シャドーイング練習: Practice Shadowing a Business Presentation in English - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

Hello and welcome to another shadowing practice video with me,

Claire, a native speaker from the US.

I'm also a trained opera singer,

so I've studied the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA,

so I've studied the correct pronunciation of sounds in multiple languages.

In this video, So we're going to practice shadowing with a professional business presentation.

Even if English is not your native language,

you may need to use English at work

or even give presentations in English if you work for an international or US company.

You want to be understood.

So even though you don't need to sound just like a native speaker,

pronunciation and intonation are crucial.

And of course, knowing some key phrases

or common business English terms are also important to build confidence and overall fluency at work.

So I'll first read through the presentation at a natural pace.

Then we'll go through some of the key phrases and of course pronunciation tips.

Finally, we'll shadow it together so you can sound more natural and confident at work.

Let's go!

English made easy with Claire.

Good morning everyone!

Thanks for being here today.

I want to walk you through our latest project and what the next steps are.

As you know, our team has been working on optimizing the user experience on our website.

Over the past month, we've run several tests and gathered valuable feedback from our customers.

One key improvement is our new checkout process.

We've reduced the number of steps from 5 to 3,

which has already increased conversions by 20%.

Looking ahead, we're planning to roll out these updates globally by next quarter.

That means we need to finalize testing and prepare our teams for the launch.

If you have any questions,

feel free to reach out and I'd be happy to discuss this further.

Thanks again for your time.

Alright, so that was the initial read through at a normal speaking pace.

Let's go through it slowly together.

So we'll take the first section.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks for being here today.

That whole phrase can really be connected.

So individually, we of course have the pronunciation of words like for, being, and today.

in natural quick speech, we in American English tend to close down some of the vowels

or turn these vowels into the schwa sound.

So the schwa sound is the uh sound,

like in the word banana.

There's two schwas in banana.

And that happens in today.

Today.

Not today, but today.

Today.

So very rapid speech.

Those vowels get dropped or,

you know, changed into this schwa sound.

And for becomes for in rapid speech.

Thanks for, thanks for being here today.

For the words that end in ing,

we don't need to completely drop the g every time so that it's thanks for being here today.

That might come with certain dialects,

but what we want to do is connect the ing sounds to the next word,

like with this connected speech, being here, being here.

Otherwise we have being here.

And many native speakers don't speak like that.

We don't have to separate each word,

but have this really connected speech,

which often then modifies the vowels like for today,

or you can elide sounds at the ends of words that squish on to the following word.

So shadowing practice is really helpful for learning full phrases that you might use.

And this is a really common one.

Thanks for being here today.

Because if you start a business presentation,

that's a really polite way to start the meeting.

Okay, let's keep going.

I want to walk you through our latest project and what the next steps are.

So again, I wanna, that isn't just reserved for casual speech.

You could be giving a business presentation and instead of saying want to, say wanna.

And most native speakers speak like that all the time.

I want to walk you through our latest project.

So that's completely acceptable.

Now, walk you through.

Walk through is a phrasal verb,

which means to explain something step by step.

And this is a great one to know for business English.

I want to walk you through our latest project and what the next steps are.

Okay, moving on.

As you know, our team has been working on optimizing the user experience on our website.

Now, really important when you have a comma,

you always want to pause.

Don't just plow through the commas.

As you know, our team has been working, right?

There's a, it implies a pause there.

As you know, and then further,

and you'll notice that my intonation goes up a little bit when there's a phrase with a comma.

And there's a little, there's more phrases like this to come and I'll point them out as well.

As you know, our team has been working on optimizing the user experience on our website.

So every time you have a comma,

you can imagine the intonation going up at the,

once you get to the end of the comma phrase,

and then for the next phrase that ends in a period,

the intonation goes back down.

It happens again in the next sentence.

100

Over the past month, pause,

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we've run several tests and gathered valuable feedback from our customers.

102

Intonation goes down right before the period and it goes up right before the comma.

103

And this makes it really clear the structure of your sentence.

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So even though we can't see what you're saying when you're giving a presentation,

105

we understand the structure of the sentence because of your intonation.

106

So even if you don't pronounce all of the words exactly like me,

107

intonation is really, really important for this, for being understood.

108

Now in the previous sentence,

109

we had a word ending in ing with the same concept of alighting with the word after it.

110

Our team has been working on, working on.

111

So we don't need to drop the G completely,

112

working on, but we do allied the sounds.

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Just it's a little bit softer than working, working on.

114

That helps with giving it a flow as well.

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Our team has been working on.

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Our team has been working on.

117

So it all kind of flows together.

118

Okay, next section.

119

One key improvement is our new checkout process.

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I want to point out the word key here,

121

which I think I've used quite a lot in this video already.

122

And key as an adjective means important or major.

123

So one important improvement is this one key improvement,

124

a word that we use a lot in business English.

125

We've reduced the number of steps from five to three.

126

Again, my intonation just went up because there was a comma.

127

So there's more to come.

128

I'm not done with my sentence.

129

Which has already increased conversions by 20%.

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And then my intonation goes back down.

131

Again, we have the linking of the words,

132

which is already, which is already increased.

133

And this happens a lot with the word has.

134

If we are speaking in the present perfect,

135

has increased, which is, which is already, right?

136

Which has.

137

So because which ends with the ch sound,

138

we can align that with the beginning h of has,

139

which is, and has the vowel modifies to is.

140

It's more of a clipped vowel modification due to rapid speech.

141

Again, so which is already increased conversions by 20%.

142

It's kind of like when we have contractions anyway, like we've reduced.

143

We don't always have to say we have reduced.

144

We don't tend to write out these contractions that we would say in rapid speech,

145

like which is increased, but we do speak like that.

146

So the same principle we've reduced,

147

that's all squished together with this contraction.

148

There is an unwritten contraction for which is increased.

149

Looking ahead, we're planning to roll out these updates globally by next quarter.

150

Looking ahead, that is connected speech as well looking ahead and we pause after the comma,

151

we're planning to roll out these updates.

152

Rollout means to introduce something new and is often used in a business context.

153

That means we need to finalize testing and prepare our teams for the launch.

154

So again, in American English,

155

a lot of the smaller words,

156

the vowels are dropped or modified.

157

We need to finalize.

158

To finalize, prepare our teams.

159

Often the word our can sound like our in rapid speech.

160

Prepare our teams.

161

That's also very connected.

162

For the launch.

163

So for instead of for.

164

Again, those aren't really necessary for being understood,

165

but that's for those of you who would like to work on the American accent.

166

And the word here, launch,

167

means the beginning of something,

168

usually a campaign or a product in the marketing world.

169

If you have any questions,

170

feel free to reach out and I'd be happy to discuss this further.

171

Thanks again for your time.

172

So we have the phrase,

173

feel free to, feel free to,

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feel free to reach out,

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feel free to contact me,

176

feel free to write me an email.

177

And it's a casual way to say,

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don't hesitate to do something.

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So if you wanted to be more formal,

180

you could say, don't hesitate to reach out,

181

but feel free is a nice phrase to have.

182

And right at the end,

183

another great business phrase we have, thanks for your time.

184

And that's used to acknowledge people's time.

185

And it's a polite business phrase to use at either the beginning or the end of a meeting or presentation.

186

Okay, so a lot of what we covered in today's shadowing video

187

was the concept of connected speech and maybe learning phrases not as individual words,

188

but together in a phrase where you can connect the speech to sound a little more natural and fluent.

189

We also talked about linking the ends of words with the beginning of the next word.

190

Like we do this very often for words that end in ing.

191

Or if the sounds are similar at the beginning,

192

at the end and the beginning of the next word,

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like which and has, which is.

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And we also covered a few business phrases and phrasal verbs that are really useful to know,

195

especially when speaking.

196

So now let's shadow the full presentation together.

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Try to match my rhythm and intonation and word stress as well as pronunciation as best you can.

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If you want, you can pause the video after each section or sentence and repeat after me.

199

or better yet, say the words with me at the same time and try and shadow how I say it.

200

Or maybe both work well.

201

First, repeat after me and then afterwards,

202

try and shadow with me.

203

Good morning, everyone.

204

Thanks for being here today.

205

I want to walk you through our latest project and what the next steps are.

206

As you know, our team has been working on optimizing the user experience on our website.

207

Over the past month, we've run several tests and gathered valuable feedback from our customers.

208

One key improvement is our new checkout process.

209

We've reduced the number of steps from 5 to 3,

210

which has already increased conversions by 20%.

211

Looking ahead, we're planning to roll out these updates globally by next quarter.

212

That means we need to finalize testing and prepare our teams for the launch.

213

If you have any questions,

214

feel free to reach out and I'd be happy to discuss this further.

215

Thanks again for your time.

216

I hope this video was helpful.

217

And even if your goal is not to perfect the American accent or try and change your own accent,

218

it's still really important to practice the correct stress of a word

219

or the stressed word within a sentence or the intonation of that sentence so that the structure is clear.

220

All of these things are really important for being understood.

221

So take what you want from the video and leave what you don't,

222

but hopefully you learned something new and it was helpful.

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Of course, if you did think so,

224

give it a like and subscribe to my channel if you want more videos like this.

225

I have a playlist for shadowing videos and I'll be in your feeds with another video next week.

226

So bye for now.

シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由

シャドーイング（Shadowing）は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的：ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影（shadow）」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。

シャドーイング練習: Practice Shadowing a Business Presentation in English - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

文脈と背景

日常的なコミュニケーションのための5つのフレーズ

段階的なシャドーイングガイド

シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由