Shadowing Practice: Elicitation: CIA’s Technique to Make People Talk Without Them Realizing #humanbehavior #chasehughes - Learn English Speaking with Video

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but that elicitation is so powerful because we're not being asked questions so our brain doesn't set off little security alarms.

And this is how Soviet spies would get information from a 19 -year -old U .S.

Navy sailor in the early days of the Cold War.

You talk about this elicitation.

Yeah.

What is elicitation?

It's a CIA technique, right?

It is.

It was originally came up with by this guy named John Nolan.

and his book is no longer for sale you have to get it on ebay like it's hard to find

but the book is called confidential why isn't it no longer for sale i think

that he just kind of pulled it off the shelf i'm not sure okay

So elicitation is about using statements instead of questions.

and i'll give you a an example let's say you and i walk into whole foods which is We're in New York, so it's probably a block away somewhere.

We walk in there and there's, let's say there's a young lady stocking produce.

And you get in there and I say, all right, Stephen, your goal is to go figure out how much she makes in 60 seconds.

And you're not allowed to ask any questions or be awkward.

And that's tough, right?

It sounds really tough.

So if you went over to her, And this is a generalization just to get you to understand what elicitation is.

and said, "Hey, I'm trying to find the baby carrots." And she walks you over there, but while you're walking, you say, "I just read this article online that says,

all Whole Foods employees just got bumped up to $26 an hour." That's fantastic.

Thank you.

And she turns around and goes, "What?" No, I make 17.

So now she doesn't feel like she's been pressed or questioned about how much she makes.

She's correcting you.

Or let's say you got into an Uber.

tonight and you said, I just read this article.

that uber drivers were one of the top most highly satisfied employees in the country you're going to get a correction

And you're gonna be like, "What?

Where did you read that?" So triggering a need to correct the record is one of the easiest ways to use elicitation, but it's only one.

Another one is just making a statement afterwards and saying, I bet you had some interesting experiences doing that, or I can imagine that was challenging.

Statements are always going to be better than asking pointed questions because a person feels like they're volunteering information.

you The third layer of that is disbelief.

Let's say I wanted to ask if you just got back from vacation, and I didn't want to use any questions.

Let's say we meet up for dinner or something, and I said, "Simon, you look like you just got back from a vacation." That's a statement.

And you're like, no, actually, I've been doing this, this, this, and this.

So now you've, you've given me more than if I just asked if you were on vacation.

And I said, wow, that had to be interesting.

I can't imagine that there's got to be a lot of stuff going on there.

And you start talking more and more and more.

And then like, that sounds great.

There was no challenges to that entire trip.

I love when everything is 100 % flawless.

And you're like, no, actually.

And then you start going into that.

And I'm like, no way.

Now we have disbelief that comes in.

And I haven't asked a single question yet.

So that's one thing that I challenge everybody that I train to get really good at is that elicitation piece.

How many layers can I get into a person or a conversation just using these statements?

And that's why I wrote.

chapter about it in this book here.

But that elicitation is powerful because we're not being asked questions.

So our brain doesn't set off little security alarms.

And this is how Soviet spies would get information from the, a 19 -year -old US Navy sailor

in the early days of the Cold War they'd sit a ship would pull into thailand

or submarine to pull into thailand or singapore

and a russian would go up

and these sailors would be drinking at the bar russian would sit there he's got a aloha shirt on

or something and strike up a conversation they say

I know that the German submarines could outrun you

because their propellers are 22 and all of your submarine propellers are 18 feet in diameter.

and the sailor slightly drunk turns around and says no they're not

and starts giving up all this information just to correct the record and that's all they did back then was just

correcting the record i'm triggering this need to offer some kind of correction to information that's inaccurate

and even with business intelligence let's say that a company's moving and they have to get business intelligence somebody At that company, you'll get approached at a bar,

and somebody will say, "Yeah, I heard you guys are moving between March and April." Thank you.

And they'll get corrected and they'll say, no, it's actually February, but we're not really supposed to talk about it.

It's like there's no way you're going to move in February.

It's too cold.

And the interest rates are up too high.

There's no possible way that the CEO would ever do that.

It's like, yeah, and then you're going to get more information out because of the disbelief.

So that was correcting the record.

A second technique called bracketing, where I'm giving you a series like between March and May.

or between 39 and 59 and the third is the disbelief that starts getting this information out of people

so if you want to think about like how do i start a conversation

or continue one using elicitation think of the words so and then do a recap

so you've been doing this for three years or so This is not the best job, but it's getting things done for you.

Or I bet.

So I bet that was interesting.

I bet there were still some challenges there.

I bet you overcame a whole lot to get to this point.

So, or I bet is the best way to do that.

And when, okay, so if I say, I bet you hate that coffee.

Yeah that that's a statement but you're gonna endeavor to correct the record either way yeah

And if you do hate the coffee, You'll say:

yeah like even you saying yes i do kind of hate it is offering up information yeah okay interesting

and you could even go on with that like i bet you hate

that coffee and somebody says yeah well i do kind of hate it

but i can imagine you're the kind of person who likes coffee a very specific way

well yeah here's how i like it a lot and say That's...

Extremely interesting.

No creamer, no sugar.

And I'm just recapping.

So why is that better than me just going, how do you prefer your coffee?

- Well, if we're just talking about coffee, it's not sensitive information.

So I wouldn't say that that was better.

100

- It's for sensitive information.

101

- Yeah.

102

- When you're trying to not get their guard up.

103

- Yeah.

104

So the rule of thumb is the more sensitive the information is that you need, the less questions you need to be asking.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Elicitation: CIA’s Technique to Make People Talk Without Them Realizing”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: elicitation, bet, coffee, statement, interesting. This video has 104 sentences and 1252 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:36. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
elicitation noun		The act of eliciting.
disbelief noun	/dɪsbɪˈliːf/	An unpreparedness, unwillingness, or an inability to believe that something is the case.
sailor noun	/ˈseɪ.lɚ/	A person who sails; one whose occupation is sailing or navigating ships or other waterborne craft.
submarine noun	/sʌb.məˈɹiːn/	A boat that can go underwater.
propeller noun	/pɹəˈpɛl.ə/	One who, or that which, propels.
recap verb	/ɹiːˈkæp/	To seal (something) again with a cap.
correction noun	/kəˈɹɛkʃən/	The act of correcting.
uber adjective	/ˈuːbəɹ/	Super; high-level; high-ranking.
creamer noun	/ˈkɹiː.mɚ/	A jug for holding cream.
generalization noun		An act or instance of generalizing; concluding that something true of a subclass is true of the entire class.
outrun verb	/ˈaʊtɹʌn/	To run faster than.
endeavor noun	/ɛnˈdɛv.ɚ/	A sincere attempt; a determined or assiduous effort towards a specific goal; assiduous or persistent activity.
flawless adjective	/ˈflɔləs/	Without flaws, defects, or shortcomings; perfect.
carrot noun	/ˈkæɹət/	A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, family Apiaceae, especially the subspecies sativus.
inaccurate adjective	/ɪnˈæk.jə.ɹɪt/	Mistaken or incorrect; not accurate.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
set off verb	To leave; to set out; to begin a journey or trip.
turn around verb	To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount.
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
figure out verb	To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
give up verb	To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
go up verb	To move upwards.
strike up verb	To start something with somebody else, such as a conversation or relationship.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	I've been doing · you've been doing
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being asked · is called · been pressed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	she's been pressed · you've given · haven't asked
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	foods which is · person who likes

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: correction /kəˈɹɛkʃən/, confidential /ˌkɔn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/, shelf /ʃɛlf/
Long words — get the stress right: inaccurate /ɪnˈæk.jə.ɹɪt/, confidential /ˌkɔn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/, diameter /daɪˈæmɪdɚ/

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 elicitation, disbelief, sailor.

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: Elicitation: CIA’s Technique to Make People Talk Without Them Realizing #humanbehavior #chasehughes - Learn English Speaking with Video

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