Shadowing Practice: The fear of being average - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Life is good.
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Our entire lives, we've been taught that we needed to be exceptional.
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That average was something we needed to escape.
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That if we didn't do something remarkable with our lives, we failed.
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But no one ever stopped to define what average actually meant.
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A stable job, a partner, a house, two kids.
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Because if that's average, why were we ever taught to fear it?
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The truth is, none of those ever the problem.
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Everything you've been told about being average has been a lie.
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Average was never about the life you live, it was always about something much deeper than that.
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Thank you.
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Anthony Bourdain knew what an average life really was, and why we're so afraid of it.
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Before becoming a famous author and TV show personality, Bourdain spent two decades working in professional kitchens.
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He graduated in 1978 from the Culinary Institute of America, and in his early career,
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Bourdain worked as a line cook and sous chef at restaurants across New York and all the while,
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he carried a different dream to be a writer He wrote his first book, Bone and Throat, which received lackluster reviews and his second book,
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Gone Bamboo, also shared the same fate.
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Both books sold poorly and his writing career became stagnant.
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You see, Bourdain was 42.
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he was beginning to accept that the dream he once had wasn't for him.
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So He turned his focus back to cooking.
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He worked his way up to executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, a respected French restaurant in Manhattan.
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From an outside perspective, Bourdain made it.
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He had a great job, stability, and all the money he needed to live a comfortable life.
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A life many people would be grateful for.
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So why not just stop there?
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Why not lean into the life he fought so hard to build?
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And that's exactly what most people do.
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As time passes, they get set in their ways.
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They convinced themselves that the life they built is enough they find a job that pays the bills.
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It's not perfect.
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but it's fine.
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A partner they love deeply.
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Someone to come home to.
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They move into a place that feels just big enough, buy furniture they'll keep for years, and fall into routines that make life easier.
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Nothing is wrong.
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And that's the danger.
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you you Thank you.
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This is where most people misunderstand what an average life actually is.
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Because you can wake up every morning, go to work, come home, build a family, live quietly, and still live a deeply fulfilled life.
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Millions of people dream of exactly that, but it feels like this generation is convinced that stability isn't enough.
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Social media brainwashed us into believing that we should chase unrealistic perceptions of money and materialism, and that if we didn't have this checklist of things done before a certain age,
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you're falling behind.
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But an extraordinary life isn't defined by starting a $100 million business or becoming an athlete or a celebrity,
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about a 9 to 5, or a house, or a routine, it was always about your mentality.
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A stable life isn't the problem.
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The problem is never challenging yourself within it.
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Because somewhere along the way, comfort quietly replaces courage.
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You stop trying new things.
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Stop doing things you're bad at.
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You only ever choose the options you know will work out.
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And over time, you days start to feel the same.
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They turn into weeks and weeks into years.
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And one day you wake up and realize something terrifying.
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You never took a single real risk.
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Never once stepped outside the routine.
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Never once asked more of yourself.
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That's what being average actually is.
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Anthony Bourdain knew this.
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He knew that coasting through life doesn't end in failure.
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It ends in something far more dangerous.
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A life where you're satisfied, but not fulfilled.
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And Bourdain knew that if he stayed there long enough, he wouldn't just lose the dream, he'd lose the courage to ever try again.
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The only way forward was to take the risk.
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But before he could do that, He had to confront the one thing that stops people from ever doing so.
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Your ego.
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Ego follows you everywhere.
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It shapes your decisions, quietly disguising itself as excuses like, "I'm being realistic." And humans are inherently egotistical.
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We want things to go our way.
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We want to avoid looking foolish or unprepared, and that's why most people never try anything They don't pick up the hobby, never speak up at work, or talk to the stranger across the street,
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because a rejection or failure feels humiliating.
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It's easier to protect the image you have of yourself than to risk watching it break.
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I didn't have time, Something came up
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or maybe later those excuses feel safer than saying I tried and I wasn't good enough
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so most people choose the first they protect their identity in the present even if when it costs them their future.
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And the tragedy is that ego doesn't stop you from failing.
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It stops you from ever finding out who you could have been.
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And this is where Bourdain did something most people never do.
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You see, he had already failed.
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Twice.
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He had every reason to stop trying.
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He could have came up with a million excuses,
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but he realized he had grown to become the very type for reading this.
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Although it was only ever meant to be for the line cooks that he worked with, he did attempt to publish his work.
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His mom was the one who helped them submit it to the New Yorker, one of the biggest magazine companies at the time, a place you don't submit to unless you're certain you belong.
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Bourdain, wasn't certain, but certainty was the one thing he had already decided to reject.
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So, he sent it, and after just a few days, You got a call.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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In classic storytelling, there's a moment in every protagonist's journey where they must overcome something called the ego death.
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Often temporary loss of one's sense of self or personal identity.
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This is usually in the form of some sort of humiliation, sacrifice, or failure.
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Regardless, they must overcome this ego death to reach resolution.
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And we are the protagonists of our own lives.
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You have to lose your ego.
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The version of yourself that needs certainty, that needs to look competent.
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That's the price of a meaningful life.
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A small death of your identity.
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Bourdain didn't know if the call would change his life.
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He only knew that staying safe would quietly erase it.
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And as soon as Bourdain did this, well, the rest is history.
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Expanding on his article, he went on to write Kitchen Confidential, an unflinching look at the food service industry that became a number one New York Times bestseller.
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The book's success propelled him onto television, becoming the host of No Reservations and Parts Unknown, on which he travelled the world sampling different foods and engaging with different cultures.
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Everything he became traced back to one decision: choosing uncertainty over hoping to inspire at least one person to do the same.
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To embrace the unknown.
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To try and fail.
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To be wrong.
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Bourdain never stopped living like this.
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He was always chasing new experiences, new cultures, finding new ways to escape comfort.
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One of his quotes that always stuck with me was, "Go somewhere you've never been.
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It doesn't always have to be about travel, buying a new coffee shop.
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Anything that brings you out of your comfort zone.
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Because ego is what creates the comfort zone.
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And the comfort zone is where dreams go to die.
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So instead of risking discomfort now, ego offers you a trade.
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Stay comfortable today and we'll deal with the consequences later.
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And those consequences don't show up immediately.
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They hear one day and can't unhear.
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If only I tried.
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It's regret.
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Because what if Bourdain had never sent that article?
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What if he had given up after his first two books flopped?
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he would end up with the same fate millions of people settle for.
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an average life.
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One filled. with regret.
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And the only way to live a life without regret is to escape the comfort zone.
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But here's where most people mess up.
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They think escaping the comfort zone means blowing up their life.
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It's not.
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It doesn't mean quitting your job to start a business or leaving everything behind and moving across the world.
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That's not what Bourdain did either.
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When he sent that essay to the New Yorker, he kept his job.
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Even when they offered him a contract to write his book, his risk was small.
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Picked up writing again.
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Even when he was comfortable being a chef, submitting an essay to a place he wasn't sure he belonged.
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Those aren't dramatic leaps.
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They're what I call small ego deaths.
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And this is how you you truly create an extraordinary life.
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Bourdain once said, "I am eager to believe
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that I'm completely wrong about everything." And that one sentence perfectly explains his entire life.
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Because if you're wrong, you're willing to embarrass yourself.
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You're willing to try.
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You're willing to embrace discomfort.
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So try something new.
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Pick up a new skill.
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Talk to a stranger.
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Try a new restaurant.
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Share your work before it's perfect.
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Go somewhere unfamiliar without a plan.
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And this is how you need to live every day.
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In the present.
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Because this moment is all we have.
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paradox, because we fear an average life so much, but only in hindsight, because we fear discomfort in the present more.
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So it was never about a 9 to 5, or a routine, or even comfort.
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Those were not the enemies.
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It was always about letting those things control you.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “The fear of being average”. Las palabras que más se repiten: Bourdain, average, ego, comfort. Este vídeo tiene 156 frases y 1634 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 11:35. El hablante mantiene un ritmo constante de unas 141 palabras por minuto, cómodo para el shadowing. El 83 % 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 |
|---|---|---|
| quietly adverbio | /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ | mansamente, despacio |
| discomfort sustantivo | /dɪsˈkʌmfɚt/ | falta de confort, incomodidad |
| certainty sustantivo | /ˈsɝtn̩ti/ | certeza, certitud |
| fulfill verbo | /fʊlˈfɪl/ | cumplir |
| consequence sustantivo | /ˈkɑn.sɪ.kwəns/ | consecuencia |
| embrace verbo | /ɛmˈbɹes/ | abrazar, embrazar |
| bestseller sustantivo | superventas, bestseller | |
| brainwash sustantivo | /ˈbɹeɪnwɒʃ/ | lavado de cerebro, comedura de coco |
| egotistical adjetivo | /ˌi.ɡoʊˈtɪs.tɪk.(ə)l/ | egotista |
| embarrass verbo | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | avergonzar, abochornar |
| hindsight sustantivo | /ˈhaɪn(d)saɪt/ | retrospectiva, perspectiva |
| humiliate verbo | /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/ | humillar, papear |
| lackluster adjetivo | /ˈlæklʌstə/ | mate, pálido |
| materialism sustantivo | /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/ | materialismo |
| misunderstand verbo | /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/ | malentender, tomarlo mal (a) |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| pick up verbo | coger, asir | |
| wake up verbo | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | despertarse, recordar |
| come up verbo | salir a relucir | |
| come up with verbo | ingeniar, ingeniarse | |
| fall behind verbo | atrasar | |
| find out verbo | averiguar, anoticiarse | |
| give up verbo | rendirse, entregar | |
| mess up verbo | desbarajustar, desbarahustar |
Frases que vale la pena repetir
Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:
- Because if that's average, why were we ever taught to fear it?
- Stop doing things you're bad at.
- A life where you're satisfied, but not fulfilled.
- They're what I call small ego deaths.
- Because if you're wrong, you're willing to embarrass yourself.
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 | we've been taught · you've been told · isn't defined |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | we've been taught · you've been told · you've never been |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 39 contracciones y formas reducidas, como you're, didn't, doesn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: brainwash /ˈbɹeɪnwɒʃ/, humiliation /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/, foolish /ˈfuː.lɪʃ/, rejection /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, exceptional /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: egotistical /ˌi.ɡoʊˈtɪs.tɪk.(ə)l/, humiliate /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/, materialism /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/, misunderstand /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/, humiliation /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: materialism /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/, disguise /dɪsˈɡaɪz/
- /dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: rejection /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, tragedy /ˈtɹæd͡ʒ.ɪ.di/
- /h/ — una aspiración suave, no la “j”: hindsight /ˈhaɪn(d)saɪt/, humiliate /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/, humiliation /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/, inherently /ɪnˈhɛɹəntli/, hobby /ˈhɑ.bi/
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 quietly, discomfort, certainty.
¿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.