Luyện nói tiếng Anh bằng Shadowing qua video: My January Books

Hey guys, I wanted to talk about all the books I read and listened to in the month of January.

So I started off the month with Ripe by Sarah Rose Edder.

One of my reading resolutions for 2025 was to kind of stray away from classic literature

and read more modern releases and that is why I decided to start the year with this one.

I would say this book largely but not totally centers around disillusionment, that modern disillusionment.

It reminded me a lot of The New Me by Halle Butler because both deal with that bitterness that comes with disillusionment.

They also both take place in workplaces, although the main character here I think is less unlikable than the one in The New Me.

Her name is Cassie, she's in her 30s, and she's just landed a job working in Silicon Valley in tech.

Cassie has dealt with depression, feelings of dread, and anxiety nearly her whole life.

She says she's been born with a black hole that's followed her around since.

Literally, there's a black hole hovering above her head.

At first, I thought Cassie was dealing with some imposter syndrome at work, but as I got to know her more, I didn't really see that as the case.

Even though she constantly doubts herself and she doesn't think she's right for the job, when the moment actually comes for her to deliver, she does.

It's almost like she dissociates and becomes this hard -working, titan tech machine.

However, that version of her who is willing to work herself into the ground, do morally questionable things, she feels that is not the real her.

In fact, it's making her miserable.

But she feels that she has to dissociate in order to survive in the workplace.

And yes, she is making a lot of money from this job

but she's also working somewhere where the rent is very high

in fact she says on page 103 the way wild amounts of wealth brush up against extreme poverty

and displacement here is like nothing i've ever seen i'm somewhere

in the middle neither wealthy nor displaced just suspended in the air writhing having our little panic attacks

when she's not this hard -working titan trying to make a

living just trying to get by she's with her black hole over

and over in the novel you see her try to connect

with other people in her life such is her mother and her father.

She says that from a young age, her mother has continuously stung her like a bee.

She tries to express herself to her dad, but he feels like, what more could you want?

You've made it.

You can't come back home.

You have a job that everyone wants.

On page 20, she says, in the end, it was endless meetings, corporate pressure, profit goals.

It was nowhere near as exotic as it seemed at the dinner table.

When you're young, every part of life seems big and monumental.

Once older, you can see it for what it is.

Smaller pieces of a larger game you have no choice

but to play it's criticizing capitalism hustle culture and toxic workplaces

that have been born from this hustle culture the kind of company

that wants their workers to think of them as family

but at the same time they weaponize access to their workers livelihood we have tech ceos megalomaniacs wanting more

and more to the point of corruption

and cassie is stuck running in this corporate wheel like a hamster i finished this on january 3rd

and i can definitively say that I did like this.

However, I do still feel unsure about the way in which the book veered towards the end.

Part of me feels like there was no other way it could veer

and that there were obvious hints strewn throughout the story.

Would I recommend this book?

You know, when I shared this on my Instagram story, I got so many messages from people saying that they did not like this book at all, and I understand that.

I think it's a polarizing one.

I think if what I'm saying about this book piques your interest and you read the blurb, you like what you're reading, I would pick this one up.

I didn't dislike it.

Once I finished Ripe, I moved on to The Last Sane Woman by Hannah Regal.

Reading the blurb of this one, I had really high expectations.

The story starts with our main character, Nicola, and she's visiting a feminist archive, and she tells the woman working that she wants to read about women who cannot make things.

Very interesting request.

The archivist then brings out a series of one -sided letters written by a woman named Donna.

Thus, Nicola begins to read these letters by Donna and finds that her and Donna have a lot of eerie similarities.

They're both artists who feel insecure yet protective of the art that they create.

Yeah, I didn't love this one.

I thought it was sad and that certain parts were impactful, but mostly I felt confused while reading this.

The story does alternate between Donna's voice and Nicola's voice, and most of the time I was kind of confused about who was speaking.

I'm not sure if it was the author's intention to have the two women blur into one another.

For me, it just didn't work.

And then in the latter half of the book we hear

from susan who is donna's friend she was writing the letters

to susan we never get to read susan's responses to donna

because nicola doesn't have those letters even during susan's parts i would get confused

and i think this confusion would cause my mind to drift

and then two pages would pass

and i would realize oh i have no idea what i have just read i would then go back

and reread and that was getting kind of annoying yeah it's a book about making art

and these women who struggle

because they have this desperate desire to create something in this world yet they feel

that their art is never good enough wherever they go to find inspiration invigoration they feel as

if they don't belong the inspiration is not there do i recommend this i don't think

so i also was not feeling the prose personally

and i think this is one as the years pass i'm going to totally forget after

that i moved on to she's always hungry by eliza clark I think I've now read everything

that Eliza Clark has published boy parts and penance.

I don't think Eliza Clark is a writer for everyone.

However, I do think she's doing something that is very trendy right now and I feel bad calling it trendy.

Not weird girl literature.

I would call it jaded girl literature featuring the unlikable nasty female narrator.

I don't at all mean this in a diminutive manner.

I love an unlikable female narrator.

I resonate with them.

It is trendy though because

so many books like this have been published in the last 10 years

and i don't think all of them have pulled this off

eliza clark though she does this is not gratuitous nasty writing

which i usually cannot stand anyways this is a collection of

short stories as you can guess from the title they all

center around hunger literal hunger for food also hunger to be beautiful

and loved companionship survival power there's a greedy hunger these stories are dark disgusting creepy

but some of them also make me teehee a little bit clark's writing is usually very sharp and scathing.

I think she's clever, and I would recommend these short stories if this sounds like your type of writing.

Then I listened to the first audiobook I've ever been able to finish, and that's Down the Drain by Julia Fox.

Listen, I chose this book not knowing anything about Julia Fox.

I just have seen some of her fashion photos from the street.

100

What else was there to know about her?

101

A lot.

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Julia Fox has had such a crazy life, at least crazy from my perspective, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her regale her stories.

103

She narrates essentially from childhood until today.

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Her writing feels very honest and raw, also humorous and raunchy.

105

There are also some parts that are very touching and relatable.

106

I have personally never felt or thought anything negative about Julia Fox, but I do think this book really humanizes her.

107

What is interesting is I've never been able to listen to an audiobook fully before, and I do think if I had read this book,

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I would not have enjoyed it as much as listening to Julia Fox herself narrate her story.

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There were certain parts, I remember one part in particular, where I could really hear the raw emotion in her voice

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and i think that just lended the story more power she has really been through it

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and it's iconic that she's here to tell these stories

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and she's more successful than ever i loved the last few

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lines i felt proud of her she doesn't care what anyone thinks

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because she's so firm in herself

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and i think that's very admirable then i went on to

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read the pearl by john steinbeck you guys know i love

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east of eden east of eden is one of my favorite

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books one i read i think two years ago now

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and i still think about it this pales in comparison however

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i do think it's unfair to compare this to east of

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eden in the first place even though both were written by

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steinbeck anyways this was good it's about a fisherman named kino his wife

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and his baby son one day they're out fishing

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and he comes across a pearl

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and we're talking about the pearl of pearls a giant pearl he has essentially hit the jackpot

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so they start making plans they can take their baby to

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the doctor they can send him to school they can make a better life for themselves nope no, because everyone knows about the pearl.

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There is a giant target on their back.

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While dodging all the evil people that are trying to take this pearl away from him, Kino himself kind of starts to lose it.

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All he can think about is the pearl and keeping his pearl and the injustice of other people taking it from him.

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He's relying on this pearl for his happiness.

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This read to me like a fable.

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In fact, I think the little intro of this story calls this a fable, a parable.

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Yeah, it definitely reads like a parable and the moral lesson is very obvious like you can't miss it.

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It's a short read.

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I do think if you have not read and studied this for school it is well worth the read.

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I also listened to the book This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley.

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This was recommended to me by Hannah's Reading Again on TikTok and Instagram.

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After my success with Down the Drain I wanted to try more memoir audiobooks.

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I think it's just nice hearing people's own voice as they read their own story

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but I actually wish I had read this one.

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I listen to audiobooks when I'm doing other things like walking

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or driving or cleaning and there were so many moments

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when listening to this where i desperately wanted to underline

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or highlight something that she had just said i couldn't

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so i would try to memorize that part

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so i could google it later

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if you are interested in this book i recommend buying a

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physical copy this book is not about one thing i would call it

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contemplations spirituality and selfhood first and foremost also self -esteem belonging largely the African -American identity and like calling in life.

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She quotes Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, and James Baldwin quite a lot and gives context to those quotes.

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I really liked those parts actually.

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I did feel that the book had a very loose flow and that she was jumping from topic to topic.

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I'm not sure if that's because I listened to it however I do think that it worked here.

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Her writing is very poetic and vulnerable.

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In one of my reading vlogs I did quote a section I liked which I'll put on the screen here.

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Yeah mostly I would say

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if you're interested in reading a book about spirituality as related to selfhood

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and identity i would highly recommend this i am not particularly

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spiritual myself however i still did enjoy this the last book

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i i guess consumed in january was stay true by hua shu

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and this is also one i listened to it was pretty

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short i think i finished it in about three days

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and i don't feel like i listened to it for very long during those three days okay

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so just like this here flashed down the drain this memoir is about selfhood and being true to yourself.

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As you can guess by the title, it veers into other related areas such as friendship largely, Asian -American identity, politics as related to Asian -Americans,

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the marginalization of Asian -Americans and how that can be experienced so differently.

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And I would say just identity in general as a human being, that universal experience of searching for yourself and your purpose.

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And I would say the latter half of the book centers mostly around grief and trauma.

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Okay, so I do think this book is worth reading.

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I also feel that memoirs sometimes get a pass from being too criticized, because how can I cut down someone's story?

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I can't.

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I simply can't hua shu is writing about himself

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and his life in regards to a tragedy

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that deeply affected those two things and i feel deeply for

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that and i only respect it i also feel

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that i would have liked this more

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if i had read a physical copy of it i'm not sure how old hua shu was

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when he was in college but there were a lot of things he was referencing

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that i had no idea about pop culture things like music

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and i was curious i wanted to see in writing maybe they were also things

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that people from California and specifically Berkeley could relate to more.

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Another reason why I wish I had read this is because his voice sounded so eerily familiar to me.

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I feel like someone I know was narrating this in my ear.

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Yeah what I'll say is there were some elements to the writing

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that I didn't really like and there were some statements he made that kind of made me roll my eyes a bit.

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Overall though I appreciate his vulnerability in telling his story.

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I do think it's an impactful story and one

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that will deeply move a lot of people so if you're interested in reading this, I highly recommend it.

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Those were all the books I read and listened to in January.

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I also read Daughter by Claudia Day for most of the month, but I have not finished that yet.

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I've been taking my time with it.

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Same with The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.

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I feel like these two books are better read at a slower pace so I can really take them in.

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Anyways, let me know what you guys read in January, any standouts, anything you disliked.

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I'm always keen to know this.

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Video Này Dành Cho Ai?

Video này đặc biệt hữu ích cho những người học tiếng Anh ở cấp độ trung bình đến nâng cao, những người muốn cải thiện khả năng nói và phát âm của mình. Nếu bạn đang tìm kiếm cách để nâng cao kỹ năng giao tiếp của mình trong môi trường làm việc hoặc trong cuộc sống hàng ngày, video này sẽ cung cấp cho bạn những thông tin quý giá. Bên cạnh đó, nếu bạn đang cảm thấy bối rối với các khía cạnh của cuộc sống hiện đại như áp lực công việc, video cũng sẽ giúp bạn hiểu rõ hơn về những chủ đề này thông qua ngữ cảnh văn học hiện đại.

Các Từ Vựng & Thành Ngữ Đáng Chú Ý

"black hole": Lỗ đen - biểu trưng cho những cảm giác tiêu cực và áp lực tâm lý mà nhân vật chính phải đối mặt.
"imposter syndrome": Hội chứng kẻ mạo danh - cảm giác nghi ngờ bản thân và không xứng đáng với thành công của mình.
"hustle culture": Văn hóa làm việc chăm chỉ - một phong cách sống và làm việc tập trung vào sự nỗ lực không ngừng nghỉ để đạt được thành công.
"corporate pressure": Áp lực trong doanh nghiệp - áp lực phải đạt được các mục tiêu lợi nhuận và thực hiện công việc một cách hiệu quả.

Các từ vựng này không chỉ giúp bạn mở rộng vốn từ mà còn giúp bạn hiểu rõ hơn về các vấn đề xã hội hiện nay thông qua ngôn ngữ.

Cách Để Phát Âm Chuẩn

Khi xem video này, bạn sẽ nhận thấy cách phát âm rõ ràng và tự nhiên của người nói. Để đạt được phát âm tiếng Anh chuẩn, bạn có thể áp dụng một số kỹ thuật như:

Shadowing tiếng anh: Hãy lặp lại theo người nói ngay khi họ phát âm từng câu. Điều này không chỉ giúp bạn cải thiện phát âm mà còn luyện nghe nói qua video.
Nghe và nhại lại: Tạm dừng video sau mỗi câu và cố gắng nhại lại, chú ý đến ngữ điệu và nhấn âm của từ.
Ghi âm giọng nói của bạn: So sánh cách phát âm của bạn với người nói trong video để nhận diện các điểm cần cải thiện.

Thực hành thường xuyên với các phương pháp này sẽ giúp bạn tự tin hơn khi giao tiếp bằng tiếng Anh và đạt được shadow speech một cách hiệu quả hơn.

Ngữ pháp trong video

Những cấu trúc người nói dùng nhiều nhất, kèm đúng cụm từ trong video:

Cấu trúc	Trong video
Thì hiện tại hoàn thành have/has + quá khứ phân từ — việc đã xảy ra nhưng còn liên quan đến hiện tại	has dealt · i've ever seen · You've made
Câu bị động be + quá khứ phân từ — nhấn vào việc xảy ra, không phải người làm	been born · have been born · is stuck
Mệnh đề quan hệ who / which + mệnh đề — thêm thông tin về người hoặc vật	women who cannot · women who struggle

Phương Pháp Shadowing Là Gì?

Shadowing là kỹ thuật học ngôn ngữ có cơ sở khoa học, ban đầu được phát triển cho chương trình đào tạo phiên dịch viên chuyên nghiệp và được phổ biến rộng rãi bởi nhà đa ngôn ngữ học Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Nguyên lý cốt lõi đơn giản nhưng cực kỳ hiệu quả: bạn nghe tiếng Anh của người bản xứ và lặp lại to ngay lập tức — như một "cái bóng" (shadow) đuổi theo người nói với độ trễ chỉ 1–2 giây. Khác với luyện ngữ pháp hay học từ vựng bị động, Shadowing buộc não bộ và cơ miệng phải đồng thời xử lý và tái tạo ngôn ngữ thực tế. Các nghiên cứu khoa học xác nhận phương pháp này cải thiện đáng kể phát âm, ngữ điệu, nhịp điệu, nối âm, kỹ năng nghe và độ lưu loát khi nói — đặc biệt hiệu quả cho người luyện IELTS Speaking và muốn giao tiếp tiếng Anh tự nhiên như người bản ngữ.

Phương pháp shadowing: đọc hướng dẫn từng bước đầy đủ →

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Ngữ pháp trong video

Phương Pháp Shadowing Là Gì?