Shadowing Practice: English Listening Practice Podcast - Who is American? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.

Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 142 of the Listening Time Podcast.

I hope that you're doing well with your English learning and I hope that these episodes have helped you improve your comprehension.

and in today's episode we're going to talk about something that's a little bit sensitive and maybe a little controversial.

I don't do this that often but I really want to talk about this topic

because it comes up sometimes when I talk to people from different countries.

By the way, the phrasal verb come up in this case means that something is mentioned.

Someone says something.

They bring up a certain topic.

It comes up.

So this topic comes up sometimes, and it's the topic of the word American.

What does the term American mean and who does it refer to?

Who is American?

So for some of you, this might sound crazy.

You might not understand what I'm talking about here,

But for others, if you live in certain countries,

you might know exactly what I'm talking about because you might consider yourself American and you don't live in the U.S.

So I think this will be a really interesting topic

and a lot of you will learn a lot about this topic as I talk about it.

It might be new for most of you.

So this should be good.

And like I said, it's kind of a controversial topic.

I'm just going to present the different viewpoints.

The word viewpoint just refers to a perspective, an opinion about something.

So I'm just going to present the different viewpoints.

I'm not here to tell you that one is correct and one is incorrect.

No, I just want to talk about this because it's a very interesting topic for me.

And before we get started, remember that if you need my help understanding native English speakers when they speak fast,

then you'll definitely be interested in my listening practice seminars in which I help you understand the different sound patterns in English.

So if you want those seminars, make sure to join my membership.

The link is down below in the episode description.

That's patreon.com slash listening time.

And if you want my new podcast, in which I talk to different English teachers from around the country about different topics,

then make sure to sign up for my U.S.

Conversations podcast.

The link is also in the description below.

That's patreon.com slash USConversations.

And as always, please share this podcast with anyone else you know who's learning English,

and please give it a five-star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and write a review.

Alright, let's get started.

Are your ears ready?

You know what time it is.

It's listening time.

Okay, let's talk about the term American, this controversial topic.

I say controversial because when I use this term to describe myself or people from my country,

the U.S., some students of mine, some people in different countries,

they take exception to this.

The term take exception to something means that you disagree with something.

You don't agree with it.

So some people take exception to my usage of this term to refer exclusively to people from the U.S.

Why is that?

Many of you probably don't understand why,

and in the U.S., almost everybody here would be completely perplexed by this.

Perplexed means that you're really confused.

So people in the U.S would be completely perplexed by the fact

that some people would take exception to us using the term American to describe ourselves.

Most people, maybe 99% of people in the U.S.,

have never even heard of the other viewpoint before,

and they would be really confused about why someone would disagree with this usage of the term American.

So let me explain why.

In many countries throughout the world, I don't know how many, but in my country, for example,

in the U.S., when we learn geography in school, we learn that there are seven continents.

So for some of you,

you might already be shocked by this because in some countries you don't learn that there's seven continents.

So what's the difference here?

What is the reason for this?

Why do some of us think there are seven continents and some people think there are six or five?

Well, we learn that North America is one continent and South America is another continent.

We learn that these are two separate continents.

Pretty much everyone in the U.S learns this, as far as I know.

However, in many countries in what we would refer to as South America or Central America or Mexico,

for example, people might learn in school that there's just one continent called America,

that North and South America are just one big continent, and this is America.

And they might still use the term North America and South America,

but really it's just one America for them.

So we learn two completely different facts,

so to say, and this is the start of the issue.

So this fact that we have two different ideas of what these continents are called

or if they are two continents or if it's just one continent,

that's maybe one of the roots of this debate.

A root just refers to one of the deeper reasons for something.

So this is one of the roots of this controversy.

So let's say that you live in a country like Colombia, let's say.

So you live in Colombia and you learn that you live in a continent called America, right?

You live in South America, but more generally speaking, you just say you live in America, right?

So people with this situation,

people that grow up in a country like this could easily consider themselves to be American, right?

Just like, for example, if you live in France, you could say that you're European, right?

Because that's the continent.

Your country is France, but you live in the continent of Europe.

So you're French and you're European.

Just like someone in Colombia could say that they are Colombian

and they are also American if they have that system in mind, right?

They could say they're South American, they're American, they're Colombian, they could say all of those things, right?

It makes sense because with this system,

with this geographical perspective, if you live in one of these countries in South America or Central America,

then your continent is still America.

So you could use either term depending on, you know, the conversation or what you're trying to say.

So here's the problem.

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In the U.S., people don't learn that there's one continent called America.

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People learn that there are two continents, North America and South America,

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and more specifically, they learn about the different distinctions even within that.

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So, for example, like Central America, we don't think of that as a separate continent,

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but it's kind of a term used to describe a certain region within North America.

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So, it gets a little more detailed, let's say.

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And so because of that,

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people here wouldn't use the term America to describe everything from Canada all the way down to Argentina, right?

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That's not the term that they learn to use in that context, right?

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We would think of North America, South America, and sometimes Central America.

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So those terms are different because of our experience of what we've learned in school

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and the geographical system that we have in our minds.

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So we often classify everything from,

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let's say, Mexico down to Argentina as Latin America, right?

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And obviously, there are some countries that might not agree with that distinction,

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or they might not actually speak a Latin language, right?

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So it's kind of a general term.

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Obviously, there are exceptions, and yeah, it's a little more complicated than that.

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But in general, people here, they might think of everything to the south of the U.S as Latin America.

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That's not really a continental distinction,

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but it's just a way to classify this area using the context of,

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let's say, the languages spoken, right?

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And so Latin America is a very common term that is used here.

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And Latin Americans is also a very common term, right?

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Latin Americans come to the US for vacation, for example, right?

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So people might use that term Latin American.

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So that's based on this different idea,

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this different system of the geography that people have in their minds.

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And what's also interesting about that is that in the U.S.,

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people don't really use the term North Americans, right?

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and they don't really identify with a continent.

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I think in most other places around the world, people can identify with both a country and a continent.

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Like with my example, if you live in France, you can say you're French and you're European.

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And both of those would probably seem natural for you to say based on the context,

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because you might be talking about Europe as a whole

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and maybe some of the differences between Europe and the US, for example.

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And you might say, oh,

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we Europeans do things differently because there are a lot of things that the different European countries have in common, right?

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And if you live in an Asian country,

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you might say, I'm Korean or I'm Asian based on the context, right?

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However, what's interesting is that people in the U.S don't really ever say, I'm North American.

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I don't think I've heard someone say that in my whole life.

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People don't identify with the continent.

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People here just use the term American, right?

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I'm American.

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And people in Canada would say, I'm Canadian.

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I've never heard a Canadian person claim the term American for them.

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Maybe North American.

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I'm sure some Canadians would say that in certain situations.

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but really the controversy here is more with the U.S

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and people in the region that we would call Latin America

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and so people in the U.S don't really identify with the continent North America

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so really people just say I'm American that's the only thing that you'll hear and so that's different from Europeans,

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Asians, etc., where they might say that they are of that continent in a normal context, right?

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So that's kind of the summary of maybe some of the roots of this issue here, right?

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We have different systems of education that teach us different geography,

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and we have different ways of identifying ourselves.

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Some people identify with a country and a continent and in the U.S people just identify with the country.

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So these are some things that result in two different usages of the word American depending on who you are.

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But there's one other really important thing, and in my opinion, it's probably the most important factor here,

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even more important than everything I just said, and that has to do with the actual name of the country.

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So the name of my country officially is the United States of America.

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Of course, we usually just abbreviate that and say the U.S.

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We don't even say the USA most of the time.

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We just say the U.S.

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But of course, the actual name of the country, officially speaking, is the United States of America.

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And if you think about it,

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the name of our country is similar to names of other countries in the sense that the official name is multiple words,

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but really people abbreviate it and they only say one word or something.

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So a perfect example of this is Mexico.

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Pretty much everyone refers to this country as Mexico.

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However, the official name is Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

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In English, that translates to United Mexican States.

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So even though this is the official name of Mexico, people just say Mexico.

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And the demonym that people say,

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the word demonym refers to the term used to describe a group of people from a certain place.

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So like American, for example, is a demonym.

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So we say Mexico and the demonym is Mexican, right?

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He is Mexican.

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They are Mexicans, right?

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Just like someone from Italy, the demonym would be Italian, right?

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So we say Mexico and the demonym is Mexican.

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However, the actual name of the country, officially speaking, is United Mexican States, right?

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So in the U.S., our country's name, officially speaking, is the United States of America.

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So if we follow that same logic, that means that instead of saying the United States of America,

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just like United Mexican States, we would just say America, like we just say Mexico.

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And many, many people in the U.S refer to the U.S as America.

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You'll hear this all the time.

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You'll hear things like, in America, people drive a lot.

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What they're saying is in the U.S., right, in the USA.

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But they just say America, just like people in Mexico just say Mexico, right?

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And the issue here is that there is no other possible demonym for the USA.

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There's no other possible word that works in English that could be used to describe someone from the USA,

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except for the word American, right?

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Because it's the United States of America.

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So the demonym is American, just like the United Mexican States, the demonym is Mexican.

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Does that make sense?

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So in English, it would be absurd to say the term United States-ian, for example.

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It sounds completely ridiculous.

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And in Mexico, you don't say that either.

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Even though it's Estados Unidos Mexicanos, you don't make the demonym from the Estados Unidos part.

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You make it from the Mexicanos part.

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You use that to create the term.

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So in the US, it's the same.

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We have the United States of America.

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So we use the word America to make the demonym and say American.

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Just like in the UK, even that name, the UK,

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is a pretty weird one, just like the US.

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and we don't say United Kingdomian for someone from the UK, right?

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They have their own demonym, which has historical reasons and some different things there,

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but you could call someone a British person, a Brit.

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They have a different demonym.

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It doesn't come from the word kingdom, just like we We don't use the word states to create the demonym.

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Does that make sense?

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So that's why the demonym is American, because there's no other, you know,

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easy word to use to describe someone from the US.

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Of course, you could say a US citizen.

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However you don't have to do this for any other country.

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You don't have to say an Italian citizen, a Mexican citizen.

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No, you can just say an Italian man, a Mexican woman, right?

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So it would be kind of unfair for people in the

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U.S to always have to refer to themselves as a U.S citizen, right?

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It wouldn't really make sense if every other country has their own demonym, where they have a special word for people from that country.

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So because of all that, in the US people call themselves Americans, right?

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And they would have no idea that people in other countries would take offense to this.

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They really would have no idea.

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But that's because they haven't talked to people from these other countries, so they don't know the other viewpoint, the other perspective.

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So that's a lot of information, I know, and I'm sure many of you have your own opinion about which perspective is correct,

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and that's great.

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I think people should be able to have their own opinions.

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I'm not presenting an opinion here.

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I just wanted to show the two different perspectives, right?

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If someone believes that their continent is called America and they identify with that continent,

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then they can say, I'm American, because in that context, it makes sense.

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And on the other hand, someone from the U.S that considers the demonym

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of their country to be American because there's no other word.

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They can also say they're American, and these are two different things really.

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It's not like one person is American and the other person isn't American, right?

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It's really the fact that these two people are talking about about two different systems, right?

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Kind of like how in the European Union, people might just use the word Europe to refer to the EU,

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but there are countries in the continent of Europe that aren't part of the EU.

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And so some people might say, oh, that country is not part of the EU,

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It's not part of Europe in the political sense, but of course it's Europe in the geographical sense, right?

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So it's not exactly like that, but that's kind of a similar example that I thought of.

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So in this case, the term American, when used by someone in the US and when used by someone in Colombia,

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for example, they're referring to two different things and they're both valid for different reasons, right?

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And so, like I said, I'm not presenting an opinion.

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I would just like to educate people a little bit about this topic

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because I get a lot of questions from people saying, why do you use the term American for people in the U.S.?

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And I want to

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help educate other people that might not know that other people use the term American and not just people in the U.S.

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I want to show them that other people also claim this term.

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So I think it's really fascinating and I don't get mad about this.

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I don't want to make you think I have a really strong opinion

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and I think that one side is completely wrong or whatever.

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No, I just wanted to talk about this

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because it's come up a lot with different students of mine when I have different conversations.

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So I think it's a really fascinating topic and it's good to see the other viewpoint

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if you have one of the two viewpoints, right?

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Okay, that's all for today.

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I hope that you enjoyed this episode and that it was interesting for you.

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Remember that you can get my training to help you understand native speakers when they speak fast.

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You can join my membership to get my listening practice seminars.

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The link is down below in the episode description.

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that's patreon.com slash listening time and you can get my new podcast in

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which I talk to people from all over the country about

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really interesting topics this is great practice for those of you who want to listen to two people speaking

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and not just one so the link is also down below that's patreon.com slash US conversations.

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And as always, please share this podcast with your friends

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and family members and give it a five star rating and write a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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All right.

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Thank you for listening to this episode.

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And I'll talk to you on the next episode of listening time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 272 sentences and 3203 words to shadow. The speech runs for 27:40. The speaker talks at a steady 116 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
continent noun	/ˈkɑntɪnənt/	One of the main contiguous landmasses, separated by water or geological features, on the surface of a planet, sometimes including its continental shelves and…
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
refer verb	/ɹɪˈfɜː/	To direct the attention of (someone toward something).
podcast noun	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
viewpoint noun	/ˈvjuː.pɔɪnt/	The position from which something is observed or considered
exception noun	/əkˈsɛpʃən/	The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule.
citizen noun	/ˈsɪtɪzən/	A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties.
controversial adjective	/ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/	Arousing or likely to arouse controversy.
usage noun	/ˈjuːsɪd͡ʒ/	A custom or established practice.
distinction noun	/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/	That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.
geography noun	/d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/	The study of the physical properties of the earth, including how humans affect and are affected by them.
geographical adjective	/d͡ʒiəˈɡɹæfɪkl̩/	Of or relating to geography.
seminar noun	/ˈsɛmɪnɑɹ/	A class held for advanced studies in which students meet regularly to discuss original research, under the guidance of a professor.
confused adjective	/kənˈfjuːzd/	unable to think clearly or understand
membership noun		The state of being a member of a group or organization.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
bring up verb	To mention.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 71 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, distinction /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/, shock /ʃɔk/, vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, geography /d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/, controversy /kənˈtɹɒv.ə.si/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/

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 continent, topic, refer.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is mentioned · would be completely perplexed · be shocked
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have helped · have never even heard · we've learned
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might sound · might not understand · might know
Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things	more complicated than · more important than

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: English Listening Practice Podcast - Who is American? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?