Shadowing Practice: Jordan Peterson On Importance Of Reading - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I've got a question.
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One that I wanted to ask you last time, but we didn't have time to get to it.
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And one that really piggybacks off of you who were just talking about how there's different ways to explore the world.
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One of them being reading.
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And I think that's one very, very important and timeless way of exploring the world.
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What do you think about this phenomenon?
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Less people are reading.
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Like, it feels like almost nobody is reading per capita.
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What do you make of that?
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Do you see that as an existential crisis?
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no what do you make of it no no well reading
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has always reading for pleasure has always been a minority occupation like most people don't read for pleasure
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of the people who read for pleasure only a small proportion
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by books of the people who buy books only a small proportion by difficult books it's a specialty market
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and and I don't I don't think that's changing what I do see happening though is
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that that is being expanded in surprising ways by such things as YouTube videos
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and podcasts so you find you can find X the value
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and something like
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that is just as valuable something you could possibly find in a book well I think
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that the two technologies have their advantages and disadvantages the thing about a book
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that you can't get from a discussion is
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that a book is a book is like a portrait as opposed to a photograph
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you know photograph it's click that's that a portrait you layer on
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and layer on and layer on
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and work over on for weeks you still have the same single image
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but there's this depth to it and a book enables you to think
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and then rethink and think and then rethink and
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so you can go deeper in a book than you can I would say in any other medium
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but that doesn't mean you can't go deep in a podcast
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and it doesn't mean that there's no educational utility in in in podcasts
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Plus, there's audiobooks, right?
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And people are listening to those like mad.
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That was another question.
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Do you think that audiobooks are just as valuable as books?
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Oh, sure.
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Just as good.
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Well, the thing is, if you can really read, you can read way faster than you can listen.
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So reading is more effective.
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Except that, and this is what's cool about podcasts, and what's game -changing about them, I would say, is we can't read while you're driving.
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Yeah.
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You can't read while you're doing the dishes or exercising.
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And so all of a sudden, with the podcast world, people have all this time that was used maybe listening to music, which is fine, right?
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But lots of people now are listening to, like, difficult podcasts.
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Yeah, educational.
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Yes, yes.
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And long, detailed discussions about political issues that was never possible with television or even with radio, for that matter.
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So, and, you know, people say, well, young people have a fragmented attention span.
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It's like, well, yeah, but Joe Rogan does three -hour podcasts, and those do just fine, and your podcast is how long usually?
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Two hours, generally.
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Right, so that's not for a fragmented attention.
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Sure.
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So, no, I think it's good.
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You're absolutely right.
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I think the number one person who listens to this podcast in general are people who are occupied doing something else.
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Yep, yep.
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And I think you're right.
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That's really valuable to be able to utilize that space.
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Definitely, definitely.
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It's found time.
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And so that's why the podcast market I think is exploded.
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It's like oh look I can make use of commuters
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You know people spend thousands of dollars a month in their time commuting
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It's like poof all of a sudden you can make that you can you can take a university degree while you're commuting
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Essentially, you know in terms of the knowledge that you can attain
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So I'm not pessimistic about that at all
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And also the way that you have been using YouTube with your content is
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kind of amazing it's yeah the way
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that there's hundreds of thousands of views on your lectures
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and yeah and they're difficult i mean they're difficult like they stretch they push me
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when i'm lecturing and they're long that's right
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and there's a big market for there's a big market for high quality educational material so
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or demanding educational material let's say one of the brilliant things you've done is you you market yourself really well
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and to the new media i think were your contemporaries weren't weren't doing
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that right and so you really broke new ground with that
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and i mean it's paid dividends for you obviously yeah well it's part of my insane curiosity you know
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and i've always learned i've knew well it's this it's this same thing
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we were talking about 10 minutes ago it's like i've done a lot of different things in my life
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and i've always felt like a complete idiot when i started doing them
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because that's why carl jung said for example
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that the fool is the precursor to the savior you have to be willing to be a fool to advance because
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when you first move in your new direction what the hell do you know
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you're just a bumbling dimwit you know but you won't be
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that for long that's the thing whereas
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if you stay in your little safe place your little safe space let's say
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then well nothing well something will get you sooner
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or later you can bloody well be sure of that
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but temporarily you're safe well that's not helpful and so
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when I started you know it started
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when I started talking to journalists they would phone me
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and I would talk to them and most of my colleagues would
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they'd usually say something dismissive about journalists like well they always get
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it wrong like well first of all there's no they and
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and what makes you think you're important enough to pay attention to anyways
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and if they get it wrong maybe it's
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because you didn't explain it very well and the journalists would call
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and I talked to them and well then they'd offer me an opportunity
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so I got an opportunity to go on a TV show
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and I thought oh that's interesting I'll go do that and
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so I did that it worked pretty well
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and then I got an opportunity to do some more
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and then I was on a regular on a on a TV panel news show in Ontario
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and then I got this little 13 part series
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that they made out of my courses and and started doing public lectures
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and those all worked and then I thought oh well what the hell would happen
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if I put these on YouTube there seems to be a market for them
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but it was pretty amateurish you think
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that whole journey started by just taking the call from
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that first journal oh sure
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but taking it in a particular way it was the same way
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that we're having this conversation i thought well journalist has a question
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i'll i'm not doing anything expedient i'm not saying well you know i'm i'm hoping that
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that something will come out come of this i didn't have a specified goal in mind
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i thought let's have a conversation
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and let the chips fall where they will yeah yeah and
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so and one of the things that distinguishes me i would say from many of my colleagues, and perhaps from many people,
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is that generally when someone comes along and says, well, would you like to do this?
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I'd say, okay, let's give it a try.
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And I don't expect that I'm going to be particularly good at it.
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How would I be?
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I'm certainly not as good at it as I'm going to be, that's for sure.
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Because obviously when you first start something, you're just not that good at it
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but you know like i felt like a fool when i
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when i first started to practice as a therapist or
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when i first started to lecture
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when i first started to work as a business consultant
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when i was designing software
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when i was going on you know starting to do media events
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it's like what the hell do i know
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i don't know how to do this it's like whatever man it's like move ahead move ahead
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when you first uploaded to youtube yeah yeah well i mean
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you know the channel kind of limped along for a
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while i mean it depends on how you measure it but And I mean, when I really sat up and paid attention was in April,
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2016, the views hit the million mark.
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And I thought, million, eh?
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What does that mean?
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I really thought about it.
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I thought, a million's a lot.
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If I sold a million books, it's like, that's when you do the little touchdown dance, right?
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At the end of the field, because that just doesn't happen.
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And I'd never write a scientific paper that had a million views.
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That just never happens, ever, not once right then you think well
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if you talk to 50 stadiums full of 20 000 people you'd think that's
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noticeable right that's noticeable i thought million
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and people were watching the lectures like their long lectures
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they were watching it wasn't just 30 seconds they were in there like some people would browse
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and pop out but lots of them were watching them right to the end and
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so i thought all right what the hell is this youtube thing anyways what is this it's not cute cat videos
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it's and then I thought oh I get it I see what it is
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it's like the it's like the invention of the printing press it's that big for the first time in human history
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the spoken word
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has as large a reach
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and as long a duration as a book right that's never happened period ever it's a great analogy it's amazing
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and that just blew me away I thought oh this is a Gutenberg revolution this is a big deal
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We'll see you next time.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Jordan Peterson On Importance Of Reading”. This video has 154 sentences and 1721 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:02. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| lecture noun | /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/ | A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group. |
| journalist noun | /ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/ | The keeper of a personal journal, who writes in it regularly. |
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| explore verb | /ɪkˈsploɹ/ | To examine or investigate something systematically. |
| photograph noun | /ˈfoʊ.təˌɡɹæf/ | A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc. |
| portrait noun | /ˈpɔɹtɹət/ | A painting or other picture of a person, especially the head and shoulders. |
| proportion noun | /pɹəˈpɔɹʃən/ | A quantity of something that is part of the whole amount or number. |
| anyways adverb | /ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/ | Anyway, anyhow, in any case. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
| noticeable adjective | /ˈnəʊtɪsəbl̩/ | Capable of being seen or noticed. |
| commute verb | /kəˈmjuːt/ | To exchange substantially; to abate but not abolish completely, a penalty, obligation, or payment in return for a great, single thing or an aggregate; to cash… |
| fragment noun | /ˈfɹæɡmənt/ | A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not. |
| helpful adjective | /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ | Furnishing help; giving aid; useful. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| move ahead verb | To continue without being distracted; to keep going. | |
| come along verb | To accompany. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| make out of verb | To construct from; to create (something) using (a material or substance). | |
| pop out verb | To appear on the screen as a temporary window or menu. | |
| sit up verb | To assume a sitting position from a position lying down. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What do you think about this phenomenon?
- What do you make of that?
- Do you see that as an existential crisis?
- Do you think that audiobooks are just as valuable as books?
- I'd say, okay, let's give it a try.
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 always been · you've done · i've always learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who read · people who buy · music, which is |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being expanded · are occupied · is exploded |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, rethink /ɹiːˈθɪŋk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: proportion /pɹəˈpɔɹʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, dish /dɪʃ/, occupation /ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, duration /dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, minority /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/, utility /juːˈtɪlɪti/, occupation /ˌɑkjʊˈpeɪʃən/, phenomenon /fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/
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 podcast, lecture, journalist.
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.