Shadowing Practice: NVIDIA CEO on Elon Musk, xAI, Colossus supercomputer and systems engineering | Jensen Huang - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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you've highly lauded Elon and XAI's accomplishment in Memphis in building Colossus supercomputer,
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you've highly lauded Elon and XAI's accomplishment in Memphis in building Colossus supercomputer,
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probably in record time in just four months.
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It's now at 200,000 GPUs and growing very quickly.
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Is there something that you could speak to,
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understand about his approach that's instructive broadly to all the data center creators that enable that kind of accomplishment?
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his approach to engineering, his approach to the whole management of construction, everything.
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First of all, Elon is deep in so many different topics,
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yet he's also a really good systems thinker.
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And so he's able to think through multiple disciplines.
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And he obviously pushes things,
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questions everything, whether number one, is it necessary?
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number two does it have to be done this way
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and in other words you know does it have does it have to take this long
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and and so
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so he he has he has the he has the ability
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uh to question everything uh to the point where everything is
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down to its minimal amount that's necessary you can't take anything else out
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and and yet yet the the the the the necessary um capabilities of the product retains you know
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and so he's he is as minimalist as you could possibly imagine
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and he does it at a system system scale um i i also love the fact
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that he he is um he is represented he he is he is present at the point of action.
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You know, he'll just go there.
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If there's a problem, he'll just go there and show me the problem.
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You know, when you do all of this in combination,
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you overcome a lot of previous,
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this is just the way we do it.
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You know, I'm waiting for them.
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You know, I mean, it's just,
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everybody has a lot of excuses.
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And so, and then the last thing is,
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When you act personally with so much urgency,
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it causes everybody else to act with urgency.
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Every supplier has a lot of customers going on.
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Every supplier has a lot of projects going on.
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He makes it his business that he's the top priority of everybody else's projects.
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He does that by demonstrating it.
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I've been in a bunch of those meetings.
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It's fun to watch because really not enough people ask the question like,
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okay, so can this be done a lot faster and how?
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Why does it have to take this long?
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Yeah, right.
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And then that becomes an engineering question often.
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And yes, I think when you get the ground truth of actually,
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I remember one of the times I was hanging out with him,
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he literally is going through the entire process of how to plug in cables into a rack.
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He's working with an engineer on the ground that's doing that task,
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and he's just trying to understand what does that process look like so it can be less error-prone.
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And just building up that intuition from every single task involved in putting together the data center,
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you start to immediately get a sense at the detailed scale and at the broad system scale of where the inefficiencies are.
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And so you can make it more and more and more efficient.
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Plus, you have the big hammer of being able to say,
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let's do it totally different and remove all possible blockers.
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That's right.
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is there parallels in the nvidia extreme systems code design approach that you see in the way Elon approaches systems engineering?
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Well, first of all, co-design is an ultimate systems engineering problem.
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And so we approach the work that we do from that principle.
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The other thing that we do,
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and this is a philosophy that,
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a thought, a state of mind,
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I guess, a method that I started 30 years ago,
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and it's called the speed of light.
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A speed of light is not just about the speed.
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A speed of light is my shorthand for what's the limit of what physics can do.
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And so everything that we do is compared against the speed of light.
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Memory speed, math speed, power,
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cost, time, effort, number of people, manufacturing cycle time.
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and when you think about latency versus throughput,
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when you think about cost versus throughput,
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cost versus capacity, all of these things,
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you test against the speed of light to achieve all of these different constraints separately.
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And then when you consider it together,
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you know you have to make compromises because a system that achieves extremely low latency
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versus a system that achieves very high throughput are architected fundamentally differently.
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But you want to know what's the speed of light of a system that achieves high throughput?
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What's the speed of light of a system that achieves low latency?
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And then when you think about the total system, you could make trade-offs.
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And so I force everybody to think about what's the first principles,
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the limits the physical limits um for everything before we you know before we uh do anything
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and and we test everything against that and
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so that's a good frame of mind i don't love the other methods which is continuous improvement
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the problem with continuous improvement it first of all you should
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engineer something from first principles at the speed you know with speed of light thinking limited only by physical limits
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and and physics limits and um after
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that of course you would improve it over time um
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but i don't like going into a problem
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and somebody says hey you know it takes 74 days to do this today right now
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and we can do it for you in 72 days you know i'd rather strip it all back to zero
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and say first of all explain to me why it's 74 days in the first place
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and let's think about what's possible today.
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And if I were to build it completely from scratch,
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how long would it take?
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Oftentimes you'd be surprised and might come to six days.
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Now the rest of the six days to 74
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could be very well-reasoned and compromises and cost reductions and all kinds of different things,
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but at least you know what they are.
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And then now that you know that six days is possible,
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Then the conversation from 74 to 6 Surprisingly much more effective

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Practicing your speaking skills with the video featuring NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang offers an excellent opportunity for English learners to engage with contemporary technology discussions. The dialogue is rich in industry-specific vocabulary and presents a real-world context where you can observe how effective communication can facilitate complex problem-solving. By incorporating this video into your English speaking practice, you will not only enhance your speaking abilities but also gain insights into various engineering principles and innovative management styles.

Using a shadowing app to mimic Huang’s speaking patterns allows learners to adopt professional jargon and improve fluency in various contexts. The frequent emphasis on questioning and urgency in the speaker's approach provides a unique lens through which to understand effective communication. You'll grasp how to question norms and seek efficiencies, which are valuable skills in any professional setting.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In the transcript, several useful grammatical structures and expressions stand out:

  • “Does it have to be done this way?” - This interrogative structure is useful for expressing doubt and encourages critical thinking, essential skills in both formal and casual discussions.
  • “He has the ability to question everything.” - The use of infinitive phrases here showcases how to discuss capabilities effectively, a critical element in advanced English communication.
  • “When you act personally with so much urgency, it causes everybody else to act with urgency.” - This conditional statement is an effective way to illustrate cause and effect, making it particularly relevant for learners looking to connect ideas smoothly.

Grasping these grammatical nuances during your shadow speech practice will significantly improve your ability to communicate clearly and effectively within a professional context.

Common Pronunciation Traps

While practicing, pay close attention to some tricky words and phrases that may cause challenges:

  • “Colossus” - The pronunciation of this word can vary; ensure you emphasize the second syllable correctly: co-LO-sus.
  • “Efficiency” - This word can be challenging, particularly the “-cien” part; practice saying it slowly, then gradually increase your speed.
  • “Urgency” - Note the subtle “j” sound, which can be hard for non-native speakers. Try to articulate it clearly to make your communication sound more polished.

Focusing on improving English pronunciation not only enhances clarity but also builds your confidence in professional discussions. Regular practice through shadowing exercises will help you tackle these pronunciation traps 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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