Shadowing English with Kendall Jenner

73 Questions With Kendall Jenner (Vogue)Vogue · start from the beginning

• Video: 73 Questions With Kendall Jenner (Vogue), from the Vogue channel · watch it on YouTube
• Length: 7 min · 169 caption lines
• Speed: a typical line runs at about 175 words a minute by the caption timing
• Accent: American. A label for the variety of English, not a promise about anyone’s voice.
• Practice lines: 8 on this page, each with the exact times of its caption line

Who is Kendall Jenner?

Kendall Jenner is an American model and television personality. Her family’s reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, comes up in the video below, where Vogue asks her 73 quick questions in the home she grew up in.

Why practise with Kendall Jenner?

It is everyday spoken American English, not a speech: short questions and quick answers, jokes, lists and a few longer stories, so you practise the way people really talk. Vogue published it with human-written captions, so what you practise matches what is said, and there are 169 caption lines. A typical line runs at about 175 words a minute by the caption timing, so start with the short answers. The captions mark each change of speaker with a dash, and both the interviewer and her family speak too; the lines chosen below are her own words.

Practice lines, with what to listen for

Each line is one caption line of the video, with its time. Press a line to open it in Sada, ready to record, then read the note under it before you listen.

73 Questions With Kendall Jenner (Vogue) · Vogue

1. 0:25 - Killa, but I haven't been called that since high school.

   An answer in two parts joined by “but”. Listen for the short pause after the nickname, and whether “haven’t been called” runs together.

2. 1:42 - Drinking tons of water, and brushing my teeth.

   A list of two habits. Listen for “tons of” said quickly as one beat, and for the voice falling on “teeth”.

3. 2:01 - If I told you it wouldn't be a secret anymore.

   An “If…, it would…” sentence said as a joke. Listen for how “wouldn’t” is said, and which word carries the weight at the end.

4. 2:32 - I think Kylie, 'cause she's super sarcastic.

   A name, then a reason. Listen for “’cause”, the everyday short form of “because”, and for the stress on “sarcastic”.

5. 4:07 Ex-stepdad, does that make sense?

   A correction, then a question to check she was understood. Listen for where the voice goes on “make sense?”.

6. 5:19 - No, I like working with my family too much.

   Listen for “too much” at the end: which of the two words is stressed, and how “working with” is joined.

7. 6:26 - I'm a weirdo, I'm motivated, and I'm jet-lagged.

   Three words to describe herself, each after “I’m”. Listen for the rhythm the three parts share, and the fall on the last one.

8. 6:44 - Treat people the way you want to be treated.

   A well-known saying. Listen for “the way you want to be treated” said as one smooth group, and the stress on the two “treat” words.

What to listen for

Three things to listen for in these lines. They are prompts for your ears, not claims about how anyone sounds.

• Pauses: In “Killa, but I haven’t been called that since high school”, listen for the short break after the nickname before the rest of the answer.
• Linking: In “Drinking tons of water, and brushing my teeth”, listen for “tons of” said as one quick beat, then say it the same way.
• Stress: In “I’m a weirdo, I’m motivated, and I’m jet-lagged”, listen for the three words she leans on and the rhythm they share.

Sada compares the words it recognises in your take, and their timing, with the caption line; it does not grade accent, pitch or individual sounds. How close a take sounds is for you to judge by ear, with the two playing side by side in Compare.

How to practise with Kendall Jenner

1. Open the first line under “Practice lines” and play it two or three times before you record. This video is quick, so set the playback speed to 0.75× first and raise it later.
2. Press Record and say the line after the speaker (Repeat mode) or along with them (Shadow mode), then open Compare and play your take beside the original.
3. Read the note for that line, listen to the original once more with it in mind, and go again until Sada shows every word as recognised.
4. Move to the next line. When a few lines feel easy, say them one after another as a short passage.
5. Come back to the same lines on another day: Sada shows your first take against your latest, so you can hear the change.

Keep going

• Shadowing English with Taylor Swift
• Shadowing English with Emma Watson
• Shadow the person you want to sound like: all the people and shows
• American accent practice
• Question intonation: rising and falling
• Sentence stress: content and function words
• English pronunciation for Arabic speakers: the common problems in order
• How to sound like a native speaker
• Shadow any other captioned YouTube video
• Famous talks to shadow

Sada is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Kendall Jenner or Vogue; names identify the video only. The video plays in YouTube’s own player from its official channel, Sada keeps no copy of it, and the lines quoted are the short caption lines needed for practice.