Shadowing Practice: Build Your Own YouTube Home Page! - Made On YouTube - Learn English Speaking with Video

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As a creator, I've had a front row seat to all the ways that YouTube has changed.

And a big part of that change is how the platform has become much more tailored to your specific interests over time.

Today, we're talking about the next evolution in that process.

Essentially, the YouTube homepage is changing.

Right now, the recommendations are great, but they give me all the things I'm interested in at once.

Wouldn't it be nice to have it be a little bit more curated?

Enter custom feeds.

Custom feeds allows you to create dedicated tabs for any interest, routine, or mood.

Just prompt a new feed into existence, and it appears right there on your homepage, constantly updating with hyper-relevant creators and content.

I'm sure you guys want to see a demo, right?

Okay, well, a little bit about me.

I've been really into stationery lately.

So come nerd out with me on my stationery deep dive feed.

Check it out.

Creators talking about bullet journals, chic pencil cases, fountain pens, all in one place.

It's basically heaven.

And this isn't just a one-time search it's now a dedicated home that keeps updating every time I return.

And you aren't limited to just one interest either.

You can organize your entire YouTube experience into these separate head spaces.

Here's another I've made.

It's for nighttime when I'm looking for something to help me unwind, and I call it my late night coziness feed.

Rare ambient vinyls, rain soundscapes, and a range of ASMR clips.

Basically a chill button for my brain.

Making these is super simple too.

You just tap add custom feed and type something in.

For example, inspire me with ideas around fashion and pop culture.

And then YouTube creates a specific save tab for it on my homepage with personalized results based on what I normally like.

No clutter, no searching every time I want to dive in,

in, just this personal space curated for me that I can come back to whenever I want.

This new feature is a huge shift in the viewer experience of YouTube, a shift towards greater customization,

and it's landing on desktop and mobile soon in the US.

Next update, you ready?

Yes, come on!

So YouTube has always been an amazing place to get advice and answers from real people,

whether you're researching a topic or just learning how to not kill any house plants,

I've been there, you still need to find all the videos and scrub through them to get what you need.

Wouldn't it be useful if you could just ask YouTube for exactly what you want?

I'm glad you're sitting down for this.

Introducing Ask YouTube!

Ask YouTube was announced in the spring, but new features are being developed to make it even more helpful.

Supporting more complex conversational search, offering product data in results, holding context when you click into a video,

even being able to search the comments or what's visually happening in a video.

Let's say I'm looking for a new camera, something small and portable.

I'll drop in the question, I need a new camera that I can easily take around the city when I'm out with friends.

Which vibe should I consider?

It then finds and categorizes the creator recommendations, ultra compact point and shoots,

retro Digicams, even the exact moments where creators test them in real life.

Okay, I like where it's going with retro Digicams, but let's get a little bit more specific.

I'll ask, can we go deeper into the retro cameras?

I want something like that on the cheaper side with built-in flash that makes everyone look great.

And just like that, it adjusts its answers to pocketable cameras with flattering flash, even with a table of specs to help me compare products.

Okay, so Kodak has a modern option that still looks vintage within my price range.

Let's click on this video.

Notice how my whole search context stays with me and now here's where it gets really magical.

Ask YouTube pulled out the best camera from all four being reviewed purely based on my search.

The Kodak sounds like a great fit but I want to see if it can take quality photos.

So I'll just ask, does she show photos taken with the Kodak?

Using its new visual understanding capacity, Ask YouTube spots the Kodak sample shots in the video

and gives me timestamps to jump straight to where she shares those photos.

I mean it's pretty cool, right?

Okay, I have one last question to ensure I'm making the right choice.

I'll ask, what do the comments say about battery life?

Ask YouTube can

Now comb through the comments and sum up what viewers are saying.

An hour of non-stop use.

I mean, come on, that sounds perfect.

At this point, I'm sold.

So all there's left to do is tap on the product card, head over to the site, and add it to my cart.

Easy as that.

Overall, these changes bring much more dimension to Ask YouTube, making answers to queries much more helpful, contextual, and personal.

Everything you've seen here will be available very soon.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Youtube, feed, creator, camera, search. This video has 71 sentences and 871 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:50. The speaker talks at a steady 149 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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
creator noun	/kɹiːˈeɪ̯təː/	Something or someone which creates or makes something.
custom noun	/ˈkʌstəm/	Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving.
retro adjective	/ˈɹɛt.ɹəʊ/	Of, or relating to, the past, past times, or the way things were.
flash verb	/flæʃ/	To cause to shine briefly or intermittently.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
dive verb	/daɪv/	To swim under water.
recommendation noun	/ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/	An act of recommending.
viewer noun	/ˈvju.ɚ/	Someone who views a spectacle; an onlooker or spectator.
stationary adjective	/ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/	Not moving.
dedicate verb	/ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/	To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
compare verb	/kəmˈpɛɚ/	To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
mood noun	/muːd/	A mental or emotional state, composure.
essentially adverb	/ɪˈsɛnʃəli/	In essence: by nature.
evolution noun	/ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/	A manoeuvre of troops or ships.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
pull out verb	To withdraw; especially of military forces; to retreat.
sum up verb	To produce a total by adding.

Sentences worth repeating

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

I've been really into stationery lately.
Next update, you ready?
Which vibe should I consider?
I'll ask, can we go deeper into the retro cameras?
I'll ask, what do the comments say about battery life?

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 had · has become · I've been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was announced · being reviewed

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 24 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I'll, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flash /flæʃ/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/
Long words — get the stress right: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/, visually /ˈvɪzju.əli/

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 creator, custom, retro.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: Build Your Own YouTube Home Page! - Made On YouTube - Learn English Speaking with Video

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