Shadowing Practice: Real English Conversation Practice (Advanced ) | Improve Your Speaking & Listening FAST! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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331 sentences
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This is Max and Mia Podcast.
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Hi everyone, welcome back to Max and Mia Podcast.
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Good to have you here with us again.
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Really good, actually.
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Whether this is your first time tuning in or you have been with us for a while, we are glad you are here.
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We are.
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And today we are bringing you a challenge in the best way possible.
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Exactly.
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We are focusing on C1 -level conversations today.
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A bit more advanced than what we usually do, yes, but do not let that put you off.
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Not at all.
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If you are somewhere around B1 or B2, you are going to get a lot out of this.
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Trust us.
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And honestly, even if you are still working your way up from A2, stick around sound,
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you might be surprised by how much you pick up just by listening.
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That is kind of the whole point, right?
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You do not always have to understand every single word to learn something valuable.
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Right.
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And by the time we wrap up today, we are pretty confident you will walk away with something useful for your English,
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whether it is new vocabulary, a phrase, or just a better feel for how the language flows at a higher level.
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So, no more waiting around.
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Let's do it.
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Alright, so let's get into our first segment.
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And this one is very real, very practical.
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It is.
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We are talking about those conversations that can get a little… tense.
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You know, the ones.
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Politics comes up at dinner, someone starts debating a sports call that ended the game, maybe someone brings up salaries at work,
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or the topic shifts to social issues and suddenly the whole room feels different.
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Right.
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Those moments where you are thinking, okay, I have an opinion, but I also really do not want this to turn into a whole thing.
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Exactly.
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And the truth is, in English, there are ways to handle those situations that are smooth,
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mature, and honestly, very natural for native speakers.
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You just probably were not taught them in class.
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So we thought, why not go through some of those key phrases together?
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Not in a boring way, just kind of talk through them.
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Because some of the things we default to in English when we are uncomfortable, they can actually make the situation worse.
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Yeah, like, okay, Mia.
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How many times have you heard someone just say, I don't know, or I don't want to talk about this when something uncomfortable comes up?
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All the time.
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And look, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to engage, but the way you exit that conversation matters.
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I don't know can come across as dismissive, like you did not even consider what the other person said.
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So what would be a better way to handle that?
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Something like, I wouldn't want to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts.
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It does the same job.
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You are not committing to a position, but it sounds thoughtful.
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It sounds like you actually respect the topic.
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That is a good one.
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And it buys you time, too, without sounding like you are shutting the conversation down.
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Exactly.
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Now, what about when you just want it to stop?
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Like, the conversation has gone on too long, and you can both feel the tension building?
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Right.
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And again, let's stop talking about this is a little blunt.
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It can feel like a door being slammed in someone's face.
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So instead, you go with something like, let's just agree to disagree on this one.
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Much softer.
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You are acknowledging there is a difference of opinion without making anyone feel like they lost the argument.
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Or even, we might just have to leave it there before we open a can of worms.
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Which I love, by the way.
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That one is great because it actually has a bit of humor to it.
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A can of worms, for those of you who are not familiar, basically means a situation that, once you get into it,
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just keeps getting more and more complicated.
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Like, we could start talking, but then one thing leads to another,
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and suddenly we are I don't know arguing about something completely different from where we started.
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Which happens a lot with certain topics.
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And then the last one, and this is one I think a lot of people need,
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what do you do when you genuinely disagree but you do not want to come out swinging?
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Because I completely disagree is very direct.
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It puts you on opposite sides right away.
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Right.
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So instead, you soften it.
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I wouldn't quite go that far.
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It still signals that you do not fully agree, but it does not feel like a confrontation.
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Or even just, that is one way of looking at it, which is actually brilliant because you are not agreeing.
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You are not disagreeing.
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You are just acknowledging their perspective exists.
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And sometimes that is all you need.
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Just enough to keep things civil and move on.
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All right.
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So now that we have those in our back pocket, let's actually see them in action.
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Yes.
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So picture this.
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You are at work.
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It is a regular Tuesday morning.
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You have got your coffee.
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You are settling in.
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And then your co -worker walks in, the one who always, always has something to say about what is going on in the news.
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We all know that person.
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We really do.
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And today the topic is politics.
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And at some point, you find yourself actually wanting to respond, but you also know this co -worker, and you know how these things can go.
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So how do you hold your ground without starting a whole debate before 10 a .m.?
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Let's listen in.
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Dude, did you see the vote last night?
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They shot down the infrastructure bill.
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Again.
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Yeah, I saw that.
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Third time in what, two years?
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Something like that, and I just do not get it.
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Roads are falling apart, bridges are decades past their inspection dates, and somehow it always comes down to who gets the credit for fixing it.
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I mean, it is not just about credit, though.
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Part of the pushback is where the money is coming from.
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You cannot just throw $3 trillion at something and not talk about how that gets paid for.
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Okay, but Derek, at some point you actually have to spend money to maintain a country.
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That is just, that's just how it works.
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Nobody is saying don't spend money.
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I'm saying there has to be a plan.
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You can't keep kicking the debt down the road and pretend it doesn't matter.
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Man, you sound like my dad.
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Your dad might be on to something.
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Look, I want the roads fixed, too.
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I drive on them.
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But I also don't want my kids inheriting a completely broken economy because we couldn't figure out how to budget properly.
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Fair enough.
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And honestly, that is the frustrating part, right?
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There is a real conversation to be had about how to fund it responsibly, but nobody in Washington is actually having that conversation.
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It just turns into each side trying to make the other look bad.
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That is exactly it.
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And the media does not help.
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You watch one channel and the bill was going to save America.
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You watch another and it was basically socialism.
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The same bill.
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The exact same bill.
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And then people wonder why nobody can agree on anything.
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Half the country is working off completely different information.
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That drives me insane.
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And it bleeds into everything, like immigration.
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Do you know how hard it is to even have a calm conversation about immigration anymore?
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Do not even start with immigration.
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We will be here all day.
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Okay, okay, but you know what I mean.
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It is like any topic that actually matters has been turned into a grenade.
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You bring it up and everyone just braces for impact.
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Which is why I think most people have just checked out.
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They are tired.
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They do not trust the institutions, they do not trust the media, and honestly, at this point, they barely trust each other.
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That is a pretty bleak way to look at it.
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I wouldn't quite go that far as to say it's hopeless, but it's, it's not great.
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Something has to give at some point.
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I think it starts locally, honestly.
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Like at the city level, the state level.
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That is where you actually still see some things getting done.
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That is one way of looking at it, and I don't disagree.
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Local politics actually feels like it still has some functioning gears.
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Right?
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Like people forget that not every election is a presidential race.
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Some of the stuff that affects your daily life most gets decided way closer to home.
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And those are also the races where one person actually showing up can make a difference, which sounds corny, but it's true.
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It does sound corny, but yeah.
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All right, we should probably get back to work before someone walks in and thinks we were starting a podcast.
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Yeah, we might just have to leave it there before we open a can of worms. Was that...
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I have been waiting to use that all morning.
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Okay, so, Tyler and Derek.
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I feel like we all know a Tyler and Derek.
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Right?
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That conversation is happening in break rooms everywhere, every single morning.
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And what I think is worth pointing out is how neither of them really won the argument.
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And that is kind of the whole point.
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Exactly.
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The goal was never to win.
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It was to stay in the conversation without blowing it up.
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And you noticed how Derek used, I wouldn't quite go that far, when Tyler said things were bleak.
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He pushed back, but gently.
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No drama.
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And then the ending.
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We might just have to leave it there before we open a can of worms.
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Perfect exit.
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Clean.
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A little bit of humor.
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Nobody walks away feeling attacked.
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Which is the dream.
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Honestly.
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Because these conversations do not have to end badly.
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They just need the right tools.
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And now you have a few more of those in your back pocket, so keep them close.
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Alright, moving on to our next conversation.
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And this one hits close to home for a lot of people.
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Very close.
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Like monthly close.
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Exactly.
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We are talking about something that has quietly taken over the way we consume pretty much everything.
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Music, movies, software, games, news, fitness apps, cloud storage.
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At some point, it stopped being about buying things and became about renting access to things.
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And most people just… accepted it without really questioning it.
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There is actually a phrase that keeps coming up in these conversations.
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Why do we monetize everything?
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Like, when did that shift happen?
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When did owning something become the exception instead of the rule?
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I remember buying a CD, putting it on a shelf, and that was mine.
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Nobody could take that away.
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Now you pay for a streaming platform for 10 years, and the moment you cancel, it is like none of it ever existed.
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And it is not just music.
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Think about software.
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People used to buy Microsoft Word once.
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Done.
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Now it is a subscription.
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Adobe subscriptions.
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Even video games are heading that way with the whole live service model.
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You are not buying the game anymore.
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You are buying access to the game.
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There is a difference and it is not a small one.
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And this is exactly what Rachel and Michael get into in our next conversation.
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Two friends, Completely different takes on this whole thing.
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One of them has kind of made peace with the subscription model.
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The other one is not having it.
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And it gets interesting because it is not just about money.
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It goes a bit deeper than that.
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Ownership, trust, what it even means to value something.
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So, pay close attention to how they handle the disagreement agreement.
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You are going to hear some of those phrases come up again, and a few new ones too.
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Let's get into it.
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Okay, so I finally caved and got yet another subscription last night.
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And I sat there after signing up just thinking, when did this become normal?
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What was it this time?
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A recipe app.
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A recipe app, Michael.
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My grandmother had a box of index cards and fed eight people.
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I am paying $4 .99 a month to be told how to boil pasta.
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Okay, but to be fair, you are not just paying for the recipes.
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You're paying for the convenience, the interface, the updates.
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That is exactly what they want you to think.
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That is the whole pitch.
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You are not buying a product.
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You're investing in an experience.
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And we just bought it.
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All of us.
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I mean, I get the frustration, but I don't think it's all bad.
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Like, I used to buy software and two years later it was completely outdated
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and I had to buy the whole thing again anyway.
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At least now, I always have the latest version.
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But that's the thing!
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You never actually had the software to begin with anymore.
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You're licensing it.
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There's a clause somewhere in every one of those terms and conditions that basically says, we can take this away from you whenever we feel like it.
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Okay, that's a bit of a stretch.
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Is it, though?
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Remember when Microsoft pulled certain features from accounts that were on lower -tier plans?
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Or when Adobe just killed off apps people had been using for years?
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No warning.
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No refund.
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Just gone.
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That… yeah, that did happen.
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And that was genuinely bad.
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But I think you are throwing the baby out with the bathwater a little bit.
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Not every subscription model is predatory.
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I am not saying they are all predatory.
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I am saying the whole system is designed so
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that you never actually own anything and most people have just normalized it without stopping to think about what they gave up.
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What did we give up though?
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Because I actually think I consume more things now than I ever did when I had to buy everything individually.
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More music, more shows, more books.
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But do you value any of it the same way?
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What do you mean?
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Like when you bought a CD or a DVD, you chose it deliberately.
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You spent money on that specific thing and it meant something.
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Now you open an app and scroll for 20 minutes and watch half of something and move on.
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Nothing sticks.
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Okay, I hate that you have a point there.
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The attention economy and the subscription economy go hand in hand.
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The less you own, the less attached you are, the more you just keep consuming and paying and consuming and paying.
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I would not quite go that far.
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Like, I do not think it is some coordinated conspiracy to keep us on a hamster wheel.
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Now, it doesn't have to be a conspiracy to still be a problem.
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It just has to be profitable.
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And it very clearly is.
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You know what?
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I genuinely do not know how to argue with that.
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Good.
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Now cancel something tonight.
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Anything.
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Just on principle.
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I'm not cancelling anything tonight, Rachel.
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Worth a shot.
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Okay.
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Rachel wasn't holding back at all.
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Not even a little.
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And Michael held his ground for a while, which made it interesting.
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He was not just agreeing to keep the peace.
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He actually pushed back.
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Right, and that is what made it a real conversation.
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But let's talk about some of the language in there because there were some really solid expressions worth breaking down.
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First one, and Rachel used this early on.
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That is exactly what they want you to think.
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Very natural way to challenge someone's reasoning without directly calling them wrong.
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You are not attacking the person.
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You are questioning where the idea came from.
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Then there was throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
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Michael used that one.
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It basically means rejecting something entirely, including the good parts, just because there are some problems with it.
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Really common expression in debates like this.
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And a useful one because it actually moves the conversation forward.
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Instead of just saying, you are being too extreme, you give it a name.
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It sounds a lot more measured.
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Then, Rachel hit him with, do you value any of it the same way?
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And just let that sit there.
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Sometimes the most powerful thing in a conversation is a question you do not immediately answer.
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It makes the other person actually stop and think.
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Which Michael did.
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He paused.
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And then he said, I hate that you have a point there.
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Which is honestly one of the most genuine things you can say when someone lands a good argument.
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It is disarming, it keeps the tone light, and it shows you are actually listening.
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And then toward the end, Michael used, I wouldn't quite go that far again, which we talked about earlier.
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You saw it in context this time.
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He was not shutting Rachel down.
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He was just pulling back slightly from her conclusion without dismissing everything she said.
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And Rachel's response to that was sharp.
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It does not have to be a conspiracy to still be a problem.
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It just has to be profitable.
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That is a really clean way to reframe an argument.
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She basically said, you are arguing against something I never claimed.
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Which in English we sometimes call a straw man,
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when someone argues against a version of your point that is slightly more extreme than what you actually said.
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And Rachel caught it and corrected it without making it a whole thing.
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Great conversations, great language, and hopefully a few things you can actually take into your next uncomfortable discussion.
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Alright, before we go, if you made it this far, first of all, thank you.
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Genuinely.
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This kind of episode takes a little more focus, and we really appreciate you sticking with it.
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And if you got something out of today, the best thing you can do is leave us a comment.
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Tell us which expression you are going to actually use, which conversation felt most real to you, or just say hi.
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We read everything.
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Also, if you are not subscribed yet, now is a good time.
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New episodes drop regularly and we would love to have you back.
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And if this episode was useful, share it with someone who is working on their English.
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That is honestly how this grows, one person passing it along to another.
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Alright, that is a wrap on today's episode.
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Take care of yourselves, keep the conversation civil, laughs, and we will see you in the next one.
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See you then!
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Real English Conversation Practice”. This video has 331 sentences and 3144 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:14. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| subscription noun | /səbˈskɹɪpʃən/ | Access to a resource for a period of time, generally for payment. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| disagree verb | /dɪsəˈɡɹi/ | To fail to agree; to have a different opinion or belief. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| genuinely adverb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ | In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly. |
| consume verb | /kənˈsum/ | To use up. |
| worm noun | /wɝm/ | A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm. |
| immigration noun | /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/ | The act of immigrating; the passing or coming into a country of which one is not native born for the purpose of permanent residence. |
| conspiracy noun | /kənˈspɪɹəsi/ | An agreement or arrangement between multiple parties to do something harmful, immoral or subversive; an instance of collusion. |
| recipe noun | /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ | Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| cancel verb | /ˈkæn.sl̩/ | To cross out something with lines etc. |
| 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… |
| pocket noun | /ˈpɑ.kɪt/ | A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). |
| push back verb | To refute or argue against a position or an accusation; to express one's own view on a situation. |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| bring up verb | To mention. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Alright, so let's get into our first segment.
- I wouldn't quite go that far.
- Dude, did you see the vote last night?
- Why do we monetize everything?
- What did we give up though?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to buy |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were not taught · being slammed · be had |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been · has gone · has been turned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | one who always · someone who is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, wouldn't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: smooth /smuːð/, grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/, bathwater /ˈbæθwɔtɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: subscription /səbˈskɹɪpʃən/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, ownership /ˈoʊnɚʃɪp/
- Long words — get the stress right: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, conspiracy /kənˈspɪɹəsi/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/
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 subscription, topic, disagree.
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.