Shadowing Practice: Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Cada modo abre una sala de práctica a pantalla completa.

38 oraciones

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

- Once you master the economic way of thinking, you'll see the world in a very different way.

Two fundamental economic concepts are everywhere you look: opportunity cost and tradeoffs.

Let's start with opportunity cost.

At this busy coffee shop, opportunity costs lie behind every decision.

Like for Jenny -- she's here for her third date with Adam.

Was that a good decision?

After all, economics is all about studying decisions.

Making a good decision is about comparing the benefits of that decision to the costs.

The obvious costs for this date, for Jenny, were the Uber ride she paid for to get here and her grande chai tea latte with whole milk.

But what's missing?

Her opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost means the value of the next best alternative.

For instance, instead of going on her third date with Adam, Jenny could've been binge watching her favorite TV show.

She might have been on a first date instead, with Roman.

Or she might have been having breakfast with her very sweet sister.

Let's say her next best option would have been breakfast with her sister.

Does the benefit of this third date with Adam outweigh the opportunity cost?

It might seem strange to think this way about romance, and it doesn't mean that it's about calculating every decision down to the last penny.

Nonetheless, Jenny's time, attention, and energy -- those are scarce.

And if she doesn't consider the alternatives at all, she might be wasting parts of her life.

There's another fundamental related concept from economics: tradeoffs.

Take these sprinklers in the ceiling of the coffee shop, for example.

Adding sprinklers can make it safer during a fire, but they also can cost a lot of money to install.

How much cheaper would the coffee be without them?

In a world of scarce resources, one typically has to choose.

There's a tradeoff -- safer buildings cost more, but that means the coffee can be more expensive.

Hmm, the line is at the door here.

Perhaps the owner has considered opening a second location.

As the building code, however, becomes more stringent, the cost of opening an additional location goes up.

It's not just the direct monetary costs of paying for things like sprinklers, it's also the opportunity costs of the extra time and effort to file permits, manage the work, and schedule inspections.

A more stringent building code means a higher cost for opening up new businesses.

And in turn, that higher cost can mean that fewer new businesses get opened.

What's the right tradeoff between making buildings safer...

and making it easier to launch new businesses?

Once you see these tradeoffs, you'll find them everywhere you look: healthcare, food, the environment, education.

One more decision to consider: if you're a teacher, should you spice up your economics class by checking out our free unit plan that uses this video?

If you're a learner, should you watch another MRU video?

Well, YouTube is full of entertaining videos, but please, of course, consider the opportunity costs.

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

FOR YOU

Recomendar Video

480 oraciones

Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Yosemite Permits, Italy Superbonus, Salary Caps (Vol. 22)

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

221 oraciones

Money: Humanity's Biggest Illusion

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

53 oraciones

System Design Was HARD - Until You Knew the Trade-Offs

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

435 oraciones

Color Palettes Worth Another Look

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel C1 se basa en el vídeo “Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs”. Las palabras que más se repiten: cost, opportunity, decision, tradeoff, economic. Este vídeo tiene 38 frases y 502 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 4:32. El hablante mantiene un ritmo constante de unas 111 palabras por minuto, cómodo para el shadowing. El 86 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar. 7 de sus 38 frases son preguntas, así que sirve para practicar la entonación de las preguntas y las respuestas cortas.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 10 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
sprinkler sustantivo	/ˈspɹiŋklɚ/	aspersor, aspersor de irrigación
scarce adjetivo	/ˈskɛɚs/	escaso
learner sustantivo	/ˈlɜɹnəɹ/	aprendiz, aprendedor
outweigh verbo	/ˌaʊtˈweɪ/	pesar más que, preponderar
binge sustantivo	/bɪnd͡ʒ/	atracón, comilona
entertain verbo	/ˌɛntəˈteɪn/	divertir, entretener
calculate verbo	/ˈkælkjʊleɪt/	calcular
spouse sustantivo	/spaʊ̯s/	cónyuge, consorte
nonetheless adverbio	/ˌnʌnðəˈlɛs/	no obstante, sin embargo
penny sustantivo	/ˈpɛni/	penique

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
check out verbo	investigar, chequear
go up verbo	subir

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 7 contracciones y formas reducidas, como doesn't, you'll, you're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: sprinkler /ˈspɹiŋklɚ/, stringent /ˈstɹɪn.d͡ʒənt/, scarce /ˈskɛɚs/, spouse /spaʊ̯s/
/dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: stringent /ˈstɹɪn.d͡ʒənt/, binge /bɪnd͡ʒ/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como sprinkler, scarce, learner.

¿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: Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs - Learn English Speaking with Video

Elige un modo de práctica

Descargar app

Everything Valuable from an MBA in 25 minutes

The Opportunity Cost of Every Yes | B2 English Shadowing

How to Trade Risk on vs. Risk Off: Macro Environments Explained

International Trade Explained

MiniMax 2026 06 09 06 47 09 Captivating Female

3 game theory tactics, explained

👨‍💼 Where do jobs come from? | Employment vs self-employment

The Human Economy in the Age of AI | Ben Pascut | TEDx