Pronunciation scoring isn't supported on this browser — you can still record and listen back.
ThisprogramisbroughttoyoubyStanfordUniversity.
Translating…
Turn on Record to capture your voice and get scored
Line 1/261
Summary
Steve Jobs delivers his famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, sharing three personal stories about connecting the dots, love and loss, and facing death.
Conditional perfect ("If I had never…") — used to reflect on how past choices shaped outcomes. "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces."
Past perfect for backstory — Jobs uses the past perfect to set events clearly before his main narrative. "My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption." (layered with "everything was all set" to show a prior completed state)
Inversion for emphasis ("And so I decided…" / "And yet death…") — coordinating conjunctions used at the start of sentences to create rhetorical punch, common in formal speeches. "And yet death is the destination we all share."
Imperative mood for direct advice — Jobs switches from storytelling to direct commands to create memorable takeaways. "Don't be trapped by dogma… Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."
About this video
This is Steve Jobs' legendary 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, one of the most watched speeches in history. In it, Jobs structures his talk around three deeply personal stories: how dropping out of Reed College led him to take a calligraphy class that later shaped the typography of the Macintosh computer; how being fired from Apple at 30 ultimately freed him to start NeXT and Pixar and find his wife Laurene; and how a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2004 sharpened his conviction that remembering death is the greatest tool for making bold life choices. The speech ends with the now-iconic farewell from The Whole Earth Catalog: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."
For shadowing practice, this speech is close to ideal. Jobs speaks in clear, measured American English at a deliberately slow, conversational pace — he pauses for effect and repeats key phrases (e.g., "You can't connect the dots looking forward" and "Don't settle"), which gives learners natural recovery time. His sentences are relatively short and well-formed, and his pronunciation is crisp Standard American English without heavy regional features.
This video suits B1–B2 learners who want to practise inspirational, narrative-style English. Because Jobs tells stories in the first person using both simple past and conditional structures, shadowers will absorb natural storytelling rhythm, hedging language ("I guess," "sort of like"), and the cadence of a polished public speech. Learners will also gain a rich set of figurative expressions and motivational vocabulary that appears frequently in professional and academic English.
Idioms & expressions
connect the dots — to see how separate past experiences link together to form a meaningful pattern
drop out — to leave school or college before finishing a course
drop in on — to attend something casually or informally, without being formally enrolled
have a falling out — to have a serious argument or disagreement that damages a relationship
drop the baton — to fail at a responsibility that was being handed over to you
dawn on someone — to gradually become clear or understood in someone's mind ("something slowly began to dawn on me")
get one's affairs in order — to organise important personal matters, especially when facing death
don't settle — don't accept something that is less than what you truly want or deserve
run its course — to reach a natural end after completing a full cycle or process
