Shadowing Practice: Why I Love Writing by Hand (And Hate Computers) - Learn English Speaking with Video

I've been trying to write a book lately and I've been using my laptop to do it, but I've run into a bit of a problem.

The words just don't seem to be flowing, and I'm just struggling more than I really ever have.

So I decided that I was going to try something different, something new, or really something kind of old.

I am going to write the first draft of this book, and maybe the second draft or the third draft, by hand, using a pencil and a notebook.

Our laptops or our computers, they are our defaults.

They are the things that we choose when we're not even thinking.

And I think if we want to be intentional about how we live, including how we write, but also how we read or how we study or how we spend our recreation time,

any of that, we can't just let technology be a default.

One of my favorite living writers is Wendell Berry.

He's a poet, he's an essayist, and a novelist.

He's also a farmer who lives in Kentucky.

I highly recommend this volume, The World Ending Fire.

It's a collection of his essays.

I think every essay in this is quite good.

The essay I want to talk about is from the late 80s, and it's called Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer.

In it, Berry explains why he continues to write all of his essays, his novels, his poetry, using a simple pencil and paper.

And Berry is clearly my inspiration in what I'm doing right now.

Barry argues that simply put, there aren't that many advantages to a computer and using a pencil

or a pen and paper has been good enough for the greatest novelist, the greatest essayist, the greatest poets who have ever lived.

The essay is very short and I highly recommend that you read it, but if you wanted the summary of it, well you could look to the end of it where Barry gives nine rules for choosing whether

or not you're going to adopt a new piece of technology.

He writes that the new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.

It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.

It should use less energy than the one it replaces.

If possible, it should use some form of solar energy as of that of the body.

It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.

It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.

It should come from a small privately owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair.

It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists.

And this includes family and community relations.

If we were following Wendell Berry's rules, we would all throw away our computers right away.

And it would be unrealistic to say that that's what we ought to do.

So even if it's maybe a little too late for us to decide whether or not we're going to buy computers,

we could be thinking about how we choose to incorporate those pieces of technology into our lives.

So let's look at that last rule, that a new piece of technology should not disrupt something that already exists that is good.

It's not just that a pencil and paper are perfectly fine for writing.

What I realized, I think, is that actually trying to write on your computer is disruptive, and it's disruptive of the actual act of writing.

And there's a couple of ways we can explain that.

One is I actually think

that I am capable of typing faster than I'm capable of writing

and it seems that the ability at

which I can write on a page is pretty much the exact pace

that I need if I want to write half decent prose.

If I'm typing it just comes out way too fast.

Also when you're on a laptop you have this kind of tendency to want to edit as you go

because you can just go back and delete something.

You can copy and paste.

You can look at spell check or check your grammar

and yet I found that when I want to write well like when I was writing my dissertation, I really had to put a gap between what I was doing in the writing phase,

where I just needed to get my ideas out on the page, and what I was doing in the editing phase.

And I needed to actually put time in between there.

And I admit that some of my preference for writing by hand might be driven by a kind of romanticism.

I like the image of sitting at the coffee shop, sipping on your coffee, writing slowly, thinking about the world.

But I do think that there are these practical benefits.

I think it can actually help you with your writing since I switched over to writing by hand I found

that the words are just kind of pouring out of me in a way

that they weren't

when I was trying to type the book it's just much easier for me to produce

and to get those ideas out

when I was typing my book on my laptop I was just floundering

but there's another connection and for that I think we should talk a little bit about the poet Rilke.

Rilke wrote these famous letters called letters to a young poet it's a collection of letters.

He wrote 10 letters to a younger poet, often giving him advice about art and also about spirituality.

And one of the key takeaways in Rilke's letters is that a poet or a writer, or just I would say a thoughtful intellectual person, needs a kind of solitude.

Rilke writes it like this, what is necessary after all is only this solitude, vast inner solitude, to walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours.

That is what you must be able to attain.

Now, that is a discipline.

It's something we actually have to cultivate.

We have to learn to be okay with solitude and we have to learn to be comfortable there.

But we also need to set up our exterior conditions so that we're able to enter into that place of solitude.

You have to be incredibly disciplined to not be distracted by all the things that your laptop offers.

You could always check your email.

You could always check your analytics if you're like me.

You could always check YouTube.

And there are ways around that, and you can block sites and things like that.

I figured that actually the easiest thing to do was to just cut it off at its source, and it was to stop using the laptop for my writing anyways.

Now, none of this actually should stop with writing.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I should just put the laptop away, put the phone away too, as much as I can.

I've actually now designated a place in my apartment where I will keep my laptop

and phone during the day so that if I don't need it, I'm not around it.

And that way I can focus on the things that really matter to me.

Now I can kind of hear this criticism.

I can hear people saying, well, you're going to have to use a computer anyways if you're writing a book.

eventually you're going to have to type it up

and you're going to have to edit it

and you're going to have to send it to an agent or a publishing house or something.

You can't just send them a notebook.

And you're absolutely right.

My position is not that we should just get rid of computers completely.

I think we already are in a little too deep.

We have computers and we should use them as best we can.

When I've written my first draft, my second draft, when I feel comfortable with the finished product, I'll type up the whole thing.

That will actually probably be a useful process for me because it'll give me a final chance to edit it.

I'll be able to see it in a different context, see it on the screen, typed out in something that isn't just my own handwriting.

Maybe you could make an argument that ultimately it is more efficient to just learn, to be disciplined, and to type.

But I would suggest that instead we should look at solutions to problems that just involve opting out of the problem itself.

So if your laptop is distracting you and it's making it difficult to write, you can just put it away and you can find another way to write.

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 99 sentences and 1503 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:08. The speaker talks fast, about 211 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% 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
laptop noun	/ˈlæp.tɑp/	A laptop computer.
poet noun	/ˈpoʊ.ət/	A person who writes poems.
essay noun	/ˈɛs.eɪ/	A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.
edit verb	/ˈɛdɪt/	To change a text, or a document.
pencil noun	/ˈpɛnsəl/	A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.
discipline noun	/ˈdɪsəplɪn/	A controlled behaviour; self-control.
default noun	/dɪˈfɔlt/	The condition of failing to meet an obligation.
anyways adverb	/ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/	Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
notebook noun	/ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/	A book (physical or digital) in which notes or memoranda are written.
distract verb	/dɪˈstɹækt/	To divert the attention of.
novelist noun	/ˈnɑvəlɪst/	An author of novels.
disrupt verb	/dɪsˈɹʌpt/	To throw into confusion or disorder.
vast adjective	/væst/	Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
practical adjective	/ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/	Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.
argue verb	/ˈɑɹ.ɡju/	To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
throw away verb		To discard (trash, garbage, or the like), to toss out, to put in the trash.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, recreation /ɹiːkɹiˈeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, intellectual /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/, recreation /ɹiːkɹiˈeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

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

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	I've run · has been · I've actually now designated
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	might be driven · be distracted · be disciplined

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 →

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