Shadowing Practice: Vietnam’s Insane Economic Boom Explained - Learn English Speaking with Video
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A few decades ago, Vietnam was quite literally one of the poorest countries in the world.
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GDP was stagnant, it did a negligible amount of trade with the rest of the world,
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and the economy was so unproductive that it had to import food,
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despite being mostly agrarian.
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Today, however, this has all changed.
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Vietnam is both one of the most open and fastest growing economies in the world,
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and its GDP is now expected to overtake that of Thailand,
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one of the richest countries in the region sometime this year.
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So in this video, we thought we'd take a look at Vietnam's economic miracle,
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what's driving it, and how it's weathered the protectionism we've seen in recent years.
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So to understand quite how incredible Vietnam's economic boom has been,
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you need a bit of context.
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After the Vietnam War against the US,
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which finished with the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1975,
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Vietnam was, somewhat unsurprisingly, quite literally one of the poorest countries in the world.
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According to UN data, in 1975,
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Vietnam had a GDP per capita of just $84 at current prices,
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roughly a quarter that of Thailand,
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and even less than Cambodia,
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which was then ruled by Khmer Rouge and entering the first phase of the Cambodian genocide.
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The ruling Communist Party of Vietnam,
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or CPV, originally tried to essentially mimic the Soviet Union,
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pursuing a centralised form of economic planning.
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But by the mid-80s, it had become apparent that this wasn't really working.
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GDP per capita had barely budged,
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and the Soviet Union itself was showing signs of decline.
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So in the mid-80s, the government embarked on a series of liberalizing reforms,
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with the aim of transforming Vietnam's command economy into a more market-oriented one.
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The CPV were at least partly inspired by opening up reforms implemented by Deng Xiaoping in China in the late 70s,
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which paved the way for an economic boom that began in the 80s and is continued to this day.
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Anyway, these reforms were remarkably successful.
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According to UN data, Vietnam's GDP per capita quadrupled between 1990 and 2000,
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and then quadrupled again between 2000 and 2010.
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According to World Bank data,
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which is a bit more up-to-date than the UN data we've been using so far,
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Vietnam now has a GDP per capita of nearly $5,000,
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roughly double that of Cambodia and Laos,
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higher than that of the Philippines and on par with Indonesia.
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It's hard to overstate quite how impressive this is.
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In 1990, Vietnam was way poorer than all these countries
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and has since seen by far and away the fastest growth in the region.
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Nor are things showing any signs of slowing down.
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Growth came in at 8% in 2025,
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well above estimates, and the government has set a target of 10% for 2026.
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In terms of aggregate GDP,
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Vietnam is now expected to overtake Thailand in the coming years,
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a prospect that would have been unimaginable a decade or two ago.
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So what's driven this boom?
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Well, we see at least three big reasons.
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First, Vietnam's enthusiastic embrace of free trade,
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which began with the aforementioned reforms,
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does seem to have really paid off.
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Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995,
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signed a free trade agreement with the US in 2000,
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and joined the World Trade Organization in 2007.
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The net effect has been to dramatically reduce Vietnam's trade barriers,
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and Vietnam is now one of the most trade-dependent economies in the world,
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with total trade amounting to 174% of GDP.
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Economic liberalization has also attracted copious amounts of foreign investment,
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largely as a consequence of big multinationals setting up shop in Vietnam to take advantage of the relatively low labor costs.
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Vietnam has also been a beneficiary of manufacturers' efforts to de-risk their exposure to China.
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Companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple have all shifted parts of their supply chain out of China
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and into Vietnam in recent years,
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as part of what's become known as the China Plus One strategy.
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This has all helped Vietnam establish itself as a manufacturing powerhouse,
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exporting not just to the West,
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but also to nearby Asian countries.
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There was some anxiety that Trump,
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who threatened Vietnam with an eye-watering 46% tariff on Liberation Day,
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would throw a spanner into all this,
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but the CPV have actually handled him remarkably well.
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They promptly negotiated a new tariff rate of 19%,
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which was low enough to keep Vietnamese exports competitive.
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Anyway, the second reason is human capital.
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Vietnam has pretty great demographics.
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It has a large and relatively young workforce,
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with a median age of about 33 and thus a relatively low so-called dependency ratio,
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that is, the number of dependents relative to working-age people.
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But it's not just demographic structure.
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Vietnam's population is also incredibly well-educated.
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In the latest PISA rankings,
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for instance, Vietnamese students scored about on par with the OECD average,
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despite being quite literally the poorest country to take part,
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and having a GDP per capita roughly one-tenth that of the OECD average.
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It's hard to overestimate quite how impressive this is.
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In maths, Vietnamese students actually outperformed their counterparts in the US,
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and way outperformed their peers in Indonesia and the Philippines,
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two nearby countries with similar GDP per capita.
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A well-educated workforce is one of the big reasons why Vietnam has,
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unlike other middle-income countries, been able to move up the manufacturing value chain,
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with high-tech products accounting for an ever-growing fraction of all exports.
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This is also one of the big reasons why Vietnam's score on the World Bank's Human Capital Index,
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which combines indicators of health and education into a measure of the human capital
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that a child born today can expect to obtain by their 18th birthday,
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is, somewhat astonishingly, on a par with that of the US and Luxembourg,
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despite being many times poorer.
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Finally, Vietnam's economy benefits from the country's relatively progressive attitudes towards the role of women in the workforce.
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Low female labour participation rates have often been a barrier to economic development in middle-income countries,
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but Vietnam has quite literally one of the highest rates in the world,
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exceeding even the OECD average.
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The third and final reason is political stability.
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The CPV have proved remarkably competent stewards and embarked on successive liberalisation drives to make the country more attractive to foreign businesses.
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These seem to have paid off.
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According to the Economist Intelligence Unit,
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between 2003 and 2023, Vietnam's business environment improved more than that of any other country.
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Now, to be clear, this is not a general defense of authoritarianism over democracy,
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and Vietnam's political system is appallingly repressive in certain respects.
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Nonetheless, it's hard to deny that Vietnam's relative political stability has helped its economy,
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and the comparison with Thailand,
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where recurrent political crises have given way to economic stagnation, is telling.
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As is so often the case these days,
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a lot of how this plays out depends on influence.
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Not only who technically has the power to make things happen,
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but also who has the sway to make sure it does.
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That's why last year we put together a list of the world's 25 most influential people,
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using rankings from you, our audience,
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as well as from our journalists.
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This year we've done the same,
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producing a brand new ranking for 2026.
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In the upcoming issue of our magazine Too Long,
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we explore our list, telling the stories of a number of people who made the list,
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from the return of Donald Trump and the calculated moves of Xi Jinping to the AI frontiers of Sam Altman.
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We look to the new entries,
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New York's first Muslim mayor Zohran Ramdani,
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the radical shift of Pope Leo XIV,
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and bastions of technocracy, like Prime Minister Mark Carney,
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as well as the shadows that still linger, like Jeffrey Epstein.
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As always, this issue of Too Long features a whole lot more than just our most influential people ranking though.
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We also have a whole featured segment on how the UK became more divided than ever,
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and how a broken country could rebuild,
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the fragmentation emerging within the EU,
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how religion is being used by politicians around the world,
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and much, much more you can pre-order your copy at too long dot news
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or to get the best deal you can just subscribe to the magazine doing
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so gets you 20 off every copy for the lifetime of your subscription
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and
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if you use code spring 26 you'll get an additional three
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pounds off your first copy bringing the price as low as four pounds 99 find out more
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and order your copy today at too long dot news
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel C1 se basa en el vídeo “Vietnam’s Insane Economic Boom Explained”. Las palabras que más se repiten: Vietnam, Gdp, countries, economic, trade. Este vídeo tiene 140 frases y 1451 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 8:51. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 164 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. Solo el 78 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es exigente.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| remarkably adverbio | /ɹɪˈmɑɹkəbli/ | remarcablemente |
| workforce sustantivo | /ˈwɝk.foɹs/ | mano de obra, fuerza laboral |
| embark verbo | /ɪmˈbɑɹk/ | embarcarse |
| liberalization sustantivo | liberalización | |
| overtake verbo | /əʊ̯vəːˈteɪ̯k/ | rebasar, adelantar |
| quadruple adjetivo | /kwɑˈdɹu.pəl/ | cuádruple, cuádruplo |
| tariff sustantivo | /ˈtæɹəf/ | arancel |
| educate verbo | /ˈɛd͡ʒ.əˌkeɪt/ | educar, instruir |
| demographic adjetivo | /ˌdɛm.əˈɡɹæf.ɪk/ | demográfico |
| subscribe verbo | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | suscribirse, subscribirse |
| influential adjetivo | /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/ | influyente, pudiente |
| agrarian adjetivo | /əˈɡɹɛ(ə)ɹi.ən/ | agrario |
| authoritarianism sustantivo | /ɔˌθɔːɹɪˈtɛːɹiən.ɪzm̩/ | autoritarismo |
| bastion sustantivo | /ˈbæsti.ən/ | bastión |
| beneficiary sustantivo | /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ɚ.i/ | beneficiario, beneficiaria |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Significado |
|---|---|
| pay off verbo | valer la pena, salir a cuenta |
| find out verbo | averiguar, anoticiarse |
| play out verbo | discurrir |
| put together verbo | construir, elaborar |
| slow down verbo | desacelerar, decelerar |
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | we've seen · has been · has set |
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | is now expected · is continued |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 6 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we've, wasn't, we'd. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “th”: authoritarianism /ɔˌθɔːɹɪˈtɛːɹiən.ɪzm̩/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/, tenth /tɛnθ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, nonetheless /ˌnʌnðəˈlɛs/
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: influential /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/, beneficiary /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ɚ.i/, fragmentation /ˌfɹæɡmənˈteɪ̯ʃən/, protectionism /pɹəˈtɛk.ʃə.nɪ.zəm/, stagnation /stæɡˈneɪʃn̩/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: remarkably /ɹɪˈmɑɹkəbli/, demographic /ˌdɛm.əˈɡɹæf.ɪk/, influential /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/, agrarian /əˈɡɹɛ(ə)ɹi.ən/, appallingly /ʌˈpɑlɪŋli/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: spanner /ˈspænə/, stagnant /ˈstæɡnənt/, stagnation /stæɡˈneɪʃn̩/, steward /ˈstu.ɚd/, sway /ˈsweɪ̯/
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: overtake /əʊ̯vəːˈteɪ̯k/, overestimate /ˌəʊvəɹˈɛstɪmeɪt/, overstate /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsteɪt/, unproductive /ˌʌn.pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/, successive /səkˈsɛsɪv/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: authoritarianism /ɔˌθɔːɹɪˈtɛːɹiən.ɪzm̩/, liberalize /ˈlɪbəɹəlaɪz/, protectionism /pɹəˈtɛk.ʃə.nɪ.zəm/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/
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 remarkably, workforce, embark.
¿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.