Shadowing Practice: Why You Can't Focus: Is It ADHD or Just Stress? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Why can one socially stressful interaction make you forget what you were doing, lose your train of thought, and feel as though your ADHD suddenly got worse?
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Or, if you've never been diagnosed, make you wonder whether you have ADHD?
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Maybe these sound familiar.
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You leave a tense meeting, and you can't settle into the next task.
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You read the same sentence several times without taking it in.
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You walk into a room and forget why you were there.
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You had something to say, and a few seconds later, it's gone.
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Those are examples of executive function being disrupted.
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Social stress can temporarily interfere with some of the same functions that are difficult in ADHD.
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That overlap can be confusing because the problems may come and go depending on the amount of social pressure you're under.
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I'm Dr. Tracy Marks, a psychiatrist, and I teach practical neuroscience to help you think clearly and stay steady under pressure.
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Today, I want to explain how social threat can affect executive function, how to look for the larger pattern without trying to diagnose yourself from one bad day,
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and what can help when you need to return to a task.
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This video can't diagnose you with ADHD or rule it out, and stress doesn't cause ADHD.
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A stressful period can make existing ADHD symptoms more noticeable,
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and it can temporarily disrupt attention and working memory in someone who doesn't have ADHD.
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The broader pattern helps you sort out which explanation or combination fits you.
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Executive function is the brain's capacity to direct attention and behavior toward a goal.
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It includes several skills, but I'm going to organize this discussion around three of them.
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Shifting, updating, and inhibition.
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Shifting is moving from one task, thought, or perspective to another.
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Updating is monitoring what you're holding in working memory and replacing information that's no longer relevant to what matters right now.
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Working memory is more than just storage.
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It's an active mental workspace that has to keep changing as the situation changes.
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So that's shifting and updating.
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The third function is inhibition.
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Inhibition is suppressing information or responses that interfere with the goal.
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That could mean ignoring a notification, holding back an immediate reaction, or keeping an unrelated thought from taking over the task.
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Executive function difficulties are common in ADHD, but ADHD is broader than executive function alone.
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These same functions can also be affected by stress, sleep, interest, structure, and the demands of a new situation.
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Now, imagine you're in a meeting with someone who's criticizing your work.
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Maybe the feedback is fair.
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Maybe the tone was snippier than it needed to be.
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Maybe you can't tell what the person meant.
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The meeting ends and you're expected to open a document and continue working, but you're sitting at your desk staring at the screen or fiddling on your phone.
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The first problem you're having may be shifting.
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The meeting is over on the calendar, but your attention is still assigned to it.
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Your mind reviews the wording, the facial expressions, what you've said, and what you wish you had said.
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And you may also be trying to predict what happens next.
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Is this a small correction?
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Is someone disappointed in me?
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Is there a larger problem that hasn't been stated directly?
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Those questions can keep circling in your mind well after the meeting's over.
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Then you open and read the first paragraph and just nothing registers.
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You check your email, return to the document, and replay the meeting again, perhaps with a more satisfying version of what you could have said.
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From the outside, this can look like procrastination or distractibility, but internally, the brain hasn't completed the transition.
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You're physically in the next task while your attention is still working on the previous interaction.
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The second problem may be updating.
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Working memory can only keep a limited amount of information active at one time.
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Think of it as a mental whiteboard.
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Part of the board is occupied by what was said, what it might mean, and what you need to do about it.
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The information needed for the task that you have to complete now has to compete for that leftover space.
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This can be what's happening when you lose the thread of a conversation.
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Forget what you were about to say miss a part of a multi-step instruction, or walk into a room and forget why you went there.
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The new information may enter working memory, but not stay there long enough to guide you into what you're supposed to be doing next.
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Then the third thing that could be happening is problems with inhibition.
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After a socially stressful interaction, it may be harder to filter out competing thoughts and distractions.
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You may keep getting pulled toward a notification, someone's facial expression, or a pause in the conversation,
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or even, you know, get stuck on the urge to explain yourself.
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That can make some people interrupt more,
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over-explain, ask for reassurance, or respond before they've had time to fully process what happened.
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Now, stress doesn't affect this filtering system the same way for everyone.
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Some people react more quickly or say more than they intended.
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Others become super hesitant or overly cautious or stuck trying to respond in just the right way.
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So impulsivity alone isn't the best sign to focus on.
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You're more likely to notice that you get mentally stuck, lose your train of thought, forget details, or have trouble shifting to the next task.
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And this can be confusing because it can look like inattention.
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But your attention may be tied up with replaying the interaction.
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and that leaves less room to focus on the report, the next conversation.
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It can look like ADHD in the moment, but it doesn't tell you whether or not you have ADHD.
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For that, you have to look at the pattern over time.
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ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition.
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For an ADHD diagnosis, the pattern has to be persistent.
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Several symptoms need to have been present before age 12, even if no one recognized the condition until you were an adult.
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The symptoms also need to show up in more than one setting and interfere with daily life.
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A clinician has to consider whether something else explains the symptoms better.
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You can think about the pattern in four parts, timeline, context, persistence, and baseline.
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And this isn't a self-test.
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It just helps you sort out whether the problem looks temporary, longstanding, or worth evaluating.
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So first, when did these problems start?
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Were you having similar problems before the stressful period?
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Did you regularly lose things, miss instructions, struggle to finish routine tasks, or need a lot of reminders to stay on track?
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If you don't remember much about your childhood, you can look at old school reports or talk to family members about what they observed.
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Then, where does it happen?
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Is it showing up at work and at home, during routine tasks and relationships, and even when you're relatively calm?
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Or does it mainly happen after criticism, or when you feel watched, when you're not sure where you stand with someone?
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Next, how long does it last?
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Does it keep happening after you've slept, had time to recover, or stepped away from the stressful situation?
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Or does your thinking improve once the pressure passes?
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And what is your attention at baseline when you feel safe, rested, interested, and unobserved?
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Looking at how long it lasts helps, but it doesn't completely settle the diagnosis.
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People with ADHD can focus much better under some conditions, especially when something is interesting, urgent, new, or highly structured.
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So after you look at the overall pattern, three possibilities are still on the table.
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One, the executive function problem may be temporary and mainly related to social stress.
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Two, you may have ADHD and the stress may be making a long-standing pattern more noticeable.
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Or three, you may have both, a long-standing ADHD pattern and a separate temporary drop in executive function from the social stress.
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One difficult afternoon can't tell you which explanation fits.
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What matters is how the problem behaves over time and across settings.
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If these problems keep showing up across settings, interfere with your life, or go back to childhood, that's a reason to consider a formal evaluation.
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But what can you do in the moment when the interaction is over and you still can't get back to work?
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Before you push yourself into the next task, give your brain a chance to come down from the interaction.
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If it's still replaying what happened and watching for what comes next, you'll have a harder time shifting, remembering, planning, and filtering distractions.
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So here's what you can do.
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First, make a physical break.
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Stand up.
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Change rooms.
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Put down the phone.
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Turn your chair away from the screen.
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The moment helps separate what just happened from what you're doing next.
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Then use a brief reset.
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This is where I use a practice called look up.
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Lift your head and look away from the screen and let your eyes take in more of the room.
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Notice the edges of the room, like the view through a window or the horizon if you can see it.
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You're not really looking for anything.
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You're just letting your focus widen.
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You can pair this with a slower breath or another brief reset that works for you.
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The goal is to interrupt that narrowed, stuck state before you go back to the task.
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Sometimes 90 seconds is enough.
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Sometimes it isn't.
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You may still need to think about the interaction or decide whether to follow up.
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You're not ignoring it.
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You're just keeping it from taking over everything that comes next.
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Then get the next task out of your head and put it somewhere where you can see it.
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Write one sentence.
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My next task is to finish the paragraph.
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Or I need to verify three numbers.
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Or I need to send one reply before confirming the appointment.
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Your working memory already has a lot in it, so don't make it carry the whole plan for you.
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That sentence gives you something clear to return to if your attention drifts.
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Then take the first step in that task.
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Open the document.
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Read the first instruction.
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Put the first item on the desk.
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You're not trying to complete the whole task just yet.
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You're making it easier to get started.
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After you've had a little time to settle, check again.
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Can you follow the task now?
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Can you hold the next step in mind?
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Is the interaction taking up most of your attention?
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If you can focus better after these steps, that suggests that stress was part of what was getting in the way.
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It doesn't rule out ADHD, and if you can't focus, that doesn't confirm ADHD either.
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You can still be tired, upset, short on sleep, or need more time to settle after the interaction.
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This is why recovery matters so much for thinking.
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If your brain spent the last hour monitoring tone, conflict, or judgment, you may have less attention available, even after the conversation is over.
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You can leave the room both peopled out and mentally disorganized.
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So social pressure can disrupt executive function, and work can amplify that.
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Hierarchy, evaluation, and uncertainty can keep the threat response active longer and make it harder to regain your focus.
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In the next video, I'll talk about why your brain can start treating your boss like a threat.
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So here's the takeaway for today.
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If social stress seems to scramble your focus, don't assume one bad afternoon tells you what the problem is.
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It could be a temporary state effect, ADHD, or both.
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Looking at the larger pattern helps you decide what to do next.
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Thanks for watching today.
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See you next time.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Why You Can't Focus: Is It ADHD or Just Stress?”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: Adhd, task, function, interaction, pattern. Deze video bevat 154 zinnen en 1977 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 11:52. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 167 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. 86% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| distress zelfstandig naamwoord | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | druk, stress |
| stressful bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈstɹɛsfəl/ | stressvol |
| inhibition zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/ | remming |
| symptom zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈsɪm(p)təm/ | symptoom |
| diagnose werkwoord | /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/ | diagnosticeren |
| disrupt werkwoord | /dɪsˈɹʌpt/ | verstoren |
| instruction zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/ | onderwijs |
| interrupt werkwoord | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/ | afbreken, onderbreken |
| confuse werkwoord | /kənˈfjuːz/ | verwarren, in de war brengen |
| noticeable bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈnəʊtɪsəbl̩/ | merkbaar |
| distraction zelfstandig naamwoord | /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/ | afleiding |
| reset werkwoord | /ɹiːˈsɛt/ | herinitialiseren, terugstellen |
| notification zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/ | melding |
| paragraph zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/ | alinea, paragraaf |
| diagnosis zelfstandig naamwoord | /daɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/ | diagnose |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| take over werkwoord | overnemen | |
| look up werkwoord | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | opkijken |
| rule out werkwoord | uitsluiten | |
| show up werkwoord | tentoonstellen | |
| stand up werkwoord | opstaan |
Zinnen om te herhalen
Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:
- Is someone disappointed in me?
- Were you having similar problems before the stressful period?
- Can you follow the task now?
- Can you hold the next step in mind?
- Is the interaction taking up most of your attention?
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | you've never been diagnosed · you've said · hasn't been stated |
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | been diagnosed · being disrupted · be affected |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 48 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, doesn't, can't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: inhibition /ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, socially /ˈsoʊʃəli/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: inhibition /ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, temporarily /ˌtɛmpəˈɹɛɹəli/, disorganized /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/, procrastination /pɹəʊˌkɹæs.tɪˈneɪ.ʃən/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: confuse /kənˈfjuːz/, disorganized /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/, whiteboard /ˈwaɪtbɔɹd/, criticize /ˈkɹɪtɪsaɪz/, organize /ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, paragraph /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/, amplify /ˈæm.plə.faɪ/, procrastination /pɹəʊˌkɹæs.tɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, scramble /ˈskɹæmbl̩/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: diagnose /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/, paragraph /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/, diagnosis /daɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/, disorganized /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/, regain /ɹiːˈɡeɪn/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als distress, stressful, inhibition.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.