Shadowing Practice: How to sound like you belong in every room | Erin McGoff - Learn English Speaking with Video
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A lot of people think that powerful professional communication is just words
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and it's knowing how to use your mouth sounds to get what you want, but that's not really it.
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It all starts with the foundation of how you view yourself
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and how self -aware you are as you navigate your life and how you feel about yourself.
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I always say the way that people talk to other people is actually a reflection of how they talk to themselves.
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So the most important and powerful thing
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that you can do for your communication is actually to work on your self -confidence
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and your self -awareness first because
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if you feel good about yourself you are automatically going to improve your communication skills
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if you are somebody who is looking to become more self -aware the first thing that's
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so important for you to do is to understand
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that you are not perfect nobody's perfect
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we're just works in progress don't think of yourself as a person who needs to be perfect all the time
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but instead think of yourself as somebody who is continuously growing
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and you're always seeking out ways that you can become a better person.
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If you're an introvert, if you're shy, if you're more animated, that's great.
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You can be exactly who you are and be the most professional version of yourself.
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You don't have to change your personality to be professional.
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You just need to make a few tweaks here and there to make sure that your communication is coming across
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as you intend it to be.
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you know a lot of people think
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that confidence is just the loudest person in the room the person who takes up the most space
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but that's actually not really confidence true confidence is being relaxed
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and joyful not caring about what other people think not
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because it's not important but because you are proud of yourself
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and what you're doing and you stand firm in what you value
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so if you are somebody who is looking to improve your confidence,
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the number one tip that I have is something called be your own best friend.
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Nobody spends more time with you than you spend with you.
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So the way that you talk to yourself matters.
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And we all have this internal voice in our head that's going 24 -7 and it is our number one critic.
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And so the most important thing that you can do today is first just recognize that voice.
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You don't need to judge it.
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You don't need to shame it.
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You don't even need to try to turn it off.
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You just need to recognize that it's there.
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And then And the second step is to start responding to the voice.
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Now, internally, you don't want people to think that you're crazy.
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You just want to do it quietly to yourself.
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But when the voice is saying, you're going to mess up this meeting, you can gently respond, no, you're not.
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You're so prepared.
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Like, they hired you to do this job.
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You do a great job.
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You're not a perfect person, but you're prepared.
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And you're going to go in and you're going to crush it.
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And so just practicing kind of responding to yourself the way
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that you would if you heard a best friend critiquing themselves this way.
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You keep it real.
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You're not just buttering their ego, but you also are encouraging and you're realistic.
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You're kind of giving yourself these reality checks.
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If you are trying to improve your articulation skills,
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one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is to simply hang out with articulate people.
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The people that you hang out with have such a huge impact on the way
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that you act and the way they behave and the way that you see the world and the way that you speak.
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For example, if you're hanging out with a bunch of kids who are speaking
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Gen Z slang, you're going to pick that up.
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Versus if you're spending a bunch of time in a big consulting company, you're going to start to pick up all that consulting jargon.
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Try to hang out with articulate people as much as you can.
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And a lot of people say, oh, well, Erin, I don't have access to a room full of learned scholars.
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And so my number one recommendation is to actually listen to podcasts with really articulate people or listen to presidential speeches.
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Put articulation in your ears and you will be shocked at how it just subconsciously levels up your articulation skills.
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Another tip that I love to give and people hate to hear is that you should record yourself on video.
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It is one of the quickest ways to supercharge your communication and it is so painful, I know, but it gets easier.
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Trust me, I know.
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I film myself every single day.
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You become more self -aware of how you look.
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And you might be doing things that you didn't even realize.
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For example, before I started recording myself, I would twirl my hair a lot.
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And I had no clue I was doing this.
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Nobody gave me feedback.
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I had no idea.
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And I realized that it's actually really, really distracting.
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So when you film yourself, you'll notice all these little things that you do.
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And it is the quickest, and I'm not saying painless, but it is the quickest way to improve your communication and your self -awareness.
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A mistake that I see so many people make is
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that they're either way too brief and they just jump right into things
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or they go on way too long and they ramble and they go on tangents.
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So a cure that I have for this is something I like to call sandwich your thoughts.
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So anytime you communicate, especially in a group setting or a meeting or something like that,
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you always want to open with acknowledging what was said before, add what perspective you have or opinion you have,
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and then end with signaling what can happen next. For example, let's say you're in a meeting and your colleague really likes direction too
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but you think that direction three is a way better option.
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Instead of just jumping in and saying, no, option three is better.
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Or going on a long tangent about how
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Kelly's right about option two, but you're wondering, cut that out.
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Instead, you're going to say to your colleague, option two looks really great.
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Here's how I feel that option three would be better for the client.
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What do you think?
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That's it.
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A super simple sandwich.
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The next communication strategy actually has nothing to do with you speaking, and it actually has more to do with you not speaking.
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You might have heard the term active listening before, which basically just means that you are fully paying attention to the person who's speaking to you.
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Instead of doing what most of us do and thinking about what you're going to say next,
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you are fully, fully listening to every word that they're saying, and you're trying to understand the intent behind why they are saying what they're saying.
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The mistake that so many people make is that they just think about what they want to communicate out,
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and they don't necessarily consider the audience that they're speaking to.
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So the better of an active listener that you can become, the better that you can understand the people that you're speaking to,
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the better you can cater your communication to that audience.
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And lastly, a super practical tip for most of us is to just stop talking.
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Stop betting against yourself.
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Stop discounting yourself.
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Stop saying, does that make sense?
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Just cut it out.
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Just be done.
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Say what you need to say and let there be silence.
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Silence is okay.
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See?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to sound like you belong in every room”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: communication, speaking, self, confidence, option. This video has 108 sentences and 1329 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:35. The speaker talks fast, about 202 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| articulate verb | /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/ | To make clear or effective. |
| silence noun | /ˈsaɪ̯ləns/ | The absence of any sound. |
| awareness noun | /əˈwɛɹ.nəs/ | The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer. |
| communicate verb | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. |
| sandwich noun | /ˈsæn(d).wɪd͡ʒ/ | A dish or foodstuff where at least one piece, but typically two or more pieces, of bread serves as the wrapper or container of some other food. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
| consult verb | /ˈkɑnsʌlt/ | To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| practical adjective | /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/ | Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis. |
| membership noun | The state of being a member of a group or organization. | |
| shock noun | /ʃɔk/ | A sudden, heavy impact. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| ear noun | /ˈɪə̯/ | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. |
| butter noun | /ˈbʌtɚ/ | A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| mess up verb | To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
| take up verb | To pick up. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You don't need to judge it.
- You don't need to shame it.
- You just need to recognize that it's there.
- You're not a perfect person, but you're prepared.
- You're kind of giving yourself these reality checks.
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 | somebody who is · person who needs · person who takes |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be shocked · was said · be done |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 42 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shock /ʃɔk/, crush /kɹʌʃ/, reflection /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, articulation /ɑɹˌtɪk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: articulate /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, continuously /kənˈtɪnjuəsli/
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 skill, articulate, silence.
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.