Shadowing Practice: Steve Jobs on Quality - Learn English Speaking with Video
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41 sentences
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1
What holds them back, do you think?
2
It's funny.
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The group of people that do not use quality in their marketing are the Japanese.
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You never see them using quality in their marketing.
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It's only the American companies that do.
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And yet, if you ask people on the street which products have the best reputation for quality, they will tell you the Japanese products.
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Now, why is that?
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How could that be?
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The answer is because customers don't form their opinions on quality from marketing.
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They don't form their opinions on quality from who won the Deming Award or who won the Baldrige Award.
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They form their opinions on quality from their own experience with the products or the services.
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And so one can spend enormous amounts of money on quality.
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One can win every quality award there is.
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And yet if your products don't live up to it, customers will not keep that opinion for long in their minds.
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And so I think where we have to start is with our products and our services, not with our marketing department.
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And we need to get back to the basics and go improve our products and services.
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Now, again, quality isn't just the product or the service.
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It's having the right product, you know, knowing where the market's going
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and having the most innovative products is just as much a
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part of quality as the quality of the construction of the product when you have it.
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And I think what we're seeing is the quality leaders of today have integrated that quality technology well beyond their manufacturing,
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now going well into their sales and marketing
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and out as far as they can to touch the customer
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and trying to create super efficient processes back from the customer
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all the way through to the delivery of the end product so that they can have the most innovative products,
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understand the customer needs fastest, et cetera, et cetera. in most companies
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if you're new and you ask why is it done this way the answer is
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because that's the way we do it here or because that's the way it's always been done
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and in my opinion the largest contribution of much of this quality thinking is to approach these
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ways of doing things these processes scientifically where there is a theory behind why we do them.
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There is a description of what we do, and most importantly, there is an opportunity to always question what we do.
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And this is a radically different approach to business processes than the traditional one, because it's always done this way.
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And that single shift is everything,
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in my opinion, because in that shift is a tremendous optimistic point of view about the people that work in a company.
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It says these people are very smart.
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They're not pawns.
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They're very smart.
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And if given the opportunity to change and improve, they will.
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They will improve the processes if there's a mechanism for it.
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And that optimistic humanism I find very appealing.
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And I think we have countless examples that it works.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Steve Jobs on Quality”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: quality, product, opinion, customer, marketing. This video has 41 sentences and 517 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:07. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 91% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| innovative adjective | /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/ | Characterized by the creation of new ideas or inventions. |
| optimistic adjective | /ˌɒptɪˈmɪstɪk/ | Expecting the best in all possible ways. |
| reputation noun | /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/ | What somebody or something is known for. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| contribution noun | /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/ | Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole. |
| mechanism noun | /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/ | Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power. |
| enormous adjective | /ɪˈnɔː.məs/ | Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc. |
| importantly adverb | /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/ | Used to mark a statement as having importance. |
| tremendous adjective | /tɹɪˈmɛndəs/ | Awe-inspiring; terrific. |
| countless adjective | /ˈkaʊntləs/ | Synonym of uncountable. |
| integrate verb | /ˈɪn.tɪ.ɡɹeɪt/ | To include as a constituent part or functionality. |
| radically adverb | /ˈɹædɪkli/ | In a radical manner; fundamentally; very. |
| pawn noun | /ˈpɔːn/ | The most numerous chess piece, or a similar piece in a similar game. In chess, each side starts with eight; moves are only forward, and attacks are only… |
| humanism noun | /ˈhjumənɪz(ə)m/ | The study of the humanities or the liberal arts; literary (especially classical) scholarship. |
| scientifically adverb | /ˌsaɪ.ənˈtɪfɪkli/ | Using science or methods of science. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/, optimistic /ˌɒptɪˈmɪstɪk/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/
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 innovative, optimistic, reputation.
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.