Shadowing Practice: Understand FAST English Conversation - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Can you understand fast English conversations?

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Can you understand fast English conversations?

Do you know if your listening skills are beginner, intermediate, or advanced?

Have you ever turned on an English TV show and after a few minutes,

you thought, wait, what are they saying?

They speak so quickly, words blend together,

and suddenly you're feeling completely lost.

Well, never fear.

I am here to help you.

Today, we are going to test your listening skills with some real English speakers.

And I will show you exactly how you can understand fast English conversations easier.

Let's do it.

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

And for over the past 10 years,

I have been teaching real life English here on my YouTube channel now to more than 7 million of you.

I can't believe it.

Thank you for learning English with me.

And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet that includes everything you're going to learn today,

plus a special bonus.

Inside this free worksheet, you will have access to a bonus 15 minutes of today's real life conversation

so that you can continue to test your listening skills.

See if you can actually understand fast English conversations.

How can you get this free worksheet plus bonus listening conversation?

All you need to do is click on the link in the description,

enter your name and email address,

and voila, just like that,

it will land in your email inbox.

This is my gift to you.

So here's how today's lesson is going to work.

We are going to use my proven conversation breakdown method.

Number one, you will listen to a short clip from a real life conversation.

Number two, after the clip,

I will ask you a question to see if you understood what was said in that conversation.

And number three, I will teach you an important concept

that was used in that conversation clip so that you can understand fast conversations better.

Just a little note, if you have subtitles turned on,

turn them off right now.

I don't want you to use subtitles right this moment, not yet.

I want you to really test your listening skills.

You can do it.

All right, let's dive in.

You're about to meet my friend,

Sarah, who is a massage therapist as her job.

She is talking about a massage technique.

So listen carefully.

Are you ready?

Three, two, one.

Massaging with a stone is wonderful.

Usually they're a little bit bigger and made of basalt.

Okay.

That gray kind of color.

B-A-S-A-L-T, basalt.

Okay.

And those rocks are found in Northern California or Hawaii.

And they hold the heat beautifully,

so you can heat the rocks in water.

And so you use them as a tool up and down the back and arms and legs to

to massage and warm up the muscle.

So you're using them as a tool.

And it feels amazing to be massaged with warm rocks,

especially in cold weather.

Great work listening.

Did you catch all that?

Now I have a challenge question for you.

What phrase did she use in this sentence?

They, basalt rocks, beautifully.

I'll give you three seconds.

They hold the heat beautifully.

Here she's using the word hold to talk about carrying something or containing something.

The rocks are able to maintain their heat for a long time,

which is great for massage.

And here, this fixed phrase we can use in a couple other sentences as well.

You might say, this cup doesn't hold the heat for my coffee.

It gets cold too easily.

So maybe you want to choose something different.

Or you could say this,

if you put a lid on the pot,

it will easily hold the heat after cooking.

Here we're using this full fixed phrase, hold the heat.

Let me give you a quick example from my personal life.

The first year that I was married,

we lived in a house that did not hold the heat.

In fact, there were huge icicles that grew inside the window inside our house in the winter.

That house did not hold the heat.

All right.

Now that you have listened to the clip,

you have answered a challenge question about the clip,

and we have talked a bit about the phrase, hold the heat.

Now it's time to review the clip.

We are going to watch it one time with subtitles and one time without subtitles.

I think that final time,

you're going to understand it wonderfully.

Are you ready?

Open your listening ears.

Let's go.

Massaging with a stone is wonderful.

Usually they're a little bit bigger and made of basalt.

Okay.

That gray kind of color?

B-A-S-A-L-T, basalt.

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Okay.

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And those rocks are found in Northern California or Hawaii

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and they hold the heat beautifully so you can heat the rocks in water.

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Massaging with a stone is wonderful.

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Usually they're a little bit bigger and made of basalt.

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Okay that gray kind of color?

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B-A-S-A-L-T.

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Basalt.

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Okay.

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And those rocks are found in Northern California or Hawaii and they hold the heat beautifully.

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So you can heat the rocks in water.

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Well, great work.

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How did you do?

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This was our beginner English conversation.

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Next, we're going to take a look at an intermediate conversation.

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But before we do, I want to tell you something.

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If you enjoy this type of real English conversation lesson,

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I want to invite you to join me in the Fearless Fluency Club,

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which is just $5 for the first month if you join right now.

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You'll practice understanding fast real English speakers,

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just like Sarah and others you're about to see,

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including over 45 other speakers.

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And I will help you to break down those real life conversations in detail,

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just like we're doing today with the conversation breakdown method.

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I'll tell you a little bit more about that later,

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but if you'd like to join me now,

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you can click on the link in the description and I would love to be your teacher.

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All right.

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Are you ready to level up to the intermediate conversation?

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You're about to meet James who knows a lot about martial arts.

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I want you to listen to this conversation.

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I will ask you a conversation question,

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and then we'll break down some important details.

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Are you ready?

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Three, two, one.

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completely different styles.

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Sure, some people might think martial arts are similar,

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but they're probably a lot different.

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Right, and a lot of people think that Kung Fu is karate.

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Everybody, oh, you know karate?

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No, actually this is like Muay Thai, you know.

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So different than that.

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Right, there's always that karate thing.

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Like when they came out with the new karate kid.

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Oh, that's what everyone's familiar with.

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That wasn't even karate that he learned,

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that was Kung Fu that he was learning.

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And experts know that.

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They can pick that out.

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Exactly. So...

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Great job listening to this intermediate conversation clip with James.

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Now I have a challenge question for you.

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How did James pronounce this word?

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Did he say karate?

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Did he say karate?

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Or did he say karate?

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I want you to think about this for just a minute.

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James said karate, karate.

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That final T changed to a D sound.

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This is exceedingly typical in American English.

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When there is a T surrounded by vowel sounds,

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it's going to change into a D sound, karate.

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Let me give you a bunch of other examples so

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that you can use this yourself and you can understand this in fast conversations.

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I'll say each sentence one time and I want you to repeat it the second time with me.

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Are you ready?

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There's a little bottle of orange juice sitting on the counter.

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All right, one more time.

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There's a little bottle of orange juice sitting on the counter.

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All right, one more sentence.

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Listen to this sentence one time and then we'll practice it together.

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Later, we'll buy enough water when we get to the city.

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We have three words here.

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Later, water, city.

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All three of those words have that T in the middle,

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change to a D.

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This is a typical sound in American English.

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And once you recognize that this is used a lot,

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you'll be able to hear it when you're listening to fast English conversations.

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And I bet you'll be able to use it yourself too.

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So, let's practice our pronunciation.

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I want you to say this sentence out loud with me right now.

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Are you ready?

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Later, we'll buy enough water when we get to the city.

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Great work.

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All right.

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Now that you have listened to the clip,

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you have answered a challenge question about the clip and we have talked a bit about the phrase.

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Now it's time to review the clip.

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Are you ready?

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Open your listening ears.

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Let's go.

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Completely different styles.

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Sure, some people might think martial arts are similar,

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but there probably a lot of people think

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that kung fu is karate everybody oh you know karate

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and no actually this is like muay thai you know but

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so different there's always right there's always that karate thing completely different styles sure some people might think martial arts

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right but they're probably right and a lot of people think that kung fu is karate everybody oh Oh,

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you know karate?

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And no, actually this is like Muay Thai,

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but- So different than that.

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Right.

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There's always that karate thing.

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If you got that challenge pronunciation question correct,

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congratulations, you have an intermediate listening level,

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but are you ready to take it to the next level?

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Our final level, advanced listening skills,

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you're about to meet Bree,

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who has a specific eating style that she follows.

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She is vegan.

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You're going to hear us talk about this briefly during our conversation.

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I want you to listen carefully and then we'll talk about it together.

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Let's listen in three, two, one.

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Do you find that most of your friends are also vegans?

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Are you just attracted to people who are also vegans?

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I do have, I would say it's about 50-50,

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but most of my friends aren't even vegan.

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A lot of them are just vegetarian.

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And that just happened by circumstance with my job.

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Everybody that works at the coffee place,

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all of us are vegetarian or vegan.

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And it just happened.

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I mean, I wasn't looking for it.

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I got this job and they were,

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but no, most of the people in my close circle,

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like Heather, Liz, you guys,

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none of you guys are even vegetarian.

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Great job listening to this advanced conversation clip.

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Here is my challenge question for you.

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I asked Brie, are most of your friends vegan?

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And she said this, which phrase did she use in her sentence?

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I would say it's about,

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but most of my friends aren't even vegan.

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I want you to think about it.

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She said, I would say it's about 50,

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50, but most of my friends aren't even vegan.

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So here she's talking about 50% of her friends are vegan or vegetarian of some sort,

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but 50% are not at all.

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Not only is this phrase 50-50 an excellent vocabulary phrase,

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but it uses a pronunciation concept that we just talked about.

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Do you remember that T changing to a D?

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Fifty.

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Fifty.

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Do you hear that D at the end?

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Oftentimes when we have TY,

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it's going to sound like D,

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just like the word 50 or party.

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Fifty.

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Let me give you a little personal example using this phrase 50-50,

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sometimes my friends ask me,

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Vanessa, do more men or women watch your YouTube channel?

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And do you know what I tell them?

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Well, actually it's about 50-50.

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This means it's an even split.

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There are almost exactly the same amount of men and women who learn English with me,

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which I think is pretty cool.

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So I could say it's about 50-50.

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There are an equal number of men and women.

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But to challenge you a little bit more,

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let's take a look at a couple other numbers that use this D sound at the end.

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Let's take a look at this sentence.

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I'm going to invite 30 people to the dinner.

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30. Can you say that with me?

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30. Let's say the full sentence.

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I'm going to invite 30 people to the dinner.

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What about this sentence?

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Last week, I went to a party that had 80 people.

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Here we have two words,

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party, which I briefly mentioned before, and 80.

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Both of these words, 30 from before and 80 in this sentence,

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plus 50, all end in that dy sound.

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Let's try to this sentence together.

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I want you to use your voice, speak out loud.

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It's great to listen to me,

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but it's more important that you speak and you hear your voice.

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So try to say this sentence with me.

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Last week I went to a party that had 80 people.

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Great work.

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All right.

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Now that you have listened to the clip,

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you have answered a challenge question about the clip and we have talked a bit about the phrase.

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Now it's time to review the clip.

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Are you ready?

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Open your listening ears.

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Let's go.

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Do you find that most of your friends are also vegans?

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Are you just attracted to people who are also vegans?

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I would say it's about 50-50,

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but most of my friends aren't even vegan.

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A lot of them are just vegetarian.

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And that just happened by circumstance with my job.

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Do you find that most of your friends are also vegans?

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Are you like just attracted to people who are also vegans?

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I do have, I would say it's about 50-50,

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but most of my friends aren't even vegan.

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A lot of them are just vegetarian.

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And that just happened by circumstance with my job.

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If you got this vocabulary and pronunciation question correct from the conversation with Bri, congratulations.

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You have an advanced English listening level.

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And if you enjoyed today's lesson,

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I want to invite you to join me and thousands of other motivated English learners in the Fearless Fluency Club.

302

My student Ildiko from Hungary said, this course is fantastic.

303

I like the most that you teach us real English.

304

My student Yuko from Japan said,

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I think there is no other course which deals with the real conversations of ordinary people.

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And my student Matija said,

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the Fearless Fluency Club is just the best thing I have ever seen.

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The good part is that you teach us real English,

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which makes you the best English teacher ever.

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Oh, thank you for your kind words.

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So the Fearless Fluency Club has worked for Ildiko,

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Yuko and Matija, but can it work for you?

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Let's find out.

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I want you to meet a special guest.

315

My student Shnejana joined the Fearless Fluency Club six months ago and has joined the speaking groups within the course community.

316

Let's see if her experience is similar to yours.

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Let's watch.

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I hope very happy to learn English with you and with other wonderful kind,

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supportive people from this group.

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And yes, I wanted to introduce myself.

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My name is Snezhana and I'm from Belarus. And

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I joined this group last year on the 1st of October

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and at the end of October I started participating in Zoom meetings

324

that are organized by Phoi and Kaori and I really liked those meetings

325

because it is such a nice opportunity to talk to people

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and for the first time it took guts to step out of my comfort zone

327

and start to participate in meetings like this

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and it was a completely new experience for me to talk to people from different countries

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and yes I really appreciate this opportunity that you provide for us.

330

I think that for a long time I was studying English in a passive way because I was just memorizing some words,

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vocabulary, grammar rules, but I didn't practice it so much.

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But now I decided to try to speak more and to improve my speaking skills.

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So join me in the Fearless Fluency Club right now for a trial of only $5 for your first month.

334

Get started understanding fast English conversations and speaking real English.

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So how can you join?

336

All you need to do is click on the link in

337

the description to join me in the Fearless Fluency Club for this discounted rate for a limited time.

338

And of course, don't forget to download today's special PDF worksheet,

339

which includes all of the conversations that you saw today,

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plus a bonus 15 minutes of a conversation extended version plus a transcript

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so that you can continue to test your listening skills.

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This is the goal, to be able to understand fast English conversations.

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So how can you get this PDF worksheet?

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All you need to do is click on the link in the description,

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enter your name and email address,

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and voila, just like that,

347

the worksheet and extended listening bonus will land in your email inbox.

348

It is my gift to you.

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Well, thank you so much for learning English with me,

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and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

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Bye.

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But wait, do you want more?

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I recommend watching this video next where you will meet my neighbors and test your listening skills.

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Can you understand our fast English conversation?

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We're going to be talking about moving from the big city to the country.

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And why would someone do that?

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Well, I'll see you in that conversation to find out.

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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.

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Shadowing Practice: Understand FAST English Conversation - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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