Shadowing Practice: How to Speak English Confidently | Shadow This Advanced English Conversation - Learn English Speaking with Video
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You can't learn a language while constantly protecting yourself from mistakes.
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What if the reason you're afraid to speak English has nothing to do with your level of English?
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Welcome back to my Slow English podcast.
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Learn English with conversations.
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I love having conversations with you guys.
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And today, I have a topic that's very interesting to me.
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It's a little more complicated to understand,
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so I'm going to leave this episode at level B2 to C1.
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I've been reading The Untethered Soul, and it's made me realize something.
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We spend so much of our lives,
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closing ourselves off from uncomfortable feelings.
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And I think we do the exact same thing when it comes to learning a language.
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But this episode isn't just about learning English.
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It's about being open to life and what happens when we start to close ourselves from it.
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So let's talk about opening our hearts to the world and what it might look like to stop closing them.
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It's like when you meet someone and you connect deeply with them,
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whether that's a romantic connection or a friendship,
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but being around or close to that person gives you so much energy.
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We've all felt that, right?
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That energy isn't coming from the food that you eat or the sleep that you get,
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but it's still there.
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You can feel it.
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You're excited.
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You're inspired.
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You want to talk.
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You want to go places.
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and everything just feels more alive.
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And according to this book, that energy always exists inside of you.
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Always.
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It's just a matter of opening your heart to it.
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The book gives a real-life example of what it looks like
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when you open your heart to something or what it feels like when your heart is open.
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Like being around a friend that gives you so much energy.
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But maybe that same friend does something that makes you feel betrayed or hurt.
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Maybe they say something that hurts your feelings.
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Maybe they don't invite you somewhere.
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And in that instant, you can almost feel your heart closing up.
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And that energy that was flowing just stops flowing the way it used to.
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Maybe you become quieter.
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Maybe you pull away maybe you decide,
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I'm not going to let anyone make me feel this way again.
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You close your heart to protect yourself from those feelings of betrayal and hurt.
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And your body has learned throughout the years to close off,
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to protect itself from those feelings of pain.
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And this is where I started thinking about English.
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Because I think we can experience something very similar when it comes to learning a new language.
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Maybe you were speaking English one day and someone corrected you in a way that made you feel embarrassed.
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Maybe you tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.
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Maybe someone just didn't understand your accent.
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Nothing terrible happened, but you remember how it made you feel.
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We never forget how something made us feel.
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And suddenly, out of nowhere,
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you start protecting yourself from feeling that way again.
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You speak less.
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You use easier words instead of challenging yourself.
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You think about every sentence before saying it.
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Maybe you even start telling yourself, I'm just shy speaking English.
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And maybe you are shy,
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but maybe part of that shyness is just protection.
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Maybe you've learned to close yourself off.
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because you don't want to feel embarrassed again.
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And I think it's very interesting because we do this in many areas of our lives.
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We experience pain, rejection, embarrassment,
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criticism, And then we create rules to never have to experience those feelings again.
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If you're liking this video, be sure to like it so it will reach more English learners.
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And subscribe to have conversations like this with me every week.
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Now, going back to that example of the friend who makes you feel hurt,
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maybe that friend apologizes.
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And then suddenly you feel your heart open in an instant.
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You feel that same energy you felt at the beginning flowing again.
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And nothing outside of you physically gave you that energy back.
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But the situation changed and you opened your heart again.
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You allowed yourself to open again.
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when you close your heart center, that energy can't flow in the same way.
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And when you open, all that energy rushes up inside of you again.
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And one of the ideas from this book that really stuck with me is that closing your heart doesn't necessarily protect you.
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It just locks you in.
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And that is the part that I think applies so beautifully in learning a language because when you stop yourself from speaking
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because you're scared of making a mistake yes maybe you protect yourself from feeling embarrassed
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for a few seconds, but you also miss the conversation.
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You miss the correction that could have taught you something new.
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You miss the opportunity to realize, wait, I can do this.
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The same wall that's protecting you from embarrassment is also the wall that's keeping you from growing.
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And not just in English.
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Take a moment to think about where else you might be doing this in your life.
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Another idea from the book is that we put conditions on when we allow ourselves to be open.
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I'll be happy if this happens.
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I'll relax when this is over.
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I'll speak when my English is better.
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I'll be confident when my pronunciation improves.
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I'll have conversations when I stop making so many mistakes.
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But if you think about it,
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you're waiting to be confident before doing the things that will build that confidence.
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I do it all the time with language and with other things in my life.
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I have to force myself into uncomfortable situations, always.
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For the rest of my life, I'm going to have to continue challenging myself more and more.
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And you can only do that by being open.
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So, what if you stayed open anyway?
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I encourage you to pay attention to the moments in your life when you feel love or enthusiasm,
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because that's when your heart is open.
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And then ask yourself, why can't I feel this all the time?
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What changes?
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You feel love until someone says something you don't like.
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You feel excited to be at work until someone criticizes something that you did.
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You feel confident speaking English until someone corrects you.
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Someone hurting you doesn't have to make you stop loving.
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One embarrassing conversation doesn't have to make you stop speaking.
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You get to decide what closes you.
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But even if you decide to close, why close?
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If you can continue feeling love and enthusiasm.
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Staying open means letting yourself experience something.
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And staying open doesn't mean having no boundaries or limits.
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It means experiencing something without letting that experience shut you out to everything that comes after it.
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Define your own limits and enjoy all of life.
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The more you open, the more energy you build.
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Until at one point, that energy starts flowing out of you and it lights up a room that you're in.
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You become a beam of light for your friends and family.
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And I think that our emotional state can affect our physical state as well.
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At least I've noticed that same connection in myself.
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It mostly reflects in my skin, my acne.
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My acne is very sensitive and when I'm not doing well,
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I often notice the changes in my skin.
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Of course, there are a lot of things that affect how my skin looks.
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But there have been periods in my life where I've eaten terribly.
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So much sugar, oil, lactose,
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basically everything that normally relates to my skin worsening. But somehow,
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I had incredible skin but during
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that same period of my life I also was in a
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very good place surrounded by very positive people who built me up
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and poured their energy into me it's made me pay attention to how connected my mind
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and my body can be
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so let life be fun get inspired let yourself
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experience things fully have the conversation say things imperfectly love
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people even Even though loving people always comes with a risk,
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let every minute of every day have the possibility of becoming an exciting experience.
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Not necessarily because it's an exciting experience,
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but because you're willing to stay open to experience it.
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There's a quote from the untethered soul that I love.
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If you love life, then nothing is ever worth closing over.
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So that's what I want you to take from today's conversation.
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Pay attention to the moments where you close and ask yourself,
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what am I protecting myself from right now?
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And is that protection helping me or is it keeping me from experiencing life?
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And when it comes to English, remember, fluency requires openness.
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You cannot learn a language by constantly protecting yourself from making mistakes.
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So stay open, keep speaking, and allow yourself to be a learner.
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Remember guys, never stop learning.
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And if you like this video, then like it so that it gets to more English learners.
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And subscribe to learn English with me every week with videos like these.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Speak English Confidently”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: English, energy, experience, conversation, feeling. This video has 150 sentences and 1534 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:07. The speaker talks slowly, about 90 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| embarrassed adjective | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əst/ | Having a feeling of shameful discomfort. |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| untethered adjective | Not tethered; not tied down. | |
| acne noun | /ˈækni/ | A skin condition, usually of the face, that is common in adolescents. It is characterised by red pimples, and is caused by the inflammation of sebaceous glands… |
| embarrassment noun | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/ | A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation. |
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
| enthusiasm noun | /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/ | An intensity of feeling; an excited interest or eagerness. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| betray verb | /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ | To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| imperfectly adverb | In an imperfect manner or degree; not fully or completely. | |
| lactose noun | /ˈlæk.toʊs/ | The disaccharide sugar of milk and dairy products, C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, a product of glucose and galactose used as a food and in medicinal compounds. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| close off verb | To seal or block the entrance to a road, an area, or a building so that people cannot enter. | |
| close up verb | /kləʊzˈʌp/ | To close (remove a gap) completely or fully. |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| light up verb | To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten. | |
| pull away verb | To move ahead. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We've all felt that, right?
- Maybe they don't invite you somewhere.
- Maybe someone just didn't understand your accent.
- Maybe you've learned to close yourself off.
- I'll be happy if this happens.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has learned · you've learned · I've noticed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | friend who makes · people who built |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 37 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shyness /ˈʃaɪnəs/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, rejection /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, correction /kəˈɹɛkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: embarrassment /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, beautifully /ˈbju.tɪ.fə.li/
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 learner, embarrassed, excite.
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.