is amazing

[@ganqqwerty]

This looks like a great activity, but I feel that it requires trained teacher to check if I transcribed it correctly. Otherwise, it's not possible to see if I'm correct or not. BTW, what kind of notation are you using here, is it IPA alphabet?

[@MimicMethod]

in the new curriculum we will have a ton of practice phrases which hide the answers, then you check after to see what you got wrong. Do this enuogh times and you'll get good.at it. Most of the symbols are consistent with IPA, but we've added a few of our own symbols and other notation conventions to suit our purposes.

[@raviarya373]

Your new curriculum has updated ? Shall I join your course now or shall I join later for learning German. Please reply 🙏🙏

[@WilliamSmithsonian-fq3rw]

I usually just put a video on a slower speed and actually ask native speakers to correct me. This transcript thing may be helpful to others but there already exists a universal sound alphabet for all languages.

[@geeb3376]

im interested in learning Thai. Are your classes designed for this?

[@MimicMethod]

the methodology applies to all languages, but we don't have practice materials for Thai

[@raviarya373]

​@@MimicMethodDo you have practice material for German ? Please reply... I really want to join your course for German.

[@gapshot5065]

Can you do this program on a mobil phone

[@MimicMethod]

The website is not optimized for mobile, but it does function on mobile. If you have issues and it doesn't work out, you can just email for a refund.

[@gapshot5065]

@@MimicMethod Thanks for your response is the program accessed through a website or in a way where you can also use it offline

[@byronwilliams7977]

Awesome ! My fiancé and I will be signing up for your program soon. We love what you do.

[@MimicMethod]

That's great!

[@anna-wt2tz]

i just started the video but i dont see a link in the description to your program, can you please provide a hyperlink?

[@TheRealGhebs]

Isn't "ç" the "h" sound in "heat"?

[@MimicMethod]

No. The /h/ in "heat" is made at the glottis. The /ç/ is made with the middle part of the tongue pressed against the hard palate. It does not exist in english. The two sound similar, because both are voiceless fricatives, but they are distinct in which part of the mouth they're made.

[@rasheedlewis1]

Guten Tag

[@anna-wt2tz]

i wish i had $300, 🥺 I will save up for the next month, i think this is a very valuable program.

[@Branden-vl9sl]

The only way to get good at parcing sounds is to listen to the language for thousands of hours. There is no way around that. It's what all natives went through growing up.

[@diegotejada55]

I think the idea is that you can get faster at getting used to listening to your next language. Like he said with Turkish, if he can reproduce the sounds he hears without even knowing any Turkish, then if he were to start learning Turkish it would be a lot easier to understand what they’re saying once he learns the vocab. This isn’t about understanding the words, but rather the sounds that are coming from a human mouth anatomically similar to yours, and so you should be able to reproduce similar sounds without needing to understand them For example, I’ve been studying Japanese for years, and it has the same sounds that are in my native Spanish, but even still I frequently mishear words that I know. Yes, as you say, I still need a lot more immersion, and that will help by making me better at being able to expect the words that are gonna follow what I’ve heard; but, if I am already used to these sounds, and I already know the words that are being said, then logically speaking there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to reproduce the words, except that I haven’t trained myself yet…at reproducing words I feel like it’s something we do in our native tongues without realizing tbh. That’s why so many times I’m zoned out, not listening at all to what’s being said, but when asked to respond I can recall the last words that were said (reproduce the sounds in my head) and respond as if I was listening. I can’t do that at all in Japanese yet, because I’m too focused on processing the meaning rather than retaining the sounds. Obviously, getting the meaning is more important, but I see this practice of phonetic parsing as a way to help with not getting lost in what’s being said, in a way that’s agnostic to whatever language you’re studying

[@MimicMethod]

@@diegotejada55 There is a way around it. It's called The Mimic Method ;)

[@diegotejada55]

@@MimicMethod yep, I talked myself into it while writing my comment, for sure will check it out

[@peterreid9769]

The best way to learn a language is to stop being lazy and put some effort in.

[@attav8]

If i strike a stone with a steel spoon for eight hours a day, will I eventually chisel the stone?

[@calste85]

​@@attav8eventually. Might have to replace the spoon a few times.

[@calste85]

@peterreid9769 true, but some methods are superior to others towards that goal. There's a fine line between optimizing and over-optimizing. The number of repetitions you need to learn a language well make optimizing more worth it.

[@taylorp.-zm7hu]

You could not be telling on yourself harder

[@betlamed]

Let me save you 20 minutes. The REVOLUTIONARY method is to slow down a video and transcribe it into IPA. Padamm padamm padamm!!! Btw, X-SAMPA is easier to type and is practically 1:1 to IPA.

[@guandow-gu6yw]

Do you want to learn a new language? So we invented a transcription system, learn it first! sounds extremely strange

[@freeslavemind]

Yooooooo