Shadowing Practice: The Jesus paradox | Yuval Noah Harari - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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The biggest misconception about information is that information is truth.
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And information isn't truth.
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Most information is not truth.
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The truth is a very rare and costly and expensive type of information.
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If you want truth, you need to invest a lot in getting it.
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I'll give an example, a historical example.
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Let's think about images and portraits.
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What is the most common portrait in the world?
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What is the most famous face in the world?
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It is Jesus.
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Over the last 2,000 years, people have created billions and billions of portraits of Jesus,
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and they are hung in countless churches and cathedrals and private homes and so forth,
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and not a single one of them is an authentic depiction of Jesus.
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They are all, 100% of them, are fictional depictions, because we have no idea how Jesus looked like.
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There is not a single portrait made during his lifetime.
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There is not a single sentence in the Bible that tells us whether he was fat or thin, tall or short, black hair, blonde hair, nothing.
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So all these images, they're fiction.
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And it's very easy to create fictional information.
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You don't need to research anything.
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You don't need evidence.
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You just come up with something and draw it.
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If you want to paint a truthful picture of anything, of a person, of an economy,
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of a war, you need to invest a lot of time
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and effort and money to research to make sure that you get it right.
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If we just flood the world with information and expect the truth to float up, it will not, it will sink.
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The more we flood the world with information,
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unless we make the effort to construct institutions that invest in truth,
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we will be flooded by fiction and illusion and delusion and junk information.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 28 sentences and 302 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:06. The speaker talks at a steady 143 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 |
|---|---|---|
| portrait noun | /ˈpɔɹtɹət/ | A painting or other picture of a person, especially the head and shoulders. |
| flood noun | /flʌd/ | An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water. |
| invest verb | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. |
| fiction noun | /ˈfɪkʃən/ | Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose. |
| fictional adjective | /ˈfɪkʃənəl/ | Invented, as opposed to real. |
| thin adjective | /ˈθɪn/ | Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. |
| institution noun | /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/ | A long-established organization or type of organization, particularly one involved with education, public service, or charity work. |
| lifetime noun | /ˈlaɪf.taɪm/ | The duration of the life of someone or something. |
| sink verb | /ˈsɪŋk/ | To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. |
| authentic adjective | /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/ | Of the same origin as claimed; genuine. |
| junk noun | /d͡ʒʌŋk/ | Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items. |
| cathedral noun | /kəˈθiːdɹəl/ | The principal church serving as the office (and some as place of residence) of an archdiocese's/a diocese's archbishop/bishop which is symbolized by an… |
| construct verb | /ˈkɑn.stɹʌkt/ | To build or form (something) by assembling parts. |
| countless adjective | /ˈkaʊntləs/ | Synonym of uncountable. |
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, cathedral /kəˈθiːdɹəl/, truthful /ˈtɹuːθ.f(ə)l/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, fictional /ˈfɪkʃənəl/, institution /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/, illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, depiction /dɪˈpɪkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: institution /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/, misconception /ˌmɪs.kənˈsɛp.ʃən/
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 portrait, flood, invest.
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.