Shadowing Practice: How Living Abroad Changed How I See America - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Living outside of the United States has given me an opportunity to look at my own country

and my own culture from a different lens.

And after spending years living between Europe and America, my perception of both has changed, I would say pretty drastically.

Because some of the stereotypes that Europeans have about Americans are the ones that I also used to believe myself.

Such as Americans are fake, Americans have no culture, Americans are obsessed with work, Americans don't know anything about the rest of the world.

But the more time I've spent moving between these two places, the more differently I started to see some of these stereotypes.

So in this video, I want to look at these stereotypes again as an American who once believed them,

well some of them, and ask are they really true or do they look different depending on where you're standing.

And in the next video, I'm going to flip this around and look at the stereotypes that Americans have about Europeans.

So one of the oldest stereotypes about Americans is how little they know of the rest of the world.

So you've seen clips on social media.

Someone points to Australia and the American calls it Europe.

Someone gets asked to name a country with a U and they freeze.

They can't come up with anything.

And then these types of clips, they spread as proof that Americans don't know geography, that we somehow don't care about other countries,

and we think that the world ends at our borders.

I think a lot of people forget that United States is enormous and a lot of the knowledge is based on accessibility.

Even the American media is somewhat localized and because that is a source of knowledge for a lot of people,

media focuses heavily on American politics, on American celebrities, American sports, and American problems.

So a lot of the Americans are not exposed to world news.

Then there is traveling abroad, which is a big undertaking for most Americans.

If you live in Germany, for example, you can cross multiple countries in just a few hours.

For example, we just took trip to Italy two weeks ago and we crossed through five countries within five hours.

And in the USA, if you live in Texas, for example, you might drive for eight hours and you're still in the state of Texas.

And because of this close proximity that Europeans have with other nations, other countries, they grow up surrounded by different languages,

different countries, different political systems because geography puts those encounters into everyday life.

Americans don't have access to that.

But not knowing the capital of Slovenia tells us very little about someone's intelligence or curiosity.

But at the same time, living in Europe does not automatically make someone knowledgeable about every other place either.

Ask any of my German friends about state politics in Wisconsin

or indigenous communities in New Mexico or the cultural difference between Mississippi and Massachusetts and similar gaps will start to appear.

So the better question

probably is what does your environment require you to know another stereotype

that i used to believe myself for years was the idea

that americans have no culture i used to say this out loud i used to believe it even more

when i moved to germany europe had history architecture old cities

regional traditions foods passed down from generations america still felt newer

more commercial more manufactured europe had culture america had consumerism

but the older i got

and the more time i spent between these two places the less sense all of this made to me

because what do we mean by culture

if we mean centuries-old cathedrals royal palaces ancient villages and traditions tied to one place for hundreds of years.

Europe obviously has something America does not.

But culture is bigger than age.

Jazz is American.

Blues, rock and roll, Hollywood, Broadway, skate culture, sneaker culture,

television, advertising, internet culture, and huge parts of global fashion all came from the United States.

And there's no single American culture.

Louisiana is not New England, Texas is not California, New York is not Montana.

Black American culture, Latino culture, Native American culture, Asian American culture, Southern culture, immigrant culture.

So for years I was judging American culture through the European definition of what culture is supposed to look like.

A 500 year old building felt cultural.

A music genre born in the Bronx somehow felt less so.

A European village felt authentic.

A diner, a basketball court, gospel church, jazz club, or a neighborhood block party felt ordinary.

But ordinary life is where culture lives.

Once I changed my definition, America looked completely different.

Next stereotype says that Americans are obsessed with work.

And for a long time, I understood why people thought that.

Americans get far less time away from work than people in countries like Germany.

Vacation time is shorter, sick leave is limited.

The United States has no federal guarantee of paid vacation or paid sick leave.

So when an American takes one major vacation a year, answers emails while they're traveling, while they're on vacation, or goes to work while they're sick,

the conclusion seems obvious that Americans live to work, but we are confusing obsession with circumstances.

If your job gives you two weeks of vacation instead of five or six, of course you take fewer vacations.

If time away affects income, health insurance, or job security, work carries a lot more weight.

Spending more time in Germany complicated my own assumptions.

has stronger protections around vacation illness and time away from work

so i expected german workers to seem far less stressed yet

among my german friends i know four people who have taken extended leave

because of burnout and one of those friends has taken two burnouts

and recently he retired early because he was just too stressed at work.

But among my much larger group of American friends, I cannot think of anyone who has ever experienced burnout.

Now obviously that does not mean that Germans experience more burnouts than Americans.

This is only my personal experience.

I've held a 9 to 5 in both places in the USA and in Germany and my German workplace felt more formal,

structured and more task focused whereas my american workplaces every single place

that i worked at always felt more social more easy going

you know people joking around taking lunch together as co-workers they become friends

and at several jobs co-workers even started to feel like a

second family then i asked my german husband about his experience working here when he was younger his answer was completely different.

His workplaces were relaxed and social and much like my workplaces in the USA.

Now his answer forced me to reconsider my own experience.

I did not experience German work culture.

I experienced one German workplace.

So when we say Americans are obsessed with work,

It's human nature to hear part of the story or experience something once and formulate a blanket judgment.

So for many Americans, work is tied to health insurance, financial security, career advancement, and social status.

American culture places enormous value on achievement and professional success.

So taking less vacation does not automatically mean Americans are obsessed with work.

Sometimes people work more because they want to and sometimes the system just gives them fewer choices.

What looks like a culture of law from the outside becomes much more complicated when you look at what's underneath it.

Another stereotype I often hear is that Americans are fake friendly.

They smile too much.

They make small talk with strangers.

They ask how are you without expecting a detailed answer in return.

Someone you met five minutes ago will tell you to have an amazing day.

We use words like awesome to meet you, see you around, or oh my god I love your skirt where did you get it.

That's a reference by the way.

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Let's see who gets it.

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If you come from a culture where friendliness is more reserved for people you actually know,

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this behavior might feel superficial.

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American friendliness often does not mean I want to become your friend.

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Sometimes the message is simply, I want this interaction to feel pleasant for myself and for the other person.

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In Germany, people are more reserved at first.

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There's less small talk with strangers and less outward enthusiasm in everyday interactions.

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I think that's the best way I can explain it.

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To an American, this might feel cold.

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A German might see the same behavior as honest.

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Why pretend to be interested in someone you do not know?

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And even after years of living here, I still catch myself judging why people are not responding to my friendliness.

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The European sees the American smile and thinks, you don't really mean this.

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The American sees a European reserve and thinks, why are you so unfriendly?

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But both people follow different rules of politeness.

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Even an American saying we should get together sometime does not always mean plans are coming next.

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From the outside, I understand why this sounds fake.

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Inside American culture, the phrase often functions more like a warmth than really a promise.

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So what one culture calls superficial, another calls considerate.

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What one culture calls honest, another experience it as being distant.

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Americans often are expressive with their friendliness and calling the friendliness fake is an interpretation, not the truth.

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So now looking at all of these stereotypes, there is a clear pattern.

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Most begin with something real.

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Americans often know less about other countries than Europeans expect.

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American culture looks different from older European traditions.

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Americans often take less vacation.

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American friendliness is more outward.

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Somewhere between observing those things and explaining them, we add our own cultural assumptions.

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Friendliness becomes fake.

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Ambition becomes obsession.

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Patriotism becomes arrogance.

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A different kind of culture becomes no culture at all.

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So understanding another culture might start with one question am i describing what i see

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or am i describing what i think it means

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and sometimes learning about another culture teaches you as much about

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yourself as a people you were trying to understand thank you guys

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so much for watching and i will see you in the next video

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Daily ConversationWorking Adults

How Living Abroad Shapes Cultural Perspectives: Insights for English Learners

The video explores how living between Europe and America transformed the speaker’s view of cultural stereotypes, offering rich content for English learners. It blends personal anecdotes with critical analysis, making it ideal for practicing conversational fluency and understanding cultural nuance.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

"look at... from a different lens" – To view something with a new perspective (e.g., "Living abroad helped me look at my country from a different lens").
"big undertaking" – A challenging task (e.g., "Traveling abroad is a big undertaking for many Americans").
"close proximity" – Being near something (e.g., "Europe’s close proximity to other countries fosters cultural awareness").
"passed down from generations" – Traditions kept alive over time (e.g., "Many European foods are passed down from generations").
"makes sense" – To be logical (e.g., "The speaker realized her old beliefs no longer made sense").

Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video

The video’s mix of storytelling and analysis makes it perfect for the shadowing technique. Here’s how to practice:

Listen and repeat short segments: Pause after 5-10 seconds of dialogue. Focus on mimicking the speaker’s rhythm and intonation, especially when she discusses stereotypes (e.g., "Americans don’t know anything about the rest of the world").
Emphasize connected speech: Notice how phrases like "the more time I’ve spent" flow together. Shadow these to improve naturalness.
Focus on cultural vocabulary: Practice words like "stereotypes," "indigenous communities," and "regional traditions" to build context-specific language.
Record and compare: Use a shadowing site to record your speech, then compare it to the video. Note differences in stress (e.g., "culture" vs. "consumerism") and adjust.

By using shadow speak with this video, you’ll not only improve your English but also gain insights into global cultures. Remember, the key is to practice daily—even 10 minutes of shadowspeak can boost fluency!

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to believe · used to say
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has given · has changed · I've spent
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	abroad, which is · people who have · anyone who has
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is based · are not exposed

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: How Living Abroad Changed How I See America - Learn English Speaking with Video

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