Shadowing Practice: The Best Way To Spend Your Youth - Learn English Speaking with Video
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The key to your 20s is to be learning, to be constantly learning and your mind opening and learning skills.
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I want you to think in two tracks.
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I want your life to be on two tracks when you're in your 20s.
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Most people, it's either one track or it's like five tracks, okay?
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I want you to have two.
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And what do I mean by that?
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The one track person is, I got to go to law school.
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I got to make a lot of money.
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My parents are pushing me.
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I got to become a doctor.
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I got to make six figures by this time.
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I better get that job at Goldman Sachs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
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That is a person who is destined for a life of misery, quite honestly.
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Yeah, you might make a lot of money, but you're going to burn out at some point.
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It's kind of soulless.
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It's not going to get anything deep inside of you.
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You know, you don't really know what's going to end up happening.
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You will have your twenties will pass and you will have no fun, no adventures.
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You won't be learning anymore.
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It's just that one track.
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Other people have five tracks.
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I'm going to try this.
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I'm retry that.
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I'm going to go to Europe.
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I'm going to live in a band for a while.
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I'm going to start a podcast.
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I'm going to write a book.
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I'm going to do this.
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I'm going to do that.
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So I'm going to open a restaurant, et cetera.
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Great.
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Fine.
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You'll have a lots of exciting things that'll happen to you.
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And then you'll turn 30.
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You haven't really built one solid skill.
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You built a lot of five kind of half things, and it's set the pattern for your life.
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You're going to be wandering forever, forever, forever, as opposed to the one track person who's going to burn out out
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and is gonna become perhaps a drug addict or something like that.
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You're gonna become someone who has no discipline, who just keeps going from this, that, the other thing.
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And that'll be your pattern.
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It won't be a very satisfying life.
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Today's video is in collaboration with Babbel, the premier language learning app in the world, the best app that is out there.
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Now, I personally have learned four foreign languages in my life, Italian, French, German, and Spanish, and I want to learn others.
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And I can't emphasize enough to me and to everyone the importance of learning a language.
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Learning a language requires a fair amount of discipline, which is something we all need more of in life, gives you confidence.
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So when you go to a country, you're able to start speaking to people in French or Spanish
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or Chinese or whatever language it's a lot of fun
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and it gives you this confidence you can go on further
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and further and further babble is really great
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because it teaches you real world phrases in real time it's
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teaching you actual conversation instead of kind of academic approach to language
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So you can see by that that I've been able to keep my language sharpens.
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Extremely important, that's the kind of skill and pleasure you can have by subscribing to Babbel.
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Now Babbel has various different subscription offers, there is also a lifetime subscription, and by hitting the link below,
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you can actually get 60% off on your subscription to Babel right now.
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So thank you very much and now back to the video.
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The two track mind, the two track 20s is the source of power.
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What do I mean by that?
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One track is you are open, you're adventurous.
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You're young, for God's sake, you need to have some fun.
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You need to be open.
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You're only in your 20s once, right?
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You want to try some different things.
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You want to have adventures.
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I did that in my 20s, not to say that I'm the paradigm for everyone out there, because a lot of things I did, I did wrong, quite honestly.
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But that was one thing I did.
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I tried everything.
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Okay.
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But the two track mind is I had focus.
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I knew that I wanted to be a writer.
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So all of the different adventures that I had kind of ended up funneling into that.
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And so although I was doing different things.
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I was developing real life skills as a writer.
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So I want you to think of your life in this sense.
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I know what I kind of want it where I want to go.
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I have a direction.
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This is what I love.
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I'm meant to be into music, etc. I meant to start my own business, etc. I love technology.
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I'm meant to be an inventor and innovator of some sort.
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You have a good solid sense of what connects to you in the idea of its sciences,
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its physical activity, its math, its music, its words, its literature, whatever that is, okay?
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Now you're able to have some room to explore things.
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So you try different forms of music out, you try different businesses out, you start this kind of business, you start that kind of business,
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you have some fun, you're having some adventures, but you're learning.
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So the key to your 20s is to be learning, to be constantly learning and your mind opening and learning skills.
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And you're going to learn skills and you're going to keep learning if you're excited by what you're study, if everything is boring, if it's just law books,
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or finance, etc, your mind will close off.
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But if you try things that are within that parameter of what you were meant to do, and you're excited by it, you're going to be developing different skills,
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you're going to create that excitement of life.
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So I want you to bring your youthful energy, your fun, your openness to life.
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And I want you to give it a little bit of discipline, a little bit of enough focus so that you're headed in these two tracks.
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Adventure, pardon my hands, adventure and developing skills.
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Those two together, that kind of attitude towards life in your 20s will be key.
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Because what I want is you wake up, you're having your 30th birthday, which will happen hopefully at some point.
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To your 30th birthday, you go, wow, I know this is what I want to do.
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I have learned so many great things.
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I've had so many great experiences that this is the book I'm going to write, that this is the business I'm going to start, that this is whatever it is.
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Okay.
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I don't care.
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But you've had these advantages.
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You've learned and you go, now I'm ready.
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Now I'm ready to take it to the next level.
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That's how I want you to approach your 20s, if that makes any sense to you.
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How to Make the Most of Your 20s (and Boost Your English Skills Along the Way)
The video shares a refreshing take on navigating your 20s—balancing ambition with growth. The speaker argues against focusing on just one goal (like chasing a high-paying job) or spreading yourself too thin (jumping between hobbies). Instead, they advocate for two tracks: building skills and exploring life. This relatable dialogue is perfect for english speaking practice, with natural pacing and everyday vocabulary.
Top 5 Phrases to Master from the Video
- "destined for a life of misery" – A vivid way to describe a future filled with unhappiness.
- "burn out" – To become exhausted from overwork or stress.
- "set the pattern" – To establish a habit that continues long-term.
- "real world phrases" – Practical language used in daily conversations.
- "in collaboration with" – Working together with another person or brand.
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video
Shadowing (or "shadow speak") is a great way to improve english pronunciation and fluency. Here's how to do it with this video:
- Listen first: Watch the video once to understand the main ideas. Focus on the speaker's tone—they sound conversational, like a friend giving advice.
- Pause and repeat: Play a 5-second clip, pause, and mimic the words. Try to match the rhythm and stress (e.g., emphasize "two tracks" to highlight the key point). Use a shadowing app if you need help slowing down the audio.
- Focus on connected speech: Notice how words link together, like "kind of soulless" (sounds like "kinda soulless"). This will make your speech sound more natural.
- Practice daily: Spend 10 minutes a day on this. Over time, you'll feel more confident using phrases like "burn out" or "real world phrases" in your own conversations.
Remember, consistency is key. Even a few minutes of shadowspeaks practice can make a big difference in your English skills. Plus, you'll learn valuable life advice while you're at it!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't really built · have learned · I've been |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who is · someone who has · discipline, which is |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is destined · were meant |
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.