Shadowing Practice: Poor Communicator or The Silent Treatment? How to Deal With It - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Have you ever been in a relationship where every time you have a conflict,

even a small one, the other person just shuts down and doesn't wanna talk?

How do you deal with that?

That's what I'm talking about today.

I'm Dr. Tracy Marks, a psychiatrist, and I make mental health education and self -improvement videos.

Today's video is based on a viewer question from Boss Kitty, and she said, I'm here for the advice.

My boyfriend and I just started, four months, and he doesn't know how to express himself emotionally or have a conversation concerning our relationship.

Every time I tell him his absence to our talks affects me and we need to talk about it,

he blows up and gets angry and so on, which leads me to silence and soak in all my concerns.

It's difficult.

I also suffer with depression and I deal with it fine on my own.

Now I have to develop ways to deal with this and not show it in my face.

Please tell me how to deal with this.

Thank you.

Thank you Boss Kitty for this question.

There's a few things going on with this situation.

You have a boyfriend who doesn't wanna talk and it sounds like he doesn't wanna talk

when you talk about things like your relationship and then when you try and press him on it, he gets angry.

His anger makes you withdraw and silently deal with your pain.

The first thing you need to do is figure out is his lack of talking about the relationship

because he's not a good communicator or is it because he just doesn't want to talk about it every time you ask?

I'm assuming that you're not asking him every day, are we okay?

Because no one wants to be badgered about the state of the relationship

because the person on the receiving end can feel like they're always having to reassure you.

And some reassurance can work at first, but after a while, it gets old,

and he can get tired of always needing to build you up and make you feel secure.

If this is the case, the solution would be to find different ways to build yourself up and boost your self -confidence.

But I'm going to assume that that's not the issue here.

Another possibility is that your boyfriend is not a good communicator.

So if you start getting too deep with him, he may not know how to express his feelings very well.

If you keep trying to get him to tell you more about how he feels, he can get defensive and feel attacked

and then he can attack back with mean comments in response to having his vulnerabilities exposed.

How would you know if this was the case?

How much does he talk about other things?

How good is he at talking about how he feels about something?

It's one thing to be able to give an observation of a situation because then you can just list the facts,

but it goes to another level to talk about how a situation affects you emotionally and your opinions about it.

Some people aren't good at identifying how they feel about something

so they may relate a story without any secondary level of detail.

If that's how he communicates he's going to struggle when you're

when you start talking about your relationship

because your relationship isn't just a series of facts it's the abstract concept of your connectedness.

So one thing you can do in this situation is to

ask him more open -ended questions like how do you feel about that?

What are your thoughts about that?

Or how would you handle that?

Open -ended questions require more than a one -word answer

and the person who isn't good at communicating but is willing to communicate if you help will try and answer those questions.

You can get him in the mode of answering more open -ended questions with you

and then at some point it may get easier for him to answer more open -ended questions about your relationship.

Here's an example.

You You go to a barbecue together and you're on your way back home in the car and he says, I like that, that was nice.

You can say, what did you like about it most?

He says, I don't know, it was just good.

You know, it was a good time.

You don't wanna jump in and say, well what specifically was good?

I enjoyed it too, but you can't tell me what you liked about it?

That's the quickest way to get him to shut down

and not wanna say anything because essentially you're pointing out the problem

that he probably knows he has at some level that he doesn't have a lot to say.

Instead give him an example of how you were wanting him to answer the question.

So he says it was a good time.

You say I really like the ribs

and I thought they did a good job of making everyone feel comfortable by having us play games and things.

These details may trigger him to to add his own details.

So he may say, yeah, those were some good ribs, and it was nice that they had stuff to do.

I don't like just sitting around at people's house and eating.

Do that several times.

You ask for details, he gives you a basic answer without details, you add your own details.

He may learn to anticipate what you're asking him

when you ask for something and he may get better at giving more details and having more to say.

If he gets more comfortable talking about generic things, he may then get better about talking about emotional things like your relationship.

So this is just a basic example and I'm making a lot of assumptions here about why he won't talk.

Of course, there are more specific reasons that have to do with things like

if you're pressuring him to do something that he doesn't wanna do, like be exclusive or move in or get married.

Those could be reasons why he doesn't wanna have the relationship talk.

Now, it's one thing not to talk because you're a poor communicator, but it's another thing entirely,

to be good at communicating but just choose not to.

One reason a person may do this is when they're giving you the silent treatment.

You usually see this in the setting of an argument or if you didn't do something that he wanted you to do.

The silent treatment is a passive -aggressive way of showing anger and punishing you.

The person refuses to talk to you.

Now this doesn't mean literally mean that he's ignoring you.

Instead you may get one one -word answers to questions.

The answers lack detail because he doesn't want to talk to you about it.

Also, he doesn't initiate any conversation until the period is over.

So the only time he talks is when he's answering a question from you and then it's super brief.

If you ask him, is everything okay?

He says, yeah, I'm fine.

When he's in this state, if you press for more details, he may lash out at you just to get you to shut up.

That's clearly different from the person who lashes out

because you're pressing him too hard to say things when he has nothing to say.

If your boyfriend is a silent treatment person, you have a bigger problem, I'm sorry to say,

because the silent treatment is a way for the person to punish you by shaming you or withholding validation from you.

An example of that may be that you have a fight about something, he gets mad and yells or says something mean.

That's not the silent treatment yet then you recognize your part in the fight and you apologize.

He knows you want to either hear him apologize or tell you it's okay and then everything will be alright,

but he purposely withholds that assurance so that you can go a while feeling uncomfortable and maybe insecure about the relationship.

You're naturally going to worry about how long he's going to be angry at you.

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So he He then withdraws and doesn't talk for a while, leaving you to fret about the state of the relationship.

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How do you handle this?

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Well, you can't pull him out of the silence.

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If he's using the silence to punish you, he's not gonna stop until he's satisfied that you've been shamed enough

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or that he's extracted enough pain from you or taught you the lesson that he's trying to teach you.

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So I think the best thing that you can do is ignore him when he's doing this.

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Step away from the situation and get your composure.

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This also gives him a chance to cool down if he's angry.

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Some people who do this need the mental space to work through their emotions on their own.

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And there's nothing wrong with needing some distance when you're hurting or angry.

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The passive aggressive part of this is when he doesn't acknowledge

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that he's responding to hurt and he gives the appearance that everything is fine even though he's acting like you don't exist.

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Then, while you're away from the situation, do things to take care of yourself emotionally.

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That is, do things that soothe you.

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This could be talking to a friend, or going for a walk, or watching a movie.

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If you appear unfazed by his silence,

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chances are he'll break the silence sooner than he otherwise would because it's not having the desired effect.

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Then, when he comes out of the silence, that's when you address whatever issue you were needing to discuss.

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You're not gonna get very far by calling him out on the silent treatment

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because he can just act like he doesn't know what you're talking about.

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And that's the beauty of passive aggression.

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Passive aggression gives the appearance of right doing

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or compliance with the covert negative behavior on the back end that's harder to see.

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So in this case, on the front end, he's saying everything's good

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but I don't know why you keep asking all these questions.

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I said no, but on the back end,

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he's only talking to you if you talk to him and giving bare minimum answers with little to no detail.

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knowing that you want more details and back and forth conversation with him.

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But here's the last point, and this is the reason I say that this is a bigger problem than just not talking.

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Even if you win by getting him to break the silence by ignoring him,

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you don't gain much because he'll find another way to get the same effect of punishing you when he's angry,

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and that's the issue that has to be addressed, the need to punish you.

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Some people believe that if you don't validate them in some way you deserve punishment and that punishment can take different forms.

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This kind of toxic behavior is hard to change but it can change if the person is ready to do some work.

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I did a video on 10 signs of a toxic relationship

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and I guess this would be number 11 but

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if you want to see more toxic behaviors and ways that you can deal with them you can watch that video here.

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If you watch my channel a lot, you'll see that this is a little different from my usual teaching about psychiatric illnesses.

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But mental health is broader than illnesses.

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Beneath the illness is still the need to relate to people.

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I really believe that relationships are the true currency because at the end of the day that's all we have left, relationships.

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And your individual mental well -being is a building block for how you function in the world.

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So that's how this all comes together, becoming the best that you can be has a trickle -down effect.

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So let's just keep pushing forward for the quest for self -improvement at every level.

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See you next time.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación se basa en el vídeo “Poor Communicator or The Silent Treatment? How to Deal With It”. Las palabras que más se repiten: relationship, detail, answer. Este vídeo tiene 144 frases y 2030 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 11:25. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 178 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 89 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es fácil de seguir.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
silence sustantivo	/ˈsaɪ̯ləns/	silencio
silent adjetivo	/ˈsaɪ̯lənt/	silencioso, callar
punish verbo	/ˈpʌnɪʃ/	castigar, punir
passive adjetivo	/ˈpæs.ɪv/	pasivo
ignore verbo	/ɪɡˈnɔː/	ignorar, desoír
illness sustantivo	/ˈɪl.nəs/	enfermedad
toxic adjetivo	/ˈtɒk.sɪk/	tóxico
emotionally adverbio	/ɪˈməʊʃənəli/	emocionalmente
anger sustantivo	/ˈæŋɡə/	enfado, enojo
punishment sustantivo	/ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/	castigo, escarmiento
aggressive adjetivo	/əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/	agresivo
relate verbo	/ɹɪˈleɪt/	relatar
apologize verbo	/əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/	disculparse [with con], pedir(le) perdón [with a]
withdraw verbo	/wɪðˈdɹɔ/	retirar
aggression sustantivo	/əˈɡɹɛʃən/	agresión

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
shut down verbo		apagar
come together verbo	/ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/	juntarse, concitarse
cool down verbo	/kuːl ˈdaʊn/	enfriarse
figure out verbo		averiguar, captar
point out verbo		señalar, apuntar
shut up	/ʃʌt ʌp/	cállate la boca, cállate

Frases que vale la pena repetir

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

How do you deal with that?
How would you know if this was the case?
What are your thoughts about that?
You don't wanna jump in and say, well what specifically was good?
If you ask him, is everything okay?

Gramática en este vídeo

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

Estructura	En el vídeo
Oraciones condicionales if + oración, will/would + verbo — una condición y su resultado	if you help will try
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is based · be badgered · you've been shamed
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	Have you ever been · you've been shamed · have left
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	person who isn · person who lashes · people who do

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 64 contracciones y formas reducidas, como doesn't, you're, I'm. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/, beneath /bɪˈniːθ/, withhold /wɪθˈhoʊld/, soothe /suːð/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/, emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, punishment /ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/, aggression /əˈɡɹɛʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: passive /ˈpæs.ɪv/, aggressive /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/, defensive /dɪˈfɛn.sɪv/, observation /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃn̩/, viewer /ˈvju.ɚ/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, refuse /ɹɪˈfjuːz/, observation /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃn̩/, expose /ɪkˈspoʊz/, unfazed /ʌnˈfeɪzd/
/dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, acknowledge /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/, generic /dʒɪˈnɛɹ.ɪk/, badger /ˈbæd͡ʒɚ/

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 silence, silent, punish.

¿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: Poor Communicator or The Silent Treatment? How to Deal With It - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?