Shadowing Practice: I moved to NYC for a software engineer job... - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I'm going to go to the next episode.
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hey guys welcome back to my channel my name is gazzy
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and if you're new here welcome welcome
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so you might be wondering why i have a new background
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or maybe you never noticed
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and don't care i literally just robbed in new york city people think i just moved here randomly
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but girl why am i gonna choose a dirty
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and expensive city to live in
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when i got my home to pronto essentially moved here
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because i got a new job i got a new job
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as a software engineer at google my team was based in New York City
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and they paid for my relocation and that's why I'm here
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but I know everyone just like thinks about New York as this like special place
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but I was thinking of like the downsides for the longest
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time like I was thinking about the subway rat the dirt the crackheads I was thinking about all these things
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so yeah I'm in my new apartment now I'm still moving
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in I'm still settling in this vlog is an assortment of
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a lot of different things like you will see me transition
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into New York City you will see what I do as a software engineer at Google
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and since I'm also doing a part-time master's in computer science
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and doing content creation you will see a part of
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that as well
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so yeah i hope you like this vlog i'm literally still
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very new to this like even talking to a camera right now feels super awkward i can't believe
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that there are people that actually watch me so the fact
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that you're watching right now yes you that means
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so much to me oh my god i've been yapping for so long let's get to the video good morning
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okay i'm gonna show you guys my simple skincare routine i like to dry my face with a microfiber cloth
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because i feel like this is very soft in your skin
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and you don't want to be rubbing your skin barrier this is my go-to moisturizer this is the
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Soonjeon barrier cream The last step of my skincare is obviously sunscreen This is the Centella Waterfit Sun Syrup
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Let's go make some breakfast guys
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I'm gonna go.
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My local Trader Joe's my local trader joe's is out of egg whites
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and for some reason i think i mentioned this before there
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is a freaking egg hoarder on the loose let's dismember this avocado by the way guys don't get the impression
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that i know what i'm doing like literally this is my first time actually living alone
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if you see me doing dumb stuff in my apartment just keep it moving Yummy
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okay it's saturday right now
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and i'm gonna show you what i do as a software engineer at google
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and you must be thinking gazzy why the hell are you working on a weekend uh
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if you've watched my previous videos i was at pinterest before this
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and before that i was at amazon
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and i was a full stack engineer in both the companies
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so the workflow was pretty predictable before google I'm actually in a machine learning team
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and if you're familiar with machine learning models you just know
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that they're very time consuming like every change you make it takes
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so long for it to train on data the reason why I work in the weekends is
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because I train my models during the weekend
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so it finishes training by the time it's Monday
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and I can just like see the results and work on top of it
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so let's go through what i actually do as a software engineer at google
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and my team so obviously i can't like specify what i do
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because i'll get fired high level my team deals with google search
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so anyone that searches on google gets a bunch of ads catered to who they are as a person At first,
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like I wasn't really that into working with ads because obviously as a user and a consumer, no one likes seeing ads all the time.
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But from the backend side, like making these machine learning models, adding features to them and seeing how they work in real time, how they affect revenue is super interesting to me.
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And over here, I literally use two laptops.
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So one laptop is for my work and the other one's my personal laptop for like any sort of personal coding.
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And I have this setup where it's just literally one plug
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and this wire connects to this Thunderbolt hub where I connect the power
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and the usb hub and that connects to this usb hub
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which i can use to essentially switch between my pc
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and the three laptops so yeah i love it a lot
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because it's literally one connection
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and you can control three things later today i was invited
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by a restaurant to have lunch there literally i'm like
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so hungry right now and i feel like
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if i eat right now i won't be able to eat in the restaurant
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so look at what i'm eating this is
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so sad teardrop oh my god i could literally eat like
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a big mac right now there's got to be hungry
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when i get there so i can actually enjoy the experience i gotta delay it the restaurant
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that i'm going to today is called nari
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and it's a korean restaurant i'll take you guys with me
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so you can see the food oh my god this is
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the outfit okay i'm ready to go okay i forgot my bag
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We're at Nori right now.
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This place is so beautiful.
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They're really spot-wise and what they're making.
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There's this...
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We do a few Shambleton We do a lot of champagne The shades are from Shein
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Everything is from Shein
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I'm getting better at chopsticks You are supposed to I'm so full It's doing so good
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Everything that you do looks good I'm so full
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I'm so
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excited to be here.
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So so so
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The material is like super soft and malleable and they also gave me this AirPod keychain.
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I just got home and I'm honestly so tired right now
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but of course the course that I'm taking for my master's has a deadline tonight.
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A lot of people was basically asking me like why am I doing a master's if I already have a job?
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So what happens usually is when you first start a job there's obviously a huge learning curve.
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You learn a lot.
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After a year or two you reach a kind of plateau where you stop learning and you get into a maintenance phase.
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You already know what you know it's just you're kind of applying
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that knowledge over and over in one sense it's super comfortable
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when you get to that stage
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and in another sense i feel like you lose out on a lot of opportunities to learn new things so for
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my master's i'm basically learning about path planning and
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that is in the simplest sense how a character maps out where to go
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when it has like a destination or target
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and in video games like this happens all the time
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when an enemy is chasing you when you're trying to find something
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when there's a map
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and that's just like one part of what i'm learning it
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has broadened my perspective on video games in general i can see how things work from a gamer perspective
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and also from an engineer perspective.
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Very surreal given the fact that I was literally an undergrad a couple years ago
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and I was just like thinking to myself how computer science might not be for me
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and the assignments i was working on was so hard
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and i was like about to give up
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and i was just like there's no way and i really think
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that if you just try hard enough if you put the effort into yourself you will get dividends
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “I moved to NYC for a software engineer job..”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: google, learning, engineer, thinking. This video has 114 sentences and 1353 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:27. The speaker talks at a steady 118 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| laptop noun | /ˈlæp.tɑp/ | A laptop computer. |
| skincare noun | /ˈskɪn.kɛɹ/ | The care and treatment of the skin, especially of the face. |
| vlog noun | /ˈvlɑɡ/ | A weblog using video as its primary presentation format. |
| trader noun | /ˈtɹeɪdɚ/ | One who earns a living by trading goods or securities. |
| barrier noun | /ˈbæɹi.ə/ | A structure that bars passage. |
| assortment noun | /əˈsɔːtmənt/ | A collection of varying but related items. |
| avocado noun | /ˌɑvəˈkɑdoʊ/ | The large, usually yellowish-green or black, savory fruit of the avocado tree. |
| broaden verb | [ˈbɹɔː.dn̩] | To make broad or broader. |
| dismember verb | /ˌdɪsˈmɛmbə(ɹ)/ | To remove the limbs of. |
| hoarder noun | /ˈhɔɹdɚ/ | One who hoards; one who accumulates, collects, and stores, especially one who does so to excess. |
| keychain noun | /ˈkiːˌt͡ʃeɪn/ | A chain or ring to which a key may be attached. |
| malleable adjective | /ˈmæl.iː.ə.bəl/ | Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers. |
| microfiber noun | Very fine synthetic fiber; cloth made of such fiber. | |
| moisturizer noun | Something that causes moisture or a condition of wetness; something that makes things moist. | |
| pronto adverb | /ˈpɹɑntoʊ/ | Quickly, very soon, promptly. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if i eat right now i won't be |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was based · was invited · is called |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've watched · has broadened |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was thinking · was working |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 49 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: relocation /ˌɹiːləʊˈkeɪʃən/, champagne /ʃæmˈpeɪn/, shade /ʃeɪd/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: avocado /ˌɑvəˈkɑdoʊ/, malleable /ˈmæl.iː.ə.bəl/, relocation /ˌɹiːləʊˈkeɪʃən/, predictable /pɹəˈdɪktəbləl/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/
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 laptop, skincare, vlog.
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.