Shadowing Practice: SEtalk: What Silence Says - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
35 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
I'd like to begin with a few seconds of silence.
2
There. How did that feel?
3
I noticed a few of you reaching for your phones!
4
Was it peaceful, or a little uncomfortable?
5
For many of us, silence feels like something's gone wrong.
6
Researchers in the Netherlands studied exactly this feeling.
7
Volunteers imagined a conversation that suddenly went quiet.
8
Just four seconds of silence was enough!
9
People felt anxious, and they felt rejected.
10
Four seconds, and we start to doubt we belong.
11
But does everyone feel silence the same way?
12
In the 1980s, John Graham recorded real business negotiations.
13
He counted every silence of ten seconds or more.
14
Japanese negotiators had about five every half hour.
15
Americans had three or four.
16
And the Brazilians? Almost none at all!
17
Instead, they interrupted each other all the time!
18
So what does a silence actually mean?
19
That depends on where you learned to talk.
20
The same pause can say very different things.
21
In Finland, friends can sit together without saying a word.
22
Nobody feels awkward. It's simply comfortable.
23
In Japan, a pause often shows respect and careful thought.
24
But in many English-speaking places, silence signals a problem.
25
Years ago, I flew to Tokyo for my first big deal.
26
I made my offer, and the room went completely quiet.
27
Five seconds. Ten seconds. I started to panic.
28
So I kept talking, and I lowered my own price.
29
Later, my host told me, 'We were just thinking!'
30
Silence isn't empty. It's full of thinking.
31
So here's my challenge for you this week.
32
When a conversation goes quiet, count slowly to five.
33
Ask someone a real question, and then actually wait.
34
You might hear the most honest answer of all.
35
Thank you.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Episode 1Why You Should Talk to Strangers
Episode 2Stop Saying "I'm So Busy"
Episode 3What My Grandmother's Kitchen Taught Me
Episode 4The Surprising Power of Being Bored
Episode 5Procrastination Isn't About Laziness
Episode 6Your Accent Is Not a Mistake
Episode 7Why We Believe Things That Aren't True
Episode 8Why Humans Still Need Rituals
Episode 9The Myth of the Lone Genius
Episode 10The Trap of "I'll Be Happy When…"
Episode 11Sleep Is Not a Waste of Time
Episode 12The Surprising Strength of Weak Ties
Episode 13The Science of Saying Thank You
Episode 14Why We Hate Being Wrong
Episode 15Now playingWhat Silence Says
Same Channel
A11,286
Can You Swim? What Can You Do?
American AccentBritish AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A21,130
What's in Your School Bag?
American AccentBritish AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B1651
Discipline Beats Motivation
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1537
A Day in My Life 1: Getting Up
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1137
Fast and Slow: The Big Race
American AccentBritish AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A1325
Lunch Break: What Do You Want to Eat?
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B1453
Calling In Sick: I Can't Come to Work Today
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B2211
Why a Song Gets Stuck in Your Head
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B1510
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Food, Shopping and the Weather
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A296
A Day in My Life 9: Doing the Dishes
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1126
A Day in My Life 5: Leaving the House
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A2192
Lunch in the School Canteen
American AccentKidsTeensDaily Conversation
B250
IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a Quiet Place You Like to Go
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity Students
A21,473
Taking the Bus to the City Centre
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B1150
Back from Japan: Telling a Friend About My Trip
American AccentBritish AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
A2107
Speaking Challenge: A Family Holiday I Remember
British AccentIELTS PrepDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B126
Under the Weather
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A2826
Finding Things at the Supermarket
British AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
C1173
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Health, Fast Food and Exercise
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity Students
B21,345
My First Month Living Abroad
American AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C132 sentences
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Noise and the Value of Quiet
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B245
34 sentences
SEtalk: Procrastination Isn't About Laziness
American AccentIELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B214 sentences
How to Find Out What's Really on Your Mind
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
15 sentences
silence is underrated
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B115
139 sentences
How to Keep Talking in English Without Getting Stuck
British AccentIELTS PrepInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
B212
101 sentences
INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STORY 🧘 Slow Living 🌱 B2 | Level 4 | BRITISH ENGLISH ACCENT WITH SUBTITLES
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B27
30 sentences
IELTS Speaking Part 1 | Topic: Communication - Band 7.5
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B1795
7 sentences
Speaking Practice: Quiet Place #fy #place #ielts
IELTS PrepDaily ConversationHigh School Students
C114
58 sentences
Learning to Speak ... Again
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
182 sentences
Why Does Being Ignored Hurt More Than Being Rejected? | B2 English Shadowing
Business EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B24
213 sentences
The Most Ignored Social Skill (It Changed How People Treat Me)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B24
364 sentences
The Power of Staying Silent 🤫 | Real English Conversation | English Shadowing Practice
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “SEtalk: What Silence Says”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: silence, seconds, quiet. This video has 35 sentences and 286 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:31. The speaker talks at a steady 114 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| silence noun | /ˈsaɪ̯ləns/ | The absence of any sound. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| belong verb | /bɪˈlɒŋ/ | To have its proper place. |
| awkward adjective | /ˈɔk.wɚd/ | Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments. |
| volunteer noun | /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/ | One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay. |
| panic noun | /ˈpænɪk/ | Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| anxious adjective | /ˈæŋkʃəs/ | Nervous and worried. |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| negotiation noun | /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The process of achieving agreement through discussion. |
| interrupt verb | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/ | To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking. |
| negotiator noun | /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/ | One who negotiates. |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, negotiator /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, negotiator /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/
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 silence, pause, belong.
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.