Shadowing Adam Grant

• Level: B2
• Accent: American
• Length: 13 min · 166 lines to practise
• Speed: about 186 words a minute (faster than most talks)
• Words: about 2,450; the talk asks 13 questions
• Timing: Sada measures how far behind the speaker you are on every line

What to focus on in this talk

Practise the descriptions of the three groups without mixing up their names.

What this talk trains

Adam Grant speaks for about 13 minutes: roughly 2,450 words in 166 caption lines. The pace stays fairly even, about 182 words a minute in the first quarter and 175 in the last. Overall it is faster than 58 of the other 66 talks on Sada. Its sentences average 16.3 words, longer than the middle of the library (14.3), and 15.3% of its words fall outside the 3,000 most common English words (library middle: 12.9%). It asks 13 questions, so there is plenty of question intonation to copy. Phrases that fast speech often shortens come up again and again: “want to” (8 times) and “a lot of” (6 times).

Lines from across the talk, and what each one trains

One line from each quarter of the talk. Press a line to open it in Sada, ready to record. “Linking” marks words that run together: a word ending in a consonant sound joins the vowel that starts the next one.

1. 1:55 But is it the most effective and productive way to live your life?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it. Linking: say “But is”, “is it”, “most effective” without a break between the words.

2. 5:25 I was going to do it anyway, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

   “going to”: fast speech often shortens it to “gonna” when a verb follows. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “it anyway”, “but I” without a break between the words.

3. 8:35 More often, people are like, "Great! That person can do all our work."

   Several commas: say it in short chunks first, then as one line. One of the quicker lines: about 218 words a minute by the caption timing, against 186 for the whole talk.

4. 11:51 "Can you give me the names of four people whose careers you have fundamentally improved?"

   “give me”: fast speech often shortens it to “gimme”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it.

Words that keep coming up

Words outside the 3,000 most common English words that Adam Grant uses more than once. The number is how often each is said. Look up any you don’t know, then press it to practise the line where it first comes up.

• giver ×40
• taker ×23
• matcher ×8
• disagreeable ×6
• succeed ×5
• agreeable ×5
• performers ×4
• nurse ×4

How the pace changes through the talk

The fastest minute starts at 6:48 (about 220 words a minute): practise that minute once the rest feels easy. The slowest starts at 10:20 (about 147): a good minute to warm up with.

Measured from the caption timing, so the numbers are close, not exact.

How the talk opens: press any line to practise it

1. 0:12 I want you to look around the room for a minute and try to find the most paranoid person here --
2. 0:18 And then I want you to point at that person for me.
3. 0:22 OK, don't actually do it.
4. 0:25 But, as an organizational psychologist, I spend a lot of time in workplaces, and I find paranoia everywhere.
5. 0:31 Paranoia is caused by people that I call "takers."
6. 0:33 Takers are self-serving in their interactions.

How to practise this talk

1. Warm up on the slowest minute (from 10:20) or on the opening lines above.
2. Then take the chosen lines above one at a time: a question, linked words, a shortened phrase, a line said in chunks, a quick line.
3. On each line, press Record and say it after Adam Grant (Repeat) or along with them (Shadow), then open Compare and go again until every word is green.
4. Save the fastest minute (from 6:48, about 220 words a minute) for last.
5. At one minute a day you finish the whole talk in about 13 days, and Sada shows your first try against your latest.

More talks to practise

• Adam Grant — What Frogs in Hot Water Can Teach Us About Thinking Again (B2–C1 · 173 words a minute · same speaker)
• Adam Grant — The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers (B1–B2 · 165 words a minute · same speaker)
• Elizabeth Gilbert — Your Elusive Creative Genius (B2 · 184 words a minute · same level)
• Derek Sivers — Why You Need to Fail (B2 · 189 words a minute · same level)

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