Shadowing Practice: Ghost Tape Number 10 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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30 sentences
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What you're hearing right now is ghost tape number 10, a psychological warfare audio recording used by the US military during the Vietnam War.
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It was designed by the US Army's 6th
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Psychological Operations Battalion and was played through speakers hidden in the jungle or aboard helicopters and boats.
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So far, only this one, number 10, has been released to the public.
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The audio was designed to terrify, disorient and demoralize the Vietnamese by preying on their traditional spiritual belief
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that the spirit of a person who died suddenly
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and violently far from home and didn't receive a proper burial would be cursed to roam the earth forever
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as a wandering soul.
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On top of Buddhist funeral music and Halloween -y sounds, the army concept team layered Vietnamese voices meant to sound like the voices of dead soldiers,
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wandering souls, begging others to desert or defect before the same fate befell them.
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Were the ghost tapes effective?
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Well, we don't really know.
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According to the U .S.
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Army, a few captured soldiers reported that they had heard the sounds and were frightened by them, but for the most part,
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it seems that they all knew they were recordings made by the Americans and just shot in the direction of the speakers.
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Now, the North Vietnamese ran their own psychological operations.
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One became known as Hanoi Hanna.
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Born in Hanoi in 1931, she learned English because she wanted to be able to watch her favorite movie, Gone with the Wind, without subtitles.
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During the Vietnam War, she joined
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Radio Hanoi and delivered broadcasts in English meant to demoralize American GIs.
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Defect GI.
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It is a very good idea to leave a sinking ship.
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Your rich leaders grow richer while you die in the swamp, GI.
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They will give you a medal, GI, but only after you are dead.
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Now, interestingly, a lot of American GIs enjoyed listening to Hanoi Hanna.
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They found her somewhat entertaining.
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Also, unlike the U .S.
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Armed Forces radio, which had policies of censorship and deletion and exaggeration,
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it was pretty much a guarantee that Hanoi Hanna would not hide bad news from you.
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That trust created a weird scenario where Hanoi Hanna almost became a form of enemy psychological war care.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Ghost Tape Number 10”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Hanoi, Hanna, psychological, Vietnamese, sound. This video has 30 sentences and 372 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:37. The speaker talks at a steady 143 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 73% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| psychological adjective | /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/ | Of or pertaining to psychology. |
| audio adjective | /ˈɔ.di.oʊ/ | Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight. |
| soldier noun | /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/ | A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member. |
| tape noun | /teɪ̯p/ | Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape. |
| ghost noun | /ɡoʊst/ | A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death. |
| defect noun | /ˈdiːfɛkt/ | A fault or malfunction. |
| wander verb | /ˈwɑndɚ/ | To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood. |
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| guarantee noun | /ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/ | Anything that assures a certain outcome. |
| capture verb | /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ | To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem. |
| desert noun | /ˈdɛz.ɚt/ | A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland. |
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| spiritual adjective | /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/ | Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul. |
| broadcast noun | /ˈbɹɔːd(ˌ)kɑːst/ | A transmission of a radio or television programme intended to be received by anyone with a receiver. |
| medal noun | /ˈmɛdəl/ | A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| play through verb | To overtake a slower group of players ahead of one's own group, rather than waiting for them to finish the hole before proceeding. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, censorship /ˈsɛnsɚʃɪp/, deletion /dɪˈliːʃən/, exaggeration /ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: psychological /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/, helicopter /ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/, violently /ˈvaɪ(ə)ləntli/, demoralize /dɪˈmɒɹəlaɪz/, disorient /dɪsˈɔːɹi.ənt/
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 psychological, audio, soldier.
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.