Shadowing Practice: I learned a system for speaking articulately - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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If you want to be articulate like world-class podcasters,
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speakers, and leaders, I'm going to share this seven-stage journey that has taught me to speak with greater exactness and clarity.
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It includes understanding three problems invading your speech, the aha moment that immediately will improve your choice of words,
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and three thinking modifications that brought a verbal freshness and intelligence to my sentences.
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The first problem was my addiction to overusing dead phrases.
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Dead phrases are phrases and expressions that we use in such a recreational way
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that they have been stripped of all power in life.
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Popular dead phrases include We use dead phrases because they save us the time and trouble of hunting for more precise words.
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This introduces the first of seven articulacy rules.
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Rule number one, articulacy increases when you practice conscious selection with your words.
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If you hastily choose ready-made phrases and gum them together in your sentences, like the sections of a prefabricated IKEA table,
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they deaden and dole your sentence.
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Ultimately, you want to learn how to engineer sentences that are fresh,
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homemade, and excavate that richness and texture that often gets buried beneath dead phrases.
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The second problem holding me back was my small surface lexicon.
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The term lexicon refers to your personal vocabulary.
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Your surface lexicon are those 500 to 1500 words that your brain unconsciously and effortlessly defaults to when you compose sentences.
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The concert was amazing.
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It was a really good book.
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These words you've heard, seen, said so often, they ooze out of your mouth.
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Beneath your surface lexicon is your deep lexicon.
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Your deep lexicon is made up of those 20,000 to 35,000 words you recognize but don't use.
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We know this because you recognize most, if not all, words that articulate speakers use.
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Why is it then that you struggle to think of those same words in conversation?
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Because those words don't register in your surface lexicon.
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This introduces the second rule of articulacy.
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Effortless articulacy is limited to the size of your surface lexicon.
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Now this does not mean inflating your surface lexicon with flowery, sophisticated words.
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Articulate speakers recognize that you can use ordinary words and still be articulate.
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Think of your lexicon as a box of crayons.
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You can easily use a wide color palette to design a vibrant picture, or you can create something profound with just three colors,
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or choose an uncommon color to substitute for a common one.
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The same is true with your words.
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You don't always have to prostitute ordinary words down to obvious and common meanings.
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The third problem eroding my speaking was thought retention.
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When you can't retain a thought in your mind for longer than 10 seconds, your speech is like a kite, following every new wind current,
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never climbing high in the sky.
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Articulate speakers are able to hold a thought in their mind as they work to peel away the layers
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that lead to understanding.
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You can't grip a thought in your mind.
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your thinking and speaking become superficial and scrambled.
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This is the third rule of articulacy.
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The longer you engage a thought, the greater depth you achieve with words.
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These are the three thorns in our tongue that prevent us from producing articulate speech.
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How did we come to this?
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Why do we battle with these issues?
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One day, I remember asking myself this after a particularly frustrating time of sounding juvenile and vague.
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I went to YouTube and researched the most articulate speakers I could find.
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It was then that I had an epiphany.
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Was my substandard speech the result of poor language inputs?
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I asked myself that question
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and wondered how much would I have to change the sources of language I expose myself to
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in order to influence my speech.
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To understand how my language was potentially being invaded by poor language sources,
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I began writing down each source of language that I exposed myself to for more than 10 minutes a day.
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I rated each on a scale of 1 to 10 on how articulate and intelligent I considered each to be.
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If you want to do this for yourself, you can use this worksheet that's freely linked below.
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This exercise revealed that I didn't have any language inputs higher than a five, which is approximately the level of articulacy of an average conversation.
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I quickly realized the fourth rule of articulacy.
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The quality of your speech is a product of your language environments.
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The books you read, videos you watch,
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music you listen to, etch language patterns in your mind that unconsciously are imitated in your speech.
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And since most people aren't articulate or thoughtful with their words, you're constantly exposed to high doses of vague,
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vapid, and oftentimes vulgar language.
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Your surface lexicon is the size that it is because you encounter those 500 to 1500 words daily.
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When we first learn language as children, we absorb three to five new words every day.
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By adulthood, it takes a deliberate effort to expose ourselves to new and creative word combinations.
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In fact, the battle is preventing the shrinking of our surface lexicon.
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Think of your surface lexicon as an expanding and contracting circle.
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Interacting with fresh word combinations, such as when you read a book, temporarily expands the radius of that circle to usher in those newfound words.
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If those words are not put to use, they lose their place within the circle as its nature is to contract to include only your most actively used words.
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This is why great speakers read profusely.
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It is to keep that language heartbeat pulsing, expanding, and fortifying their surface lexicon.
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We can begin to improve our verbal health with the first modification I made to my speaking, the 3x5 language diet.
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This consists of three five-minute sessions for a total of 15 minutes per day focused on enriching your language.
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The first five minutes is spent reading an article
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or book chapter that's at least one level beyond your current average language input.
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This exercise will expose you to richer language and help you solve poor thought retention,
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which is a symptom of constantly fracturing your attention like we do on social media with bite-sized content.
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You don't know what material to begin with?
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Start with this list.
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The second five minutes includes reading poetry aloud with the intent of learning rhythm and cadence.
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There's a misnomer that articulacy is memorizing the dictionary and vomiting flowery words.
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It's not.
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The fifth rule of articulacy is sentences sound articulate when words flow and fit into eloquent molds.
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If you want to learn to effortlessly fit words together in beautiful and creative ways, your speaking apparatus, your mouth,
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your teeth, your tongue, your jaw, need to feel what it's like to say beautiful sentences.
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This is precisely why dead phrases are terribly difficult to prune from your speaking.
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You're trying to resist engaging a pattern of muscles in your mouth that's been activated a thousand times.
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It's like trying to change pre-cut lines on a cardboard box.
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When you tear the flap, it's expected to seamlessly follow the line, and we're trying to tear in a new direction.
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Recognize that you can create lines for other types of speaking.
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That's what reading poetry aloud accomplishes.
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Check out this list of poems linked below.
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I also have a popular poems playlist available on Spotify.
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The final five minutes is spent consciously attuned to the word choice of any podcast or audiobook you consume.
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Ignore the content, the substance of what's being said, and visualize in your mind the words being said.
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This will help you understand the difference between intelligence and eloquence.
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Intelligence is the knowledge communicated.
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Eloquence is how pleasing and persuasive the words sound.
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Here's a list of brilliant speakers who, in my opinion, have an unrivaled command of the English language.
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This 3x5 language formula invites the question, how do I use the creative words and phrases I encounter to enrich my speaking?
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I struggled with this myself and was inspired to build the ultimate tool to accelerate articulacy.
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This tool is called Nouns.
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Nounc allows you to create a word bank where you're able to log words
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and phrases that you want to stitch into your surface lexicon.
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You can practice retrieving those words from memory and use them in creative ways as you would like to in natural conversation.
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Nounc also has a library of popular online speakers that you can learn from.
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If you want to speak with the clarity of Steve Jobs or the eloquence of Martin Luther King Jr.,
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King Jr. Select a speaker and you'll be guided through using their communication structures to develop clear answers automatically.
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Nounce was built out of a desire to give myself
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and the viewers of this channel a way of efficiently practicing producing clear and creative speech.
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Visit nouns.ai to use this tool for free or message me on Twitter
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if you'd like to be part of our team in helping others build a better world with their words.
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The second modification will reduce your dependence on dead phrases.
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The reason why we aim to reduce dead phrases is not because they're overused.
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It's because they slip us into a state of mental anesthesia where we choose words without serious thought.
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Noises come up from our larynx, our speaking instrument, but our brain is not as involved as if we were selecting the words for ourselves.
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The only way to gain back full consciousness is to descend past the dead phrase and into the heart of our thought.
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We accomplish this by increasing the consciousness per sentence.
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Think of a sentence as a mold that is filled with different levels of consciousness.
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The longer you think, the more saturated the words and overall sentence becomes.
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The more familiar a word or phrase is, the less consciousness is required to use it.
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Think of all the phrases and words you say automatically.
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Because of how little thought is required to use them,
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they often bruise our sentence with dull, colorless blocks.
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An articulate sentence is one where each block is vibrant and intentional.
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Listeners can feel this.
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We increase our consciousness per sentence by one being on guard
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against dead phrases i've included below this video a list of the common dead phrases
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that frequently invade our sentences secondly before you commit to responding to a question
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or sharing your opinion repeat the question
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or topic aloud what do i think about this topic why do we do this
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because that topic or the way it was phrased is a new or at least an unfamiliar set of words.
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Hearing those words spoken aloud with your own mouth begins to warm up your conscious mind.
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Most of us cold start our speaking engine with a few familiar phrases that we cast out
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into the soundscape in an attempt to find an opinion worth developing.
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Those phrases include, I don't know, I guess it just like, you know, maybe I should, right?
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We're not thinking about what we're saying.
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It's not a bad answer, it's just not articulate.
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Remember, the first rule of articulacy, Articulacy increases when you practice conscious selection of your words.
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This is why pausing before speaking has long been considered a hallmark of articulate speakers.
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They are affording conscious thought to the sentence they're about to produce.
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The most unconscious part of our sentences is the beginning.
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The greatest communicators realize that the first few sentences, really the first few words, are where we are finding our opinion.
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Finding our opinion is like driving with a frosted windshield.
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It's hard to see the road ahead until the windshield is defrosted.
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Only then do you drive straight with confidence.
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The quickest way to begin warming up our conscious mind is to repeat the topic or question aloud.
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The final modification I made was learning the secrets of intellectual humility.
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This is the brilliant practice of using your speaking weakness to supercharge your responses.
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When we listen to articulate speakers, what we perceive as them being articulate is less often about the precise,
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eloquent words and more about how they begin their sentences in a way that illustrates that they can creatively navigate challenging situations.
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Watch this clip from the American film director Orson Welles.
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That's a better question than I have an answer for.
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Honestly, it is.
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I don't know.
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I would want to think about it.
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I think, I think my answer would be frivolous, and I'd like to think about it.
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It's a, it's a, it's a worrisome question.
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Notice in this clip how candid Orson was about not having a great answer and requiring time to think.
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This is what makes articulate speakers so captivating, their ability to be forward with their communication needs.
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This is the sixth rule of articulacy.
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An admission of limitation is often the most articulate answer.
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This single realization takes some people decades to internalize.
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If you can admit your limitations and be honest and forthcoming with them,
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them, you unlock a bulletproof level of confidence that most people will never possess.
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There are two steps that have helped me cultivate this intellectual humility.
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One is identifying your main communication insecurity.
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These are the eight common insecurities we encounter when speaking.
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I'll share mine with you.
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I understand that I don't think quickly and require time to process information before I compose an answer.
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The quality of sentence I deliver after 10 seconds of thought is far more articulate than my instantaneous answer.
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How do I communicate this when I speak?
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Once you've identified your insecurity, find the right combination of words that allows you to articulate that weakness.
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What I often say is some variation of, give me a moment to process that.
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If you're like me, you might know the weakness that you do battle with,
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but you lack the right words that would give you the confidence to commit to sharing that weakness.
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Many of us would be far more assertive in our communication
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if we simply had the right verbal runway for the answers that we would like to give.
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To help you with this, for each of those eight speaking insecurities,
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I've assembled the creative phrases and responses that world-renowned communicators have used in interviews and conversations that you can use yourself.
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These phrases are not intended to devolve into a dead phrase.
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We use them only for the purpose of having alternative ways of articulating our thoughts instead of being locked into just responding.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “I learned a system for speaking articulately”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, phrase, articulate, sentence, language. This video has 184 sentences and 2430 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:26. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| articulate verb | /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/ | To make clear or effective. |
| lexicon noun | /ˈlɛk.sɪ.kɑn/ | The vocabulary of a language. |
| articulacy noun | The condition of being articulate. | |
| aloud adverb | /əˈlaʊd/ | With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. |
| consciousness noun | /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/ | The state of being conscious or aware; awareness. |
| conscious adjective | /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/ | Alert, awake; with one's mental faculties active. |
| insecurity noun | A lack of security; uncertainty. | |
| modification noun | /ˌmɑdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ | The change undergone by a word when used in a construction. |
| weakness noun | /ˈwik.nɪs/ | The condition of being weak. |
| eloquence noun | /ˈɛl.ə.kwəns/ | The quality of artistry and persuasiveness in speech or writing. |
| invade verb | /ɪnˈveɪd/ | To move into. |
| verbal adjective | /ˈvɜː.bəl/ | Of or relating to words. |
| expose verb | /ɪkˈspoʊz/ | To reveal; to uncover; to make visible; to bring to light. |
| communicator noun | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/ | Someone who, or something that communicates. |
| compose verb | /kəmˈpəʊz/ | To make something by merging parts. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| warm up verb | /ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/ | To become warmer. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Because those words don't register in your surface lexicon.
- How did we come to this?
- Why do we battle with these issues?
- You don't know what material to begin with?
- How do I communicate this when I speak?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been stripped · is made · is limited |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has taught · have been stripped · you've heard |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: anesthesia /ˌæn.əsˈθi.ʒə/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: consciousness /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, modification /ˌmɑdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, unconsciously /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəsli/, windshield /wɪnˈʃiːld/
- Long words — get the stress right: articulate /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/, modification /ˌmɑdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, communicator /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/, effortlessly /ˈɛf.ɚt.ləs.li/, unconsciously /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəsli/
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 articulate, lexicon, articulacy.
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.