Shadowing Practice: Wentworth Millerʼs complete speech - His coming out (sub eng) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Thank you.
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- Yeah.
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Um.
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Yeah.
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- First and foremost, I want to personally thank the Human Rights Campaign for the incredible work
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that they've done and the work they continue to do.
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Thank you.
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not only here in Washington State, but across the country and around the world.
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As we all know, this work is critical.
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It's life changing.
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It's life saving.
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It is my great honor and privilege to be here tonight to count myself a member of this community.
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It is also something of a surprise.
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Uh, I've had a complicated relationship with that word.
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Community.
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I've been slow to embrace it.
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I've been...
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I've been hesitant.
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you I've been doubtful.
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- For many years I could not or would not accept that there was anything in that word for someone like me.
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like connection. and support.
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Strength.
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more.
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and there are reasons for that.
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I wasn't born in this country I didn't grow up in any one particular religion.
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I have a mixed race background and I'm gay.
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Really, it's just your typical all -American boy next door.
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It has been natural to see myself as an individual.
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It's been a challenge to imagine that self as part of something larger.
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Like many of you here tonight, I grew up in what I would call survival mode.
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When you're in survival mode, your focus is on getting through the day in one piece.
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And when you're in that mode at 5,
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at 10, at 15, for words like community,
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for words like us and we.
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There's only space for I and me.
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In fact, words like us and we not only sounded foreign to me at 5 and 10 and 15, they sounded like a lie.
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Because if us and we really existed, if there was really someone out there watching and listening and caring,
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then I would have been rescued by now.
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That feeling of being singular and different and alone carried over into my twenties and into my thirties.
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When I was thirty -three, I started working on a TV show that was successful not only here in the States but also abroad, which meant over the next four years I was traveling to Asia,
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to the Middle East, to Europe, to and everywhere in between.
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And in that time, I gave thousands of interviews.
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I had multiple opportunities to speak my truth, which is that I was gay.
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But I chose not to.
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I was out privately.
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family and friends, to the people I've learned to trust over time, but professionally.
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publicly.
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I was not.
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Asked to choose between being out of integrity and out of the closet.
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I chose the former.
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I chose to lie.
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I chose to dissemble.
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you Because when I thought about the possibility of coming out, about how that might impact me and the career I'd worked so hard for, I was filled with fear.
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Fear and anger.
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and a stubborn resistance that had built up over many years.
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When I thought about that kid somewhere out there who might be inspired or moved by me, taking a stand and speaking my truth,
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my mental response was consistently: No, thank you.
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I thought, "I've spent over a decade building this career." alone Thank you by myself.
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And from a certain point of view, That's all I have.
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But now I'm supposed to put that at risk.
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to be a role model to someone I've never met, who I'm not even sure exists.
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That didn't make any sense to me.
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. That did not resonate. At the time.
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Also, like many of you here tonight, Growing up, I was a target.
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Speaking the right way Standing the right way.
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Holding your wrist.
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the right way.
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Every day was a test, and there were a thousand ways to fail.
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A thousand ways to betray yourself.
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To not live up to someone else's standard of what was acceptable, of what was normal.
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And when you failed the test, which was guaranteed, there was a price to pay.
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emotional, psychological.
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Physical.
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And like many of you, I paid that price.
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More than once, in a variety of ways.
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The first time I tried to kill myself, I was 15.
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I waited until my family went away for the weekend, and I was alone in the house, and I swallowed a bottle of pills.
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I don't remember what happened next couple of days, but I'm pretty sure come Monday morning I was on the bus back to school, pretending everything was fine.
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And when someone asked me if that was a cry for help, I say no. Because I told no one,
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"You only cry for help if you believe there's help to cry for."
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I and me can be a lonely place.
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you and it will only get you so far.
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By 2011, I'd made the decision to walk away from acting in many of the things I'd previously believed
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so important to me.
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And after I'd given up the scripts and the sets which I'd dreamed of as a child, and the resulting attention and scrutiny which I had not dreamed of as a child,
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the only thing I was left with was And it was not enough.
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In 2012, I joined a men's group called the Mankind Project.
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which is a men's group for all men, and was introduced to the still foreign and still potentially threatening concepts of us and we,
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to the idea of brotherhood, sisterhood, and community.
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And it was via that community, that I became a member and proud supporter of the Human Rights Campaign.
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and it was via this community.
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that I learned more about the persecution of my LGBT brothers and sisters in Russia.
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- Several weeks ago, when I was drafting my letter to the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, declining their invitation to attend,
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a small, nagging voice in my head insisted that no one would notice.
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that no one was watching, or listening. or caring.
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But this time, Finally, I knew that voice was wrong.
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I thought if even one person notices
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This letter in which I speak my truth and integrate my small story into a much larger and more important one
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is worth sending.
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I thought, let me be to someone else what no one was to me.
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Let me send a message to that kid.
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Maybe in America, maybe someplace far overseas, maybe somewhere deep inside.
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A kid who's being targeted at home or at school or in the streets that someone is watching and listening. and caring.
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that there is an us that there is a we and that kid or teenager or adult is loved.
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and they are not alone.
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I am deeply grateful
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to the Human Rights Campaign for giving me
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and others like me the opportunity and the platform and the imperative to tell my story.
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To continue sending that message because it needs to be sent.
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over and over again.
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until it's been heard and received and embraced.
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Not just here in Washington State, not just across the country, but around the world.
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And then back again, just in case.
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Just in case we miss someone.
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Thank you.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you'll practice English speaking skills through the powerful speech of Wentworth Miller. You'll focus on understanding complex themes of identity, community, and personal truth as expressed in his heartfelt address. By engaging with this content, you'll not only enhance your vocabulary but also develop your pronunciation and speaking fluency. This lesson is an excellent opportunity for english speaking practice as you explore the significance of community and self-acceptance in Miller's message.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Community: A group of individuals with common interests or characteristics.
- Survival mode: A state of mind focused on merely getting through difficult situations.
- Integrity: Adherence to moral and ethical principles; being honest and having strong values.
- Embrace: To accept or support something willingly or enthusiastically.
- Life-changing: Capable of causing a fundamental change in one's life.
- Rescue: To save someone from a difficult or dangerous situation.
- Truth: The quality or state of being in accordance with fact or reality.
Practice Tips
To maximize your learning from Wentworth Miller's speech, consider using a shadowing app that allows you to mimic his speech patterns. Here are some specific tips to improve your experience:
- Start Slow: Initially, listen to the speech at a slower speed to grasp the nuances of pronunciation and intonation. This will help you improve your english pronunciation more effectively.
- Repeat Aloud: As you listen, repeat Miller's words aloud immediately after he speaks. This practice helps solidify the connection between what you hear and how you articulate sounds.
- Focus on Emotion: Pay attention to the emotions behind the words. Notice how his tone shifts with different phrases, and try to replicate that emotional resonance in your practice.
- Record Yourself: Use your device to record your shadow speech and listen back. This will allow you to identify areas for improvement and track your progress over time.
With consistent practice using these techniques, you will enhance your English speaking abilities and gain confidence in your communication skills as effectively as through dedicated shadowspeaks methodology.
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 | they've done · I've had · I've been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | wasn't born · have been rescued · was filled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | truth, which is · test, which was |
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.