Pratica di Shadowing: English Listening Practice - Inflation - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.

Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 121 of the Listening Time Podcast.

Thank you all for listening.

I hope you're all doing great.

The topic of today's episode is a really interesting one

and I think that most of you are gonna like this one

because it's something that most of us or maybe all of us are currently

dealing with or are at least having to think about a little bit, which is inflation, right?

We are experiencing a lot of inflation in many countries around the world and a lot of places

have had a lot of issues because of inflation.

Economies have been hurt and people have had a hard time because of inflation in this recent period.

And remember that I'm recording this in 2023.

So if you're listening to this in a future year, then this might not be as relevant.

But during this time that I'm recording this episode,

inflation is a hot topic and many people are talking about this and complaining about it.

And so I thought this would be a good topic to discuss in today's episode.

So we'll talk about what inflation is, the causes and effects of inflation.

We'll talk about some countries that have very high inflation right now and what people do during times of high inflation.

So this should be a really interesting episode.

I'm excited for it.

And before we start, remember that I have my new podcast available now, which is called US Conversations.

This is an exclusive podcast.

You can sign up for it if you feel ready to listen to conversations at real speed in English.

So in this new podcast,

I talk to different English teachers from around the United States in different parts of the country,

and we have a normal conversation about many different topics,

and I provide the transcript for you with the definitions of key words and phrases that we use during the conversation.

So I know that a lot of you have been waiting for this type of content from me, and now it's available.

So if you'd like that, you can click on the link in the episode description below this episode.

That's patreon.com slash usconversations.

And of course, you can sign up for my membership

if you want my specialized training to help you understand native speakers when they speak fast.

The link is also in the description below this episode.

And if you like this podcast, please share it with anyone else you know who's learning English,

and please give it a five-star rating and write a review.

Alright, let's get started.

Are your ears ready?

You know what time it is.

It's listening time.

Okay, let's talk about inflation.

First of all, what is inflation?

People might have different definitions of inflation and people think about this topic in different ways,

but I'll just give an overall definition that most people would be happy with.

And that is inflation means that there is an increase in prices and a fall in purchasing power.

What does purchasing power mean?

This just means that your money buys less stuff.

You can't buy as much stuff with the same amount of money that you used to be able to buy.

So that's a fall in purchasing power.

So that's inflation.

And many of us are struggling right now with inflation in our different countries because over the past couple years,

we've seen a lot of inflation around the world.

So let's talk about some causes of inflation.

There are different causes.

It's not just one particular thing.

There could be certain things that come from the demand side,

meaning the consumer who is buying products or services

and there could be causes from the supply side from the people

that are producing these goods

and services maybe the cost of production has gone up for them

and they can't produce as much stuff or they need to raise prices because of problems with the supply side.

So there are a lot of different things that can affect and influence the inflation rate.

But let me just talk about maybe the overall idea of what causes inflation.

Of course, this isn't necessarily the most detailed explanation, but I think it kind of summarizes everything.

So inflation is caused by having more currency units

that are chasing goods and services without a greater increase in production of those goods and services.

Okay, that might be a little hard for you to understand.

Let me explain it.

So a currency unit just refers to one dollar or one euro or whatever, right?

A currency refers to the different money that we use in different countries, right?

So the dollar is a currency, the euro is a currency, etc. So when we have more dollars,

for example, in circulation, but we don't have the same increase in the production of goods and services,

if there isn't an increase, or if there's a decrease, or if there's an increase but not enough of an increase,

this will result in higher prices.

It will result in inflation.

Think of a basic example, right?

In the years 2020 and 2021, in many places, for example,

in the United States, the government gave out a lot of free dollars to people.

A lot of people received stimulus checks and there were other forms of stimulus

that produced more dollars more of these currency units right however this didn't increase the amount of goods

and services that were created and so we had more dollars but we didn't necessarily have more goods and services.

So people might have felt richer because suddenly they had more money in their bank account.

However, when you just increase the money supply,

that simply means that prices will go up because now there is more money

in the system that is chasing the same amount of goods and services.

So that makes the price of these things go up.

That's just logic, right?

So that's what happens when you suddenly increase the currency and there are more dollars or more euros,

it makes prices go up, right?

And you can increase the amount of currency in a system without price inflation

if the production of goods and services increases even more than the increase in the currency.

So a good example of this was in the late 1800s in the US

when there was actually an increase in the overall currency,

the amount of currency units in the system.

However, prices actually went down.

How did that happen?

Well, It's because there was so much production of goods and services,

and that production was even greater than the increase in the money supply.

So even though the money supply expanded, prices actually went down because more things were produced.

So you can see

100

that there are a lot of factors at play in terms of the causes of inflation and how inflation happens.

101

Let's talk about the effects of inflation now.

102

So when there's inflation, when there's a lot of inflation especially, people are not encouraged to save.

103

people are actually encouraged to spend and invest.

104

For example, let's pretend you have $10

105

and the rate of inflation is very high right now and you put your $10 in a bank account,

106

a savings account, and it has a low interest rate and that $10 increases a little bit,

107

but the rate of inflation is 10% maybe,

108

and then maybe next year your $10 has grown to $10.05 in that savings account,

109

but the purchasing power has gone down for those $10.

110

Now, instead of needing $10 to buy a hamburger, it takes $11 dollars.

111

So even though you saved ten dollars and you earned a little bit of interest,

112

the rate of inflation went up higher and you actually lost purchasing power.

113

You see how that works?

114

So people are not as encouraged to save because usually the rate of inflation kills their savings.

115

It makes their savings less valuable.

116

So instead of that, people are encouraged to spend money now because prices increase in the future if there is inflation.

117

And so people want to buy things now before prices increase.

118

And people want to invest their money in something that will provide them a return that's greater than the rate of inflation.

119

So if inflation is 10%, you want to earn at least 11% with your investments so

120

that you can beat the rate of inflation and your purchasing power won't go down, right?

121

So in the opposite scenario, if there is deflation, this has the opposite effect.

122

It encourages people to save money because their money will actually be worth more next year than it's worth now.

123

So you put your $10 in a savings account and maybe that grows to $10.05 next year or maybe it doesn't.

124

Maybe it's just ten dollars still however that ten dollars

125

buys more next year because prices have gone down and you've received an increase in your purchasing power.

126

So that's what happens when there's deflation.

127

And in many cases, deflation might result in less investment

128

because people don't need to chase the best forms of investment to beat the rate of inflation because there is no inflation.

129

There is deflation.

130

So people don't need to search for those investments.

131

They can just keep their money in a bank account,

132

and it grows in real value over time because prices are going down.

133

So you see how inflation and deflation encourage the opposite behavior, right?

134

And when it comes to wages, the word wages just refers to the amount of money that you make,

135

specifically the amount of money you make per hour.

136

So when it comes to wages and your income,

137

this never keeps up with inflation if there's high inflation.

138

So if there's 10% inflation,

139

your wages are probably not gonna go up by the same amount at the same time, right?

140

So you might receive raises over time, your boss might raise your salary,

141

however your overall purchasing power is not increasing because prices are increasing faster than your wages.

142

So even though you might make more money in in one year, your real wage is actually less.

143

When I say your real wage, I'm referring to your real wage adjusted for inflation, right?

144

So even though your income might increase, life continues to get harder and harder to afford.

145

The verb afford is used to say that you can pay for something.

146

So if I say I can't afford that car, I'm saying I don't have enough money to buy that car.

147

So life gets harder and harder to afford because your income doesn't increase as fast as inflation increases.

148

And another reason why life gets harder to afford is because interest rates often rise when we have high inflation.

149

And so, for example, it might be a lot more expensive to get a loan from the bank

150

or to pay back money that you've borrowed.

151

So things get harder to afford overall.

152

And so of course there are many negative effects of inflation.

153

This is something that hurts people very badly in many cases.

154

So what are some countries that have high inflation right now in 2023?

155

So I'll mention a few of them here,

156

but there are many other countries that also have pretty high inflation currently, but here are a few of them.

157

Venezuela has around 400% inflation.

158

That's really, really high.

159

So imagine prices today being 400% what they were last year, right?

160

That's not a good situation, of course.

161

In the country of Lebanon,

162

recently there was over 250% inflation, really, really high.

163

In Argentina, inflation has been a big problem in recent years,

164

and the rate of inflation has reached to over 100%.

165

And inflation is also a big issue in Turkey right now.

166

it's close to 50% at the time of recording this.

167

So there are some countries right now that are dealing with major problems because of really high inflation.

168

And maybe you live in one of these countries and you know exactly what I'm talking about.

169

It's not a good situation to be in.

170

And how about the U.S.?

171

Well, of course, the U.S doesn't have inflation anywhere near some of these other countries.

172

However, in June of 2022,

173

it reached 9.1%, which was the highest rate in many years in the U.S.

174

And to be honest, that 9.1% is understated.

175

When I say that it's understated, I'm saying that in reality, it's more.

176

So when we see the official rate of inflation in the U.S., we know that in reality,

177

it's even higher than what they're saying it is.

178

But that 9.1% was the highest in many years.

179

The rate of inflation has gone down this year.

180

However, at the time of recording this, we still have inflation.

181

So prices are still increasing, but by less, right?

182

Because we don't have deflation yet.

183

Prices aren't going down yet, but they're going up at a slower pace than they were a year ago, for example.

184

But the U.S has dealt with a lot of inflation recently, and the percentage in the U.S might not seem very high to you,

185

depending on where you live, but people definitely feel it here.

186

And lastly, what do people do during periods of high inflation or hyperinflation?

187

Well, one thing is that people who live in a country with really high inflation,

188

they tend to immediately exchange their money once they've earned it for another more stable currency or for precious metals.

189

When I use the phrase precious metals, I'm talking about things like gold and silver, right?

190

So, for example, in Turkey right now,

191

if people receive their income in the local currency,

192

they might try to immediately exchange that for U.S dollars or for euros or for gold,

193

for example, so that they don't lose purchasing power so that their money doesn't deteriorate by tomorrow or next week.

194

They want something more stable, right?

195

So that's something that happens in many places, but in a place like the U.S.,

196

it doesn't happen the same way because we have the U.S dollar,

197

And so the U.S dollar is generally considered to be the safe,

198

stable currency that other people look to for refuge.

199

When I say the word refuge, I'm talking about protection and safety, right?

200

So we have this currency already.

201

So when we deal with inflation, we can't do the same thing with another currency the way

202

that other countries do this because the people in those countries might exchange their currency for dollars,

203

but we already earn dollars.

204

And so most people in the U.S don't really have this option.

205

We don't think about exchanging our currency for another more stable one, right?

206

We can exchange our dollars for precious metals, of course, and some people do that,

207

but we don't really have the option of exchanging our dollars for a more stable currency

208

because we have the currency that people usually view as the safe currency, right? the safest and most stable one, right?

209

So that's a little bit different in the U.S.

210

And a lot of times during periods of really high inflation, the government in

211

that country will make it illegal to exchange over a certain amount of money for dollars

212

or euros or whatever and

213

if that's the case then people create a black market for dollars

214

or euros or whatever so people exchange this illegally

215

because they need a more stable currency and

216

if the government doesn't let them have one then they'll get it illegally so that's another thing that happens

217

Something else that happens is

218

that people try to invest their money quickly in something that's going to give them a real return return.

219

They don't want to just hold their currency.

220

They might exchange it for another currency or precious metals

221

or invest it in something that will gain in value to a greater degree than the rate of inflation.

222

And so they might try to buy something, some asset, so that they can beat inflation.

223

By the way, the word asset in this context refers to something

224

that you own that can produce a positive economic effect for you.

225

For example, like owning a property

226

right or owning a stock so people might try to find assets

227

that will grow faster in value than the rate of inflation right

228

and another thing people might do is buy things now rather than later

229

because they know that prices will increase in the future so they buy things now and in really extreme examples of hyperinflation,

230

people will just immediately buy things once they get paid in their local currency.

231

They might immediately buy milk or buy rice or buy something

232

because they know that it's better to do that right now than wait a week when the price is higher, right?

233

And if they buy something real now, it will increase in value very, very fast, right?

234

And one last thing that might happen is that people might leave their country, unfortunately, and look for a more stable situation.

235

So that's what might happen in times of very high inflation.

236

All right, I think that's all for today.

237

Hopefully this topic was interesting for you.

238

Hopefully it was educational, and I know it's not the funnest topic,

239

but I think it's interesting because a lot of us are dealing with this now.

240

Remember that you can sign up for my new podcast if you want to hear real conversations

241

in English with the transcript, of course.

242

The link is in the episode description below this episode.

243

And you can also join my normal membership if you want my specialized training.

244

And if you want my advanced podcast episodes, you can become a Listening Time family member.

245

And if you like this podcast, please share it with anyone else you know who's learning English.

246

and please give it a five-star rating and write a review.

247

All right, thank you for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.

📺 Stesso Canale

483

✨ Video consigliato

253 frasi

English Listening Podcast - Why is it Hard to Become Advanced?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

209 frasi

Better English Conversations: Increase Your Economic Vocabulary

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

481 frasi

10 Real ENGLISH Conversations: Can you understand them?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

246 frasi

AEE - Does This Content Make You Feel Content?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

272 frasi

English Listening Podcast - How I Learned Spanish

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

🎧Listening English Podcast - IELTS Speaking PART 2-3 Band 6.5+ & Topic: COMMUNICATION

1,106

32 frasi

🎧Listening English Podcast - IELTS Speaking PART 2-3 Band 6.5+ & Topic: COMMUNICATION

IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishDaily Conversation

321 frasi

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

68 frasi

Becoming a Podcaster - B2 Listening for High-Intermediate Students

Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation

70 frasi

Hear it & Say it: Listen and Repeat English Sentences for Speaking Practice

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

156 frasi

B2 Advanced English: Discussion and Debate: Rent or Own?

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

421 frasi

Level Up Your English: From B1 to B2, Stop Sounding Like a Beginner! | English Podcast!

Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students

227 frasi

Practice Your English Listening - English Listening Story for A2 B1 B2 Learners

Daily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students

Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Questa lezione di conversazione di livello B2 si basa sul video “English Listening Practice - Inflation”. Le parole che ritornano più spesso: inflation, currency, increase, dollar, price. Questo video contiene 247 frasi e 3036 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 27:56. Chi parla lo fa lentamente, circa 109 parole al minuto, quindi c’è tempo per imitare ogni suono. Il 87% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese, quindi il lessico è facile da seguire.

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

Le 15 parole più avanzate del video, con pronuncia e significato:

Parola	Pronuncia	Significato
inflation sostantivo	/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/	inflazione
podcast sostantivo	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	podcast, audioprogramma
deflation sostantivo	/dɪˈfleɪʃən/	deflazione
euro sostantivo	/ˈjʊɹoʊ/	euro
hyperinflation sostantivo	/ˌhaɪpəɹɪnˈfleɪʃən/	iperinflazione
specialize verbo	/ˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/	specializzare
transcript sostantivo	/ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/	testo
stimulus sostantivo	/ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/	stimolo
refuge sostantivo	/ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/	rifugio, riparo
rat sostantivo	/ɹæt/	topo, sorcio
deteriorate verbo	/dɪˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/	deteriorare
hamburger sostantivo	/ˈhæmˌbɜɹ.ɡɚ/	hamburger, panino di svizzera
summarize verbo	/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/	riassumere
lastly avverbio	/ˈlæstli/	alla fine, in ultimo
verb sostantivo	/vɝb/	verbo

I phrasal verb che sentirai

Parola	Pronuncia	Significato
go up verbo		salire
keep up with verbo		tenere dietro a
pay back verbo	/peɪ bæk/	ripagare, restituire

Frasi da ripetere

Frasi brevi e complete del video che puoi riutilizzare nella conversazione di tutti i giorni:

I hope you're all doing great.
Are your ears ready?
Let's talk about the effects of inflation now.
You see how that works?
Because we don't have deflation yet.

La grammatica di questo video

Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:

Struttura	Nel video
Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso	have been hurt · we've seen · has gone
Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa	have been hurt · is called · is caused
Frasi relative who / which + frase — un’informazione in più su una persona o una cosa	bit, which is · now, which is · people who live

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Chi parla usa 53 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come don't, I'm, doesn't. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.

I suoni “sh” e “zh”: inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, deflation /dɪˈfleɪʃən/, hyperinflation /ˌhaɪpəɹɪnˈfleɪʃən/, specialize /ˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/, circulation /ˌsɝkjʊˈleɪʃən/
Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: hyperinflation /ˌhaɪpəɹɪnˈfleɪʃən/, understated /ʌndəˈsteɪtɪd/, illegally /ɪˈliːɡəli/, deteriorate /dɪˈtɪɹ.iə.ɹeɪt/, circulation /ˌsɝkjʊˈleɪʃən/

I suoni difficili per chi parla italiano:

/h/ — va soffiata, non è muta: hyperinflation /ˌhaɪpəɹɪnˈfleɪʃən/, hamburger /ˈhæmˌbɜɹ.ɡɚ/
Consonante finale — senza aggiungere una vocale dopo: podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/, specialize /ˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/, understated /ʌndəˈsteɪtɪd/, transcript /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/, stimulus /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/
/æ/ — più aperta della “e”: podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/, transcript /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/, rat /ɹæt/, hamburger /ˈhæmˌbɜɹ.ɡɚ/, lastly /ˈlæstli/

Come esercitarsi con questo video

Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
Fai shadowing frase per frase a velocità normale, ripetendo ognuna finché il tuo ritmo coincide con quello di chi parla.
Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come inflation, podcast, deflation.

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

Tecnica dello shadowing: leggi la guida completa passo dopo passo →

Pratica di Shadowing: English Listening Practice - Inflation - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

A1 English Listening Practice - Transportation

A1 English Listening Practice - Money

A1 English Listening Practice - Winter

A1 English Listening Practice - Language Learning

A1 English Listening Practice - Productivity

A2 English Listening Practice - Travel

B1 English Listening Practice - Fads

A2 English Listening Practice - Learning

A2 English Listening Practice - Reading and Books

B1 English Listening Practice - Immigration

A1 English Listening Practice - Favorites

B1 English Listening Practice - Favorite Memories

A2 English Listening Practice - Sports

B2 English Listening Practice - Living Abroad

B2 English Listening Practice - Airplanes and Flying

A2 English Listening Practice - Manners

B1 English Listening Practice - The Beach

B2 English Listening Practice - Extreme Sports

A2 English Listening Practice - Complaining

A1 English Listening Practice - Daily Routine

English Listening Podcast - Why is it Hard to Become Advanced?

Better English Conversations: Increase Your Economic Vocabulary

10 Real ENGLISH Conversations: Can you understand them?

AEE - Does This Content Make You Feel Content?

English Listening Podcast - How I Learned Spanish

🎧Listening English Podcast - IELTS Speaking PART 2-3 Band 6.5+ & Topic: COMMUNICATION

Special delivery | Learn English with real-life stories | Bonus 127

Becoming a Podcaster - B2 Listening for High-Intermediate Students

Hear it & Say it: Listen and Repeat English Sentences for Speaking Practice

B2 Advanced English: Discussion and Debate: Rent or Own?

Level Up Your English: From B1 to B2, Stop Sounding Like a Beginner! | English Podcast!

Practice Your English Listening - English Listening Story for A2 B1 B2 Learners

Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

I phrasal verb che sentirai

Frasi da ripetere

La grammatica di questo video

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Come esercitarsi con questo video

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?