Shadowing Practice: How to Get Good at Small Talk, and Even Enjoy It - Learn English Speaking with Video
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MATT ABRAHAMS: Small talk, I think, is actually a misnomer.
MATT ABRAHAMS: Creo que el término "conversación trivial" es en realidad un nombre inapropiado.
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We refer to small talk as any chit-chat or just conversation that we don't put a lot of import on.
Nos referimos a la charla informal como cualquier conversación trivial o charla a la que no le damos mucha importancia.
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When, in fact, small talk is a wonderful way of connecting, bonding, learning, growing.
Cuando, de hecho, la charla informal es una manera maravillosa de conectar, crear vínculos, aprender y crecer.
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And what makes it so challenging is the fact that we can't have a script.
Y lo que lo hace tan difícil es el hecho de que no podemos tener un guion.
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We have to just go with what's happening in the moment.
Tenemos que adaptarnos a lo que está sucediendo en este momento.
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We often think that it is a test for us.
A menudo pensamos que es una prueba para nosotros.
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It's like a tennis match, where I've got to lob something over to the person or people I'm talking to, and I hope it lands and goes well.
Es como un partido de tenis, donde tengo que lanzar algo hacia la persona o personas con las que estoy hablando, y espero que aterrice y salga bien.
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I think a better way to look at small talk is like that game of hacky sack-- that little beanbag where everybody is trying to keep it up all at the same time and never have it hit the ground.
Creo que una mejor manera de ver las conversaciones triviales es como ese juego de hacky sack: esa pequeña bolsa de frijoles donde todos intentan mantenerla en el aire al mismo tiempo y que nunca toque el suelo.
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If you envision your job as collaborating with others to keep the conversation moving rather than a hot potato tennis match, where I just need to get it back to the other person, it can really change, one, how it flows, and two, the experience from your perspective.
Si concibes tu trabajo como una colaboración con otros para mantener la conversación en marcha, en lugar de un juego de la patata caliente en el que solo necesitas devolvérsela a la otra persona, realmente puede cambiar, primero, cómo fluye, y segundo, la experiencia desde tu perspectiva.
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All of a sudden, it's something that's enjoyable rather than something that's scary.
De repente, se convierte en algo agradable en lugar de algo que da miedo.
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When you first get into a small talk situation, I think we need to establish appropriate goals.
[SUENA MÚSICA] Cuando uno empieza a entablar una conversación informal, creo que debemos establecer objetivos apropiados.
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Rachel Greenwald, a matchmaker and an academic, has this wonderful saying.
Rachel Greenwald, casamentera y académica, tiene este maravilloso dicho.
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Your goal is to be interested, not interesting.
Tu objetivo es interesarte, no ser interesante.
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A lot of us go into these situations thinking that we need to be really fascinating, engaging, and interesting, when, in fact, we just need to be present and be interested in the conversation that's happening.
Muchos de nosotros afrontamos estas situaciones pensando que tenemos que ser realmente fascinantes, atractivos e interesantes, cuando, en realidad, solo necesitamos estar presentes y mostrar interés en la conversación que se está produciendo.
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It also helps reduce the anxiety many of us feel.
También ayuda a reducir la ansiedad que muchos sentimos.
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We feel like we are being judged.
Sentimos que nos están juzgando.
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And the reality is you are being judged.
Y la realidad es que te están juzgando.
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You can reduce the intensity of that spotlight we feel by putting your attention on the other.
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Many of us have this desire as soon as something spontaneous happens and we have to respond to do it as quickly as possible.
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We have this sense that speed to respond in somehow is associated with competence.
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But really, what reflects best on your competence is an appropriate response.
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And appropriateness can take a little bit of time.
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We have all said something we didn't mean to say because it wasn't clear, or it wasn't appropriate.
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Pausing helps reduce that likelihood.
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So here are some things you can do to help slow yourself down.
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Paraphrasing is wonderful.
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Why? Not just because you are repeating the gist of what somebody said to make sure you're clearly going to respond to what's asked or what's needed, but paraphrasing forces you to slow down and listen more carefully.
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Paraphrase isn't what a five-year-old does who parrots back what you've said.
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It's a distillation of what the other person said.
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And when you paraphrase it, you do several things.
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One, you validate the other person because you're saying I heard you.
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You're not necessarily agreeing.
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Paraphrasing doesn't mean agreement.
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It just means this is what I heard.
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And it validates the content.
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So you validate the person, but the content-- the person can say, no, no, no, no.
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What I really meant was this.
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So it helps with fidelity.
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Most of us listen just enough to get the gist of what somebody's saying, and then we immediately start judging, rehearsing, and responding.
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When I paraphrase, I have to listen super intently.
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I have to listen to understand what's the bottom line of what you're saying?
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That slows me down.
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And by slowing my own thoughts down and then paraphrasing them, I buy myself some time to really think.
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There's always something to say.
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You can always ask a question.
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My mother-in-law was amazing at small talk.
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She had a black belt in small talk.
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And her superpower was a simple phrase.
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She would pause for a moment, and she would say, tell me more.
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If you are ever in a situation, a communication, conversation where you don't know what to say, most of the time you could simply say, tell me more, or give me some more detail, or what did you mean about that point?
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And just by giving the person an opportunity to speak again, that gives you time to find what you might want to say and to connect to it.
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CREW: Tell me more.
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When you say, tell me more have to act inquisitively.
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If you just say, tell me more, it's not-- but if you say tell me-- yeah.
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Tell me more.
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Tell me more about that.
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Yeah. Mistakes are normal and natural in communication.
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We make them all the time.
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Spontaneous communication is about connection, not perfection.
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You know, in film and TV, directors will ask their actors to have multiple takes.
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A take is just another shot at doing the same thing.
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So an actor might say something in one way very passionately, or they might say it in another way more-- being more curious.
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Those are all different takes.
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So I'd like people to reframe a mistake as a missed take.
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What you did wasn't wrong.
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There might be another way to do it, and we can try it again.
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Many of us, when we feel very uncomfortable in spontaneous speaking situations, we go on too long.
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We're discovering what we're thinking as we're thinking it.
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So we just take people on the journey of our thought process as we're speaking, and we keep going on and on and on.
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It's almost a defensive technique, where if I just throw out a lot of stuff, that maybe something will stick and people will think, oh, that person's smart or they know what they're talking about.
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Concision is almost always better in communication.
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My mother has this wonderful saying.
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I know she didn't create it, but it's tell me the time, don't build me the clock.
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Many of us are clock-builders in these spontaneous speaking situations.
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And we have to remind ourselves when we start speaking just tell the time.
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I know the irony that I'm talking about concision, and I was not concise in that answer.
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One of the best ways to be concise and clear is to leverage structure.
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Structure is not a listing of ideas.
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It's not bullet points.
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Structure is a logical connection of your points.
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It's like a recipe or a map.
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Now, this sounds ironic, right?
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We're talking about being spontaneous, and here I am saying structure is the key to spontaneity.
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But we see this in our life in many other facets.
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If you enjoy jazz music, jazz music isn't just random playing.
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Jazz music follows particular structures, chord progressions, connections of notes.
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So we can leverage structure to help our communication be tighter and clearer.
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One of my favorite structures of all time, because it's so useful in so many different situations, is three simple questions.
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What? So what?
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Now what? The what is your idea, your product, your service, your belief.
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The so what is why is it important to the person or people you're talking to?
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And then now what is what comes next.
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Maybe I'm going to show you something, take your questions, set up another appointment.
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When it comes to small talk, this is a magical tool.
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Imagine you're at a corporate mixer, and you're going in, and there are people in the company that you have not yet met.
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So if I'm engaging you in conversation I can say, hey, what brings you here?
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That's the what.
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When you answer, I can say, oh, why is that important, or why do you find that interesting?
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That's the so what.
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And then after that, I can ask a question like, oh, so what more are you going to do, or what are you going to do next, or do you want to join me and go over here?
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So I've got the now what is a question.
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As with anything that you're trying to learn, you have to practice it.
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When you read something or listen to a podcast, pause it, stop your reading, think what was it about, why is it important to me, and how can I use it?
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By drilling it, it becomes more natural.
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When we're in small talk situations, we often initiate with trite, very common phrases.
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How are you?
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What brings you here?
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What do you do?
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These are simple, reflexive ways to get started, but they actually don't take you very far.
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I am a big fan of initiating through questions, but through questions that connect to the particular context and environment that I'm in.
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Just the other day, I was in a situation for small talk.
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And the very first thing I did, I came up to somebody I didn't know and I said, this is amazing to me.
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There are more people in this room wearing blue shirts than I think I've seen in a long time.
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And the person said, you know what?
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You're right.
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That's really interesting.
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And all of a sudden the conversation was off and running.
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All I did was notice something in the environment.
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Initiating with something that piques somebody's curiosity, something that might be highlighting something that's not known or commonly discussed in the moment, can really invite people in versus hi, how are you?
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And they say, fine.
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Well, now I'm back to where I started, and it's even more awkward, right?
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Perhaps more challenging than initiating small talk is getting out of small talk.
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Many of us rely on biology.
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Oh, I'm thirsty.
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I'm going to go get a drink.
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I'm hungry, or I need to go to the bathroom.
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Biology is not necessarily the best exit for these circumstances.
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I love an approach I learned from Rachel Greenwald.
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It's called the white flag approach.
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If you know anything about auto racing, prior to the last lap, the final lap, they wave a white flag to signal to all the drivers that the race is ending.
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As you're drawing near to the end of the conversation either because you need to leave, or you want to leave, or the conversation has sort of run its course, you signal that.
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You say, I need to go in a moment, but-- and this is where you ask one last question, provide one last bit of feedback.
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So you continue the conversation on for a little bit.
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So it might sound something like this.
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I need to get going because there's some friends over there I need to meet.
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But before I go, I want to just a little bit more about that trip you were telling me about to Hawaii.
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And together, you can draw the conversation to an end rather than you abruptly saying, oh, I need to go to the bathroom.
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Or, wow, that looks like good food over there.
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It's just a much better, cleaner way to end a small talk conversation.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Este vídeo tiene 139 frases y 1845 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 10:13. El hablante habla rápido, unas 181 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
15 palabras menos comunes del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
- spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/ (adjetivo) — espontáneo. Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse.
- connect /kəˈnɛkt/ (verbo) — conectar, empalmar. To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
- jazz /d͡ʒæz/ (sustantivo) — jazz. A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time…
- pause /pɔːz/ (sustantivo) — pausa. A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
- necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ (adverbio) — necesariamente. Inevitably; of necessity.
- clock /klɑk/ (sustantivo) — cuentakilómetros. A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
- sudden /ˈsʌd.ən/ (adjetivo) — repentino, súbito. Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly.
- engage /ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ (verbo) — embebecer, embelesar. To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
- tennis /ˈtɛnɪs/ (sustantivo) — tenis. A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
- phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ (sustantivo) — frase. A short written or spoken expression.
- biology /baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ (sustantivo) — biología. The study of all life or living matter.
- leverage /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/ (sustantivo) — palanca, palanqueo. A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
- competence /ˈkɑm.pə.təns/ (sustantivo) — competenza. The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.
- technique /tɛkˈniːk/ (sustantivo) — técnica. The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
- belief /bɪˈliːf/ (sustantivo) — creencia. Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
- talk about (verbo) — hablar de, hablar sobre. Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verbo) — continuar. To continue in extent.
- get into (verbo) — entrar en, entrar a. To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
- get out of (verbo) — salirse de, ponerse fuera de. To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
- go over (verbo) — sentar, pasar. To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze.
- look at (verbo) — mirar, funar. To observe or watch.
- rely on (verbo) — depender de, atenerse a. To be confident in.
- slow down (verbo) — desacelerar, decelerar. To decelerate.
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 45 contracciones y formas reducidas, como you're, I'm, we're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: initiate /ɪˈnɪʃ.i.eɪt/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, perfection /pɚˈfɛk.ʃən/, progression /pɹəˈɡɹɛʃən/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/, initiate /ɪˈnɪʃ.i.eɪt/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, biology /baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/
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 spontaneous, connect, jazz.
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | being judged · is associated |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | you've said · I've seen |
¿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.