Shadowing-Übung: 15-minute shadowing practice for English pronunciation | Breaking Bad - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

Are you ready to practice your intonation, pronunciation, and rhythm using the show Breaking Bad?

Who are you talking to right now?

I definitely am.

Today, you are going to channel your inner actor and you're going to practice shadowing with me with the show Breaking Bad.

We're going to shadow a scene between Walter and Skyler when Skyler asks Walter to go to the police and confess everything.

And he tells her that she has no idea what she's talking about.

And then he says the famous line, I am the one who knocks.

I am the one who knocks.

Shadowing is one of the most effective techniques to practice your expressive flow of English, pronunciation, and even grammar and vocabulary.

In a good shadowing practice, we repeat a speaker, either by echoing them, so they speak and you speak on top of them,

or by playing a line and pausing, which is what we're going to do, paying attention to one or two specific things.

In our case today, we are going to focus on pitch and rhythm.

Pitch and rhythm.

These elements are a part of prosody, which is everything about the human speech that is not the specific sounds that you use.

And it is so incredibly important to communicate a clear message, your attitude towards things, feelings, and just a clear message.

And you will see how that plays out in this scene.

If you're new to my channel, then hello, my name is Hadar.

I'm a non-native speaker of English, and I am here to help you speak English with clarity, with confidence, and with freedom.

If you like this concept of pronunciation and prosody and you want to dive deeper,

I invite you to sign up for my free masterclass where you can actually learn the core elements of speech

that are going to help you speak like a confident, clear, and expressive speaker.

It's absolutely free.

It's only one hour and it's really going to help you identify your key challenges

and help you create a clear plan for you to improve.

So if you love this video, you're going to love this masterclass and the link is in the description below.

Let's first listen to the full scene.

Walt, please, let's both of us stop trying to justify this whole thing and admit you're in danger.

who are you talking to right now who is it you

think you see do you know how much i make a year i mean even

if i told you you wouldn't believe it

do you know what would happen

if i suddenly decided to stop going into work a business big enough

that it could be listed on the nasdaq goes belly up disappears.

It ceases to exist without me.

No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to.

So let me clue you in.

I am not in danger, Skylar.

I am the danger.

A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me?

No, I am the one who knocks.

Okay.

So now I want you to summon up your inner actor and the angry, vicious part that may not be in you,

but now we'll need to bring it up to be able to imitate this scene.

Let's get started with the first line.

Now, remember, today we're focusing on pitch and rhythm.

Pitch is the frequency of your voice.

It's the note that you're playing with your voice while speaking.

You can speak in high pitch or low pitch.

high, low, high frequency, low frequency.

And usually when people speak, we actually kind of like travel across all different notes, going up the stairs and going down the stairs.

And usually words that are stressed are higher in pitch.

And also we want to focus on rhythm.

And that is when words are stressed, they are usually a little longer.

And when words are less important, they go by faster and they're going to be softer.

This is what I want you to focus on in this little speech, because you'll see how that plays out when he talks.

So let's listen to the first line.

Pay close attention to the pitch, the music of his voice.

Who are you talking to right now?

Let's play it again.

Who are you talking to right now?

Every word or even every syllable gets a different note.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

And I want you to notice that the word that has the highest pitch is the word that is most stressed.

Who are you talking to right now?

Who do you think you are?

Right?

That's the attitude.

Who are you talking to right now?

Right?

Something about the pitch, the intonation, and the quality of his voice means that there is something not genuine about it.

He's a little condescending.

Who is it you think you see?

So really try to kind of like surrender to playing music with your voice while speaking.

Who is it you think you see?

Let's listen to him in slow motion.

Who is it you think you see?

Now say it.

Now really try to go from who is it you think you see?

You might be saying it on the same note.

And now we're trying to open it up.

Who is it you think you see?

Do you know how much I make a year?

Okay, so we have a lot of peaks here.

Do you know how much I make a year?

Much make year.

Of course, we have the no at the beginning.

No, much make year, right?

Even though we might not pay attention to those small words, they're less important, they're there, we understand the message.

Do you know how much I make a year?

Try it.

Good.

I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it.

100

I mean, I mean, I mean, that phrase is very common in American English and the way it's said is usually the same.

101

Flat.

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I mean, pitch is up, stays up in the air because something else is coming up.

103

I mean, even if I told you, even if I told you,

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right, that is also a very common pattern of intonation… say it with me… even told,

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even told, even told even

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if I told you you wouldn't believe it… wouldn't believe… even told wouldn't believe… even told wouldn't believe… even

107

if I told you wouldn't believe it… even if I told you you wouldn't believe…

108

So the stressed words are higher in pitch and a little longer and everything else comes together and becomes smaller and softer.

109

By the way, if you want to learn more about intonation, pitch, rhythm, stress, connected speech and phrasing,

110

and how all of that is designed to serve the meaning and make you sound more expressive, make sure you sign up for my free masterclass

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and you're going to learn all the things you usually don't learn in school.

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Let's play it one more time.

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Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it.

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Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it.

115

Let's continue.

116

Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work?

117

Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work.

118

So here the pitch is not that varied, even though we do hear some variation there.

119

Do you know what would happen, right?

120

When people ask questions, you have that pitch lift at the beginning.

121

Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work?

122

Okay, so I'm going to play it again.

123

You're going to say it again.

124

Pay close attention to the stressed words, okay?

125

So that you'll be able to use length and a little bit of pitch to emphasize them.

126

Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work?

127

A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up.

128

A business.

129

So notice how he articulates every single sound here when people want to explain something to other people.

130

usually when they're a little angry or frustrated or they want to make a point, then all of a sudden the consonants become very strong.

131

A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ.

132

So again, a business, do it with me, big enough that it could be listed, that it could be, that it could be,

133

that it could be, that it could be listed on the NASDAQ, on the stock market, on the NASDAQ.

134

Goes belly up.

135

Goes belly up.

136

Belly up is fails or disappears.

137

Okay, it's like a very informal idiom.

138

Let's listen to it again.

139

I'm going to play it.

140

You're going to repeat it.

141

A business big enough that it could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly up. And let's continue.

142

Disappears.

143

Disappears.

144

One word, three syllables, three notes.

145

Dis-sa-pears.

146

Disappears.

147

This proves my point that in English, every syllable has a different note, slightly higher, slightly lower than the previous one.

148

You either go up the stairs or go down the stairs.

149

But the peak of the stairs, at the peak, you have the words that you want to stress.

150

You have the words that you want to stress.

151

See what I did here?

152

Let's continue.

153

It ceases to exist without me.

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It ceases to exist without me.

155

It ceases to exist without me.

156

So here, let's focus on length.

157

Ceases, exist, without.

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It ceases to exist without me.

159

I'm going to play it, and then you're going to repeat it.

160

It ceases to exist without me.

161

Now you?

162

Good.

163

Let's continue.

164

The pressure, the tension.

165

No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in.

166

No, no. You clearly don't know who you're talking to.

167

So English is legato.

168

Usually you connect words together, everything flows together, but then when something is very abrupt or you want to spell it out in a way, then you go staccato.

169

Now, as a side note, I want to tell you

170

that a lot of times non-NATO speakers of English might actually switch to speaking in a more staccato quality

171

because they want to separate the words so they sound clearer.

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In fact, that makes them sound less clear.

173

So just so you know, connecting words together is a good thing.

174

But sometimes separating them, or almost separating them, or emphasizing every single word is a way to convey something,

175

especially when you're really kind of like passionate or even angry in regards to what you want to say.

176

So let's listen to it again and then shadow it.

177

No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in.

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So you clearly don't know who you're talking to.

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do it with me you clearly don't know who you're talking to

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so let me clue you in let me share with you

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some inside information let me tell you the the secret that you probably don't know but i know

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let me clue you in clue you in i am not

183

in danger skylar i am the danger i am not in danger skylar I am the danger.

184

You can add that raspy quality to your voice.

185

I am not.

186

I'm not going to do it because I don't want to ruin my voice.

187

But if you feel comfortable doing it, you can.

188

I am not in danger, Skylar.

189

I am not in danger, Skylar.

190

Again, every syllable we hear a different I am not in danger.

191

I am the danger.

192

Usually when you have a phrase that starts with I am, you would emphasize the I.

193

I'm the danger.

194

But he wants to put emphasis on the fact on him being the danger.

195

So he stresses am.

196

I am the danger.

197

I'm going to play it again and then have you repeat it one more time.

198

I am not in danger, Skylar.

199

I am the danger.

200

Now you.

201

Good.

202

A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me?

203

A guy opens his door.

204

A guy opens his door.

205

We drop the H so we can connect it.

206

A guy opens his door.

207

Here he goes a little faster.

208

He connects all the words together.

209

and gets shot and gets shot and and small and gets shot and you think that of me

210

a guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me

211

a little faster a guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me

212

let's play it one more time and then you

213

a guy opens his door and gets shot and you think of me now you Good.

214

And one last line.

215

No. I am the one who knocks.

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No. No. Certain.

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Abrupt.

218

No. I am the one who knocks.

219

I am, again, am, am, am.

220

I am the one who knocks.

221

Okay, it's kind of like he raises his pitch and drops it.

222

I am the one who knocks.

223

Good.

224

Now let's try it again from beginning to the end.

225

I'm going to play it line by line and you will repeat it now that you know everything.

226

So get into character and let's get started.

227

Who are you talking to right now?

228

Who is it you think you see?

229

Do you know how much I make a year?

230

I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it.

231

Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work?

232

A business big enough that it could be listed on the Nasdaq goes belly up.

233

Disappears.

234

It ceases to exist without me.

235

No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in.

236

I am not in danger, Skylar.

237

I am the danger.

238

A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me?

239

Now, I am the one who knocks.

240

All right.

241

Very good.

242

You did a great job.

243

Now I need you to kind of like burn sage or something to remove all that negative energy out of you.

244

And after that, you can go and shadow Barbie and the White Lotus

245

right below all the links to other shadowing exercises or Wednesday.

246

Or you can find them below and kind of like do something a little lighter.

247

So I hope you learned something about pitch and about rhythm

248

and how they can help you communicate a message and

249

that you found it valuable just to play with your voice and your intention.

250

And if you have a specific scene from a movie or a TV show that you'd like me to shadow, let me know in the comments.

251

Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the week, and I'll see you next week in the next video.

252

Bye!

Was ist die Shadowing-Technik?

Shadowing ist eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Sprachlerntechnik, die ursprünglich für die professionelle Dolmetscherausbildung entwickelt und durch den Polyglotten Dr. Alexander Arguelles populär gemacht wurde. Die Methode ist einfach aber wirkungsvoll: Du hörst englisches Audio von Muttersprachlern und wiederholst es sofort laut — wie ein Schatten, der dem Sprecher mit nur 1–2 Sekunden Verzögerung folgt. Anders als passives Hören oder Grammatikübungen zwingt Shadowing dein Gehirn und deine Mundmuskulatur, gleichzeitig echte Sprachmuster zu verarbeiten und zu reproduzieren. Studien zeigen, dass es Aussprachegenauigkeit, Intonation, Rhythmus, verbundene Sprache, Hörverständnis und Sprechflüssigkeit signifikant verbessert — was es zu einer der effektivsten Methoden für die IELTS Speaking-Vorbereitung und reale englische Kommunikation macht.

Shadowing-Übung: 15-minute shadowing practice for English pronunciation | Breaking Bad - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

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