Pratica di Shadowing: Vietnam’s $67BN Gamble on High-Speed Rail - Impara a parlare inglese con YouTube
C1
Vietnam is spending 17% of its entire GDP on one enormous mega bill.
253 frasi
Se le frasi sono troppo corte o troppo lunghe, clicca su Edit per modificarle.
1
Vietnam is spending 17% of its entire GDP on one enormous mega bill.
2
It's honestly pretty hard to imagine any other country on the planet doing that.
3
But Vietnam is in a pretty good place right now.
4
It's one of the fastest growing economies in Asia And you can see it.
5
The country is in the midst of a building spree.
6
New airports, new mega airports, new stadiums, new roads.
7
And the World Bank forecasts this growth to just keep, well, growing.
8
But it hasn't always been like this.
9
And this remarkable reinvention could be more fragile than anyone would like to admit.
10
This is the $67 billion North-South Railway,
11
a gigantic high-speed line that'll run up the entire spine of the country,
12
all the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
13
It could quite literally be the mega project that will make or break Vietnam.
14
HS2, the UK's troubled high-speed rail project,
15
is one of the most expensive railways in the world.
16
By some estimates, the cost of constructing it amounts to roughly 2.3 to 3% of the UK's entire annual GDP.
17
While China's Three Gorges Dam a megaproject so enormous it actually slowed the rotation of the Earth,
18
cost around 0.5% of China's GDP.
19
To look closer to home,
20
Indonesia spent roughly 0.55% of its GDP on a high-speed rail line from Jakarta to Bandung.
21
We're telling you this to really put into perspective how enormous 17% is for Vietnam.
22
It's the most expensive infrastructure project in the country's history, period.
23
But the critical question isn't even whether they can afford it,
24
it's whether they can afford not to.
25
I talked to Dr. Scott McDonald,
26
a lecturer at RMIT Vietnam based in Ho Chi Minh City.
27
He explained to me that Vietnam is at a crucial tipping point.
28
But it's constraining the economic growth in the country by not having a good rail system in place.
29
The solution?
30
To build an entirely new,
31
1541km long new rail line.
32
So far we've kind of talked about this project as numbers on a screen,
33
but for you guys to really get a sense of it,
34
we need to show you how big it really is.
35
Thanks to the Mercator projection,
36
most people have a pretty incorrect idea of the true size of Vietnam.
37
If we overlaid it on the US,
38
it would reach from New York to Miami.
39
Over the In the UK,
40
it would go from Scotland to Spain.
41
This country is long and building a rail line up and down it is an enormous task.
42
Just ask the French.
43
They spent around 50 years building some 2,600 kilometres of rail throughout Vietnam.
44
You know, obviously originally built during the French occupation back in the late 1800s and they've continued the same system since then.
45
They've upgraded from steam engines to diesel engines,
46
but the same one-meter gauge track has been used since then.
47
Most countries using their rail system as kind of the backbone for transportation.
48
In this country, it's maybe 6% of freight actually moves via the rail.
49
Because it's so slow, it takes 30 plus,
50
sometimes 35 hours just to get from Ho Chi Minh City up to Hanoi.
51
So the rail system is pretty much used for tourists.
52
This railway is part of the bottleneck that's choking the country.
53
In many places it's just a single line and that line is old and in constant need of repairs and maintenance.
54
Thanks to Vietnam's geography, it's also often extremely difficult to get that maintenance to the right place in time.
55
The new project would add
56
that 1,541 kilometres of high-speed track from Hanoi in the north
57
all the way down to Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
58
Each of these cities, along with Da Nang,
59
are crucial epicentres for the country.
60
10 million of Vietnam's 100 million people live in Ho Chi Minh.
61
It's the country's largest city and its economic powerhouse.
62
It's also set to grow.
63
A lot.
64
Some estimates predict an extra 4 million people moving here in the next few years.
65
Hanoi comes in a close second with more than 8 million people.
66
Right now, a journey between these two cities would take at least 30 hours.
67
The new high-speed rail line would cut that down to just six.
68
Aside from improving transport between these two hubs,
69
a high-speed line would also connect rural communities.
70
Suddenly, trade, ideas, people could all be shared on a massive scale.
71
It's hard to overstate how big an impact this would have on the economy and the people of this nation.
72
Currently, there are no renderings of how the train itself will actually look,
73
but I really want to see what it looks like
74
and I don't want to let something as simple as it not existing yet stop me.
75
This is why I love Rayon Design,
76
a state of the art CAD platform built for interior designers
77
and architects that's fully web based and effortlessly fits in with modern workflows.
78
Typically you might use Rayon to design commercial or residential projects,
79
but in reality you can create whatever you want.
80
For example, as a fan of remote working,
81
I've built this recording studio on rails.
82
I can put my set up here,
83
soundproof the walls and get some big windows in so I can look out over the gorgeous Vietnamese coast.
84
And okay, sure, this might not be what ends up getting built,
85
but you never know, they might see this video and feel inspired.
86
Almost as inspired as you'll feel working with Rayon's intuitive interface.
87
Here, you can design, edit,
88
document, and present all in the same place.
89
Rayon's got your back, from initial drawings to final live presentations that will impress any client.
90
But they haven't dipped their focus when it comes to being a heavy lifting CAD software.
91
Their extensive library has over 10,000 CAD blocks,
92
all in top, front and side views.
93
So if you're an architect or an interior designer,
94
why not try a round design today for free by scanning the QR code on screen
95
or clicking the link in the description.
96
While I'm thinking about it,
97
why stop at just a recording studio?
98
I could put a squat rack in one of these carriages.
99
Maybe that's the thing that all major railways these days are missing.
100
To really understand just how transformative high-speed rail can be,
101
we have to look at where it came from.
102
You probably know it by a different name,
103
Shinkansen, or in English, the bullet train.
104
Japan's high-speed rail story began in the early 1960s at a moment
105
when the country was rebuilding itself after the destruction of the Second World War.
106
With its economy growing at an unprecedented speed and its cities straining under the pressure of overcrowded rail lines,
107
Japan made a radical decision.
108
Instead of upgrading existing tracks,
109
it would build an entirely new railway designed from the ground up for speed.
110
The result was the Shinkansen,
111
opened in 1964 just in time for the Tokyo Olympics.
112
It was the world's first true high-speed rail line,
113
connecting Tokyo and Osaka and cutting journey times almost in half.
114
But at the time it was an enormous financial risk.
115
Costs ballooned, the project faced political opposition and critics questioned whether passengers would even come.
116
They were wrong.
117
The Shinkansen proved not just to be fast,
118
but reliable, safe and completely transformative.
119
It reshaped Japan's cities, opened up rural areas and set the template for every high-speed rail network that followed.
120
So what made this radical new rail line so fast?
121
Well first off, by building an entirely new line,
122
they separated freight from passenger trains.
123
which had previously all shared the same track and helped to make the route more congested.
124
On top of that, this new route was designed to be as straight as possible,
125
allowing the trains to go fast.
126
Really, really fast.
127
At the time, it was around 200km an hour.
128
The new line used a wider gauge too – 4'8",
129
instead of the 3'6", you'd find out on the traditional lines.
130
That improved stability at higher speeds,
131
reduced sway and allowed for more powerful train designs.
132
Over time, these designs steadily became more aerodynamic,
133
with smooth car bodies and rounded noses.
134
The aim was to reduce overall air resistance,
135
and they've only got better at that over time.
136
The original line reportedly covered its construction cost within seven years because of the incredible demand for tickets.
137
In 1964, 23 million passengers used the bullet train.
138
Today, that number is more than 400 million.
139
The project helped spur Japan's post-war economic miracle,
140
boosting the country to become,
141
at its height, the second largest economy in the world.
142
Regions connected to the Shinkansen lines experienced a 20% increase in productivity,
143
while the now interconnected Tokyo-Osaka mega-region has become one of the largest economic corridors in the world,
144
accounting for 40% of Japan's GDP.
145
Now, China took this concept and did what China does best – scaled it.
146
Massively.
147
In less than a decade,
148
they built a high-speed rail network larger than any other country.
149
More than two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail now sits in China.
150
Its drastically cut journey times,
151
improved passenger safety, reduced carbon emissions and facilitated labour mobility.
152
from provincial or less developed areas now have access to the country's booming metropolises.
153
Studies also found that tourism increased 20% in provinces connected by high-speed rail and generated 25% more revenue as a direct result.
154
In 2024, China's National Railway handled a record 4 billion passenger trips,
155
with daily traffic reaching nearly 21 million people.
156
That's the equivalent of moving one-third of the United Kingdom every single day.
157
The railways have acted as a foundation,
158
connecting the country on a truly unprecedented scale and facilitating enormous economic growth as a direct result.
159
You can see then why Vietnam would want to invest in this kind of infrastructure.
160
But building a high-speed railway isn't as simple as building a regular old railway.
161
In order for it to be as effective as possible,
162
the line has to be as straight and flat as possible.
163
is basic physics.
164
At low speeds, tight curves are fine,
165
but at high speeds the same curve becomes dangerous or wildly uncomfortable.
166
The faster you go, the more force you feel at every turn.
167
So immediately we have a problem.
168
This is the ideal line.
169
And this is Vietnam's line.
170
Once you leave the urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City and Tanoi and approach central Vietnam,
171
Things get tricky, to say the least.
172
The Annamite Mountains run close to the coast and essentially block the path of any future track.
173
Teams will have to bore through it and that won't be easy.
174
This range is a fractured landscape of limestone mountains and unstable karst geology where tunneling carries a constant risk of collapse.
175
You know, Vietnam only has roughly about 20% flat land.
176
The rest is all mountains and valleys and rivers over 2,000 rivers between here and Hanoi that have to be crossed."
177
Further south, the line has to cross the Mekong Delta,
178
a vast floodplain of soft,
179
waterlogged soils that honestly behave less like solid ground and more like slurry.
180
Extensive ground treatment and continuous maintenance is all going to be required to help keep any high-speed tracks stable.
181
It's very similar to what Japan actually faced with their own rail system.
182
You know, they're not exactly flatland either.
183
Japan is now widely regarded as the global benchmark for tunneling and seismic rail engineering.
184
10% of the route is going to be tunneled,
185
but 60% of it is going to have to be up on bridges and viaducts.
186
That's far more than you typically see on a standard route and is part of what makes this project so incredibly expensive.
187
Also with flood risks, Vietnam is very prone,
188
especially lately, with climate change and whatnot to typhoons and landslides and heavy rains, everything else.
189
And they tend to take out bridges and things like this.
190
So the viaduct is one way to kind of raise above that flood risk.
191
Now electrification is definitely another challenge because the current system is all run by diesel locomotives.
192
So there's no electrification anywhere,
193
which again is more costs involved in that too.
194
And before all of this,
195
there's one very crucial thing Vietnam needs first.
196
Land.
197
This will be the largest land clearance exercise in the country's history,
198
and it will have to be done through some of Vietnam's most densely populated urban areas,
199
many of which are characterised by informal developments.
200
That's already raised concerns.
201
While the Vietnamese government holds sweeping powers to acquire land for major infrastructure projects,
202
compensation is frequently set below market value,
203
making displacement a politically sensitive issue.
204
Unlike most countries, all land in Vietnam is formerly owned by the state,
205
with individuals and businesses granted land use rights rather than freehold ownership.
206
In theory, that can simplify large-scale acquisition and remove many of the legal obstacles
207
that big route projects in other countries tend to run into.
208
I've never had much experience in a country like this where it has the one-party system.
209
In my mind, I always thought that the one party is the law, right?
210
They do whatever they want to do.
211
But that's not quite the case.
212
They still have to compensate.
213
In practice, it shifts the challenge from the courts more directly onto the state.
214
It's going to take an unprecedented level of coordination to relocate communities and keep this project moving.
215
And as we understand it,
216
those landowners have every right to sue the government if they they wish.
217
In other words, this whole thing is going to be far from easy.
218
There's also another pretty key factor in all this.
219
Vietnam has never done anything like this before,
220
so naturally they're going to have to import a lot of talent to get it built.
221
The country has limited experience,
222
even with modern electrified double track rail,
223
and has struggled with just metro projects.
224
In fact, those metro projects have kind of been testing ground for the construction of high-speed rail.
225
The other skill gap area is operational.
226
Train drivers, maintenance technicians, safety inspectors.
227
But this requires a culture of precision and safety that has to be developed from scratch.
228
The Ministry of Transport even warned that without early workforce development plans,
229
Vietnam can have no choice but to depend on foreign experts.
230
the line will either way require some kind of foreign investment.
231
The key question really isn't which country's trains Vietnam is going to buy
232
but which partner is best going to facilitate that genuine technology transfer.
233
Vietnam doesn't want to just purchase trains,
234
it wants to eventually manufacture and maintain them domestically.
235
Spending this much on one infrastructure project could crowd out spending on other areas like education,
236
healthcare, or even improving the regional rail that's already there.
237
It's also not clear whether people are actually going to use the new railway.
238
Vietnam has frequent, cheap domestic flights,
239
and the flight corridor between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is one of the busiest in the entire world.
240
11 million people travel annually.
241
Now, if the high-speed rail can capture even 50% of that market,
242
the government has already stated that that they're going to cap the fares at 75% of airline tickets.
243
This project has been debated for 15 years already,
244
but right now could be the perfect time to pull it off.
245
Vietnam is on a roll.
246
It's got a good hand and it's playing it well.
247
But with a gamble this big,
248
it really needs to pay off.
249
This video was sponsored by Rayon Design.
250
Don't forget that if you're a professional interior designer or an architect,
251
you're want to check out round design for yourself for free at the link in the description
252
and as always guys if you enjoyed this video
253
and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make sure you're subscribed to the b1m
Scarica l'app
Valutazione AI per ogni frase che pronunci
TRENDING
Popolari
Perché praticare il parlato con questo video?
Praticare il parlato con il video "Il grande investimento del Vietnam nella ferrovia ad alta velocità da 67 miliardi di dollari" offre un'opportunità unica per migliorare le proprie competenze linguistiche. La conversazione si concentra su un tema attuale e rilevante come l'economia vietnamita in crescita, facilitando la discussione su argomenti come infrastrutture e sviluppo economico. Utilizzando il metodo shadowspeak, gli studenti possono migliorare la loro fluidità, acquisendo vocaboli specifici e imparando a esprimere idee complesse in inglese. Inoltre, questa pratica di conversazione in inglese stimola sia l’ascolto che l’articolazione, consentendo agli studenti di interiorizzare strutture linguistiche utili e aumentare la loro sicurezza nell'uso quotidiano dell'inglese.
Grammatica ed espressioni nel contesto
Consideriamo alcune strutture grammaticali chiave utilizzate nel video:
- Incorpora il gerundio: “spending 17%…” - Questa forma è utilizzata per descrivere azioni in corso ed è utile per parlare di attività attuali.
- Frasi condizionali: “whether they can afford it” - Utilizzerai queste costruzioni per esprimere possibilità e conseguenze, essenziali nelle discussioni economiche.
- Comparativi e superlativi: “the most expensive infrastructure project” - Questa struttura aiuta a fare confronti e valutazioni, utile in qualsiasi dibattito.
Attraverso il shadow speech, gli studenti possono esercitarsi a ripetere queste frasi, solidificando la loro comprensione e migliorando la loro capacità di conversare fluidamente.
Trappole di pronuncia comuni
Alcuni termini nel video potrebbero risultare difficili da pronunciare:
- Infrastructure: presta attenzione alla pronuncia corretta, generalmente erroneamente accentuata. È importante chiarire la corretta divisione in sillabe.
- Vietnam: assicurati di pronunciare correttamente il nome del paese, un aspetto fondamentale nelle conversazioni internazionali.
- Development: verifica l’accento e la lettura delle “v” e “d” che possono trarre in inganno.
Praticare con questi termini nel contesto fornito aiuta a evitare errori comuni e aumenta la chiarezza della comunicazione. L'uso regolare di shadowspeaks può davvero aiutare a superare queste difficoltà, rendendo gli studenti più confidenti nel loro parlato.
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.
☕ Offrici un caffè
ShadowingEnglish rimane gratuito al 100% grazie al tuo supporto. I costi del server e IA sono elevati — il tuo caffè ci aiuta ad andare avanti! 🙏