Shadowing Practice: Why don't you remember being a baby? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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What's the earliest memory that you have?
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Well, I've got bad news, it's probably fake.
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According to neuroscientists, anyone who says they remember being a baby is probably lying, but they don't even know it.
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Psychologists did this experiment where they interviewed three -year -olds about real stuff.
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Zoo trips, first day of preschool, that kind of thing.
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Then they came back years later and asked those kids to recall those memories.
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By age 5, 6, or 7, they remembered 60 % or more of those early life events, But by age 8 or 9, they only remembered like 40%.
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Most of that early memory was gone, and it declines quickly from there.
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So you didn't forget being a baby when you were a baby.
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You forgot it in like second grade.
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Researchers from Yale put infant babies in an MRI, which is probably easier said than done.
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And they showed that a key memory area of the brain, called the hippocampus, well, it lights up when a baby locks in on, say, a photo that it's never seen before.
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So our memory is definitely running by about age 1.
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The memories get made, but something's happening to them after.
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Well, here's what we think's going on.
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During the first few years of life, that memory region of the brain is being flooded with new, growing neurons.
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This shuffles around the cells that were already there, rewiring the chain of neurons and basically breaking that old memory.
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There's research in mice that suggests that maybe those memories could still be hiding in there somewhere, they just can't be accessed test.
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See, when scientists zapped the original neurons with light in mice, some early memories came back.
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But we've never tested the same thing in humans, because it turns out to be pretty hard to recruit people to get fiber optic cables shoved in their brains.
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But why would a brain do this?
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When you're like one, you don't need to remember specific events as much as you
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need to figure out the rules for things like language or how the physical world works, so your brain focuses its energy on that.
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Still, nearly 40 % of people say that their first memory is from age 2 or younger.
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And somebody's probably going to be in the comments telling me that they definitely remember being born.
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But you probably don't.
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All this research suggests that those are almost certainly reconstructions that are pieced together from family stories and photos and later memories.
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So some version of you learned language, discovered what gravity was, and all those other things.
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But sadly, you can never meet that version of yourself.
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Follow me for more cool science videos.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 30 sentences and 442 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:19. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

  • mouse /maʊs/ (noun) — Any mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail.
  • decline /dɪˈklaɪn/ (verb) — To move downwards, to fall, to drop.
  • recall /ɹɪˈkɔl/ (verb) — To withdraw, retract (one's words etc.); to revoke (an order).
  • discover /dɪˈskʌvə/ (verb) — To find or learn something for the first time.
  • experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/ (noun) — A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of…
  • flood /flʌd/ (noun) — 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.
  • gravity /ˈɡɹævɪti/ (noun) — Of an activity such as a ceremony, a person's conduct, etc.: the quality of being deeply serious and solemn, especially in a dignified manner; seriousness…
  • scientist /ˈsaɪəntəst/ (noun) — One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research…
  • sadly /ˈsædli/ (adverb) — In a sad manner; sorrowfully.
  • fiber /ˈfaɪ.bɚ/ (noun) — A single elongated piece of a given material, roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibers to form thread.
  • infant /ˈɪn.fənt/ (noun) — A very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age after birth, needing almost constant care and attention.
  • reconstruction /ˌɹiːkənˈstɹʌkʃən/ (noun) — The action of reconstructing something, not necessarily to the earlier state.
  • researcher /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ (noun) — One who researches.
  • recruit /ɹɪˈkɹut/ (verb) — To enroll or enlist new members or potential employees on behalf of an employer, organization, sports team, the military, etc.
  • psychologist /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/ (noun) — An expert in the field of psychology.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

  • come back (verb) — To return to a place.
  • figure out (verb) — To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
  • go on /ˈɡoʊˌɒn/ (verb) — To continue in extent.
  • light up (verb) — To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, can't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reconstruction /ˌɹiːkənˈstɹʌkʃən/, shove /ʃʌv/, shuffle /ˈʃʌfəl/
  • Long words — get the stress right: experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, reconstruction /ˌɹiːkənˈstɹʌkʃən/, psychologist /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/, hippocampus /ˌhɪpə(ʊ)ˈkæm.pəs/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like mouse, decline, recall.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itbeing flooded · can't be accessed · being born
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thinganyone who says · MRI, which is

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →