Shadowing-Übung: How Onions ACTUALLY Make You Cry (And How to Stop Them) - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

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Onions. We love to hate them.
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Or rather, our eyes hate that we love them so much.
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They are one of the oldest recorded vegetables in continuous use, with records dating back 4,000 years, and they’ve made their way into pretty much every culinary tradition in the world.
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As amazing as they are, they’ve got one really annoying flaw: all of the crying.
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Every time you cut into one, you can’t help but well up like you’re watching a sad dog movie.
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We actually know quite a lot about what’s happening at the chemical and biological levels to make this reaction happen.
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But a study published in October 2025 looks at the onion-crying problem from a new perspective: physics.
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They examined the droplets flung out of an onion being cut in various ways with a precisely-tuned onion guillotine.
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And the results show us there is still more to learn about how onions make us cry.
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Now before we dive into the French Revolution of onions, let’s recap the science behind the onion’s uncanny ability to bring tears to even the toughest eyes.
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There’s a chemical that gets released when you cut into an onion called syn-propanethial-S-oxide which causes the glands in your eye that produce tears to work overtime to attempt to flush the irritant of your eyes.
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The weird thing is, onions don’t contain any propanethial-S-oxide.
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Instead, they contain the ingredients for it.
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First, when you cut into the onion, your knife breaks open a lot of cell walls.
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And this is all the onion needs to introduce the enzyme alliinase to air and produce 1-propenesulfenic acid.
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That chemical then reacts further with another enzyme to make the tear-inducing propanethial-S-oxide.
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Given how long we’ve been tearing up at onions, you might be surprised at how recent some of this science is.
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We only discovered that second step, where 1-propenesulfenic acid reacts to another enzyme to make the actual tear-jerker substance, in 2002.
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Which, to me, is like 5 years ago.
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So that’s the chemistry behind the effect.
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A weird side-note: onions get their sulfur from the soil, and acid rain contains a lot of sulfur.
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So a strange consequence of the success of tackling acid rain in many urban areas is that it might actually make onions milder!
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It feels like it was worse when I was a kid.
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Maybe I’m just stronger now.
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This molecule is also pretty much unstoppable once it gets to your eyes, so the only way to truly avoid tearing up is to prevent it from reaching your eyes in the first place.
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So the chemistry and biology are pretty much solved.
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But what hasn’t been addressed yet is the physics.
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As in, we don’t know exactly how this substance travels to your eyes in order to be able to stop it.
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Enter: the onion guillotine, courtesy of a research group at Cornell University.
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They also employed high-speed cameras and an electron microscope to test which configurations of knife sharpness, angle and speed of cutting, and temperature of onion resulted in the worst onion-juice splashes.
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They found that the chemical is carried in droplets, released in an initial burst when a blade first punctures the onion’s surface, then more slowly as the blade travels through.
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In their tests, a more blunt blade applied more pressure to the membrane before breaking it, causing a bigger burst of droplets.
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And that reinforces the wisdom that you should always use a sharp knife in the kitchen.
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Keeping blades sharp also reduces the chance of injuring yourself .
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But this is another, brand new reason!
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The Cornell team also found that cutting faster caused more droplets to be released, so a cautious approach with a sharp knife might be the best way to minimize tear production.
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As for the common “hack” of putting your onions in the fridge to somehow limit their ability to hurt your tear ducts’ feelings, the researchers did not find any support for this.
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In fact, chilled onions released more droplets in their experiments.
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They thought that this might be because the onion tissues get stiffer when cold, causing them to absorb more of the knife’s pressure before breaking, then bursting with even more energy.
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There’s another solution running around out there, which is that you should put a damp towel or bowl of water near where you’re cutting.
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Given that the offending chemical is water-soluble, if you could somehow get the onion droplets to hit the water before it hits your eyes, that seems like it could work.
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It wasn’t part of the experiments in this paper, but if I’m allowed to make requests, it might make for a good follow-up!
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Our speculation, though, is that the Cornell’s team’s experiments show the droplets flying upwards, so water on the worktop can only work to mop up splashes and bounces, and wouldn’t be in a position to stop that first attack on your eyeballs.
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Outside of just stopping a common kitchen annoyance, this research has implications for food safety in general.
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Droplets sprayed from vegetables don’t only carry tear-inducing chemicals, but also potentially foodborne pathogens as well.
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So, this research suggests that a sharper knife keeps your kitchen safe in yet another way, by preventing potential pathogens from being spread around.
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Armed with the knowledge from an onion guillotine and some fancy imaging equipment, we can at least help you out if you really can’t stand that stinging feeling in your eyes.
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The best way to limit the amount of onion droplets spraying into your eyes seems to be to keep your knife sharp and to cut slowly.
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Short of investing in goggles, anyway.
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Which I have heard from prep cooks, is something they do.
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And wildly, that strategy might also keep your whole kitchen safer at the same time.

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Über diese Lektion

In dieser Lektion werden Sie die interessante Wissenschaft hinter einer der am häufigsten verwendeten Zutaten in der Küche, den Zwiebeln, erkunden. Wir werden die chemischen Prozesse behandeln, die zu den Tränen führen, wenn wir Zwiebeln schneiden, sowie einige physikalische Aspekte, die das Zwiebel-Schneide-Erlebnis beeinflussen. Diese Punkte bieten nicht nur interessante Informationen, sondern helfen Ihnen auch, Ihre Englische Aussprache verbessern zu können, während Sie komplexe, essensbezogene Vokabeln üben. So wird das Englisch sprechen üben viel effektiver und angenehmer.

Wichtige Vokabeln & Phrasen

  • Zwiebel (onion)
  • Tränen (tears)
  • chemische Reaktion (chemical reaction)
  • aufprallen (burst)
  • schneidende Klinge (cutting blade)
  • Reizstoff (irritant)
  • vermeiden (to avoid)
  • darüber hinaus (furthermore)

Übungstipps

Um von dieser Lektion maximal zu profitieren, empfehlen wir, die shadowing site zu nutzen und dem Video aufmerksam zuzuhören. Achten Sie besonders auf die Intonation und den Rhythmus der Sprecher. Versuchen Sie, die Sätze nachzusprechen, während das Video läuft. Dies wird Ihnen helfen, Ihre Englische Aussprache verbessern und Ihre Sprechfähigkeiten erheblich zu steigern. Nutzen Sie die Technik des shadow speak, indem Sie jeden Clip wiederholt abspielen, bis Sie das Gefühl haben, dass Ihre Aussprache der des Sprechers nahekommt.

Platzieren Sie sich in einem ruhigen Umfeld, wo Sie sich konzentrieren können, und wiederholen Sie die Phrasen laut. Achten Sie darauf, dass Sie klare Pausen machen und die Schwingungen der Stimme des Sprechers nachahmen. Diese Methode wird nicht nur das Englisch sprechen üben erleichtern, sondern auch Ihr Hörverständnis verbessern. Vergessen Sie nicht, mit verschiedenen Geschwindigkeiten zu experimentieren; starten Sie vielleicht langsamer und steigern Sie dann das Tempo, um Ihre Fähigkeiten noch weiter zu fördern. Eine effektive Möglichkeit, Ihre Kenntnisse zu festigen, ist es, das Gehörte in eigenen Worten zusammenzufassen. Diese Technik wird Ihnen helfen, die Informationen besser zu verinnerlichen.

Grammatik in diesem Video

Die Strukturen, die der Sprecher am häufigsten verwendet, mit den genauen Worten aus dem Video:

StrukturIm Video
Passiv be + Partizip Perfekt – wichtig ist, was geschieht, nicht wer es tutbeing cut · been addressed · is carried
Present Perfect have/has + Partizip Perfekt – eine vergangene Handlung, die jetzt noch wichtig istthey've made · hasn't been addressed · have heard

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-Technik: die vollständige Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung lesen →