Is Recording really needed?

When learning a language, there are various parameters that can be used to mark your progress in the language, one of which is recording yourself when you are practicing in your target language. It is important for you to have consistency in learning inorder to transition from the beginners to intermediate stage and from intermediate to advanced stage. Evaluating your progress plays a vital role in this as that way you would know how progressive you are in the process of learning. There are various reasons as to why one should really include recording themselves while speaking in their target languages. We will analyze a few of them here. 

The main and the most important reason for recording yourself while speaking in your target language is to evaluate your progress. You can use these recordings to see how far you have come, you can record yourself after every session and compare the new recordings with the previous one to know how much progress you have made. You can also do this while casually speaking with the native speakers of the language or reading a lesson loudly or practicing in front of the mirror.

Let’s have a look at the further points where recording is needed.

While speaking or practicing, we do not realize a lot of mistakes that we have made. You can make out these mistakes later on when you see the recordings and then you can improvise them. You will notice what you are good at, what are the areas that need improvement. And you can access them as many times as you want, a tutor or an expert can only provide reviews and suggestions once, but you can access these recordings anytime. Moreover, every time you will go through these recordings, you will find new points to work on or new areas where your strength lies. These will also give you an idea of your strong and weak points while speaking in a language. And you can adapt according to them or give more attention to your weak points specifically.

A lot of us find it difficult to speak in front of people or a crowd, leaving us nervous, conscious, and awkward. We might end up fumbling, pronouncing the words wrong, etc when put up in front of people. A lot of people tend to lose confidence and probably will never even try again due to the embarrassment. Practicing and Recording yourself in front of the camera will help in this, as the camera would act as an audience to whom you will be speaking in your target language. You can then see your recordings and understand how you look, how you speak etc. this will boost your confidence level, as a lot of nervousness stems from how you would look or how you would speak is it good enough. When you will see your recordings you will know your level and can work on the areas that need improvement. And with practice, you will get habitual to the camera which works as an external eye.