Shadowing Practice: stop trying to categorize yourself - Learn English Speaking with Video
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80 sentences
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okay I think that's the last of them let's go oh and did I mention this video is sponsored by Surfshark
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the biggest question of my 20s undoubtedly is who am i as if that's a simple question
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just three harmless little words strung together in a way
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that will make you absolutely lose your mind
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and the older i get the more i wonder whether i've been asking the wrong question
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because whether you find an answer to it
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or not you still are yet somewhere along the way i felt like without
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that answer there also couldn't be a me instead there's just this tangled mess
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that has yet to reach its final form which is also exactly where the story goes wrong
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you see at some point i started treating my identity as something
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that must be understood by others rather than myself something
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that is straightforward and easily labeled and something that makes sense and so nowadays i exist in fragments
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there are different versions of myself that exist around different people parts of me that I've curated enough to be understood,
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that are still me, but also not, at least not fully.
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And while many things can be true at once, when it comes to who I am, I have somehow exempted myself from that rule.
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I think I've been treating my identity as though it's a niche, which might sound a little strange at first,
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but for everything that I do or try, I ask myself the same question.
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Is this it?
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Is this my thing?
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As if there's only one right answer, and that it's out there, somewhere.
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Like we're playing hide and seek and I'll know the second I lay eyes upon it.
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Except, I have laid eyes upon it countless times, it just didn't fit the description.
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In truth, I could probably give you a pretty good answer to the question of who am I.
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It would just take about 10 cardboard boxes, give or take, and quite a lot of unpacking.
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Nothing makes you realize just how much stuff you have like moving, and in my case also, how many versions of myself exist.
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I think for a long time I assumed that who I was
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and what I did had to be one coherent picture and it couldn't contradict itself in any way.
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For example, I consider myself to be a pretty outdoorsy person.
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I love being outdoors.
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I love hiking, camping, all that stuff.
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But at the same time, I am a huge homebody.
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I love being at home.
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I love being comfortable and cozy and warm and dry
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and I felt like those two things couldn't exist at the same time
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because clearly if I'm such a homebody then I just don't meet the qualifications
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or the requirements to be considered an outdoorsy person.
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Which it sounds so silly to say out loud
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but that's just kind of how my brain worked with so many different aspects of my life.
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Just assuming that if there was any form of contradiction then clearly that just wasn't who I was.
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It all just had to fit into this pre -designed box and then I would get frustrated if it didn't fit.
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It's easy to start feeling like you need to have a thing that defines who you are,
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some signal that will tell people what box to put you in because in many ways we're faced with it every day.
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It's this endless stream of niches and aesthetics and categories
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and types that's trying to figure out where you fit
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while simultaneously making you believe that wherever it places you must be it.
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There's this weird and unsettling feeling when someone thinks they know you better than you know yourself.
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In a lot of ways that happens every time we go online,
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where every tap and click and scroll is collected to figure out who you are.
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And I guess I've just had one too many instances where things were suggested to me and all I could think was,
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wait, how do you know about that?
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which is exactly where Surfshark comes in.
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Their VPN ensures that your data is encrypted and your online activity is much harder to track, while their ad blocker blocks ads and trackers,
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which means there's less data collected about you as well as fewer targeted ads.
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And aside from keeping your information private, they also help ensure that no one is stealing it.
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Whether that's through fishy emails, sketchy texts, or suspicious links, their scam checkers and web content blocker help keep your information safe
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and with one account you are covered on unlimited devices by going to surfshark .com slash ottilie
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or using code ottilie at checkout you can get an extra four months of surfshark
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you need to find a niche is a phrase i've seen
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or heard increasingly often presented to you as though it's the answer to all of your problems
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it's the way to success the way to an audience, the way to be understood, or liked, or respected.
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And apparently, in my case at least, it's also the way to find yourself.
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You might be thinking, sure, but what does moving have to do with this?
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Well, imagine I would move and only take one singular box with me, a single category of items it would all be nice
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and on theme and coherent but it would be equally ridiculous
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because being on theme has now also come at the cost
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of literally every other belonging of mine every hobby every clothing
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piece every book every slightly contradicting item would be discarded for the sake of clarity
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and i think the same thing happens when you assume that you can only be one thing.
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You discard every other part of you for the sake of fitting into some non -existent box.
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It's really just abandonment, masked as self -discovery.
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Because I don't think the answer to finding out who you are is to water yourself down enough
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that there's only one option left.
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And so as I was packing, and then unpacking, I realized that I've spent so much time trying to put a finger on who I am,
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on finding the one thing that defines me,
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when all of these different sides of me have happily been living under one roof for so many years.
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And yeah, some are contradicting, some I haven't touched in months or years, some I've forgotten and found my way back to,
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some I'll always cherish, and others I don't always love.
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but there is room for all of them and more both in my house and in myself
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thanks again to surfshark for sponsoring this video you can find the link
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and the code in my description or in the comments down below
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “stop trying to categorize yourself”. This video has 80 sentences and 1142 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:05. The speaker talks at a steady 141 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| niche noun | /nɪt͡ʃ/ | A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament. |
| sake noun | /ˈseɪ̯k/ | Cause, interest or account. |
| collect verb | /ˈkɑlɪkt/ | To gather together; amass. |
| define verb | /dɪˈfaɪn/ | To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly. |
| sponsor noun | /ˈspɒn.səː/ | A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or… |
| coherent adjective | /koʊˈhɛɹ.ənt/ | Unified; sticking together; making up a whole. |
| finger noun | /ˈfɪŋɡɚ/ | A slender jointed extremity of the human hand, (often) exclusive of the thumb, and the corresponding part, irrespective of including a thumb, in many other… |
| clothing noun | /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/ | Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to… |
| ridiculous adjective | /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/ | Deserving of ridicule; foolish, absurd. |
| discovery noun | /dɪˈskʌv.ɹi/ | Something discovered. |
| label noun | /ˈleɪ.bəl/ | A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached. |
| aspect noun | /ˈæspɛkt/ | Any specific feature, part, or element of something. |
| steal verb | /stiːl/ | To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. |
| string noun | /stɹɪŋ/ | A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together. |
| equally adverb | /ˈiːkwəli/ | In an equal manner; in equal shares or proportion; with equal and impartial justice; evenly |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | i've been asking · I've been treating · have happily been living |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is sponsored · must be understood · be understood |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've curated · have laid · I've just had |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 22 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, couldn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, aesthetics /ɛsˈθɛt.ɪks/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: suspicious /səˈspɪʃ.əs/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, cherish /ˈt͡ʃɛɹɪʃ/, contradiction /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, simultaneously /ˌsaɪmlˈteɪnɪəsli/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, undoubtedly /ʌnˈdaʊtɪdli/
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 niche, sake, collect.
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.