Shadowing Practice: 【English Podcast】Is a College Degree Still Worth It? — 4 Things to Consider - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey everyone!
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Welcome back to Cindy in Chicago.
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I am Cindy and this is the show where we talk about American culture, real English, and the things nobody quite explains when you are living and working here.
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Today I want to start with a number.
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1 .7 trillion dollars.
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That's the total amount of student loan debt in the United States right now.
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1 .7 trillion.
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That's more than the entire economy of most countries in the world.
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Americans borrowed, mostly when they were 17 or 18 years old, to pay for college.
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Now, here's the question that a lot of people are asking: was it worth it?
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If you've ever wondered whether a college degree is really necessary, whether the cost makes sense, whether there's another way, this episode is for you.
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Today I'll cover three things.
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First, how much college actually costs in America.
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The numbers are important.
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Second, what a college degree actually gives you.
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Because it's not just one thing, it's several things, and some of them are more valuable valuable than others.
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And third, how the picture is changing.
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Because something is shifting right now in how American companies think about degrees.
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And it's worth paying attention to.
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I also want to share my own perspective, because I've been on both sides of this question.
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Is someone who went to college, and is someone who has been involved in hiring decisions?
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And I have some thoughts.
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Let's get into it.
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First, the cost.
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In America, going to college is expensive.
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Very expensive.
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The average cost of one year at a public university, a state school, or a state school, or a state school, or a state school, or a state school funded partly by the government is around $30 ,000 when you include tuition,
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housing, food, and other expenses.
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Tuition is the cost of your classes and education itself.
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At a private university, a school funded by private money, not the government, one year can cost $60 ,000, $70 ,000, sometimes $80 ,000.
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Four years of college?
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Multiply that out.
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Public university, around $120 ,000 total.
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Private university, $250 ,000 or more.
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Students don't pay all of this themselves.
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They use a combination of financial aid, money given by the school or government, and student loans.
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A student loan is money you borrow to pay for college.
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And you pay it back after you graduate with interest.
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Interest means you pay back more than you borrowed.
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The longer it takes to pay back, the more you pay.
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The average American college graduate, the average, starts their working life with $30 ,000 in student loan debt.
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And some people have much, much more.
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This is the context.
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This is why 1 .7 trillion dollars exists.
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Now, what does a college degree actually give you?
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I think about this in four parts.
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Part 1: Knowledge.
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This is the obvious one.
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You go to college, you study a subject, you learn things.
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But here is something honest: a lot of the specific knowledge you learn in college is not directly used in your career.
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The details of a history class, the specific equations from a chemistry course, the novels from a literature seminar...
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most of it does not show up in your complex problem,
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how to write clearly, how to argue for a position using evidence, how to manage your time when no one is telling you what to do every hour.
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These are called transferable skills.
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Skills that transfer, move from one situation to another.
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Knowledge matters, but the transferable skills often matter more.
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Part 2: Credentials.
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A credential is official proof that you have a qualification.
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A college degree is a credential.
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For many is required, not optional, required.
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For other jobs, a degree is expected, not legally required, but the norm.
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Most candidates have one, so not having one puts you at a disadvantage.
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And for some jobs, especially in technology, creative fields, and trades, a degree is becoming less and less necessary.
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We'll come back to this.
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But the credential, the piece of paper, still carries weight in American professional culture.
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It signals something.
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It says this person completed something
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through whether or not that signal is accurate it's still a signal
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that many employers respond to part three network this one is underrated
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and I say this from experience
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when you go to college you spend four years around people your age who are curious ambitious
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and building their lives your classmates become your colleagues your collaborators
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your references your friends the network you build in college the
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relationships can be more valuable than anything you learn in a
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classroom this is especially true at well -known universities with strong alumni networks.
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Alumni are people who graduated from the same school.
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Many universities have alumni networks, communities of former students who help each other with jobs, connections, and opportunities.
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Network is real, and it's one of the things you simply cannot get from an online course or a book.
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Part 4: Time and Experience.
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College gives you four years to figure out who you are before the full weight of adult life hits.
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You can join a theater group, fail a class and recover, have conversations that change how you think.
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This is not nothing.
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This is actually a lot.
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But, and this is important, this time and experience comes at a very high price, and not everyone can afford it.
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And not everyone needs four years of exploration to find their direction.
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Now let's talk about what's changing.
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Because something significant is happening in how American companies think about college
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have started removing the degree requirement from many of their job postings.
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Companies like Google, Apple, IBM, Delta Airlines and others have announced that they will consider candidates without college degrees for certain roles.
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The reason they give is this: a degree does not always predict job performance.
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What predicts job performance is skill.
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And skill can be developed in many ways, not just in a four -year college program.
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There is also a growing movement around what are called trade schools or vocational schools.
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These are schools that teach specific, practical job skills: plumbing, electrical work, welding, medical assisting, computer networking, coding.
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A two -year program at a trade school can cost a fraction of a four -year university degree,
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and the graduates often find work quickly in fields where skilled workers are genuinely needed.
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In America, there has been a long cultural assumption that a four -year college degree is the path to a good life, and that trade work, working with your hands,
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That assumption is being questioned loudly.
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A skilled electrician in Chicago can earn more than many people with college degrees.
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And they didn't take on $30 ,000 of student loan debt to get there.
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Here is my personal take: I went to college.
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I don't regret it.
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The network I built, the way of thinking I developed, the experiences I had, those things shaped me.
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And they've helped me professionally.
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But I've also been involved in hiring.
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And I can tell you honestly, a degree tells me very little about whether someone will be good at the job.
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look for is can this person think clearly can they communicate well do they show up
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and follow through do they keep learning those qualities come from many places college is one of them
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but it's not the only one
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if I were advising someone today especially someone who is uncertain about what they want to study
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or someone who would need to take on a lot of
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debt I would say this a degree is worth it
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when you know why you are getting it when you have a clear direction when the
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What degree is a harder call when you are going because it feels expected, because everyone else is going, because you are not sure what else to do.
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The question is not, "Is college worth it in general?" The question is, "Is college worth it for you, right now, for the specific thing you want to do?" That's a harder question,
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and it deserves a real answer, not just the default assumption that everyone should go.
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Let's do a quick review.
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1. Student loan debt in America totals $1 .7 trillion.
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with $30 ,000 in debt.
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College is expensive and that cost shapes everything.
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Two, a college degree gives you four things: knowledge and transferable skills, a credential, a network, and time and experience.
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Some of these are more valuable than others depending on your path.
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Three, the picture is changing.
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Major companies are dropping degree requirements.
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Trade schools are growing.
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The idea question.
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Four, the right question is not "is college worth it?" The right question is, "is college worth it for me for this specific goal at this specific cost?" Five,
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vocabulary from today.
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Tuition, the cost of education at a university.
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Student -owned, money borrowed to pay for college, paid back after graduation.
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Credential, official proof of a qualification.
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Transferable skills, skills that work across many different jobs and situations.
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Alumni, people who graduated from the same school.
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Trade school, a school that teaches specific job skills, usually in two years or less.
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That's everything for today.
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If this episode made you think about your own education or the system itself, I'd love to hear what came up for you.
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Leave it in the comments.
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And if you are finding these episodes useful, please subscribe.
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New episodes come out every week.
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Next week, I want to talk about the gig economy.
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Driving for a ride share company, delivering food, freelancing online, working on your own terms.
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It sounds like freedom.
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And sometimes it is.
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But T, there is another side that doesn't get talked about as much.
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That's next week on Cindy in Chicago.
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I'll see you then.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “【English Podcast】Is a College Degree Still Worth It? — 4 Things to Consider”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: degree, skill, cost, student, network. This video has 146 sentences and 1615 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:42. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| credential noun | /kɹɪˈdɛnʃəl/ | documentary or electronic evidence that a person has certain status or privileges |
| alumnus noun | /əˈlʌmnəs/ | A male pupil or student. |
| transferable adjective | /trɑːnsˈfɜːrəbl̩/ | Able to be transferred. |
| borrow verb | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. |
| tuition noun | /tjuːˈɪʃən/ | The training or instruction provided by a teacher or tutor. |
| assumption noun | /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/ | The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or adopting. |
| qualification noun | /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ | The act or process of qualifying for a position, achievement etc. |
| predict verb | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of… |
| classmate noun | /ˈklæs.meɪt/ | A student who is in the same class at school. |
| collaborator noun | /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/ | A person who works with others towards a common goal. |
| electrician noun | /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/ | A tradesperson who installs, repairs and maintains electrical wiring and equipment. |
| multiply verb | /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ | To increase the amount, degree or number of (something). |
| plumbing noun | /ˈplʌmɪŋ/ | The pipes, together with the joints, tanks, stopcocks, taps, and other fixtures of a water, gas, or sewage system in a house or other building. |
| underrated adjective | /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/ | Not given enough recognition for its quality. |
| vocational adjective | Of or pertaining to a vocation. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pay back verb | /peɪ bæk/ | To pay (a debt or the lender) so as to provide the entire amount of money owed. |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| follow through verb | To execute or complete a commitment. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Today I'll cover three things.
- We'll come back to this.
- Let's do a quick review.
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 | has been involved · are called · is required |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've ever wondered · I've been · has been involved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who went · people who graduated · students who help |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 12 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: credential /kɹɪˈdɛnʃəl/, tuition /tjuːˈɪʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/, underrated /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/
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 credential, alumnus, transferable.
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.