Shadowing Practice: What are eSports? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and today we're discussing eSports.

This video is not intended for people that are familiar and know this topic inside and out but rather for folks that don't know what this means or don't understand its significance.

So if you're in the first category, share this video with someone in the second category.

What does the term "esport" mean?

It's literally short for "electronic sports," meaning video games that can be played competitively, either as an individual or as a team.

This idea of competing has existed since video games themselves have existed.

We had people playing Space Invaders to beat the high score.

Arcades were places where heroes could be made, people breaking records and becoming local celebrities.

When PC gaming became popular, this is where people began to play against strangers, people who could be in other countries even.

This launched the era of international icons, teams and players that could claim to be the best in the world.

We jump forward to now, this is NOT a history lesson.

There are many games that are considered esports and have tournaments and prizes and plenty of chances for people to compete.

If you're a developer and you can find a way to make your game competitive, this can extend the lifetime of a game considerably.

However many games tout themselves as an esport but if they don't gain traction, their competitive scene is not strong, this could make or break the reputation of a game.

Now let's look at some prime examples.

One of the most well-known is something called League of Legends, which I have an entire video describing.

This game was released formally in 2009 and has been supported since, with competitions and tournaments around the world.

The 2016 world championship for League of Legends attracted over 43 million viewers online and the prize pool was over 6 million dollars.

This is their job, these people that travel and compete.

They're sponsored by companies, with endorsements that can support them financially between competitions.

The latest estimate is that over 100 million people play League of Legends in an average month.

This game was created and sustained by Riot Games.

League's biggest competitor is called Dota2 which is short for Defense of the Ancients.

Dota's latest tournament held at the Key Arena in Seattle gave over 9 million dollars to the winning team alone, plus millions more to the runners up.

This competition was streamed across the internet as well as being aired on various ESPN channels.

Esports don't always look like this genre of game.

A recent example is Overwatch, a team-based shooter that has gotten much traction, from Blizzard, the same company that created the games Warcraft and Starcraft, both of which I have videos describing.

Check out the description if you're curious about those games.

Now like actual sports, these competitive teams have staffs of trainers and scheduling coordinators.

They're also owned like sports teams are, some with very notable owners including professional athletes like Shaquille O'Neil, Magic Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, who all own or co-own their own teams.

Since this can be a lucrative career, many young people might want to pursue this, to live the dream.

They likely start playing young, they might even choose universities that have prestigious esports programs or teams.

It's becoming more and more common for universities to treat these competitors as other athletes are, meaning there are significant scholarships for these athletes to attend a given university.

Knowing that a successful team can boost that university's prestige at an international level.

Also like professional athletes, injuries can be devastating.

A wrist injury could ruin your career at just 20 years old.

A case of carpel tunnel could cost you millions.

The injuries might be very different but the effect is just as significant, hence why they might focus on conditioning and training for intensive gaming.

So in a nutshell, this is a legitimate movement and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

It's a billion dollar industry and one that you'll likely see more and more of, once it gets more mainstream coverage.

Do you play any games competitively?

If so, let me know in the comments.

Hopefully you found this interesting, thanks for watching.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “What are eSports?”. Las palabras que más se repiten: esport, athletes, Legends, tournament, competitive. Este vídeo tiene 47 frases y 767 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 4:25. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 173 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. 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
athlete sustantivo	/ˈæθ.liːt/	atleta
traction sustantivo	/ˈtɹæk.ʃən/	tracción
competitor sustantivo	/kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/	contrincante
carpel sustantivo	/ˈkɑː(ɹ)pəl/	carpelo
devastate verbo	/ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/	devastar
nutshell sustantivo	/ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/	cáscara de nuez
lucrative adjetivo	/ˈluː.kɹə.tɪv/	lucrativo, lucroso
arcade sustantivo	/ɑɹˈkeɪd/	arcada
prestige sustantivo	/pɹɛsˈtiːd͡ʒ/	prestigio, prestancia
endorsement sustantivo	/ɪnˈdɔːɹs.mənt/	endoso, endorso
viewer sustantivo	/ˈvju.ɚ/	vidente
prestigious adjetivo	/pɹɛˈstiːd͡ʒəs/	prestigioso
coordinator sustantivo		conjunción coordinante, nexo coordinante
sustain verbo	/səˈsteɪn/	sostener, sustentar
financially adverbio		financieramente

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
check out verbo	investigar, chequear
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
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is not intended · can be played · could be made
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	has existed · has been supported · has gotten

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 13 contracciones y formas reducidas, como don't, you're, they're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: traction /ˈtɹæk.ʃən/, nutshell /ˈnʌt.ʃɛl/, shooter /ˈʃuːtəː/, scholarship /ˈskɑːləɹʃɪp/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: competitively /kəmˈpɛtɪtɪvli/, competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/, considerably /kənˈsɪdəɹəbli/, significance /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/, developer /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: sponsor /ˈspɒn.səː/, scholarship /ˈskɑːləɹʃɪp/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: competitively /kəmˈpɛtɪtɪvli/, devastate /ˈdɛv.ə.steɪt/, lucrative /ˈluː.kɹə.tɪv/, viewer /ˈvju.ɚ/, intensive /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/
/dʒ/ — no es la “y” ni la “ch”: prestige /pɹɛsˈtiːd͡ʒ/, prestigious /pɹɛˈstiːd͡ʒəs/

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 athlete, traction, competitor.

¿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.

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