Shadowing Practice: On Suicide - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Here you are.
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Somehow, either through the combination of tragic events in
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which you felt the harsh stabbing of the truth of life bleed you out into a melancholy, or the sudden realization of the meaninglessness of your world and the indifference the universe reflects upon humanity,
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you have decided to willingly climb the structure of a building and let the entirety of your existence smack into a sidewalk.
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You know all the cliches.
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You have a life worth living.
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Well, okay, but then why is my life's purpose reserved to the cruelty of chaotic existence?
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We care about you and love you.
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Well, I'm sure there must be some honesty behind this statement, but why has this been brought to my attention now
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and not the moments preceding the one in which I was about to leave your life?
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It makes sense to end it, right?
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Once an individual spends a good amount of time trying to find some objective purpose of being here, they end up pretty disappointed by their findings.
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The world makes no sense.
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You're brought up under the assumption that the bad will get what they truly deserve
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and the good will be rewarded for their deeds.
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Then why do horrible things happen?
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And why, when late at night you ask the cosmos, why do these things happen?
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Why does anything happen?
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Are you met with absolute silence?
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No one cares, and why should you?
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Why should you live?
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You take one breath and just as you're about to let go?
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Habité!
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A man grabs your arm and greets you with a warm smile.
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The stench of 1940s French cigarettes is the first thing to greet your perception of Albert Camus, one of the most famous novelists of the 20th century.
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Camus loved life.
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He loved soccer, he loved women, the more the merrier, and he loved, loved, loved art.
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Okay then, Camus, are you going to teach me some type of hippie crap?
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Are you going to convert me to our lord and savior?
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No!
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You see, Camus may be one of the best characters in history to agree with you on this perceived utter meaninglessness of the world.
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Camus even has a name for this.
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Not necessarily the meaningless of the world itself, but when people perceive it.
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Absurdity, he calls it.
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Camus believes that we live in an absurd world because of our human tendency to try to search for reason, truth, and some type of meaning.
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We set systems to determine these truths through religion and even philosophy itself, but they never seem to completely work out.
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Simply because the way the world works, the way reality functions, isn't under these truths.
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If the world wasn't absurd, no innocent people would die.
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People that are honest and work hard would be rewarded.
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Your very healthy and young dog wouldn't suddenly grow a tumor and die.
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But we live in an absurd world and these things do happen.
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Part of the thing that's such a bummer about this absurdity is how frustrated we get about all this chaos
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and unjust fate.
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We try to make sense of the world and the world doesn't appear to make any sense at all.
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Then we feel defeated and crumble under the weight of all this hopeless suffering.
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This realization isn't necessarily.. the worst thing that could happen.
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In fact, it is the beginning of one of the truest ways to live.
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Camus states that nothing becomes a tragedy until the hero is conscious of their circumstances.
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All these people driving into work, stuck in traffic, and cursing racial slurs, cramping their backs over filing legal reports in small office cubicles,
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only to return home, splurge on various centers of satisfaction, just enough to get them to do it again the next day.
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For the most part, these people never go, why?
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Their life is not a tragedy.
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But you did.
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You asked, why do I go to work?
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So I can get money for those new Air Jordan XX9s.
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Why do you want that?
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So I can be a sick baller.
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Why do you want to be that?
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So I can impress this girl at my gym.
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Why do you want to impress her?
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Because I think I have the possibility to fall in love with her.
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Why do you want to fall in love?
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Because then I will be happy.
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Why do you want to be happy? Because it feels good.
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Why does it matter if you feel good?
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It's better than feeling bad.
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Why does it feel better?
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It just does?
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You saw that there was a logical fallacy in anything you did, that eventually you reach a point where you go, What is the point?
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So you're here.
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Thanks Camus.
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Yes, you are conscious of your existence and you think suicide will solve the absurdity and meaninglessness of it all.
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But have you considered your other alternatives?
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You see for Camus there is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
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Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.
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All other questions, whether there was truly three dimensions, whether we have nine or twelve categories in our minds,
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which eye is Sartre's good eye, these are secondary.
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Camus takes this seriously and presents us with this idea of the reason why we off ourselves.
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We do it because we are conscious of the absurdity of our world and our existence, and we simply cannot take it anymore.
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Suicide to him is confessing that life is too much for you, or that you do not understand it.
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It is merely confessing that...
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It is not worth the trouble.
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Camus knows you're stronger than this, and you know somewhere inside yourself you are stronger than this.
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Have you ever considered the strength that you hold as a human being?
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You are the universe attempting to figure itself out.
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Don't end it because you got confused.
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Because these rules that other people made up don't happen to coincide with the way the universe is.
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Don't surrender to the absurdity.
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Camus says that, In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
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Within every individual is this power to be happy, to enjoy life in the desert of their existence.
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Albert Camus knew this, and he knew
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that arguing with a suicidal nihilist will amount to no good
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if he tried to use any system of purpose because that's just not something you do with a nihilist.
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Life will be lived all the better if it has no meaning. But the suffering, Camus.
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What about the suffering?
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This is totally the absurd's fault, man.
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And do you know what you should do?
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You should revolt against it.
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Scorn it but never deny its existence.
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You have to accept it scornfully. But how?
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Camus uses the Greek myth of Sisyphus to really nail this point home.
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Sisyphus is one badass guy and he's running around being an asshole to the gods.
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He chains up death and then spills beans about super secret god stuff.
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So they grab Sisyphus, give him a boulder and tell him to roll it up a hill.
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But when he rolls it to the top it rolls back down.
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In fact, every time he rolls it up, he rolls back down.
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He is performing a task of absolute futility, meaninglessness.
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Sisyphus is in a good position.
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He knows that his purpose, his actions in life, are meaningless, and he's stuck there.
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He knows this too because he is condemned.
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But Sisyphus, at least in Camus interpretation, is one smart guy.
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Sisyphus doesn't hope that eventually things get better.
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He doesn't develop some deity or pray to the gods to stop his suffering.
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He doesn't jump off the top of a mountain to end his suffering and kill himself.
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No. Sisyphus enjoys it.
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He is in the moment.
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He embraces the absurdity of his condition, and by enjoying it, he revolts against it.
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He is scornful.
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Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night -filled mountain in itself forms a world.
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The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.
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One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
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Now, why the hell are you going to jump off here?
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Live, goddammit.
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We are all participants in existence and we all suffer, and whether there is a greater or less suffering in others is not an appropriate argument,
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because suffering itself should be but a greater reason for compassion among us in a meaningless desert.
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And in this desert we shall create.
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Continue to push the boulder of existence, of life, not because you may reach the top and be done, but because it is in the suffering, in the hardest of our times,
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in our loneliest of lonelies, in our daily struggle to comprehend just how absurd everything is.
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We experience the most fullest, genuine, and beautiful of life that our human condition has to offer.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Camus, Sisyphus, suffering, existence, absurdity. This video has 130 sentences and 1517 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:37. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 29 of its 130 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| absurdity noun | /æbˈsɝd.ɪ.ti/ | That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction. |
| meaninglessness noun | /ˈminɪŋlɪsnɪs/ | The state of lacking meaning; the quality of being meaningless. |
| absurd adjective | /əbˈsɜːd/ | Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory… |
| meaningless adjective | /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.ləs/ | Lacking meaning. |
| nihilist noun | /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪl.ɪst/ | A person who accepts or champions nihilism. |
| boulder noun | /ˈboʊl.dɚ/ | A large mass of stone detached from the surrounding land. |
| realization noun | /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ | An act of figuring out or becoming aware. |
| perceive verb | /pɚˈsiv/ | To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand. |
| revolt noun | /ɹɪˈvoʊlt/ | An act of revolting. |
| greet verb | /ɡɹiːt/ | To welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing. |
| confess verb | /kənˈfɛs/ | To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed. |
| impress verb | /ɪmˈpɹɛs/ | To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably. |
| baller noun | /ˈbɔːlɚ/ | A kitchenware utensil for cutting ball-shaped pieces of foods. |
| coincide verb | /ˌkoʊɪnˈsaɪd/ | To occupy exactly the same space. |
| crumble verb | /ˈkɹʌmbəl/ | To fall apart; to disintegrate. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| jump off verb | To move from an elevated place by one jump. | |
| roll back verb | To return to a prior state. | |
| bring up verb | To mention. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| run around verb | To be very busy doing many different things. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Are you met with absolute silence?
- No one cares, and why should you?
- You take one breath and just as you're about to let go?
- You asked, why do I go to work?
- Why do you want that?
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 | been brought · will be rewarded · would be rewarded |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have decided · have you considered · Have you ever considered |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, compassion /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/, dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: absurdity /æbˈsɝd.ɪ.ti/, meaninglessness /ˈminɪŋlɪsnɪs/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, futility /fjuˈtɪləti/, invincible /ɪnˈvɪn.sə.bəl/
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 absurdity, meaninglessness, absurd.
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.