Shadowing Practice: Some brains are built for philosophy. Is yours? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I think it takes me about five minutes.
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I think I've got five minutes to work out the kind of conversation I'm going to have
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and the kind of person I'm talking to.
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Hi, nice to meet you.
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I'm Johnny.
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So how do you know Lisa?
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Oh, you work together, do you?
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Great.
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Cool.
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No, no, no. We went to school together.
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And so it goes.
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We each dance in a socially prescribed script known as small talk.
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And then we come up to a crossroads.
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We have to decide how we're going to go on, what questions we are going to ask each other.
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Shall I ask you about truth, about morality, about the soul?
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Or are you going to ask me about pets, about holidays and what I watch on Netflix?
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I'm on the record as saying that I think we should have more deep
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and meaningful conversations because I think these kind of conversations are important to who we are and to our relationships.
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But I feel like I need to add a caveat to that because not everybody likes deep conversations.
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This doesn't mean that their conversations are vacuous or boring or irrelevant.
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It's just that some people prefer the familiar.
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They prefer to talk about holidays, about pets, about family, and so on.
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So why is it that some people do have this burning, unquenchable desire to unravel the mysteries of the universe?
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Some people need to write these vast and unseen essays about my philosophy, whereas other people cringe and they shy away from anything like what is the meaning of life.
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Now I hate to say it, but this video will not answer the age-old question of nature
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and nurture everything in life is a complicated swirl of our genes and environment and philosophy is no different.
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But it is interesting to ask the question why it is that some people need to know.
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Why do some people like to have philosophical conversations and some people cringe away?
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Well today we're going to answer those questions.
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Today we're going to look at the brain of a philosopher.
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And to do that I want to look at the godfather of philosophical cool, Albert Camus.
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Camus is generally considered to be one of the first and most famous absurdists in philosophical history.
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He's certainly the best read and most loved and especially on social media.
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Now there are many ways that you can define absurdism
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and there are quite a few kinds of absurdism
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but generally speaking absurdism is the philosophy
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that tries to hold one terrible irony we are meaning-seeking creatures
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in a meaningless world we try to find explanations for things we crave explanations for things
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and yet the universe as a whole has no explanation to offer a human life ends
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and all of its achievements are washed away in only a
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few generations life itself seems like a pointless flash in the pan.
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And so absurdism is about the tension between seeking meaning and no meaning available.
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This is an objective principle.
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But the fact is that not everybody can relate to absurdism.
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Not everybody feels this way.
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Not everybody seeks meaning in the way that Camus diagnoses in his works, especially the myth of Sisyphus.
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I know plenty of people who never experienced the kind of existential anguish that you find in Soren Kierkegaard, Leo Tolstoy, and yes, Albert Camus.
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They just kind of get on with their lives and
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so I wonder are these people less intelligent and less deep than anybody else?
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I don't think so, in fact absolutely not.
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They're just built differently to how I am built.
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To explore this I want to look at one of Camus' novels,
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The Outsider or sometimes called The Stranger and in there we meet an absurdist anti-hero called Merceau.
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Now Merceau is somebody who doesn't play by the rules
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and we the reader and the characters in the book view him with a kind of repulsion but also respect.
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On the one hand we see this authentic and honest person as admirable in some way and we long to emulate them, we want to see more of that in the world.
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But on the other hand there is something anti-social about somebody who never cares what other people think
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because we are as Kierkegaard said a paradox of a social being who craves individuality.
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We like being around other people, but we like solitude.
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For example, when Merceau glibly states that he'll marry his girlfriend if she's keen on it, we're inclined to appreciate that honesty.
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And yet when he fails to show any emotion at all at his mother's funeral
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and he begins the novel by forgetting which day she died on, we see him as robotic or even perhaps broken.
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Now there is some debate among Camu readers about whether we should see Merceau as neurodivergent in some way, possibly with a kind of Asperger's,
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or simply as holding a different philosophical outlook on life.
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I do not know enough about psychology to armchair diagnose any literary character,
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but the debate does raise an interesting question about the biological factors that incline a person towards philosophy or not.
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So here's what we know so far.
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Neurologically, we can identify a few areas that tend to underpin archetypally philosophical minds.
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For example, we know that the hippocampus is linked to curiosity.
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We can point to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to see how we can make logical goal-direct decisions
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and exert cognitive control over thoughts and actions.
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We can see theory of mind regions like the medial prefrontal cortex light up when we debate or discuss an idea.
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And when it comes to the call a spade a spade nature of Merceau, who rarely does what is expected of him,
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neuroscientists can point to the amygdala and chordate responses associated with choosing independence over conformity in the face of social pressure.
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As with any physiology, these brain elements can be more or less efficient or developed partially due to genetic factors.
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Some people are simply born more curious, more controlled in their reasoning and more inclined to debate.
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So what about absurdism?
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Are there neurological elements in those who stay up late and ask existential questions of a silent, unresponsive universe?
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Well, possibly.
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Some people act more from the brain's habit system than others.
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They just kind of get on with it rather than pausing to deliberate or second guess things.
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There are also parts of the brain that allow some people to be more comfortable with just not knowing.
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When presented with a mystery like the absurd or a pointless universe, some people are happy to shrug and return to their lives
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and this may have something to do with the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate.
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None of this is to say that you are or you are not born as a philosopher.
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As I mentioned before, we are a combination of our genes and our environment.
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The brain adapts and bends to the world it must work with.
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However, it does mean that much of the human nature that philosophers, including Camus, like to talk about is actually a specific type of person.
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When I used to meet people who just don't get philosophy
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or can't understand why others spend their lives debating the most parochial and unanswerable questions, I was baffled.
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How can you not find this interesting?
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How can you not love Camus?
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Well, it might just be that philosophers are built a bit differently to others.
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What You'll Learn: 3 Speaking Skills to Master
This video is a goldmine for building real-world conversation skills! First, you’ll practice navigating small talk transitions—how to move from "How do you know Lisa?" to deeper topics smoothly. Second, you’ll learn to use caveats (like "but I need to add a caveat") to soften strong opinions, a key skill for IELTS speaking practice. Third, you’ll master explaining complex ideas (like absurdism) in simple terms, perfect for impressing examiners or engaging in meaningful chats.
Listen For These Sounds: Connected Speech Hacks
Native speakers don’t speak word-by-word—they link! Listen for "got five minutes" (linking "got" and "five" into "gotfive") and "kind of conversation" (reducing "of" to a schwa sound, "kinda conversation"). Notice how "it takes me about" becomes "ittakesmeabout" with no pauses. These links make your speech flow like a native—critical for shadowing technique success.
Say It Like a Native: Rhythm and Stress Tips
To mirror the speaker’s natural tone, focus on stressing key words like "important," "meaning," and "absurdism." The speaker slows down for emphasis (e.g., "a meaningless world") and speeds up during small talk ("Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Johnny"). Practice shadow speak by repeating phrases immediately after the video—this trains your brain to match rhythm and stress. For extra practice, try "shadowspeaks" with the question "Why do some people crave deep conversations?"—stress "crave" and "deep" to sound natural.
Whether you’re prepping for IELTS speaking practice or just want to chat more confidently, these tips turn the video into a powerful tool. Start with 5-minute shadowing sessions today—you’ll hear progress in no time!
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 | are washed · is linked · is expected |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who never · somebody who doesn · somebody who never |
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.