Shadowing Practice: Tom Hiddleston about compassion. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Compassion actually comes from two Latin words.
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I studied Latin at university, don't ask me why.
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The first word is the word for suffering which is 'patior' a P -A -T -I -O -R, and it's pyphysipal passus, which means suffering.
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And the con part, obviously, for anyone who knows any Spanish or Italian, is with.
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compassion means suffering with so to have compassion for someone is to suffer with them.
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what they're suffering with.
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whether that's pain or grief, Oh.. addiction or Poverty or uh.. illness or even happiness.
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You can have compassion for someone's happiness, I suppose.
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Compassion makes me think, of kindness Compassion makes me think of forgiveness, of... of empathy.
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Yes, those are the things.
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Compassion, is kindness forgiveness and empathy lack of judgment.
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care.
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Concern.
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and Weirdly, I have this picture of a woman smiling.
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I don't know, that's the first thing that comes into my head.
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Compassion is about understanding.
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Thank you.
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Um...
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Compassion is without ego.
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Um...
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Thank you if that's possible for actors.
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I don't know.
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As an actor, I to have compassion as an actor.
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is to have compassion for the characters that I play.
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That's what it means to me.
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and and that whatever they're going through, Whatever there.. predicaments.
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and I have to suffer with them Um...
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I have to understand and I have to and not judge it.
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I have to be...
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forgiving of it.
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whether it's a circumstance or their true nature, To have compassion for another human being is
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To have compassion for a character is no different from having compassion for another human being.
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If you're playing a character to have compassion for them is um...
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is to play them honestly.
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And so I suppose suffering with them is to suffer There.
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arrogance.
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or their misogyny. or their insanity.
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I think that's why for example, Iago is as compelling as Ronio.
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Because within all of us, there is the capacity to be anyone or anything.
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And that's the place where compassion comes from, is that understanding that I could be like that.
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if circumstances have been different.
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There is an Iago and a Romeo within all of us, there is that lover and there is that sociopath.
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And so to play Romeo you have to have compassion for his predicament.
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He's not allowed to marry Juliet and yes, that's really infuriating.
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to the point of and rebellion and then his you know, the predicament of Act 5 where they're, you know, in the coffin together.
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and and to have compassion for Iago is to understand he He's sad.
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He's damaged, he's hurt, he's hurt by all the people in the play that he feels hurt by. And, um...
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And that extends to every script I read to look for um you know,
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to look for the possibility of who that person is in me.
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and that's compassion.
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Yeah.
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That's it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Tom Hiddleston about compassion”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: compassion, suffering, Iago, predicament, suffer. This video has 52 sentences and 484 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:58. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| compassion noun | /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/ | Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states. |
| predicament noun | /pɹɪˈdɪkəmənt/ | A definite class, state or condition. |
| circumstance noun | /ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/ | Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event. |
| empathy noun | /ˈɛmpəθi/ | Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person. |
| forgiveness noun | /fɚˈɡɪvnəs/ | The action of forgiving. |
| kindness noun | /ˈkaɪnd.nəs/ | The state of being kind. |
| compel verb | /kəmˈpɛl/ | To overpower; to subdue. |
| infuriate verb | /ɪnˈfjʊəɹieɪt/ | To make furious or mad with anger; to fill with fury. |
| misogyny noun | /mɪˈsɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.ni/ | Hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. |
| passus noun | /ˈpæsəs/ | A section of a long narrative poem; a canto |
| sociopath noun | /ˈsəʊ.si.ə(ʊ)ˌpæθ/ | A person with an antisocial personality disorder. |
| arrogance noun | /ˈæɹ.ə.ɡəns/ | The state of being arrogant; a type of extreme or foolish pride in which someone feels much superior to another. |
| insanity noun | /ɪnˈsænɪti/ | The state of being insane; madness. |
| coffin noun | /ˈkɔfɪn/ | A closed box in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial. |
| rebellion noun | /ɹɪˈbɛl.i.ən/ | Armed resistance to an established government or ruler. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You can have compassion for someone's happiness, I suppose.
- Thank you if that's possible for actors.
- That's what it means to me.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: empathy /ˈɛmpəθi/, sociopath /ˈsəʊ.si.ə(ʊ)ˌpæθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: compassion /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: predicament /pɹɪˈdɪkəmənt/, misogyny /mɪˈsɑd͡ʒ.ɪ.ni/, sociopath /ˈsəʊ.si.ə(ʊ)ˌpæθ/, insanity /ɪnˈsænɪti/, rebellion /ɹɪˈbɛl.i.ən/
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 compassion, predicament, circumstance.
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.