Shadowing Practice: Jacob Collier | Berklee Commencement Address 2026 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Hi everybody.
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105 sentences
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Hi everybody.
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Thank you.
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Thank you very much.
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This is Berkeley.
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I just simply couldn't resist.
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And I know it's early, but you did great.
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You did really good.
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Congratulations everybody, how are you feeling?
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Are you feeling relieved, are you feeling exhausted as well?
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I can imagine.
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Yeah, must have been a crazy week.
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It is my total honor and thrill to stand here alongside you.
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This is my first time graduating as well,
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so we're in the same boat.
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Thank you.
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You know, somebody told me something when I was young that really stayed with me,
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which is that when we learn music,
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we learn all there is to know.
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That's what someone said to me.
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And the older I've got,
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obviously now I'm a ripe old age,
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the older I've got, the more I've realized this is deeply the case.
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Because, wow, because music is powered by so many of the things that make life possible and make life worth living.
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These foundational pillars at the heart of it,
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trust, empathy, courage, tenacity, irreverence,
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reverence,
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mathematics and physics,
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syntax and spelling and language
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and at the heart of it all this this process of listening that drives all of us to
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Fall in love with sound and all the first things we can do with it
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And I think that if this reflects anything It's just
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that you're only as good a musician as you are a human being
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In the in the words of the great Victor Wooten he says you know the world doesn't need more good musicians
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The world needs more good people.
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But it just so happens
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that being a musician is a really good way of being a good person
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because of all the principles that are built in.
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And I have to be honest,
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when I was just a wee lad,
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I'm still kind of a wee lad,
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but when I was even weir,
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there really wasn't a path for Jacob.
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There wasn't an obvious kind of direction of travel because I loved everything, right?
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I loved all across the spectrum of genres,
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all across the spectrum of instruments.
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I didn't have one instrument that was really mine.
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I loved so many different kinds of sounds.
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And I wanted to mix and produce and sing.
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And I wanted my cake and to eat it.
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And I think when I look back to being your age,
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I could never have designed a pathway to this podium here.
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I had to trust.
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But it wasn't just about trusting myself.
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I think it was about trusting the people around me.
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And one thing I really believe to be true as an artist,
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as a performer, as a human,
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is that you are only as powerful as you make the people around you feel.
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It's so true from the stage.
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It's so true in the studio.
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It's true in any kind of creative process.
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And if you give your voice to others,
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as I often like to do,
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you get your voice reflected right back.
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And I think that at an artist's greatest and brightest,
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an artist is a mirror to you.
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And I say, as an artist, I'm here.
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And hopefully you see something in yourself and say, oh, that's me.
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I'd forgotten.
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Or now I remember that feeling.
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I look back to the artist who inspired me so much as a child know Stevie,
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Prince, Sting with with all those records you played on Vinnie it was pretty pretty ridiculous stuff.
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Joni, Bob Dylan, Bobby McFerrin,
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Johann Sebastian Bach, shout out to Bach,
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Bartok, Stravinsky, all these people you know I don't think
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that any of them could have designed their pathway they had to just trust
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and so if there's anything I would particularly like to impart upon you other than just hearing you sing
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that great chord just then I would just I I would say trust each other because nobody knows what's coming next.
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I don't know, these guys don't know,
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not even Jill Scott knows.
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It is an unprecedented time to be a human and to be a musician,
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and the only thing we can do is we can trust each other.
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And I think that in a world where agency is being taken away,
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it's this radical thing we can do to open ourselves up to the vulnerability
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and the beauty that music provides to us as people,
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as communities, and if there's any bunch of young musicians that makes me really hopeful and really excited,
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I'm looking right at it.
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This is such a special place.
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It really is a special place.
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I will never forget that feeling of coming to Berkeley in 2015 when I was so young and everything was unknown.
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It was the first time I'd ever encountered anybody who knew me in the real world,
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in the physical world.
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Because I made all these videos.
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And then I came to Berkeley,
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and there were real physical people who smelt like people,
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who seemed to endorse my super arch hyper mega meta Lydian ideas.
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And I was so thrilled and I felt so at home.
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And I'm just
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so proud to be here alongside all of you at this most extraordinary moment in musical history and human history.
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And I'm deeply, deeply proud to be graduating alongside you.
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So thank you so much for having me.
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Deep, deep congratulations.
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And best of luck for all that lies ahead.
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I know you're going to absolutely rock it.
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Thanks, everybody.
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Thank you.

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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

The Berklee Commencement Address 2026 by Jacob Collier offers a unique opportunity for English speaking practice. As a renowned musician and speaker, Jacob shares relatable life experiences and profound insights about music and humanity. Engaging with this video allows learners to not only enhance their language skills but also grasp the emotional weight of communication. By practicing through the shadowspeak method—where you mimic the speaker—you can develop a more natural speaking style, improve fluency, and boost your confidence in conversational contexts. This address is particularly beneficial because it combines storytelling with complex vocabulary and rhythmic language, which can enrich your English learning experience. Plus, the passion in Jacob's delivery can inspire you to express your thoughts and emotions more effectively.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Throughout the speech, Jacob employs various grammatical structures and expressions that can serve as excellent learning points:

  • Conditional Statements: Jacob states, "If this reflects anything, it's just that you're only as good a musician as you are a human being." This structure helps convey hypothetical scenarios, making it essential in both spoken and written English.
  • Complex Sentences: Phrases like, "the world needs more good people" can be broken down to show the relationship between clauses, enhancing comprehension and fluidity in speech.
  • Repetition for Emphasis: Jacob uses repetition in expressions like "you loved everything" to emphasize enthusiasm. This technique is effective in both speaking and writing to drive a point home.

By practicing these structures alongside the video, you can better integrate them into your own speech, making it more varied and engaging while you learn English with YouTube.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Pronunciation is crucial in effective communication, and this video features some phrases that may pose challenges:

  • “Empathy” and “Tenacity”: These words may be tricky due to their syllable stress. Pay close attention to the way Jacob pronounces them, and practice to enhance your clarity.
  • “Irreverence” and “Reverence”: The subtle difference in these similar-sounding words can be confusing. Make sure to articulate the 'v' and 'r' sounds clearly to differentiate between the two.
  • Sentence Rhythm: Jacob’s speech has a musical quality to it. Observing how he uses pauses and intonation can guide you in delivering your sentences with a similar rhythm, enhancing your overall message.

Utilizing the shadowing technique while focusing on these pronunciation nuances will significantly aid in improving your English speaking abilities. The combination of practice and the emotive nature of Jacob's speech will empower you to communicate more effectively.

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.

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