Shadowing Practice: Weak Yen hits everyday life in Japan | Vietnam Today - Learn English Speaking with Video

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now the bank of japan has raised its policy interest rate
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to 1 .25 percent the highest level in 31 years
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but the move has yet to reverse the yen's prolonged weakness
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now weaker yen is pushing up prices particularly for imported goods
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with the impact increasingly being felt in households across japan
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and a from our correspondent in japan has more mr and mrs kumagai run a local metalworking workshop,
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rising material costs have forced them to raise their prices.
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Their small, modern -designed knives now sell for 4 ,000 yen, around 10 percent more than a year ago.
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The couple hope to sell more products overseas and to foreign visitors, but Mrs. Kumagai worries that higher prices could become a major barrier for customers.
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We have a website and an online shop aimed at overseas customers, but sales have been difficult.
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We launched this night on Kickstarter last year, and it's attracted quite a lot of interest from abroad.
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But the price seems to be a little high for some customers.
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Japan relies almost entirely on imported iron ore.
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As the yen weakens, import costs rise, pushing up the price of raw materials for small metalworking businesses.
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At supermarkets, imported food and fruit have seen some of the sharpest price increases.
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Japan depends heavily on imports for bananas, and in July, the average price of Philippine bananas was 7 .4 % higher than a year earlier.
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More broadly, over 4 ,900 food items in Japan are set to rise in price this September,
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with an average increase of around 11 % year on year.
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The weak yen is driving up the prices of imported goods.
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This is forcing supermarkets to cut services or reduce costs to lower product prices and retain their customers.

About This Lesson

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.