Shadowing Practice: How to NEVER feel embarrassed again - Learn English Speaking with Video
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114 sentences
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Embarrassment is the number one thing that's holding you back in life.
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You need to understand this, okay?
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When I stopped being embarrassed of anything, my life completely changed because this was the only time I felt free to be my authentic self,
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to do whatever I want and to live my life the way I want.
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Only when I stopped being embarrassed that was possible.
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And in this video, we're going to talk about how you can do the same.
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First of all, you need to understand that embarrassment is basically made up.
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Embarrassment is not real.
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Embarrassment only exists because we think it does, okay?
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There's no rule that says that some things are embarrassing and some things aren't embarrassing.
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What one person finds embarrassing, another person doesn't even care about at all.
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You can think it's embarrassing to fall down on the street in front of a huge crowd
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and another person might think it's funny or it's sad.
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There's no rule for embarrassment because we decide what's embarrassing, okay?
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We decide what's embarrassing.
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And when we decide that nothing is embarrassing, nothing will be embarrassing anymore.
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It's that easy.
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I know that sounds crazy, but it's that easy.
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Every time when I felt that feeling of embarrassment come over me, I stopped myself and I told myself, no, it's not embarrassing.
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I decide now that it's not embarrassing.
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And this feeling of embarrassment just disappeared because I decide what's embarrassing and what's not.
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You really need to realize that you decide what's embarrassing.
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And the same way you decided that this one thing is embarrassing, you can also decide
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that the same thing is not embarrassing anymore okay you also need to understand
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that embarrassment is actually the fear of rejection and of judgment
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so most of the time you don't even feel embarrassed
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because you think what you're doing is embarrassing but
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because you are afraid that other people won't like you anymore
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if you do this thing and that's when you stop being your authentic self
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because you are so afraid of losing the people around you
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but you need to understand you really need to understand
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that people who reject you because of small and meaningless things never even liked you in the first place, okay?
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They never even liked you because why should someone stop liking you because you started posting on TikTok, because you started following your dreams, because you started that business,
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because you said something embarrassing, because you posted one embarrassing picture of you.
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Why should someone who really genuinely likes you stop liking you because of those random things? Can you tell me?
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People who really like you will like you no matter what you do, okay?
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And people who don't like you also won't like you no matter what you do.
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I can give you one example of my own life.
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When I started my social media, I started social media two years ago, I think, on my German account.
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This English account is very new, but I started social media on my German account a few years ago.
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I almost didn't start the account because I was so afraid that people who know me would think I'm embarrassing,
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would think I'm cringe, would stop being friends with me because I post on social media.
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It almost held me back off posting.
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The fear of rejection almost held me back off posting.
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But then I thought to myself, when someone rejects me or thinks I'm cringe or thinks I'm embarrassing because I'm posting harmless videos on social media,
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I don't need that person.
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I don't need people who will judge me because I do harmless things, because I follow my dreams, I do what I want to do.
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When people judge me because I do things that I like, I don't need those people, okay?
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And you don't need those people either.
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You can't control it anyway.
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Someone who wants to judge you will judge you
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and will find something to judge you for no matter what you do okay the next thing
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that you need to understand is that
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when you always feel embarrassed you give other people the power to decide over your life there's
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that one quote that i love
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that says it's better to be cringed in someone else's mind than caged in your own mic drop let
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that quote sink in okay just think about it it is
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so true it's so much better to be cringed in someone else's mind than caged in your own.
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Because why should you stop living your life the way you want to live it?
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Do the things you want to do because you are afraid what some random ass people will think of you.
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What the hell?
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What the hell?
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Really?
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This makes no sense at all that you create a smaller life for yourself just to be digestible for other people.
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Don't do that, okay?
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Don't do that.
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Because when you're 80 years old, sitting there being sad that your life didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
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because you were afraid of being judged by others those people
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you were afraid of being judged by won't be there for you okay you will be there alone
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so stop letting random ass people who don't even like you
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decide how you live your life live your life the way
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you want do the things the way you want to do them no matter
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if anyone thinks you're cringe you're weird you whatever, because at the end of the day you will be the only one responsible
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and regretting it if your life didn't turn out the way you wanted it to.
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What also comes with that is that you need to understand
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that people only have as much power over you as you give them.
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Of course, if you're sitting at home always worrying about what other people might think of you, holding yourself back, not doing the things you like,
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because you're so afraid that other people might think you're cringe, of course those people have power over you and your life, because you give them the power by doing those things.
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You give other people the power by constantly worrying about what they think, by not doing the things you love because you are afraid what they might think.
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You give other people the power over your life.
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And the same way you give them the power, you can also take the power away from them.
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Because the moment you stop wasting your precious time, worrying what others think of you and holding your own life back just to be digestible for others,
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is the moment that you take the power back.
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And that's also the moment that you start to realize that other people were never holding you back.
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Your fear of their opinion was.
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Also, very often people project their own insecurities.
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People often judge others because of something they secretly wish they had the confidence to do it themselves.
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If I judge you for having, for laughing loud on the street and having fun and I think, oh my god, that's so embarrassing,
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that's so cringe, it's probably because I don't allow myself to do that.
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I'm afraid to show that side of me in public
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if someone judges you because you post videos on social media it's probably
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because they wish they had the confidence to do the same thing
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but they just don't and instead of admitting i wish i could do the two
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or working on their confidence to one day have
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that confidence to post on social media it's easier to them to just judge another person and say, oh my gosh, that's so embarrassing, because that makes them feel better about themselves.
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So in conclusion, the way people react to you often says more about them than it says about you.
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And the last thing I want to say in this video is
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that the truly embarrassing people are the ones who find everything embarrassing.
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In my opinion, really nothing is embarrassing except people that find everything embarrassing.
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You just need to imagine those people, how miserable they are sitting at home and judging others.
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They're sitting at home not doing anything with their lives, watching other people, how weird is that, and just judging them and saying oh my gosh what they do is so cringe.
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How can she pause on social media?
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She only has two followers.
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How can she do that?
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Did you see what she wore?
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Did you hear what she said?
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That's so cringe.
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That is truly the only thing that's embarrassing being a person who always judges everyone
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and that's it for today's video i really hope it was
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helpful i really hope i could help you to stop being embarrassed of anything
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and start living your life according to your own values
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and to your own desires that was my goal with
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that video and i would say i'll see you in my next video bye bye Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to NEVER feel embarrassed again”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: embarrassing, judge, afraid, decide, embarrassment. This video has 114 sentences and 1525 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:04. The speaker talks fast, about 189 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 90% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| embarrassment noun | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/ | A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation. |
| embarrassed adjective | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əst/ | Having a feeling of shameful discomfort. |
| digestible adjective | /daɪˈdʒɛstəbəɫ/ | Capable of being digested. |
| harmless adjective | /ˈhɑɹmləs/ | Incapable of causing harm or danger; safe. |
| rejection noun | /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/ | The act of rejecting. |
| gosh | /ɡɑːʃ/ | A mild expression of surprise or enthusiasm. |
| authentic adjective | /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/ | Of the same origin as claimed; genuine. |
| cage noun | /keɪd͡ʒ/ | An enclosure made of spaced bars, normally to hold animals while providing some ventilation. |
| insecurity noun | A lack of security; uncertainty. | |
| follower noun | /ˈfɒləʊə(ɹ)/ | One who follows, comes after another. |
| meaningless adjective | /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.ləs/ | Lacking meaning. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| secretly adverb | /ˈsiː.kɹɪt.li/ | In secret, covertly. |
| miserable adjective | /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/ | In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| back off verb | To move backwards away from something. | |
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. | |
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. | |
| fall down on verb | To fail at or leave incomplete. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I know that sounds crazy, but it's that easy.
- I decide now that it's not embarrassing.
- Can you tell me?
- Did you see what she wore?
- Did you hear what she said?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who reject · someone who really · People who really |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is basically made · be cringed · being judged |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 36 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rejection /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: embarrassment /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/, digestible /daɪˈdʒɛstəbəɫ/, miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/
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 embarrass, embarrassment, embarrassed.
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.