Shadowing Practice: Stop Living in Your Fantasies I Robert Greene - Learn English Speaking with Video
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10 sentences
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1
The problem that a lot of people have in the world today is they find all of their relief, all of their pleasure from fantasy and illusion, like video games, like entertainment,
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like all kinds of fantasies about, you know, the girls I'm going to date, the things I'm going to, adventures I'm going to have.
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And so they put all of their energy and their sense of pleasure and what is exciting in illusion, in fantasy.
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And reality is seeing something kind of ugly and boring.
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You know, well reality is I've got to work, got to make money, I'm getting older, I'm not going to be young anymore, blah blah blah.
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Reality's ugly.
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And I wanted to flip it around.
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Fantasy and illusion has its place, but it's also the place where you get lost.
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It's also the place of drugs, of addictions, of losing touch with what's really important in life.
10
And reality is extremely beautiful.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Stop Living in Your Fantasies I Robert Greene”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: blah, illusion, fantasy, reality. This video has 10 sentences and 159 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:53. The speaker talks at a natural 179 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| illusion noun | /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/ | A distortion of sensory perception where real stimuli lead to a false or misleading impression of reality. |
| ugly adjective | /ˈʌɡli/ | Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing. |
| adventure noun | /ədˈvɛn.t͡ʃə/ | A feeling of desire for new and exciting things. |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
| addiction noun | /əˈdɪkˌʃən/ | A state that is characterized by compulsive drug use or compulsive engagement in rewarding behavior, despite negative consequences. |
| bore verb | /boɹ/ | To inspire boredom in somebody. |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
| fantasy noun | /ˈfæntəsi/ | That which comes from one's imagination or the act of imagining things. |
| pleasure noun | /ˈplɛʒɚ/ | A state of being pleased or contented; gratification. |
| entertainment noun | /ˌɛn.tɚˈteɪn.mənt/ | An activity designed to give pleasure, enjoyment, diversion, amusement, or relaxation to an audience, no matter whether the audience participates passively as… |
| relief noun | /rɪˈlif/ | The removal of stress or discomfort. |
| reality noun | /ɹiˈæləti/ | The state of being actual or real; realness. |
| touch verb | /tʌt͡ʃ/ | To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. |
| drug noun | /ˈdɹʌɡ/ | A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose. |
| extremely adverb | /ɪksˈtɹimli/ | To an extreme degree. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/, pleasure /ˈplɛʒɚ/
- Long words — get the stress right: entertainment /ˌɛn.tɚˈteɪn.mənt/, reality /ɹiˈæləti/
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 illusion, ugly, adventure.
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.