Shadowing Practice: Talk is cheap - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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So hi, hello, my sweet little angel babies.
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I hope we are doing well today.
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I heard someone say a quote the other day that I haven't heard in a very long time, and it was very inspiring.
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The quote went, talk is cheap.
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And I haven't heard that quote since I was like young, right?
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I haven't heard that since I was like 12.
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And it really is true.
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It's 100% true.
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Anyone can talk about who they want to be, but to actually become who you want to be, it's not about what you say, and it's not about what you think,
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and it's not about what your intentions are.
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It's about what your actions are.
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And I've been thinking a lot about how your actions speak louder than your words in every situation.
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If you want to know a person or know who someone is, don't listen to a fucking thing that comes out of their mouth.
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look at what they do and
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that is a complete reveal of their character how life doesn't
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care who you think you are life only responds to what
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you do meaning we can have the best of intentions in
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the world we can have like this perfect plan this perfect
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dream we can have all the desire in the world
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and all the passion to get to a place but
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if we don't put an equal amount of action and moving our ass behind these intentions, then it's complete bullshit.
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And I'm gonna kind of give an analogy in a sense.
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So you know how people say that love is both a feeling and an action.
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Like when you love another person, you obviously have warm fuzzy feelings towards them, you want to be close to them.
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But then it is also an action in the sense that you want to do things for them, you want to provide for them, you want to give them gifts, you want to give them words of affirmation.
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You want to express this feeling that you are feeling and you want to show up for them every single day.
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People who love one another, truly, they will always show up with action before they ever show up with words.
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The people I know in my life who love me the deepest, they show up with their actions more than they show up with their words.
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And that means the world to me.
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It really, really does.
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And same way, vice versa, where if I really love a person, I will show up with what I do for them
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and how I will be there for them and it even
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if I was completely silent
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and we never spoke a word to each other we would just completely understand
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that this relationship exists even without words because the action is there to show
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that we love one another it's kind of like the way
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that you love a pet where you can't talk to
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that pet you can't talk to a dog you can't talk to a cat you can't talk to a bird
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All you can do is just show up for them.
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You can feed them.
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You can take care of them.
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You can brush them.
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You can pet them.
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You can show them that you love them, even without saying a single word that they understand.
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and the way that you love another person or the way
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that you love a pet or that you love another being is the same way
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that you should show up and love yourself
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because I think it's very easy to say I love myself
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or even repeat affirmations in the mirror or journal
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and be like I love myself I'm the best I can do this everything's great
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but do your actions align with actually loving yourself
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because I think a lot of us here can think completely with every ounce of our being.
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I love myself.
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I am confident.
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I have a plan.
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I have a dream.
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Like sit here and feel that energy.
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But does that actually translate to something physical?
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Because, okay, a lot of people like to, let me talk spiritual for half a second.
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A lot of people like to talk about manifestation, where you have to have your mindset aligned with reality in
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order to have it come to fruition like you have to love yourself in order for life to be good, or you have to be happy in order for life to be good.
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Like you have to be in a high vibrational mindset in order for life to be good.
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There is also another principle of the universe that a lot of people forget, which is the law of aligned action.
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Meaning that even if you're in a shit headspace, you are the most depressed you've ever been in your life.
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You were in just a hole of shit.
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Like you were in a bad place.
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You can still change your reality by physically aligning your efforts with your desires.
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Meaning you can out-action a bad mindset.
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Meaning you can out-action a bad life.
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Meaning you can out-action your self-hatred.
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And this is the principle of life that has always worked for me.
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Because I believe in manifestation to a good degree,
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meaning like if I think about something and I'm planning something and I'm feeling something, then that energy will come into my life.
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But it doesn't always work out because I've had dreams, I've had intentions, I've had feelings,
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I've had plans of things working out in my life and they didn't work out.
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But you know what never has failed me?
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Action and getting my ass moving.
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If I've put enough action behind something, it is always worked out every single time.
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It's like every single day I made a building block and a building block and a building block and a building block.
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And then suddenly I have just a giant Lego tower of all the effort I've put in
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and no one can knock it down because I put that action into my own life.
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You can put all this intention and all this feeling and all this love behind brushing your teeth and be like, oh yeah, I'm the best at brushing my teeth.
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I love brushing my teeth.
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Brushing my teeth is the best.
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But unless you actually pick up the toothbrush and scrub your own teeth, you will never have clean teeth.
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Unless you pick up what you need to do and actually do it, intentions don't mean anything.
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Intentions are shit without action.
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Intentions are meaningless without action.
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Because action is the annotated bibliography to your life.
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You can write the best paper in the entire world, but you will get a zero on it unless you include your annotated bibliography.
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You can write the best paper in the world, but if you do not have your annotated bibliography at the end, citing every single source that you used, that paper means nothing.
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You might as well have just written that off of pure speculation, you know, or at least that's the way the English teacher is going to view that paper.
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if that's the way that life works where you can put all of this effort into something
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and you can put all this thought and all of this care
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and all of this passion but
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if you do not get your ass moving it's completely meaningless null
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and void and that's what I've been trying to hold myself accountable for
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because I've been in like a weird headspace recently I've been in kind of a low point of my life
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and I wrote down every single thing I do in a day and it's like wake up scroll on my phone, forget to eat breakfast, don't go outside,
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stay on my computer, stay inside.
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Like all these things that are known to lower your mood, lower your motivation, it's none of the things that actually are building blocks to the life that I want.
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And so I decided, let's say these are my goals, da-da-da-da-da.
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What is one step, one small tangible step I can take every day towards these things.
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And for running, it's like, I don't have to run every day, but as long as I do a workout, I eat healthy, that will get me towards that goal.
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For, you know, getting into the medical field, it is studying for my medical assistant course, it's studying, you know, biology,
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microbiology in my free time, signing up for college courses, all of these things, just taking like that one step forward.
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Even if it's just as simple as waking up a little bit earlier to get you towards those goals, or even if it's as crazy as waking up at 5am, running five miles, eating super healthy,
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going to your job, like doing all of these things.
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You need to be able to write down at the end of the day everything you did to reach your goals.
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You can't sit around and think about it.
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You actually have to fucking do it.
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Because reality only speaks one language, and that language is evidence.
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It's not intentions or potential.
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And we struggle a lot, not because we don't know what to do, but because we're not doing what we know we need to do.
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And we want the end result without going through the work.
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Like we want the confidence without the action.
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We want the certainty before we make a move or take a risk.
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We want motivation before we've even gotten started.
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It's not going to come until you do the work.
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everything that you want in life has to be earned
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and you have to pay your dues to get to
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that end it's not just going to magically appear it's going to take years
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and years and years of struggle and difficulty to get to where you want
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and how are you ever going to feel powerful
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if you've become a stranger to your own promises
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because at the end of the day your results tell a story that your words never could.
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Talk is cheap, but actions are the payday.
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Have a great day, folks.

Context & Background

The video titled "Talk is Cheap" presents a compelling reflection on the importance of actions over mere words. The speaker engages the audience through a warm and relatable tone, emphasizing that while intentions may be good, it is the actions taken that truly define a person's character. Through personal anecdotes and life lessons, the speaker highlights how love and relationships thrive not just on verbal expressions but on tangible actions. This thought-provoking dialogue serves as a reminder that developing genuine connections and self-love requires consistent and meaningful action.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

  • "Talk is cheap." – A reminder that actions are what truly matter.
  • "Actions speak louder than words." – The core message of the video emphasizing the significance of action.
  • "Show up for them." – A phrase guiding how to maintain relationships through actions.
  • "Life only responds to what you do." – An illustration of how outcomes are reflective of one’s actions, not just intentions.
  • "You can love without words." – A powerful expression of how care can be shown through actions alone.

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

To effectively improve your English speaking skills using this video, follow this structured approach:

  1. Listen Actively: Start by watching the video without subtitles to absorb the context and the speaker's tone. Pay attention to the key phrases and their emotional delivery.
  2. Use a Shadowing App: Choose a shadowing app to play segments of the video. Repeat after the speaker, mimicking their intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation.
  3. Break It Down: Focus on smaller sections of the transcript. Try shadowing 1-2 sentences at a time, ensuring clarity and accuracy in your pronunciation.
  4. Record Yourself: After shadowing, record your voice. Listen to the playback, comparing your pronunciation and fluency with the original. This practice helps identify areas for improvement.
  5. Engage with the Content: Reflect on the ideas presented in the video. Write or speak about how you plan to apply the notion that "actions speak louder than words" in your daily life, reinforcing both speaking and critical thinking skills.

This structured practice not only aids in enhancing your English speaking practice but also prepares you for exams like the IELTS speaking practice. Utilizing the principles of shadowspeak, engaging in shadow speak, and applying these insightful phrases will elevate your conversational skills and self-expression in English.

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.