Shadowing Practice: 03.d Solve a Problem Vocab - Effortless Business English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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welcome to the vocabulary lesson for solve a problem let's start at the top

we have a quote from henry david thoreau says i have long been of the opinion

that if work were such a splendid thing the rich would have kept more of it for themselves

and we have the word splendid.

Splendid means wonderful.

Great.

Fantastic. So it's splendid.

Splendid.

Splendid means wonderful.

So he's saying, if work was so wonderful, rich people would work more.

Right?

So it's kind of a joke that rich people make poor people work a lot, but rich people don't work a lot so maybe work isn't

so great actually that's what he's he's saying all right next we have another quote from robert kiyosaki

and he says to become successful quickly become an expert

at solving a certain type of problem

don't diversify okay diversify diversify means

to do many different kinds of things it kind of means variety similar to variety

but it's a verb it's an action so to diversify means to do many different things or to get many different things.

For example, when we invest, if you buy stocks from companies,

often people say you should diversify.

It means don't buy only one company,

by many different companies it's safer people think it's safer

so robert kiyosaki saying in your job

or in your business don't diversify he means don't try to do a lot of different things Don't do that.

Only do one kind of thing and be an expert.

That's the secret to success for Robert Kiyosaki.

So don't diversify.

Only do one kind of thing.

And he says, become an expert at solving one type of problem.

Then people will come to you.

If you are good and trustworthy, you will reach your financial fast track more quickly.

Okay, fast track, financial fast track.

Fast track is the fast path,

the fast way to do something so

if we say in a job in a career we say he is on the fast track to success

or she is on the fast track to success it means

she is succeeding very fast right she has a great job

she knows a lot of people she's going to succeed quickly she's on the fast track to success

so he's saying the fast tracks to success the way

to succeed fast is to be good at solving one type of problem

okay excuse me

and then let's um move down then to paragraph three we have um for example i'm talking about myself now

and my friend i have a friend who is a massage therapist

she wants to leave her job and create her own massage business okay a therapist is It's somebody who helps other people.

So a massage therapist is a person who helps people with massage. So she gives massage.

If someone's hurt, she will massage them.

If they have some problem, maybe back pain, she will massage their back.

They feel better.

She is a massage therapist.

Okay.

so i asked her to describe her business she said i give people massages

and then i said that's job thinking i told her no you don't you help people relax

and you relieve muscle pain right she's solving a problem muscle pain is the problem

that she is solving she relieves muscle pain to relieve means to make better,

to make less painful.

So you have a pain and then you maybe take medicine.

The medicine relieves the pain, makes the pain less.

So she relieves the pain with massage, makes it better, makes it less.

Okay.

And now advice for you it says make a list.

Make a list of things you are passionate about.

Okay, passionate is a wonderful word.

Passionate means you're very excited about something you love a lot.

We say you are passionate about it.

I love it a lot.

I am passionate about English teaching.

I really love English teaching a lot.

I'm excited about it a lot.

I am passionate about it.

So you need to think in your life, what are you passionate about?

What do you love a lot?

What are you excited about a lot?

What do you love to do?

What are you good at?

Think about jobs.

Think about hobbies.

Think about anything in your life you are passionate about.

Once you know your passions, you must identify problems related to those passions.

Related to just means connected to, connected to, or involved with.

So you have your passions.

For example, maybe your passion is bicycle riding.

You love bicycles.

that's a passion now you need to find a problem related

to bicycles right connected to bicycles about bicycles a problem connected

to bicycles for example flat tires right the tire that's a

problem you're right people ride their bikes their tire boom it

breaks they have a flat tire that's a problem related to bicycles.

Okay, so you need to find problems related to your passions.

Okay, good.

Let's go to the next page now.

Page two.

And then I talk about success comes from being an expert problem solver.

That's the way to be very successful in your job or career or with your own business.

You have to be an expert problem solver.

You solve a certain kind of problem, and you're very good at it.

And then I give my own example.

I did this with my own teaching.

When I started to teach English many years ago, I quickly realized

that speaking fluency was the number one problem for students fluency

100

another nice word fluency means flow fluency means movement movement easy

101

movement of words that's the idea it means the words come out of your mouth easily right you have fluency

102

if you speak quickly and easily

103

fluency does not mean perfect you might make mistakes native speakers make mistakes everyone makes mistakes

104

but if you speak easily and quickly very fast very easy that's fluency speaking fluency

105

so i realized ah this is the number one problem right students cannot speak with fluency okay

106

so I said most could read well most of my students could read better than speaking

107

and most had studied a lot of grammar and they took tests

108

but they could not speak or understand quickly and easily

109

so I said aha that's the big problem I need to solve

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that problem so I decided to be an expert at solving this problem

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and only this problem i knew i had to focus i deliberately

112

chose not to teach writing deliberately means with choice it means you think about it

113

and you choose to do it not an accident it's not

114

an accident it's deliberate it means you want to do it you choose to do it you think about it first.

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So I deliberately chose not to teach writing.

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It wasn't an accident that I don't teach writing, right?

117

I thought about it and then I decided I will not teach writing.

118

I deliberately chose not to do it. And I enjoy writing.

119

In fact, I'm a freelance writer.

120

Freelance means independent.

121

Now, with jobs, freelance means you do not work for a company.

122

For example, as a writer, I did not work for one magazine.

123

I wrote an article.

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I wrote a story.

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Then I would sell it to different magazines,

126

sometimes one magazine, sometimes another magazine, right?

127

I was an independent writer.

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That's called freelance, a freelance writer.

129

You can be a freelance computer expert.

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You can be freelance anything.

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It means you work independently.

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You do a job.

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They pay you for the job only right you do not go every day

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and you do not work for

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that company you just do one small job they give you money

136

and then maybe next time you sell to another company

137

so that's freelance freelance so i'm a freelance writer

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and i have a degree in journalism i studied journalism in college and university.

139

However, I needed to focus, and speaking was the number one problem I wanted to solve.

140

So I became an expert at helping people speak English easily and fast.

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I became an expert in one kind of problem.

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not everything not writing and reading and speaking

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and uh toefl right just speaking and listening speaking

144

and listening that's it that's what i am an expert at solving that problem okay

145

and then i go into the next paragraph i say sometimes i got in trouble

146

because of this and then the next paragraph i said i talk about i became successful i started my own business

147

effortless english it became very big it's growing it's successful

148

and i said none of this would have happened

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if i had played it safe second to last paragraph played it safe and done my job like everyone else.

150

A nice phrase.

151

To play it safe means to be careful.

152

To be careful.

153

To play it safe means to be careful.

154

To play it safe means do what is safe, right?

155

Do what is normal.

156

do what everyone does right don't be different that's play it safe

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so i did not play it safe i was different than other teachers i did not play it safe

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if you want to be successful really successful in your job career or business do not play it safe

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do not be the same as everyone do not be super careful

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okay finally last paragraph that that's the attitude you must have you must decide

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that solving a problem is more important than making your boss happy you must decide

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that your long Long -term success is more important than following the rules.

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Long -term success means future, your long future.

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So not tomorrow.

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Tomorrow is not long -term.

166

It means one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years from now.

167

That is long -term short term is tomorrow

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or next week

169

or next month in the future that's short term it means near future long term is far future

170

or a big future if you want long -term success so success for many years,

171

then you must solve a problem, okay?

172

That is the vocabulary lesson for solve a problem.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “03.d Solve a Problem Vocab - Effortless Business English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: fast, freelance, massage, expert, success. This video has 172 sentences and 1710 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:06. The speaker talks slowly, about 106 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
solve verb	/sɒlv/	To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.
massage noun	/məˈsɑ(d)ʒ/	The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches.
freelance adjective	/ˈfɹiˌlæns/	Of or relating to a freelance; without a long-term employment contract.
passionate adjective	/ˈpæʃənɪt/	Fired with intense feeling.
bicycle noun	/ˈbaɪsɪk(ə)l/	A vehicle that has two primary wheels, one behind the other, a steering handle, and a saddle seat or seats and is usually propelled by the action of a rider’s…
passion noun	/ˈpæʃən/	A true desire sustained or prolonged.
splendid adjective	/ˈsplɛndɪd/	Possessing or displaying splendor; shining; very bright.
paragraph noun	/ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/	A passage in text that starts on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented, and usually marks a change of topic.
relieve verb	/ɹɪˈliːv/	To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.
connect verb	/kəˈnɛkt/	To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
deliberately adverb	/dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/	Intentionally, or after deliberation; not accidentally.
tire verb	/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/	To become sleepy or weary.
therapist noun	/ˈθɛɹəpɪst/	Someone who provides therapy, usually professionally.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
succeed verb	/səkˈsiːd/	To follow something in sequence or time.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
move down verb	To demote

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I'm excited about it a lot.
What do you love a lot?
What are you excited about a lot?
What do you love to do?
What are you good at?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If someone's hurt, she will massage
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	friend who is · somebody who helps · person who helps
Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things	better than · more important than
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary	need to think · must identify · need to find

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, trustworthy /ˈtɹʌst.wɜː.ði/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: massage /məˈsɑ(d)ʒ/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, passion /ˈpæʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: deliberately /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, independently /ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəntli/, deliberate /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət/, diversify /daɪˈvɝ.sə.faɪ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like solve, massage, freelance.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?