Shadowing Practice: how to actually vlog consistently - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I'm gonna be so honest with you right now.
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If you wanna know how to vlog, just watch the girls.
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They know exactly what to do.
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Hour -long vlogs, 45 -minute long vlog, one hour, 30 minutes.
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I'm not gonna lie.
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When I first wanted to pivot into vlogs and talking head videos, I had to watch a lot of them.
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I'm gonna be honest with you.
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Because I don't know how you're getting an hour -long worth of footage.
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I mean, even now to this day, it's still hard for me.
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So that's my first piece of advice.
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If you wanna know, watch them.
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Because clearly, they know what they're doing.
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It's just too goddamn long for me.
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But besides that, I think the very first step you need to do is get the right equipment.
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You want to get equipment that is fast and efficient for you.
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That is literally the first step because if you're walking around with a big,
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thick camera, you're not going to want to carry that around all day.
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You're not going to want to vlog with that all day because the setup is just too big.
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You need something fast, agile, quick, and efficient.
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You want to be able to be somewhere and boop, you can record.
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But if you got to set everything up, set the tripod up, all this, if it's not fast and efficient,
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you're not going to vlog especially when you're first getting started
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and now you might ask why because it takes two months work from
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when you're feeling motivated to vlog to actually vlogging
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that gap is too long it's too much slow it down
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and make it fast you should be able to be somewhere
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and vlog within i want to say 30 seconds but
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if every time you're trying to vlog you're thinking about man
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i gotta set this up i gotta set the lighting up here
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there there whatever you're not gonna do it it's just too hard
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so the first step is making it as easy as possible for me
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i made it as easy as possible i currently have the sony a74
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and the 11 millimeter lens and i also recently got the sony mic as well just
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so that it is compact and light and i also took off
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that big case that i used to have because with me
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when i used to walk around with
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that big small ridge cage it just made my camera feel more bigger
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and it made it heavier but now it's fast
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and efficient i also got this tripod
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which makes it a lot easier for me to record
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because all i got to do is this
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and put it down i'm ready to record
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that level of simplicity makes me more motivated to vlog
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because look it's easy i can do this i can literally do this all day
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and when my setup is not
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that big to where i'm feeling overwhelmed to vlog
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it's literally easy my problem now is how do i have enough footage to make my vlogs longer
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or maybe that's just god's way of telling me them hour -long vlogs just not for me
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because i'm kind of 50 50 with it so figure out
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which one you like to do figure out your style that you want to go with and go with that.
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But I'll tell you this, if it's not easy, you're not gonna do it.
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Also, I highly recommend doing what you feel comfortable.
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Just because you see somebody else waking up early in the morning at 5 a .m.,
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recording themselves getting out of bed and doing all this stuff, that doesn't mean you have to do it.
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That does not mean you have to do it.
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For me, I can't do it.
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Why?
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Because it's not authentic.
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First of all, I sleep naked.
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That might be TMI, but if I were to record myself getting out of bed, I probably wouldn't have a YouTube channel.
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So do what feels comfortable, to you.
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I don't do that because that's just not authentically me, but if that's something that you would like to do, try it.
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Also, if you're uncomfortable with talking in public, you know, you're outside, you don't want to talk in Target, you don't want to record yourself in,
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you know, Best Buy or at a restaurant because you just feel awkward talking in front of people, how about this?
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How about you just shut up?
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How about you just vlog yourself in that environment
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or you just record yourself in that environment and then later either add music or do a voiceover?
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I mean, you don't really got to be that hard.
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You're making it more difficult than what it needs to be.
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If you're feeling nervous about talking in public, that's fine.
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It's a very normal feeling to feel, but how about you just limit the amount you have to do?
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So instead of going to a restaurant and trying to talk about the restaurant in front of 10 people because you're nervous,
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how about you just record yourself?
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And then on the back end, you do either a silent vlog or you put some music over it or you do a voiceover.
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And then as you do that more and more times, you'll feel more comfortable doing it.
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But you want to start off recording in front of 15 people
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and it makes you feel nervous you're not going to do it because
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that nerve is going to get to you start small with a small goal maybe record yourself record
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it on the back end and then
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if you like it do it some more
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and then as you do more you'll start learning to talk in public you start liking it more
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and you start to be less
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and less nervous that's what i had to do also another thing
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this is going to come more towards you know
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that back end editing part
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when you're recording your footage make sure you are actually recording in your proxy files
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and what does that mean
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when you're vlogging in public
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you're going to capture like 20 30 different clips of you doing different things you talk
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and all this extra stuff you want to make sure your camera supports proxy files
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because it's going to basically give you the original file
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which is probably going to be anywhere between two gigabytes to seven gigabytes
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and also the proxy file is going to be like 200 megabytes
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so that way when you're editing on your computer it's going to take up a lot less storage
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so that your timeline is not going to get slowed down
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or buffered so that way when you're editing you know you're editing on the proxy files
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which are a lot smaller files and when you're ready to export it
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and put it on youtube you can switch it back over to the full resolution
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and boom you're good that's honestly one of the biggest things
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that I had to learn because
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when I have a bunch of different clips the files are just so large sometimes my computer cannot handle all that footage.
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But when I use proxy files...
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It literally saves my computer.
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And it saves me so much time because I am not waiting on my timeline to finish buffering.
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I'm not waiting on it to do anything because the files are so small, my computer can definitely handle it.
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And being that I have the MacBook Pro, it is literally chef's kiss.
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And the last thing that I'm gonna say about vlogging is this, when you're doing different things,
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nobody is gonna know that you did that on a certain day.
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So if you recorded something six months ago, but nobody ever seen it, to me, it's gonna feel like you did that yesterday.
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To your audience, it's gonna feel like you did that yesterday.
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Nobody cares that you did it six months ago.
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You the only one that cares.
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If nobody has ever seen it, literally, it never happened.
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So yes, you can add that footage to your vlog.
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With that being said, I'm currently in Chicago, so I'm gonna do a little vlogging myself.
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I'll see you in the next one.
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Peace.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “how to actually vlog consistently”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: vlog, file, record. This video has 117 sentences and 1384 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:43. The speaker talks fast, about 242 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| footage noun | /ˈfʊtɪd͡ʒ/ | An amount of film or tape that has been used to record something, or the content of the recording. |
| proxy noun | /ˈpɹɑk.si/ | An agent or substitute authorized to act for another person. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| edit verb | /ˈɛdɪt/ | To change a text, or a document. |
| clip noun | /klɪp/ | Something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another. |
| timeline noun | /ˈtaɪmˌlaɪn/ | A graphical representation of a chronological sequence of events (past or future). |
| buffer noun | /ˈbʌfəɹ/ | A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid, such as by resisting a change in pH when an acid or alkali is added. |
| motivate verb | /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/ | To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. |
| thick adjective | /θɪk/ | Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension. |
| silent adjective | /ˈsaɪ̯lənt/ | Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet. |
| naked adjective | /ˈneɪkɪd/ | Bare, not covered by clothing. |
| capture verb | /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ | To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem. |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| awkward adjective | /ˈɔk.wɚd/ | Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments. |
| export noun | /ˈɛks.pɔɹt/ | Something that is exported. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| light up verb | To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten. | |
| shut up | /ʃʌt ʌp/ | Stop talking (usually in the form of making annoying, irrelevant, or false comments, during a period of peace and quiet, or when one is not allowed to talk)… |
| slow down verb | To decelerate. | |
| start off verb | To begin. | |
| take off verb | To remove. | |
| take up verb | To pick up. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm gonna be so honest with you right now.
- I'm gonna be honest with you.
- It's just too goddamn long for me.
- For me, I can't do it.
- How about you just shut up?
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 have · used to walk |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might ask · might be |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | start learning · finish buffering |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | you're getting · they're doing · you're walking |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 63 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, simplicity /sɪmˈplɪsɪti/
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 footage, proxy, efficient.
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.