Shadowing Practice: Books. - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi, I'm Shane.
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You might know me for reading
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Reddit stories on the internet, but did you also know that I read.. books?
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That's right.
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I've read a couple over the years, and I figured I'd take some time to talk to you about reading,
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and some of my favorite books give you some recommendations.
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I actually have heard over the years that the average person barely reads a book a year, and whenever I've talked about books,
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people often comment and say that they want to get into reading, but it's scary, and they try, but they lose focus, and I understand that.
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Reading is daunting, and there's so much cool content out there.
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Why would you waste dozens of hours reading one of these?
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One of these things, huh?
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Anyways, I'm going to try to convince you today, so let's begin.
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I wanted to start by saying that I actually hated reading when I was a kid.
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I didn't read a single book, I think, until I was like 17.
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I would just lie about it in school.
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I had to do a book report on little house in the prairie
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and i didn't actually open the book up
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i i didn't even read the back i don't think i got like a 40 though
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which is it was kind of impressive i think
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there was a question on the assignment of like what did the family do about the bear
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and i think my answer was just they shot it oh my god
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and that was wrong i think
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that was incorrect i don't know i never read the book
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i truly hated reading it just felt like it was
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so much pressure and i do think when people talk about books they talk
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so much about how reading is good for you how you should do it for productivity reasons
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and I'm actually a little against that
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because it makes it feel like work it makes it sound not fun
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so I'm here to talk to you about how reading is fun
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and it's a good time now
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when I was in high school I was doing remote learning
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because I was a child actor and I realized I wasn't remotely learning anything
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and I got really scared of being stupid
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so I started reading as many books as possible and I I still ended up stupid,
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but I found a hobby that I love in the process.
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So the rumors about you being homeschooled are not true?
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No. Well, I mean, I was homeschooled in high school.
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I was remote learning, so I was going to a place where a teacher would give me, like, packets.
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And then I would take those packets home and fill those out.
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Oftentimes, I didn't, I didn't, they weren't checking them.
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I could put whatever I wanted in those.
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But I wasn't reading any books at all.
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There was no required, like, reading.
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And that scared me, because I was like, oh no, what if I go to college and I don't know what I'm doing?
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But in the process, I really learned that I love books.
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What got me into books is what I think I would recommend for people who are trying to get into reading,
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which is simple, clear, plot -focused books.
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The best example of this is young adult fiction, which transcends young adults, by the way.
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What I got into at first was Aragon, the books that were written by a 14 -year -old.
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Really?
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He was 14 when he wrote the first book.
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And they're really good.
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I didn't finish the series.
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It's not a critique.
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It's something that I have realized about Aragon that I can't unsee, which is that it is the plot of Star Wars beat for beat,
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which is fine because Star Wars is the hero's journey.
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Hero's journey, by the way, is you have a main character who is in a place of comfort or routine, and then they're thrust into adventure.
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They usually meet like a wise master or something who teaches them some wisdom.
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They face their challenge, and then in the end of it all, they return back to the beginning having been changed.
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So many books follow this or have elements of it.
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It's kind of hard to unsee once you once you know it.
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Another one I read was Golden Compass, which is insane.
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Dude, it gets crazier.
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This isn't a spoiler.
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The overall plot of the Golden Compass is that they fight God.
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I'm not kidding.
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I haven't read it since I was a teenager, but that's that's the plot.
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It has one of my favorite endings to any book series ever.
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The final book ends in a way that's so perfectly bittersweet.
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Ah, chef's kiss.
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Anyways, what I think is the best young adult series of all time is, obviously, The Hunger Games.
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It perfectly encapsulates a massive world with great characters, great relationships, has incredible societal critique,
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and it encompasses it all in a matter of just 300 pages, which I think is very impressive.
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And it's just genuinely such a great series.
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I think it's really, really solid for a large general audience.
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So it's a great recommendation to start with.
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I have not read the third book.
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I read the first two.
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I fell off.
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This was forever ago.
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And it's been on my to -be -read for ever.
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I'm going to get to it.
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But a part of me also likes knowing that one of the best book series out there I've yet to read.
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It's kind of the same with like
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Lord of the Rings.
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Questions?
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Wait, wait.
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I saw the movies.
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But do I still need to read the books if I saw the movies?
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I think, yeah, the books have some different elements.
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I've only seen the first two movies.
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Oh, wow.
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When I watched the first movie, I remember there were some things that had changed.
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And I was like, hmm, they changed that.
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I don't know how I feel about it.
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The movies rock, though.
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Okay, other types of books that I think are good for getting into reading are memoirs.
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They're always very clear, very precise, easy to follow along with, and usually very gripping as well.
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A recent one that I read that is probably my favorite is...
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I'm glad my mom died by Jeanette McCurdy.
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Now, I had a lot of impersonal investment in that book.
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References the episode of Sam and Cat that I was in.
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But it's very, very intense.
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Just really good.
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There's a lot of great memoirs out there.
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So if there's a memoir by someone that you relate to or fascinated by, it's a great place to start.
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And then also I'll throw out short stories.
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Short stories, I think, don't get enough love.
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There's a lot of great horror short stories online, obviously, with creepypastas and everything.
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A lot of great short stories probably on fanfic website.
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Lastly, before I move on, I wanna say the best book to get into reading is the one you wanna read, no matter what it is.
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Unless it's Mr. Beast's book.
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Maybe not that.
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Cause Mr. Beast didn't write it.
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And neither did James Patterson.
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I don't know who wrote it.
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I hope they're doing well.
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Is it AI?
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If AI wrote a book, then I'm against it.
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I usually try to be like, read all books, read as many books as possible, every kind of book.
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AI books, no. Hey, look, it's one of my first YouTube videos.
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I'm taking an early stance against AI.
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Yeah.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Yeah.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Okay.
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How I'm going to keep moving with this is to just talk about genres.
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Keep it a little organized because I'm just going to start ranting about books here.
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We're going to start with fantasy and sci -fi.
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Start particularly with fantasy, which is one of my favorites.
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I think it's a favorite of a lot of people's.
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Now, my first fantasy series that I ever really delved into was, of course, Game of Thrones.
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Pretty proud of having one of these old editions here.
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I read this a long time ago before the TV series even started, something I'm pretty proud about.
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I remember being on a plane when the crazy thing in book one happens.
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Okay, if you don't know what I'm talking about, if you haven't watched
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Game of Thrones, I'm not going to spoil it for you,
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but a crazy thing happens in season one and I had nobody to talk to about it.
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I was the only one reading it at the time
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i still am obsessed with these books they do what i love most in a fantasy series
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which is there's still an air of mystery to the fantasy some fantasy books a lot of high fantasy
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they delve into the rules
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so much they explain the fantasy elements of the world in such depth
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that it no longer feels like fantasy to me
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but i think george r martin does a great job of
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that right it's a world where the people in that world don't believe in the fantasy elements of it
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And I like that.
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So it's still one of my favorites.
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Unfortunately, it's never going to be finished.
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The last one was published, like, back when I was on So Random, when I was 19.
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He's been saying he's been working on the next book ever since.
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But it's not showing up.
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And I just have to accept that.
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Which is weird, because it's actually kind of a common thing with fantasy series.
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Same with another series called Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
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He also wrote the first two books and then kind of dropped off and he's done with it.
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Another instance is The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
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He had been writing them his whole life, right?
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He'd written, like, I think it was, like, 20 books.
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And then he passed away before the final books could come out.
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Another author, I think it was Brandon Sanderson, picked up and did the final couple books and finished it off.
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And people were happy with how it ended.
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But that happens a lot.
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I do want to shout out Brandon Sanderson.
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I've read his book series Mistborn, which does rock.
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He has another one called The Stormlight Archive that people say is, like, the best.
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I really appreciate that guy because he pumps out books like it's nobody's business.
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He writes like two or three a year, I feel like.
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Maybe I'm wrong.
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He's written a ton of books.
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He keeps them coming.
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If you like fantasy, you probably have already read him, but...
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Okay.
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Uh, what else do we got here?
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Oh!
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The Lies of Locke Lamora.
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So much fantasy takes on the backstory of like a very noble type of hero, right?
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This, on the other hand, follows kind of more of a roguish thief.
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This feels more like
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Ocean's Eleven in a fantasy context.
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It has a part where they infiltrate like a massive bank, and it is one of my favorite heist,
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infiltration, thieving moments in any movie, TV show, or book ever.
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You follow him step by step as he infiltrates this building, and it is so cool.
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What I'm currently reading that I'm obsessed with is The Adventures of Amina al -Sarafi.
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This follows a former pirate who's now, I think she's like a middle -aged woman.
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She has a daughter, but she's called back out to sea to find some crazy stuff out there.
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I don't want to spoil too much because I'm obsessed with it.
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This taps into a bunch of Middle Eastern myth and folklore.
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I'm not too versed on that, so I'm coming across all these mythical beings and djinn.
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Really, really thrilling stuff.
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And then probably the most popular right now, Dungeon Crawler Carl.
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The only way I can describe this book is that it genuinely will strain your imagination.
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It is so wacky.
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It is Hunger Games meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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I do think it has potential to make a better TV show than it is a book series.
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And it's a great book series, but I'm really excited to see what it's gonna look like on the screen.
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It also could be a huge disappointment like any book series turned into a TV show or movie.
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I think this book series really shows that you can write a book about anything, that there are no rules, there's no laws.
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Every page, he does something brand new and you're like, all right, yeah.
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Okay, you can do that.
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Also, if you're reading it, I recommend also checking out the audiobook.
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It is probably the best audiobook I've ever heard.
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I enjoy both physically reading it and listening to the audiobooks.
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Some people think one is better than the other.
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What's that, Courtney?
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Some people think audiobooks aren't as cool as not like reading real books.
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I think you shouldn't listen to those people.
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Audiobooks, they count.
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Thank you.
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Thank you, they count.
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I get tired of when people talk about what books count
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or which ones don't i think this gets back into
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that like optimization culture of like you
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if you're not doing books the right way you're wasting your time
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there's no wrong way to read a book thank you thank you on
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that note really quick i want to take a quick detour
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and talk about graphic novels
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because that's another thing where people debate on it does it count
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or not my favorite graphic novel of all time is this one it's called rusty brown more
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so it's my favorite graphic novel author
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His name is Chris Ware.
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All of his books really are just about mundane, regular people.
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It feels like nothing happens in any of his books.
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And because of that, I feel like there is so much going on in a weird way.
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Anyways, graphic novels rock.
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Sci -fi.
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Fantasy and sci -fi get put in the same category, which is extremely silly because I think they are, they're literally polar opposites.
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I think fantasy, in my experience, takes inner feelings and puts them into a big outer context.
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I think an example of this is like, you know, how
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Lord of the Rings is about temptation, right?
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It's about power.
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So it creates this world to highlight and show that.
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Whereas sci -fi is supposed to take real world elements
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and real world possibilities and explore those and have some sort of societal critique, right?
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A lot of dystopian novels are sci -fi in this way, right?
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You have 1984, Hunger Games is sci -fi, because you watch those movies, and yes, it's a made -up world,
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but it's a world that we relate to in so many ways, and it is critiquing real elements, and it's going, what if this happens?
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What if we take this real possibility and see it?
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Sci -fi, I think, does so much incredible stuff.
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Now, I've not read who many people consider to be the greatest sci -fi author, which is Octavia Butler.
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I have A Parable of the Sower on my To Be Read, so when I do read that, I'll let you know what I think.
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But another great is Ursula K.
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Le Guin, who did both fantasy and sci -fi.
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Her probably most famous sci -fi one is Left Hand of Darkness.
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It presents a very interesting world where an ambassador from like an intergalactic community of planets,
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whatever, gets sent to a planet where the people there don't have gender in the same way we do.
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Their gender is fluid.
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It poses so many questions about gender and sexuality, and I think it's really profound.
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It was really fascinating it feels like it could have been published today
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and it would be incredibly poignant now i don't have most of the books
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that i've read over the years i've lent them out
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or you know given them away i'm sad about
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that to a degree i was wanting to build a collection for a long time
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but when i had to move apartments i realized how shitty it was to move books books are heavy they're
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so heavy you don't realize how heavy they are until you put them in a box
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and you're trying to move them upstairs
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so i started getting rid of a lot of books
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and i'm sad because i didn't keep a record of all the books i've read
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so if there's a book you recommend for me uh comment down below
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and i will reply back if i've read that book
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and i'll let you know what i think because there's a ton
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that i'm not covering in this uh in this video some other great sci -fi novels
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we talk about hard sci -fi
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which is really trying to stick to the rules of science i do think three body problem is my personal favorite.
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It is insane.
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It covers so much ground in the span of three books.
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Basically what happens if we contact an alien species who has malicious intentions
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but it's going to take them 500 years to get to earth so we have 500 years to prepare to fight back.
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It has so much crazy stuff.
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The second book has a really weird b -plot.
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That's all I'm going to say.
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I didn't understand what was going on there.
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Some other sci -fi that I've read over the years
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that I did really enjoy 1984
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and brave new world these are both
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you know kind of the most famous dystopian novels
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they're kind of the opposites of each other though brave new world was my personal favorite
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i have the copy right here um from
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when i was a teenager a friend gave it to me
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so it has all of her notes in it yes my friend jamie my childhood friend jamie oh
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i know her yes you know this was my first sci -fi novel
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and it was the first you know kind of classic dystopian
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that I ever read and I was really blown away as a teenager who thought I was
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so deep I was like no way the government's trying to numb us all the time no
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but actually it's it's really good it's a really good
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and then got a shout out the OG Frankenstein by Mary Shelley to be written in the 1800s
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it kind of covers what is humanity what does it mean to be human so many other elements, and it's just a really good book.
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All right, we're gonna move on to horror.
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I love horror novels.
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I've only read a few over the years that have really stuck with me, but when they hit, they hit so hard.
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One of the first horror novels that I read that I really couldn't put down was The Hollow Places by T.
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Kingfisher, who is one of my favorite current authors.
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Kind of takes like a backrooms vibe, but with a little bit more of a dark fantasy spin on it.
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A Short Stay in Hell was a book that
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Spencer gave to me that really captured a sense of dread.
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I think that's something that horror novels can do better than TV shows and movies.
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They're not gonna jump scare you, right?
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But they are going to make you feel creeped out.
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They're eerie, they're macabre, and a lot of them can capture a sense of dread
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that I think TV shows and movies just haven't done for me.
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Another one that did this was Tender is the Flesh.
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I'm not even gonna describe the plot.
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It is a disgusting book.
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If you look up the summary, you'll understand.
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I ask myself, like, why am I reading this book when it is making me feel so uncomfortable at times,
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but there's something about being affected in any way that's addictive.
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Even if it's negative, I still couldn't put these books down.
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My absolute favorite horror novel of all time, and one of my favorite books, I think in the past 10 years, maybe ever, The Fisherman.
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This book is so, so good.
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It does what I like a lot of horror novels to do, which it captures real world horror,
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something that that we all know exists or relates to.
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This captures the horror of grief.
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Now it takes that real -world horror and it builds upon it and it thrusts you into this unbelievable eldritch terror.
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It's a slow build, which I like.
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First half you're just kind of feeling creeped out, you're feeling unsure what's going on, and then it just goes zero to a hundred.
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Let's move on from horror into the two genres that I have not explored enough.
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First of those is mystery.
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I've only read a couple mystery books.
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I've read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
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That's the classic like dinner party.
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One person gets murdered.
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Who did it?
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It's called Whodunit.
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Whodunit?
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Okay, Whodunit.
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I read God of the Woods last year, which was really good.
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It's about like a summer camp where a girl goes missing and then it's like who was involved in this?
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What happened?
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But I'm looking for more.
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So if you have favorite mystery novels, let me know.
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The other one is romance
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which is very popular nowadays might be the most popular
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now I've only read a couple I read the first couple of Court of Thorns
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and Roses the fairy boning books I have the final two on my nightstand
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I'm gonna finish those at some point
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and then this year read this bad boy icebreaker
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I have critiques on this book okay look I was looking for the spiciest possible books out there
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and this kept coming up
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but here's my problem with it all right i'm down for spice i'm down for it to get crazy
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but it got crazy way too quickly spoiler alert it's like page 50
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that they just go at it give it some time
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you know like let us want it first
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i'm looking for recommendations what you're asking them to tell you
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about smut books for you yeah give me crazy ones i want to be sweating whoa no truly uh
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if you have recommendations let me know there's nothing
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that makes me uncomfortable as long as it's good i just want like i want genuine good story though involved
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you have a why novel you if you had enjoyed twilight you should
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if you are looking into more ya obviously i was young
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when i read it
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but i still look back on it fondly the wolves of
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mercy falls the wolves of mercy falls start the first book is called shiver by maggie steve vader
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i'm hoping I'm saying that right.
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Very good.
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I loved it.
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It was very cool.
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It's like, it's not vampires.
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It's wolves.
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It's not vampires.
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It's wolves.
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Oh, and then if you've listened to me on a podcast in the past year and a half, you know, I've read the book
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Morning Glory Milking Farm.
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It's about a minotaur.
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Like I said, I'll read anything.
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I will read anything except for Mr. Beast's book.
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It's time for the final part which is literary fiction.
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This is basically any book that doesn't revolve around plot and instead focuses more on character, theme, or prose.
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A lot of times with literary fiction it can feel a little bit more like poetry than reading a story.
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Best example of this, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.
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This is all about a boy's relationship with his mom
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and his relationship with his own sexuality and so many pages it really does feel more like poetry than following a plot.
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I mean there is a plot to these books, right?
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But that's not the main focus.
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James by Percival Everett.
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This is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn.
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This does have a great plot, but I think it's focused a lot more on other themes of the period
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and of kind of the history of literature, I think.
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I don't know.
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I love this book, The Secret History.
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by donna tart i didn't know what this book was about
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when i started reading it i'd heard so many people recommend it
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and it's a very very smart book it's very intellectual
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but the book i think is critiquing and making fun of academics
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and intellectuals it's kind of the fun thing
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and also weird thing about literary fiction is
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that you might read a book like this
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and what you take away from it is going to be completely different from someone else something
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i really do enjoy doing
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when i read these types of books is to look up explanations
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or essays on the books afterwards to see like what other people are taking away from it an example of
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that beloved which is arguably
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the best book of all time well the hunger games is
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the most like general like that's the most entertaining like reaching a wide audience book
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i think as far as like impact and and meaning I would say this is up there, right?
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Of so many books that fall into that category.
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Beloved is so complex and reading it, it felt weird and uncomfortable.
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There's so much going on.
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There's frankly like supernatural things going on in the book, but it's not straightforward what they mean.
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And the characters choices and actions are so complicated.
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For instance, the main character of this book does something or has done something that is truly like heinous, right?
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She is judged as a character,
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yet one of the descriptions of the book that I read after is that the main character is an example of heroism,
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that she is a hero.
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When I read that, I was like, that's not what my takeaway was reading it, but I can see how that is the takeaway.
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Toni Morrison's a genius.
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Some others I just want to shout out.
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Recently read Normal People.
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I think this is an easy one to jump into.
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It's about a situationship.
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But what I love about Sally Rooney is that she uses as few words as possible to describe people and situations,
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yet she does such a good job of it.
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I felt like I understood these characters so well.
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They are so complicated and their relationship is so complicated.
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I was judging these characters, and that's kind of the point, right?
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You're frustrated by them, but it's awesome.
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Loved it.
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Rejection's a favorite.
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This is a series of short stories of just despicable, ridiculous characters.
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Hilarious book.
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Quickly, some honorable mentions.
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These are my favorite books from last year.
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I have Stoner by John Williams.
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This follows just a guy's mundane, regular life.
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But in the process, it's kind of the most existential book I've ever read.
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It made me think about my own life, what it means to be, you know, human, like what it means to be special in the world.
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I don't know.
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It's really fascinating.
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But it's very simple on the page, but has so much more to it.
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And then a book that became really popular this last year online, but it was written back in the 90s,
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is I Who Have Never Known Men.
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This is prime literary fiction, right?
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It's also dystopian, but it's not focused on any sort of plot necessarily.
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And it was confusing to me.
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When I finished this book, I didn't know what was happening.
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And I think that's kind of the point to a degree.
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There's a lot of takeaways from it.
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I've read a lot of other people's takeaways from it i think
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it is a very important book i think everyone should be reading this i really really thought it was fascinating
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so all right i'm gonna finish
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this off with three of my favorite books of all time these fit into the category of kind of fantasy
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but also literary fiction first one is parentheses i hope i'm pronouncing
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that right i think this book is just absolutely astounding um it takes place in a world
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that even after i finished the book i didn't fully
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understand i don't want to explain too much
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because it's short i read it in one day
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but i love it i think it's it's weirdly about like philosophy
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and and has so many fantasy elements
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but it's also weirdly feels like it's about manipulation and being brainwashed
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that was some of my takeaways
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but i love this book i think it's beautiful i think
453
it's mysterious i think it is fascinating lastly i'm going to shout out uh the song of achilles
454
and cersei by madeline miller this book made me cry on a plane
455
which is one of two times
456
that i've cried on a plane what i also watched hamnet
457
on a flight recently these books are retellings of greek myth um
458
and they kind of fill in the gaps
459
that are left in those myths they're just awesome i know she has more coming out
460
and i can't wait for them i'm obsessed with these i could keep going forever
461
but i'm gonna stop here i'm sorry i'm sorry i i'm gonna edit this video i promised myself
462
that i'm going to edit my own videos to get better at editing
463
so i don't want to edit hours of footage
464
so i'm going to stop here
465
but i will probably make other videos on reading in the future all right well thank you for watching.
466
I hope you find a good book, and I hope you have a good day.
467
Okay.
468
Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 468 sentences and 4997 words to shadow. The speech runs for 25:07. The speaker talks fast, about 199 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| horror noun | /ˈhɒɹ.ə/ | An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance. |
| fiction noun | /ˈfɪkʃən/ | Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose. |
| literary adjective | /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/ | Relating to literature. |
| mystery noun | /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ | Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown. |
| capture verb | /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ | To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem. |
| wolf noun | /wʊlf/ | Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily. |
| edit verb | /ˈɛdɪt/ | To change a text, or a document. |
| graphic adjective | /ˈɡɹæfɪk/ | Drawn, pictorial. |
| hunger noun | /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/ | A need or compelling desire for food. |
| recommendation noun | /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/ | An act of recommending. |
| shout verb | /ʃaʊt/ | To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc. |
| complicated adjective | /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ | Difficult or convoluted. |
| relate verb | /ɹɪˈleɪt/ | To tell in a descriptive way. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| teenager noun | /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ | A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| read over verb | To read (a document, book, etc.) through, though not necessarily thoroughly. | |
| take away from verb | To subtract a quality from; make something seem not so good or interesting. | |
| blow away verb | To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind. | |
| book up verb | To reserve or book all of something, for example by purchasing all the tickets. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Why would you waste dozens of hours reading one of these?
- Oftentimes, I didn't, I didn't, they weren't checking them.
- I didn't finish the series.
- I'm going to get to it.
- I've only seen the first two movies.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've read · have heard · have realized |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being homeschooled · was homeschooled · were written |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · unsee, which is · Compass, which is |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was doing · wasn't remotely learning · weren't checking |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 149 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: myth /mɪθ/, thief /ˈθiːf/, thrust /θɹʌst/, thrill /θɹɪl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, shout /ʃaʊt/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/
- Long words — get the stress right: literary /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like horror, fiction, literary.
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.