Shadowing Practice: 6 Years in Vietnam changed how I see America - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Cada modo abre una sala de práctica a pantalla completa.

134 oraciones

Si las oraciones son demasiado cortas o largas, haz clic en Editar para ajustarlas.

After living in Vietnam for more than six years, coming back to the US feels kinda weird.

Some things are amazing, but some things are not so great.

So today we'll talk about the pros and cons of Vietnam versus America after living in both places.

We'll talk about the big things like healthcare and cost of living, but also cultural things that you've probably never even considered.

So the first pro for America, Something that I really enjoy when I come back here is all the green space and parks.

So right now we're in the suburbs outside of Chicago and look at this field of grass right across the street.

So much room for activities.

Sometimes you just want bare feet on the grass.

It may seem like a little thing, but it's something that we do pretty well in America that just doesn't exist in Vietnam.

All over Vietnam you will find AstroTurf football pitches, lots of badminton courts, little play areas for kids,

but nothing like we have here in America.

Dude, they got a straight up water park back here.

Basketball courts, baseball fields, it's all free and open to the public.

Hey.

What's up?

I'm making a video.

Oh, look who's here.

Who's that? Did you finish camp?

Yes.

Oh, did you say hi?

Did you wave to the camera?

Okay.

So the next thing is kind of a pro and a con.

So you gotta listen.

You hear that?

It's silent.

Out here in the suburbs, there's hardly any traffic.

There's barely any people around.

So it's really quiet and peaceful.

But at the same time, I kind of miss the chaos and action of Vietnam.

Over there, everybody's out and about all day.

The community feels alive.

But here, everybody's sat in the house with the AC on or they're at work.

I feel like I've hardly interacted with any human that's not a family member since I've been in America.

Now to be clear, The suburbs compared to downtown Chicago are two completely different stories.

In the city, you'll find more people walking around.

There's plenty of coffee shops and food and things to do.

Public transportation is really good, but still most people are probably taking expensive Ubers to get around, and it can take you 30 minutes to get somewhere that's not too far away.

So when it comes to transportation, I prefer Vietnam.

I like just jumping on my motorbike and cruising wherever I need to go.

The gym, the beach, coffee and food, everything's a couple minute drive away, and plenty of things are within walking distance.

Here in America, you've got to get in a car and drive anywhere you need to go.

You can make an argument for or against both places.

As I said, public transportation is definitely better in America, and there's tons of chaotic traffic in Vietnam,

but there's plenty of traffic and never-ending construction in America.

You can be stuck on the highway not moving for an hour.

In Vietnam, you're never stuck in traffic.

You could always just drive up on the sidewalk if you had to.

This is actually funny.

I just realized another pro for America.

Sidewalks.

I was making a joke earlier, but sidewalks don't exist in Vietnam.

The area on the side of the road is for parking

or driving your motorbike or maybe for eating lunch on some plastic stools.

But it seems like these sidewalks aren't getting much use because three out of four Americans are obese or overweight.

Why do you think that is?

Take a guess which country has the lowest obesity in the whole world.

That's right, Vietnam.

The food in each of these countries couldn't be further apart.

Crappy food in America is making this the most unhealthy country in the world.

So you would hope there'd be pretty good healthcare, right?

This might be the area where America fails the worst.

Healthcare sucks in America.

Sure, the quality is decent, but the price you pay

and the loops you have to jump through with insurance is pretty embarrassing for the richest country in the world.

I'll give you an example.

My dad's been dealing with an ankle injury for weeks now since I've been back in the US.

He had to wait to get approval from the insurance to get a CT scan done.

Once that finally happened, Now he has to schedule an appointment for two weeks later to actually get the scan done.

After that, he'll schedule another appointment with a specialist who's probably gonna give him a bottle of painkillers

and send him out his way.

In Vietnam, he could have showed up to the hospital without an appointment, paid out of pocket for the scan which would have been maybe 50 bucks.

Then he could see a specialist in the same day and actually have a plan to get better.

Healthcare in Vietnam is cheap,

convenient, high quality, and I would choose Vietnam over America for everything except the most extreme life or death situation.

So let's talk about food for a minute.

Say I'm hungry and I want to get something to eat.

You've got to get in the car and drive outside of the residential area to get whatever you need.

There are plenty of grocery stores around, but fresh, healthy food is gonna be pricey.

The other option is an unlimited selection of fast food, which tastes great, but it's also garbage.

In Vietnam, there's almost always gonna be a local market within walking distance where you can buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat.

I can buy meat from a pig that was butchered that morning, eggs from a chicken roaming the countryside, and vegetables that were picked yesterday.

America, on the other hand, relies heavily on imports of fruits and vegetables.

It can take up the two weeks for a vegetable grown in Mexico to arrive to the grocery store in Chicago.

That means more chemicals to keep it from rotting along the way.

But that's not even the biggest problem.

In America, you got to go out of your way to find healthy food and it's going to be really expensive.

But trash fast food is cheap and available on every corner.

In Vietnam, it's completely the opposite.

You got to drive for a while to find a McDonald's, but there's going to be 10 aunties within walking distance that are cooking homemade meals with fresh ingredients for about $1.50.

Here's something we don't have in Vietnam.

Big win for America.

They sell weed there, in case you couldn't tell.

Alright, let's get cost of living out of the way.

I'm not going to spend too much time here because it's obvious that America is a lot more expensive than Vietnam, but I'll give you some real-world examples.

My mom pays up to $200 per month for the electricity bill.

That's because in America, we demand comfort.

So the AC is running 24-7 in the summer and non-stop in the winter.

The winter part is actually fair because you would die.

100

So in America most houses have what's called central cooling.

101

So you set the temperature for the entire house and the AC is blowing non-stop out the vents in every room.

102

In Vietnam we have individual AC units on the wall, usually only in the bedrooms, and you turn them off and on as you need them.

103

So for comparison, the highest my electricity bill would ever be in the peak of summer is about $60.

104

And most of the time, it's a lot less than that.

105

To fill in the gas tank in your car, you might be looking at $50 or $60 at least once a week.

106

I fill up my motorbike in Vietnam for $3 maybe once a week.

107

In Vietnam, the government subsidizes fuel and electricity to keep the prices stable and affordable for most people.

108

One more pro for America.

109

I was going to say blue skies, but it got a little cloudy on me.

110

But there's pretty much no pollution here.

111

America wins this one hands down, and it is a big one.

112

Even in a busy major city like Chicago, the air is still really nice.

113

That's because we have way stricter emissions laws.

114

There's no factories, no agricultural burning in the countryside.

115

Pollution is a major problem for Vietnam, but it is something they're addressing pretty aggressively.

116

So I feel pretty good about where they're headed in the future.

117

I made a whole video about the pollution issue in Vietnam if you want to check that one out.

118

And while you're at it, you might as well subscribe to the channel if you're at all interested in Vietnam.

119

So one cultural thing that I've noticed, no one even thinks about taking their shoes off when they go inside the house.

120

In Vietnam, you would get slapped if you tried to walk in somebody's house with your shoes on.

121

That's why everybody wears slippers.

122

One more thing that's been causing me some issues over the last couple weeks, there's no bum guns in America.

123

I don't know how you can call yourself a civilized country without some way to spray your butthole with water.

124

You might as well go take a shit in the woods.

125

That with the type of food I've been eating for three weeks, yeah, we've been having some problems.

126

All in all, there's pros and cons to both places.

127

I know that growing up in America gave me the opportunity to travel the world

128

and be able to choose wherever I want to live.

129

So I love Vietnam.

130

I plan to be there forever.

131

But it has plenty of flaws, and it's definitely not for everyone.

132

So if you made it this far in the video, I really appreciate you watching.

133

I'll be back in Vietnam soon, and I'll catch you in the next one.

134

Peace.

Descargar app

Todo lo que necesitas para hablar con fluidez

Pronunciación con IAEvalúa cada oración

Práctica de IPADomina cada sonido

VocabularioConstruye tu banco de palabras

Juego de vocabularioAprende mientras juegas

Escanea el QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Mismo canal

Why are so many Foreigners leaving Da Nang?

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

6 Years Living In Vietnam: What I Wish I Knew Sooner

Travel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

FOR YOU

Recomendar Video

275 oraciones

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “6 Years in Vietnam changed how I see America”. Este vídeo tiene 134 frases y 1662 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 8:41. El hablante habla rápido, unas 191 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 86 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
sidewalk sustantivo	/ˈsaɪdwɔk/	acera, andén
vegetable sustantivo	/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/	verdura, legumbre
scan verbo	/skæn/	escrutar
pollution sustantivo	/pəˈluʃən/	polución, contaminación
countryside sustantivo	/ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/	campo, campaña
auntie sustantivo	/ˈæn.ti/	tiita, tiíta
badminton sustantivo	/ˈbæd.mɪn.tən/	bádminton, volante
embarrass verbo	/ɪmˈbæɹəs/	avergonzar, abochornar
painkiller sustantivo	/ˈpeɪnˌkɪlə(ɹ)/	analgésico
slipper sustantivo	/ˈslɪpə(ɹ)/	zapatilla, pantufla
subsidize verbo	/ˈsʌbsɪdaɪz/	subsidiar
stool sustantivo	/stuːl/	taburete, banqueta
civilized adjetivo	/ˈsɪv.ɪ.laɪzd/	civilizado
cloudy adjetivo	/ˈklaʊ̯diː/	nublado, nublo
flaw sustantivo	/flɔ/	falla

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
drive away verbo	correr, ahuyentar
fill up verbo	llenar, repletar
hands down adverbio	fácilmente
walk around verbo	deambular

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

Did you finish camp?
Did you wave to the camera?
In the city, you'll find more people walking around.
Why do you think that is?
I'll give you an example.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — una acción que empezó antes y continúa	dad's been dealing · that's been causing · I've been eating
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	you've probably never even considered · I've hardly interacted · I've been
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	can be stuck · was butchered

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 40 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I've, I'll, don't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: pollution /pəˈluʃən/, emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, obesity /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːsɪti/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: scan /skæn/, slipper /ˈslɪpə(ɹ)/, stool /stuːl/, slap /slæp/, spray /spɹeɪ/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: vegetable /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/, civilized /ˈsɪv.ɪ.laɪzd/, overweight /ˌoʊvɚˈweɪt/, vent /vɛnt/, convenient /kənˈviː.niənt/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: suburbs /ˈsʌbɝbz/, subsidize /ˈsʌbsɪdaɪz/, civilized /ˈsɪv.ɪ.laɪzd/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como sidewalk, vegetable, scan.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: 6 Years in Vietnam changed how I see America - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Descargar app

Why are so many Foreigners leaving Da Nang?

6 Years Living In Vietnam: What I Wish I Knew Sooner

Ways America is More Beneficial Than Vietnam That Nobody Talks About!

"James Barkman" - VW Van Life

When Tourists Are Asian

Living in Colorado in 2026 (7 PROS & 7 CONS) | Moving to Colorado Guide

Leaving America Changed the Way I See Everything

I moved to Vietnam but never expected to live like this

A Rural American Childhood

Would I Ever Leave Vietnam & Return To America?

Tiếng Anh giao tiếp Unit 23 Places Địa điểm

Vietnam's Visa Problem Nobody Talks About

Inside Ultra Modern Vietnam🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh City Underrated?

Jimmy O. Yang Destroys Asian Stereotypes...