Shadowing Practice: Why We Sabotage Our Own Happiness - Learn English Speaking with Video
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33 sentences
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For some of us, happiness and excitement never seem to last for very long.
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Every time we finally take pride in ourselves and develop a confidence about the future, something adverse seems to happen within a relatively short order.
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It might be something that we find ourselves actively doing that collapses our spirits, or we start to worry acutely about a matter that suddenly enters our minds,
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or an incident occurs from out of the blue that unsettles us.
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Maybe we read something online that seems mean-minded and worrying.
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Or we catch sight of ourselves in the mirror and feel repulsed.
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Or we suddenly think of something we said or did seven
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and a half years ago that may have been misinterpreted and misconstrued and start to panic.
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Or by some odd impulse that we really don't understand and so can't resist, we do something foolish and contrary to our normal values, which brings on guilt and shame.
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And as a result, we are brought back down to earth fairly sharply.
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We end up, only hours or days after the good mood began, in a familiar place of fear, anxiety and disappointment.
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It can be as if, without quite realising it, we are operating under some sort of secret law.
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Thou shalt never be exuberant.
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Thou shalt never live life too much to the full.
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Thou shalt never be too happy, thou shalt not believe in yourself, thou shalt worry a lot.
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Where might such perverse and sad edicts have come from?
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It may be the result of growing up in an environment where our flourishing was somehow deemed unwelcome and provocative.
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Had we ever been too conspicuously happy, we might have upset a parent who was battling a sense of despair
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or resignation and was furious at the deprivations they had once had to endure.
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We may have grown up to associate a low, fearful mood with safety.
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Sadness means you don't get attacked, it doesn't provoke envy, it keeps you out of trouble.
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Whenever happiness does seem on the cards, a part of us will hence be very keen to return us to a lower altitude as soon as possible.
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To achieve our ends, there may be some favourite websites we like to go to
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that confirm that we are unattractive or strange or in danger.
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We may provoke arguments, insults or offence.
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We've got a repertoire of secret skills to wipe the smile off our own faces.
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Were any of this to ring bells, we should ask ourselves what incentives against happiness and self-satisfaction might there have been in our early lives?
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Who might we have upset with our joy?
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Was there a conflict between our flourishing and someone else's sense of well-being?
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Then we need to reassure the frightened child in us
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that the person who demanded our sadness as a price for their protection is no longer in authority over us.
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We don't have to apologise for being attractive or intelligent or gifted or within reach of stability, sanity, potency and good spirits.
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We are, whatever we once believed, allowed to live without continuous sadness and fear.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why We Sabotage Our Own Happiness”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: shalt, thou, ourselves, seem, sadness. This video has 33 sentences and 525 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:05. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| sadness noun | /ˈsædnəs/ | The state or emotion of being sad. |
| provoke verb | /pɹəˈvəʊk/ | To cause someone to become annoyed or angry. |
| flourish verb | /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/ | To thrive or grow well. |
| acutely adverb | /əˈkjuːtli/ | In an acute manner |
| conspicuously adverb | In a conspicuous manner; noticeably. | |
| deprivation noun | /ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/ | The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving. |
| exuberant adjective | /ɪɡˈzuːbəɹənt/ | Very cheery and peppy; extremely cheerful, energetic and enthusiastic. |
| frighten verb | /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/ | To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright. |
| misconstrue verb | /mɪskənˈstɹuː/ | To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand. |
| misinterpret verb | /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/ | To make an incorrect interpretation; to misunderstand. |
| perverse adjective | /pɚˈvɝs/ | Turned aside while against something, splitting off from a thing. |
| potency noun | /ˈpəʊtənsi/ | Power, authority. |
| provocative adjective | /pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/ | Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating. |
| reassure verb | /ˌɹi.əˈʃʊɹ/ | To assure anew; to restore confidence to; to free from fear or self-doubt. |
| repertoire noun | /ˈɹɛp.əɹ.twɑɹ/ | A list of dramas, operas, pieces, parts, etc., which a company or a person has rehearsed and is prepared to perform or display. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bring back verb | /ˈbɹɪŋ bæk/ | To fetch something. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
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 | have come · have been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been misinterpreted · are brought |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, can't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flourish /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/, deprivation /ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/, reassure /ˌɹi.əˈʃʊɹ/, sharply /ˈʃɑɹpli/, foolish /ˈfuː.lɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: deprivation /ˌdɛp.ɹɪˈveɪʃən/, exuberant /ɪɡˈzuːbəɹənt/, misinterpret /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/, provocative /pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/, disappointment /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/
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 sadness, provoke, flourish.
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.