Shadowing Oprah Winfrey

Summary

Oprah Winfrey tells Harvard’s graduating class that achievement needs an inner sense of purpose to withstand setbacks. She describes the difficult launch of her television network and her decision to treat that period as a chance to learn and change direction. Her account of the Angel Network connects personal calling with collective service. Throughout the address, she emphasizes authenticity, empathy and the human need to feel heard.

Key points, in order

1. The network’s early problems challenged her confidence despite decades of television success. She encourages graduates to allow disappointment, learn from mistakes and identify the next constructive step rather than let failure define them.
2. A child’s fundraising inspired Winfrey to mobilize viewers, eventually supporting education and disaster recovery. She says this work clarified her wish to use television to show what people can accomplish together.
3. She asks graduates to resist divisive public debate and have real conversations with people who disagree. Recalling thousands of interviews, she identifies a shared desire for understanding and validation.
4. Examples of people responding to loss and hardship through helping others reinforce her closing message. She urges graduates to express their fullest selves and use their opportunities to improve life for those around them.

Five useful phrases to practise

Choose a caption line to open Repeat mode. Listen, then say it after the speaker.

1. 7:11 This too shall pass.
2. 8:49 Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.
3. 9:33 And then figure out what is the next right move.
4. 12:14 Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can.
5. 20:36 We want to be understood.

Based on the video’s captions. Original video: Oprah Winfrey Harvard Commencement speech | Harvard Commencement 2013 · Harvard University.

Everyday phrases from this video

• make sure
• I would like to
• thank you for
• from time to time
• make a difference

• Level: B1–B2
• Accent: American
• Length: 29 min · 345 lines to practise
• Speed: about 133 words a minute (slower than most talks)
• Words: about 3,820; the talk asks 11 questions
• Timing: Sada measures how far behind the speaker you are on every line

What to focus on in this talk

Work through one personal example at a time before attempting the whole address.

What this talk trains

Oprah Winfrey speaks for about 29 minutes: roughly 3,820 words in 345 caption lines. The pace stays fairly even, about 133 words a minute in the first quarter and 129 in the last. Overall it is faster than 3 of the other 66 talks on Sada. Its sentences average 16.6 words, longer than the middle of the library (14.3), and 13.8% of its words fall outside the 3,000 most common English words (library middle: 12.9%). It asks 11 questions, so there is plenty of question intonation to copy. Phrases that fast speech often shortens come up again and again: “want to” (13 times) and “going to” (10 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. 2:35 I felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up

   “a lot of”: fast speech often shortens it to “a lotta”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “felt a”, “lot of” without a break between the words.

2. 8:05 Professor who as we were coming in this morning said please, Ms. Winfrey, walk decisively.

   Several commas: say it in short chunks first, then as one line. One of the quicker lines: about 174 words a minute by the caption timing, against 133 for the whole talk.

3. 17:17 So the question is what are we going to do about it.

   “going to”: fast speech often shortens it to “gonna” when a verb follows. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “question is”, “what are”, “about it” without a break between the words.

4. 21:39 Did what I say mean anything to you?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it. Linking: say “what I”, “mean anything” without a break between the words.

Words that keep coming up

Words outside the 3,000 most common English words that Oprah Winfrey 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.

• angel ×7
• shower ×5
• pushing ×4
• amputee ×4
• blessed ×3
• personality ×3
• flop ×3
• stumble ×3

How the pace changes through the talk

The fastest minute starts at 3:19 (about 174 words a minute): practise that minute once the rest feels easy. The slowest starts at 0:05 (about 91): 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. 0:05 OPRAH WINFREY: Oh my goodness!
2. 0:09 I'm at Harvard!
3. 0:14 Wow.
4. 0:16 To President Faust, my fellow honorands, Carl,
5. 0:21 that was so beautiful-- thank you so much-- and James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson, Harvard faculty
6. 0:28 with a special bow to my friend Dr. Henry Louis Gates.

How to practise this talk

1. Warm up on the slowest minute (from 0:05) or on the opening lines above.
2. Then take the chosen lines above one at a time: a shortened phrase, linked words, a line said in chunks, a quick line, a question.
3. On each line, press Record and say it after Oprah Winfrey (Repeat) or along with them (Shadow), then open Compare and go again until every word is green.
4. Save the fastest minute (from 3:19, about 174 words a minute) for last.
5. At one minute a day you finish the whole talk in about 29 days, and Sada shows your first try against your latest.

More talks to practise

• Oprah Winfrey — Stanford Commencement Address (2008) (B1 · 147 words a minute · same speaker)
• Matt Walker — Sleep Is Your Superpower (B1–B2 · 139 words a minute · same level)
• Kelly McGonigal — How to Make Stress Your Friend (B1–B2 · 143 words a minute · same level)
• Brené Brown — Brené Brown on Empathy (B2 · 132 words a minute · same accent)

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