Pratique du Shadowing: Why China's population is shrinking - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
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This chart shows
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China's birth and death rate over the last 60 years.
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For most of it, births are high.
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But in 2022, China had more deaths than births, causing its population to decrease for the first time in six decades.
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To get why this is such a big deal, consider this.
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China is the world's manufacturing superpower, and that's in large part because of its huge population.
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Nearly 30 % of the country's economic output comes from manufacturing.
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Now here's China's population over the last 60 years.
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Even after losing almost a million people in 2022, its population is still about as big as it's ever been — 1 .4 billion people.
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But that's projected to shrink by nearly half by the end of the century.
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Over the years, China's growth and policies have contributed to its population decline.
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Today, it's looking to reverse course, to keep its population steady.
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The problem is, it might be too late.
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In the 50s under Mao, China experienced one of the most gruesome famines on record.
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30 million people died.
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If we look at that on the birth and death rates chart, you'll see a big spike in deaths.
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At the same time, the birth rate dropped, causing the population to shrink.
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But as often happens with wars, famines and other major crises, immediately after, there was a baby boom.
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Combined with global medical advances that decreased infant mortality rates, China's average family now had six children.
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The birth rate had skyrocketed, which the government saw as a big problem.
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The Chinese leadership realized the population was growing too fast and something needs to be done.
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The government came out with a policy.
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They called it later, longer, fewer.
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Later marriages, longer birth intervals, and fewer births.
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As a result, China's birth rate started trending down.
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But it wasn't low enough for China's leaders.
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And in 1980, they implemented the extreme one -child policy, which limited most families to one child.
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That policy was also backed up by very harsh measures.
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There were campaigns of sterilization, IOD insertion, and induced abortions.
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And while these campaigns began during the later longer -fewer era, they were at their worst under the one -child policy,
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when China sterilized 20 million men and women and induced nearly 15 million abortions in a single year.
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But China had accomplished its goal.
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Population growth was under control.
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Except, as China would soon realize, these restrictive policies worked a little too well.
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In order for any population to stay the same size in the long run, each couple needs to have, on average, 2 .1 children.
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This is called the replacement rate.
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The idea is that one child replaces one parent, and that 0 .1 makes up for children who die before they become adults.
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But China has had a fertility rate that's far below two for over three decades.
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To bring that up, in 2016, China finally ended the one -child policy.
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And after briefly trying out a three -child policy, in 2021, they finally let families have as many children as they'd like.
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But it hasn't worked.
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One big reason is the unique family structure produced by the one -child policy.
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We're looking at what's called a 4 -to -1 family structure with a couple having four parents above them
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and one child below.
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Most countries have diverse family structures, some with three kids, others with none.
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But with China's 4 -to -1 model, millions of only children are under increasing pressure to care for their aging parents and elderly grandparents.
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And this can make having multiple children even harder, especially as the cost of living keeps rising.
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A recent survey revealed
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that more than 50 % of young people don't want more than one child because of financial and work pressures.
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We've seen cash subsidies for additional birth, longer maternal leaves, subsidizes for kindergarten,
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and all sorts of monetary support.
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Well, the thing is, almost none of them has worked because having a child is exceedingly expensive and it's a lifelong commitment.
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And so it's not — it's really actually hard to put a price on this.
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But China's population crisis isn't just about babies.
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It's also about the balance between young and old.
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If we look at population pyramids that show distribution by age, we see that countries like Kenya, with rapid population growth, look like this.
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Wide at the bottom, representing a lot of new young people, and narrow at the top.
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Countries experiencing slower growth, like the Philippines, are still triangular, but the difference between top and bottom is less pronounced.
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Now take a look at China and notice the narrow bottom, so fewer babies, and the heavy top, a larger number of elderly people.
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Which is happy.
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outcome of our improvement in health and in standard of living,
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but combined with sustained low fertility and that just produces sustained population aging.
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In 2050, that pyramid is projected to look like this.
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And that will further drive down
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China's population, shrink its labor force, and put the whole country in a uniquely difficult position.
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In the 80s, China became a hotspot for foreign investment, cheap manufacturing and exports.
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A generation later, it was shooting up the ranks and becoming one of the world's leading and fastest growing economies by GDP.
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But not only did that economic modernization drive birth rates down further, it also didn't translate to an equally strong economy for everyone.
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If we look at the GDP per capita, the best indicator we have for standard of living, China is much lower than these high -income countries.
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China became a major world economy nearly overnight, but it's still a middle -income country.
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Many, especially in rural areas, haven't benefited much from China's economic boom.
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And China has yet to develop the necessary safety nets to support its aging population.
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To build the social infrastructure,
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like the social programs in health care and in pension, It takes time.
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And that's getting actually tougher with the economy that's slowing down.
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And a slower economy will inevitably redefine
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China's role in the world as a manufacturing superpower.
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What this means for China,
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for the world, is that the resource constraints from within would also constrain the Chinese ambition and its global reach.
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In some ways, China isn't alone.
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A lot of Asian and European countries are experiencing population declines, too.
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What makes China different is how fast this all has happened.
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It was only 40 years ago that
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China started leveraging its booming population to become an economic superpower, all while still trying to stem population growth.
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Now that China's population growth is officially over, China may have to rethink its future, not just as a global superpower,
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but for its citizens at home, too.
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Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon
Cette leçon d’expression orale s’appuie sur la vidéo « Why China's population is shrinking ». Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent : population, China, birth, rate, policy. Cette vidéo contient 87 phrases et 1091 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 7:22. Le locuteur parle à un rythme régulier d’environ 148 mots par minute, confortable pour le shadowing. 85 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais ; le reste mérite d’être vu avant de commencer.
Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo
15 mots de la vidéo à retenir, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :
| Mot | Prononciation | Sens |
|---|---|---|
| fewer | /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ | moins (de) |
| chart nom | /t͡ʃɑɹt/ | carte |
| decline verbe | /dɪˈklaɪn/ | décliner, péricliter |
| narrow adjectif | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | étroit |
| abortion nom | /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/ | avortement, interruption volontaire de grossesse |
| decrease verbe | /dɪˈkɹiːs/ | diminuer |
| elderly adjectif | /ˈɛldɚli/ | vieux, ancien |
| combine verbe | /kəmˈbaɪn/ | combiner |
| sustain verbe | /səˈsteɪn/ | maintenir |
| fertility nom | /fɝˈtɪləti/ | fertilité |
| pyramid nom | /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/ | pyramide |
| famine nom | /ˈfæm.ɪn/ | famine, disette |
| induce verbe | /ɪnˈduːs/ | induire |
| subsidy nom | /ˈsʌbsɪdi/ | subvention, subside |
| infrastructure nom | /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ | infrastructure |
Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez
| Mot | Sens |
|---|---|
| back up verbe | reculer |
| slow down verbe | ralentir, décélérer |
| try out verbe | essayer, expérimenter |
La grammaire de cette vidéo
Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :
| Structure | Dans la vidéo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenant | it's ever been · have contributed · has had |
| Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le fait | be done · was also backed · is called |
Prononciation à surveiller
Le locuteur utilise 10 contractions et formes réduites, comme isn't, didn't, don't. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.
- Les sons « sh » et « zh »: abortion /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/, pension /ˈpɛnʃən/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, ambition /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
- Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: fertility /fɝˈtɪləti/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, monetary /ˈmʌnɪtəɹi/, indicator /ˈɪn.dɪˌkeɪ.tə(ɹ)/, inevitably /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbli/
Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :
- /tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: chart /t͡ʃɑɹt/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, leverage /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
- /r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: chart /t͡ʃɑɹt/, narrow /ˈnæɹəʊ/, abortion /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/, decrease /dɪˈkɹiːs/, pyramid /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/
Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo
- Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
- Répétez phrase par phrase à vitesse normale, en reprenant chacune jusqu’à ce que votre rythme corresponde à celui du locuteur.
- Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme fewer, chart, decline.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.