Pratica di Shadowing: How to Finish Speaking in English Without an Awkward Silence - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Creazione lezione...
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Have you ever finished telling a story or sharing an idea in English?
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And then it's just silence.
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No one starts to speak.
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You wait, they wait.
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There's this long pause, and everyone just keeps looking at you.
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So after a few uncomfortable seconds, you quietly add, and that's it.
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Now, everyone knows you've finished speaking, but that awkward moment has already happened.
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If you've experienced that, in this lesson,
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you're going to learn exactly how to make it clear that you have finished speaking in English before those awkward silences begin,
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no matter whether you're telling a story, sharing an opinion, or giving an update.
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we're going to look at how to complete your final thought how to use your voice to signal the ending
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and when needed invite someone else to speak
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so to avoid those awkward uncomfortable silences the first thing your listener needs is an ending
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that sounds complete sometimes you may know exactly how you want to finish for example you might say
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and after the market we went home that was the end of our day
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or so i think we should wait till friday the endings are clear they're complete
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but we don't always get that luxury sometimes you lose your train of thought
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while you're speaking maybe you forget a detail you want to share
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or you just can't find the right word
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and everything gets lost in those moments that's when someone might say
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and then we went to the market
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and yeah that's not really a complete thought so in
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that moment your listener may not know whether the story's finished
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or whether you're still trying to continue trying to find the right words
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and when that kind of statement happens those awkward silences begin
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But if you ever lose your train of thought or get lost trying to find the right word, you don't need to force yourself to remember every detail.
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Instead, you can briefly acknowledge the problem and then finish with the main point.
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For example, let's say that I'm telling a story and I kind of lose my focus.
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So I might say, and then we went to the market and, well, shoot, I just lost my train of thought.
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I can't remember what I was going to say.
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But the important thing is we made it home.
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The truth is conversations don't always go exactly as we planned.
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The goal is to simply give your listener a clear final thought instead of letting your words kind of disappear.
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Now, along with that complete thought to show that you're finished speaking, your voice can also help to make the ending clearer.
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And this is where our intonation is important.
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We can use our voice to show a finished thought by using falling intonation.
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This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end of your sentence.
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Listen to that again.
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This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end of your sentence.
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For example, if we go back to the story I was telling before, I might say, and after the market, we went home.
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That fall helps the sentence sound complete.
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It helps your listener hear that you have reached the end and that they can respond.
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On top of that, you can also slightly slow down on those final words.
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For example, but what's important is, we made it home.
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Here, that combination of a complete thought, the falling intonation, and the slower pace,
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all of these work together to make it clear that you are ending.
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You're finished speaking, and it helps to avoid those uncomfortable or awkward silences.
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As a result, when you stop speaking, you give your listener the signal that it's their time to respond.
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Now, when I say that your voice falls
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and maybe your pace gets slower i want to be very clear here we're not talking about
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simply allowing your voice to become quieter we don't want it
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to disappear for example we don't want to finish a sentence with
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and then we made it home
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and yeah do you notice how quiet it sounded in fact maybe you couldn't even hear it in this video
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and the first response when something goes really quiet is either that awkward silence or a quick, what was that?
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And I don't know about you, but hearing those questions like, what was that?
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Or say that again, can get really discouraging.
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One of the reasons we hear them so often is our voice is too soft and quiet.
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So we still want to allow for proper volume and enunciation.
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We just want to make sure that that intonation falls at the end of the sentence.
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Now, if you want more detail on this, I have another lesson where I share more detail on how rising
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and falling intonation can help you hold your turn while speaking, avoid interruptions, and show when you're finished.
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So if that's something you'd like to take a look at, I'll leave a link to that lesson in the notes below.
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But for now, I want you to remember this.
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Let your voice fall clearly on the final words,
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and then allow another person to respond now sometimes especially
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if you've been speaking for a longer period it can help
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to add a few clear words at the end for example
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if you're finishing a story you might say
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and anyway that's what happened in the end or
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if a story doesn't have an ending yet you might say so we'll see what happens next.
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And if you're sharing an opinion, you might end your opinion with, well, that's how I see it.
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Or I'm interested in what others think.
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And of course, you can also make it exceptionally clear who should speak next by adding a question.
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You could directly ask, and what do you think?
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Does anyone want to add anything?
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Or Priya, over to you.
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Each of these phrases does more than simply show that you're finished.
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They also help your listener know exactly what should happen next, whether to respond, ask a question, or take the next turn.
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Of course, you don't need to use all of these every time you speak.
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But when you have been speaking for several minutes, and when several people are involved or you're on a video call,
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a clear closing phrase can prevent those awkward silences.
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So now that we have these strategies in place, let's take a look at how these signals often work together.
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For this, I want you to imagine
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that you're giving an update in a meeting
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and you might finish by saying the design is finished and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor.
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Priya, over to you.
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Your final thought is complete.
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Your voice falls so everyone can hear that you've finished.
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And that final statement, Priya, over to you, makes it clear who should speak next.
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And if you're not handing the conversation to one person, you can say, the design is finished, and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor.
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Does anyone have any questions?
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When you bring these pieces together, You don't need to wait through an awkward silence and add something like, that's it, or I'm done.
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Instead, your listener already knows that you finished and they know exactly what should happen next.
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So now I want you to practice.
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Take a moment to think about a situation where you need to speak for a period of time in English, like when you're telling a story,
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sharing an opinion, or giving an update practice those in advance
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and choose a sentence
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that you want your listener to hear at the end practice it out loud make sure
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that the thought is complete
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and then say it again this time slowing down with the final few words
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and letting your voice fall at the end for example
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so I think we should wait until Friday and
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if the situation requires it you could add a clear question as a handoff.
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For example, what do you think?
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Or over to you.
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Try that multiple times.
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Practice saying it out loud so you really get comfortable with these strategies and you can hear yourself using them.
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When your final thought is complete, when your voice clearly reaches the end with falling intonation,
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and if, when appropriate, you add a question or provide a direct handoff,
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your listener knows that you've finished and you can avoid those awkward silences.
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Now, as always, if you found this lesson helpful to you, don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you're watching or listening from today.
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Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to next time.

Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Questo video contiene 113 frasi e 1464 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 9:46. Chi parla ha un ritmo naturale di circa 150 parole al minuto, vicino a una conversazione quotidiana. Il 90% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese, quindi il lessico è facile da seguire.

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

15 parole del video che vale la pena imparare, con pronuncia e significato:

ParolaPronunciaSignificato
silence sostantivo/ˈsaɪ̯ləns/silenzio
awkward aggettivo/ˈɔk.wɚd/maldestro, impacciato
listener sostantivo/ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/ascoltatore, ascoltatrice
lesson sostantivo/ˈlɛs.ən/lezione
uncomfortable aggettivo/ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/scomodo
pace sostantivo/peɪs/passo
phrase sostantivo/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/espressione, polirematica
disappear verbo/dɪsəˈpɪɹ/sparire, scomparire
vendor sostantivo/ˈvɛn.dɚ/venditore, venditrice
helpful aggettivo/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/disponibile, utile
luxury sostantivo/ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi/lusso
invite verbo/ɪnˈvaɪt/invitare
wherever/(h)wɛɹˈɛvɚ/dovunque
briefly avverbio/ˈbɹiːfli/concisamente, brevemente
acknowledge verbo/əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/riconoscere, ammettere

I phrasal verb che sentirai

ParolaSignificato
look forward to verbonon vedere l'ora

La grammatica di questo video

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

StrutturaNel video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — un’azione iniziata prima e ancora in corsoyou've been speaking · have been speaking
Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adessoHave you ever finished · you've finished · you've experienced
Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo faare involved · is finished

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Chi parla usa 44 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come you're, don't, you've. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.

  • I suoni “sh” e “zh”: luxury /ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi/, exceptionally /ɪkˈsɛp(t)ʃənəli/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, enunciation /ɪˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/
  • Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, exceptionally /ɪkˈsɛp(t)ʃənəli/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, enunciation /ɪˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/

Come esercitarsi con questo video

  1. Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
  2. Inizia a velocità 0,75×, fai shadowing frase per frase e torna alla velocità normale quando diventa facile.
  3. Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come silence, awkward, listener.

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 →