Shadowing Practice: "Focusing is about saying no" - Steve Jobs (WWDC'97) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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55 sentences

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What about OpenDoc?

Yeah.

What about it?

I don't know.

It's dead, right?

Huh?

It's dead, right?

I don't know.

I spent a lot of time working on it.

Yeah.

I'm sad.

Well, you know, let me say something that's sort of generic.

I know some of you spent a lot of time working on stuff that we put a bullet in the head of.

I apologize.

I feel your pain.

But Apple suffered for several years from lousy engineering management.

I have to say it.

And there were people that were going off in 18 different directions, doing arguably interesting things in each one of them.

Good engineers.

Lousy management.

And what happened was you look at the farm that's been created with all these different animals going in different directions, and it doesn't add up.

The total is less than the sum of the parts.

And so we had to decide what are the fundamental directions we're going in and what makes sense and what doesn't.

And there were a bunch of things that didn't.

and microcosmically they might have made sense, macrocosmically they made no sense.

And, you know, the hardest thing is, when you think about focusing, right, you think, well, focusing is saying yes,

no. Focusing is about saying no. Focusing is about saying no. And you've got to say no,

no, no, no. And when you say no, you piss off people.

And they go talk to the San Jose Mercury and they write a shitty article about you.

You know?

And it's really a pisser.

because you want to be nice.

You don't want to tell the San Jose Mercury, the person that's telling you this,

you know, just was asked to leave or this or that or this or that.

So you take the lumps.

And Apple's been taking their share of lumps for the last six months in a very unfair way.

And it's been taking them, you know, like an adult.

And I'm proud of that.

And there's more to come, I'm sure.

There's more to come.

I mean, some of these, I read these articles about some of these people that have left.

I know some of these people.

They haven't done anything in seven years.

And, you know, they leave and it's like, you know, it's like the company's going to fall apart the next day.

And so, you know, I think there'll be stories like that that come and go.

But focus is about saying no.

And the result of

that focus is going to be some really great products where the total is much greater than the sum of the parts.

And OpenDoc, I mean, I was for putting a bullet in the head of OpenDoc.

A, I didn't think it was great technology, but B, it didn't fit the rest of the world isn't going to use OpenDoc.

And I think as a container strategy, there's some stuff in the Java space that's much better.

And even the OpenDoc guys were basically trying to rewrite the whole thing in Java anyway, which was a restart.

So it didn't make sense.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “"Focusing is about saying no" - Steve Jobs”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Opendoc, focusing, sense, directions. This video has 55 sentences and 528 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:59. The speaker talks at a natural 177 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
bullet noun	/ˈbʊlɪt/	A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed.
lump noun	/lʌmp/	Something that protrudes, sticks out, or sticks together; a cluster or blob; a mound or mass of no particular shape.
suffer verb	/ˈsʌfɚ/	To undergo hardship.
fundamental adjective	/ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/	Related to a foundation, base, or basis; serving as a foundation.
unfair adjective	/ʌnˈfɛɚ/	Not just.
apologize verb	/əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/	To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends
generic adjective	/dʒɪˈnɛɹ.ɪk/	Very broad; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific instances.
container noun	/kənˈteɪ.nəɹ/	An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported.
arguably adverb	/ˈɑɹɡjuəbli/	As can be supported or proven by sound logical deduction, evidence, and precedent, but without absolute certainty.
restart verb	/ˈɹiːˌstɑɹt/	To start again.
lousy adjective	/ˈlaʊ.zi/	Insufficient and less than expected of a good thing.
macrocosmically adverb		In a macrocosmic sense.
microcosmically adverb		In a microcosmic sense.
rewrite verb	/ɹiˈɹaɪt/	To write again, differently; to modify; to revise.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
add up verb	To take the sum of; to total.
fall apart verb	To disintegrate, to break into pieces.

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	Apple's been taking · it's been taking
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	that's been created · have left · haven't done
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	been created · was asked

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: fundamental /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/

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 bullet, lump, suffer.

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: "Focusing is about saying no" - Steve Jobs (WWDC'97) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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