Shadowing Practice: The Difference Between Want and Should - Learn English Speaking with Video
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31 sentences
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There's a huge difference between want and should.
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The place in your brain that these two things come from is like totally different.
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So let's say we're talking about the pursuit of knowledge
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or just trying to read more or just not be on your phone more.
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Is there a difference between like the feeling of I want to do more
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and the feeling of I should be doing more?
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Absolutely.
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So should comes actually from our social emotional circuitry.
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The idea of should, right?
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So I should do something is like other people will be happy.
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I should visit my grandmother more.
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I should help my friends move.
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That's the same part of our brain that gives us pride, which requires other human beings, guilt, which requires other human beings,
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shame, which requires other human beings.
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And when I don't do something that I should do, then I feel shame.
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Then I feel guilt.
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And when I do do something that I should do, then I feel pride, right?
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So that's like a completely separate part of the brain from what we call traditional wanting,
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which is more from the nucleus accumbens in our dopaminergic circuitry, right?
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So this is like, I want to eat a bag of chips, but I should eat a piece of fruit.
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We struggle with this all the time.
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So these are these two parts of our brain, both colliding.
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The interesting thing.
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So one of my favorite things working with people is, you know, when people talk about should versus want,
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one of the things they forget is how much they want to want different things
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or how much they should want different things.
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I don't know if that makes sense.
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It's like, I wish I wanted other stuff.
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I wish I wanted to be healthier more.
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By the way, I'm Dr. K, a Harvard -trained psychiatrist.
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For more, check out healthygamer .gg.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Difference Between Want and Should”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: brain, beings, requires. This video has 31 sentences and 320 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:32. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| guilt noun | /ɡɪlt/ | Responsibility for wrongdoing. |
| versus | /ˈvɝsəs/ | Against; in opposition to. |
| chip noun | /t͡ʃɪp/ | A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material. |
| grandmother noun | /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/ | A mother of someone's parent. |
| pursuit noun | /pɝˈsut/ | The act of pursuing. |
| psychiatrist noun | /ˌsaɪˈkaɪ.ə.tɹɪst/ | A medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. |
| nucleus noun | /ˈnuː.kli.əs/ | The core, central part of something, around which other elements are assembled. |
| circuitry noun | /ˈsɝkətɹi/ | A specific system of electrical circuits in a particular device; (uncountable) the design of such a system. |
| collide verb | /kəˈlaɪd/ | To impact directly, especially if violent. |
| dopaminergic adjective | /ˌdəʊ.pə.mɪˈnɜː.d͡ʒɪk/ | Containing, involving, or transmitting dopamine; involving dopamine receptor agonism. |
| shame noun | /ˈʃeɪ̯m/ | An uncomfortable or painful feeling due to recognition or consciousness of one's own impropriety or dishonor, or something being exposed that should have been… |
| pride noun | /pɹaɪd/ | A sense of one's own worth; reasonable self-esteem and satisfaction (in oneself, in one's work, one's family, etc). |
| emotional adjective | /ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/ | Of or relating to the emotions. |
| struggle noun | /ˈstɹʌɡəl/ | A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task. |
| fruit noun | /fɹut/ | A product of fertilization in a plant, specifically |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shame /ˈʃeɪ̯m/, emotional /ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: psychiatrist /ˌsaɪˈkaɪ.ə.tɹɪst/, dopaminergic /ˌdəʊ.pə.mɪˈnɜː.d͡ʒɪk/, emotional /ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/
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 guilt, versus, chip.
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.