Shadowing Practice: Romanticizing The Classical Life Isn’t Foolish.. It’s Necessary To Survive Today - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Greetings, everyone.
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I hope you're all doing well.
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For those of us who love literature and great art
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and following our intellectual curiosity and aim to live a more cultured and more intellectually fulfilling life,
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it can be easy to feel as though the world today has lost its sense of magic.
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The world today is disenchanted, as the great Malcolm Guy has said.
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And we can easily think that the world that the great thinkers of the past, the world of the great literary figures of the past
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and the great artists of the past lived in was a lot deeper, a lot more magical and a lot more conducive to produce better work
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and a lot more conducive to be more culturally fulfilled.
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But I actually don't think that's the case.
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I think the issue with our contemporary age is not the world itself.
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It's the approach we take to it.
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It's not the world that needs to be re -enchanted.
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It's us that needs to be re -enchanted, to quote Malcolm Gite once again.
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And I think a nice story
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which sums up just how differently we approach intellectual ideas
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and approach our intellectual curiosity today compared to the great figures of the past is the one about Machiavelli
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and how he would approach the art of reading.
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Machiavelli once wrote that while he was in exile from Florence, he would return home from his daily work outside in the fields,
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take off his dirty work clothes, and put on his noble court dress.
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And in that noble court dress, he would begin to read the great works of literature
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and enter into the courts and enter into a dialogue with the great minds of history.
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Now think about that approach.
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He didn't just come home and open up a book and read it as though it's just empty content,
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as though it's just something to consume and something to find enjoyable.
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He took a symbolic approach to it.
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He put emphasis on this idea that he was about to read a deep idea.
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And he found that to be so important.
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He revered that so much that he had to go through a symbolic process before entering into that action.
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He had to approach it with a sense of humility,
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a sense of dignity in order to enhance that action and gain all that he could from it.
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And that is so different to the way that many of us engage in intellectual ideas today.
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For many of us, we will just be on social media scrolling Instagram
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and see quotes on there from a great book and that's that.
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But a quote distilled from a great book that we randomly scroll by, God forbid, while we're on the toilet,
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doesn't enchant us in the same way as reading a book in noble court dress
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and coming across a deep idea and highlighting it and then contemplating on that idea for a little while.
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And I'm not saying that we all need to dress up in our best clothes to read.
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You can all see that I do do that myself.
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But that's my own symbolic approach to life.
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That's how I get ready to enter into the courts of these great men and enchant the world around me.
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And I'm not saying we all need to do the same thing, but I am saying we all must have symbols.
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There needs to be a symbolic approach.
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We live in a cynical age today which would deem any sort of symbolic approach to reading, any sort of heightened,
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enchanted idea of reading these great works of literature as just pseudo -intellectualism or shallow or just merely aesthetic and superficially based.
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But the reality is it's only superficial if you get dressed in those clothes and then don't read the book.
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It's only superficial if you're getting dressed in a manner to try
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and appear to be more intellectually intelligent and then not have any ideas behind it.
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But if you get dressed in clothes or you use a specific pen
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or a specific lamp or a specific candle to slow down the world around you, enchant the world around you,
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and symbolically approach great works of literature and symbolically approach this idea of reading, that enhances the experience.
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That is anything but shallow.
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That is as deep as you can possibly go.
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And I think when we look at the world today
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and we see how great works of literature can just be rendered merely content, we devalue these works.
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And so it's more important than ever before to find a way to enhance these works, to add value to these works,
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and to remind us that they are important.
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And that we won't feel culturally fulfilled,
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we won't feel like we're living an intellectually curious life unless we find a way to attach some reverence to this process,
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unless we remind ourselves just how important reading and literature and art and poetry truly is.
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There needs to be more dignity brought back into the process of reading, and I might sound extremely shallow here.
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I might sound like somebody who's advocating for some sort of superficial approach to learning
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and cares more about the aesthetic than the actual learning process, and that is anything but.
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I am advocating for an aesthetic, symbolic approach because it enhances your ability to learn.
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It really does.
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And even if you think it's some kind of pseudo trick, even if you think it's a placebo, it makes all the difference.
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It enchants the world around you.
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It reminds you that the world is in some sense more deep and magical than your own rational,
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intellectual, reasonable mind can reason.
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You know, the world today is shrunk down into mere practicality.
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Everything is an ROI.
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Everything has to make rational sense.
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It's not rational to get dressed into your noble court robes before reading a book
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when you're going to read the same words anyway if you're in your pyjamas or a t -shirt and shorts.
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That's not rational.
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But the idea here is that rationality will reduce and suck out all of the beauty and meaning of the world.
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When you play the world out in just a purely rational way, you don't need beauty.
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What's the rational ROI of beauty?
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It might just be a waste of time.
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When you look at a movie like
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Dead Poets Society, the parents are annoyed
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that their kids are caring more about artistry and beauty and culture because they deem it useless.
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But they don't realize that beauty enchants the world and adds meaning and depth to the world.
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And I don't think it's an accident
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that we live in a world today where more and more people are dying deaths of despair.
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More and more people are feeling like the world is less magical
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when we're heading into the festive season now
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and people talk about it's very common to talk about
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that Christmas no longer feels like Christmas you know it felt better
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when we were children Christmas used to be better Christmas used to have more enchantment
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but it's not Christmas that has lost its meaning it's not Christmas time
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that has lost its enchantment it's our approach to it
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if you read great works of Christmas literature like A Christmas Carol If you watch the great Christmas movies,
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you look at the great visual arts and paintings around Christmastime, that's going to re -enchant the experience and you're going to feel better for it.
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If you spend more time slowing down and adding some symbolic processes to it, you're going to enchant the experience.
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Aesthetic isn't useless.
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Aesthetic is crucial when it's coupled with intellectual depth and rigor.
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And so all in all, I just wanted to express this idea here in just a quick spitfire stream of consciousness conversation with you guys,
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because I think it's just so important.
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And it's my entire approach to life.
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It's why I structure my days the way I do, why I dress the way I do,
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and why I try and give these works the importance they deserve.
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And it just makes me feel so much more fulfilled.
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It just makes me feel so much more happy.
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And this world today that is actively running from any sort of symbolic process, is actively running from anything that is beautiful,
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is actively running from anything that might seem dramatic
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or over the top or quote -unquote useless because we value rationality to such a heightened extent, it's stripping away the magic of our world.
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It's stripping away the meaning of our life.
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It's stripping away the depths of anybody who's aiming to live a cultured life.
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Symbolism is so important.
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You shouldn't only care about the symbolism, but you should figure out specific symbols and tools and structures
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and ceremonial processes in your own life to approach a cultural education.
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And it will enhance your world completely a hundred times over.
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I think a quick example I just want to share with you guys is this pen.
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I think, you know, it could be easy to think that you're going to write the same notes.
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You're going to take the same notes.
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You're going to write the same words with any pen.
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What's the point of getting a pen that's potentially more expensive?
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And I was gifted this.
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It was my dream pen to have.
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And I was gifted it a few years ago by my girlfriend and she got my name engraved on it.
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And all of that is quote -unquote useless when you can write with a 50 -cent pen.
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You don't need an expensive pen where you have to replace the ink almost every month.
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But there's a symbolic nature to it.
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And I'm not arguing for consumerism, the opposite.
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I hope to keep this pen for the rest of my life if I can.
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I'm arguing for a sense of symbolism to enchant the world around you, to ground you, to slow you down,
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and to approach work with a sense of reverence.
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I think work is just seen as just content and something to do.
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Reading is seen as just something to consume.
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We don't put as much of a magical focus on it when in reality, philosophy, art, literature has helped birth nations,
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has helped destroy nations, has caused wars, has caused big movements, the rise of despots, kings, presidents, whatever.
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It is so important.
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It is so much more than content.
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The world is so much deeper when you can find symbolic processes.
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And something like this pen allows me to feel when I am writing that I'm writing better work.
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That may be a pseudo -intellectual trick.
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It may be some kind of placebo.
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But I don't think so.
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Because when I go to write with this pen, it's a reminder to take it serious this pen cost a bit of money
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there's a process in this pen
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I have to drive into the city to replace the ink at a specific store and
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when I go to write with it it reminds me don't waste
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this ink ink is important ink can shape the world ink can shape the way
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you think ink will shape these videos that I put out
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which hopefully people find value in and people find depth
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and meaning in
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and helps them in some way this pen I like to think is a challenge to me
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and a reminder of responsibility to take work seriously, to take ideas seriously because ideas have consequences.
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Take my cultural education seriously because it enhances the life around you.
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This pen reminds me of that.
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So I don't think it's a placebo trick.
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I think there's a importance in symbolism.
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There's a reverence you must take to your life, to your work to enchant the world around you and remind yourself
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that we live in just as deep a world as the great minds of history before did.
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And when we think of the world today, we have access to the world's greatest library ever built with the internet.
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We can access any great work of literature ever, all the great philosophers, all the great artists, all the great ideas.
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We have access to these ideas more than all the great minds in history did.
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The world itself is ripe for us to live a more culturally fulfilling life than we ever have before
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it is ready for that but it's our approach that ruins
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that it's our approach which strips that away and
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so i hope you guys found some value in this spiel stream of consciousness conversation
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i wanted to have with you i sometimes get nervous
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when i speak just like this without really writing too many notes
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that it won't be as coherent
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or there won't be as much value to take from it and that I'll play it back in the edit and think,
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oh my goodness, I'm not really saying anything deep at all.
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But in the moment, it feels like I am saying something.
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I really enjoy this idea of approaching life with a sense of reverence.
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And in everything I do, I try to take it seriously because it deserves that.
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But I think importantly, just on a final note, it's also about taking it seriously so that it's fun.
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When I put on this suit, it's not a chore for me.
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It's this excitement of, oh my goodness, I'm going to enter into this work that I love so much.
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I'm so blessed to get to sit here and talk about these ideas
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and read books and talk about books and talk about philosophy
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That's such a blessing that
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when I put on this suit in this symbolic process I find a sense of duty and meaning in that
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And if that's not for you, putting on a suit, it's something else
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It's a candle, it's a lamp, it's a specific seat, it's a specific desk, it's a specific time of day
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Whatever it is, you need to find some kind of symbolic approach
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So that being said, symbolism will make it more serious while also making it more exciting and more fun.
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It should always be fun.
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It shouldn't just be doom and gloom.
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It shouldn't just be hyper seriousness.
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While I'm not a fan of the quote, it's not that deep.
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I am a fan of the quote that whatever you're doing, have fun while doing it because this is fun.
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Follow your pursuits, follow your passions, follow your hobbies, and let's re -enchant the world.
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Let's re -enchant our own world.
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Of course, we can't do it for all of society, but we can make small choices in our life to re -enchant our own life.
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That being said, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
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As always, I'm wishing you all the best, and until next time, take care.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Romanticizing The Classical Life Isn’t Foolish.. It’s Necessary To Survive Today”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: approach, pen, enchant, symbolic. This video has 191 sentences and 2510 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:08. The speaker talks at a natural 166 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.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| symbolic adjective | Pertaining to a symbol. | |
| intellectual adjective | /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/ | Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive. |
| remind verb | /ɹəˈmaɪnd/ | To cause one to experience a memory (of someone or something); to bring to the notice or consideration (of a person). |
| rational adjective | /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/ | Capable of reasoning. |
| enhance verb | /ɪnˈhæns/ | To augment or make something greater. |
| aesthetic adjective | /ɛsˈθɛ.tɪk/ | Concerned with beauty, artistic effect, or appearance. |
| fulfill verb | /fʊlˈfɪl/ | To satisfy, carry out, bring to completion (an obligation, a requirement, etc.). |
| strip verb | /ˈstɹɪp/ | To remove or take away, often in strips or stripes. |
| noble adjective | /ˈnoʊbəl/ | Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character. |
| magical adjective | /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.kəl/ | Of, relating to, or by means of magic. |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| trick noun | /ˈtɹɪk/ | Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle. |
| actively adverb | /ˈæktɪvli/ | In an active manner. |
| shallow adjective | /ˈʃæloʊ/ | Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide. |
| culturally adverb | In a cultural way. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| slow down verb | To decelerate. |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| open up verb | To open. |
| put out verb | To blind (eyes). |
| sum up verb | To produce a total by adding. |
| take off verb | To remove. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I hope you're all doing well.
- It's the approach we take to it.
- It's stripping away the meaning of our life.
- You're going to take the same notes.
- I think there's a importance in symbolism.
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 | is disenchanted · be rendered · is shrunk |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has lost · has said · has helped |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 45 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: aesthetic /ɛsˈθɛ.tɪk/, cloth /klɒθ/, thinker /ˈθɪŋ.kɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rational /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/, superficial /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/, consciousness /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/, passion /ˈpæʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: intellectual /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/, superficial /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/, curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, literary /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.ɹi/
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 symbolic, intellectual, remind.
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.