Shadowing Practice: which country invented the most stuff? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Throughout the course of time, many nations have invented many things.

But which is the MVP?

Which one takes the cake?

Which one invented the cake?

Or the icing?

Or the candles?

Well, obviously it has to be my country, Australia.

But just in case it isn't, I decided to investigate.

So I got hold of the latest edition of 1001 Inventions That Changed the World, and went through the entire thing, and took note of every invention and every inventor,

and their country of birth.

A few inventions were not listed, so I got another book and gave it the same treatment, and then rounded it all off by looking up the most important inventions from the last few years

that were not in either book, and a website or two listing a few more inventions.

Now, several problems spring to mind in figuring out such a list.

For example, many ancient inventions are unknown as to their place of origin, and anonymous as to their inventor.

Secondly, geopolitical change.

Example, Tesla.

Nikola Tesla was ethnically a Serb, but born in what's now Croatia.

But when Croatia was part of the Austrian Empire, and he later moved to the United States and became an American citizen, should his inventions post-US citizenship be considered American?

What about before?

Naturally, a few of the countries will have some asterisks, but generally my guiding principle was the place in which the inventor was born as it corresponds to today's borders.

Now, this book deals with physical inventions, not conceptual ones.

For example, you won't find the invention of calculus or communism or didactic philosophy or even the discovery of DNA.

Things, processes, that is what we're dealing with here.

Concepts in action.

So let's see what countries produced the most concepts in action.

Right, wow.

So it took me five days but I did it and the results were very surprising.

All up I ended with 1089 inventions.

Here's a map of all the countries that have at least one invention or co-invention that I came across.

There's 66 of them.

Note, this does not mean the countries in grey never invented anything, it just means whatever they invented was not listed in the sources I examined.

Yes, I think pretty much every major invention was covered, but that doesn't mean only the countries in blue invented stuff.

Obviously, the people who made the lists are prejudiced, so let's give them a nice punch.

Okay, but seriously, with what we've got, let's check out the results.

These are the countries with one listed invention, and hey, one's better than none, and some here I thought would have more,

but in any case, I was pleasantly surprised to see Barbados make the cut.

And here's the man responsible, Alan Emtage, a computer scientist who developed the world's first internet search engine.

Now the man who put Bangladesh on our map developed, along with his team, the text-to-image AI model's stable diffusion.

But while he was born in Jordan, he is not only ethnically Bengali, but spent his childhood in Bangladesh before emigrating to the UK.

So I thought it best to include him for Bangladesh.

With Hong Kong, I decided to keep it separate from China because it is, after all, a special administrative area.

And the special fellow who put them on our inventive map is David T.

Wong, who, along with Brian Malloy and Ray Fuller, came up with the SSRI antidepressant fluoxetine or Prozac.

Now, the countries with two inventions also have a number of asterisks.

Lebanon's two are both ancient.

One, the dry dock, was by a Phoenician working in Ptolemaic Egypt.

The other is more speculative, glass.

Lebanon is one of four possible locations for the invention of man-made glass, the others being Syria, Iraq, or Egypt.

Estonia's two listed inventions were both by Germans when Estonia was part of the Russian Empire.

For Zambia, we are reliant on archaeology, but are not 100% certain.

But it's there we find in ancient times the first examples of paint and carpentry.

Here are the countries with three listed inventions.

Argentina gave us the intravascular stent, which helps doctors open blocked blood vessels in operations.

Ireland's Stafford O'Brien helped give us anodized aluminium or aluminum as they say in the US, the process by

which the metal is submerged in electrified sulfuric acid creating a nice strong rust resistant outer layer

and it's used for parts and things ranging from phones and computers to aircraft and cookware.

Israel gave us the USB flash drive and voice over IP

which facilitated vocal communication through the internet rather than a phone line.

I believe they also gave us the Uzi but that wasn't listed.

Kenya perhaps was the country to give us the most important invention of all, controlled fire, which is what got everything started.

For the ancient Greeks, fire was a gift secretly given to human beings by the titan Prometheus, for which crime he was brutally punished by the gods of Olympus.

These are the countries with four listed inventions.

Jordans are all ancient, such as granaries and plaster, and New Zealand's are all not ancient, like the jet boat, and synthetic zeolites,

by which chemical reactions can be controlled at the molecular level.

Serbia's four borrow all Nikola Tesla and yes he was born in Croatia

when it was under Austrian rule but I added him jointly with Serbia

because I remembered it's not smart to make Serbs angry.

So, Serbia, four inventions including remote communication and the AC form of electric current

which is what you and I use every single day.

South Korea could be five but one of the inventions I listed simply as Korea

because I couldn't find out whether the medieval inventor was born in the north or south.

But the other Korean inventions include the good old internet cafe

and the transistor involved in computer data being saved as opposed to being deleted when the power is off, which was a problem in early computer days.

South Africa scores five points with inventions ranging from the bow and arrow to the vaccine for yellow fever.

The other place with five points is nowhere land, the question mark.

These inventions have no certain place of origin.

This includes pliers, the lever, and bitcoin.

Ukraine has six points, most of them from the Soviet era, including the principle of the synchrotron particle accelerator.

With seven points we have Belgium, which gave us the internal combustion engine, electrical generator, the vaccine for whooping cough, and the saxophone by Adolf Sachs.

He also invented this thing.

Croatia, which gave us the torpedo, fingerprinting, and the electric speedometer.

Iran gave us the winch, the windmill, and the cable modem.

Denmark has nine points.

Its inventions include the electromagnetic discoveries of Hans Christian Örstel and an early radio transmitter and most importantly of all, LEGO.

These two countries have 10 points each.

All of Turkey's are pre-modern and most date from pre-Turkish times, with ancient Anatolians being credited with inventing woven cloth, steel, and the sword.

Syria's are also all pre-modern and and include such inventions as the dried brick and blown glass.

Now, what do we have here?

Aha!

Australia's up next.

What's our score?

200?

300 more likely.

I'll tell you what's embarrassing.

It's not even certain that we invented the boomerang.

The oldest one ever discovered was found in Poland.

But seriously, Australia's done pretty good in my opinion, especially for a country with these things all over the place.

Some of the listed Aussie inventions include the cardiac pacemaker, the black box flight recorder, and Wi-Fi.

Three countries scored 12 points.

100

Poland gave us the blender, the mercury thermometer, and the co-invention of electric arc welding, and the hydrogen bomb.

101

If that makes you feel stressed, here, have some Valium, another Polish invention.

102

Meanwhile, Austria developed the printing technique of lithography, the screw propeller, the insecticide DDT, but what does DDT stand for?

103

Oh, and the co-invention of the electron spectrometer.

104

I don't know what that is but it sounds smart.

105

And with Spain we have the first steam pump, the auto gyro, the wheelchair and the modern novel.

106

The guitar also comes from Spain but I didn't see it listed.

107

India scored 16 points with inventions ranging from the spinning wheel, chess and sewerage system in ancient times,

108

to fiber optic cables, web syndication and GMOs.

109

Though while this man was pivotal in the popularization of genetically modified organisms, they were in fact pioneered by two Americans.

110

The Netherlands racked up 17 points giving us the microscope, the telescope, the Snellen eye test, the electrocardiograph, kidney dialysis, and color night vision.

111

Sweden, 18 points, invented the padlock, safety matches, dynamite, but not safety dynamite, the blowtorch, the adjustable wrench,

112

ultra centrifuge, which could measure the weight and movement of molecules, and the three-point seat belt.

113

20 points goes to Switzerland, which gave us the Swiss army knife.

114

No, that can't be right.

115

The turbocharger, cellophane, the chainsaw, velcro, and the comic strip.

116

But all this is nothing compared to the country's greatest invention, milk chocolate.

117

20 points also goes to Greece, with many ancient inventions including the aqueduct, the crane, the catapult, the Archimedes screw,

118

the compound pulley, and modern achievements like the co-invention of artificial skin and contributions to laser eye surgery.

119

Now, Canada scored 22 points.

120

The improved radio transmitter, the square-headed screw, the mass spectrometer, the snowmobile, the ground proximity warning system, enhancing security for air travel.

121

They also invented peanut butter, but that wasn't listed anywhere.

122

23 points goes to Japan, which invented instant coffee, the inkjet printer, the bipedal robot, artificial liver, optical camouflage, and the vaccine for chicken pox.

123

No mention of anime though.

124

I wish I were a bird.

125

26 points were scored jointly by Egypt and Iraq.

126

Every single one of Egypt's inventions are from ancient times, except for one, which was a contribution to the development of the MOSFET transistor,

127

a tiny efficient electronic switch that is a fundamental building block of almost all modern digital electronics.

128

Before this, Egypt's listed inventions are from ancient times.

129

Papyrus, the sail, the chair, the saw, the umbrella, scissors and nails.

130

With Iraq, all their inventions are from pre-modern times, mostly from ancient Mesopotamia.

131

Metalworking, irrigation, the map, the rowboat, the canal, the wheel, writing, soap, the toilet, fired brick and,

132

in medieval times, the lens.

133

27 points for Russia, whose inventions range from synthetic rubber to the space station, the periodic table of the elements and the theremin, to the helicopter and the first satellite.

134

Now, with an impressive score of 40 is China, which invented pottery, the bell, ink, the rudder, silk, the crossbow, the compass, paper, the wheelbarrow,

135

gunpowder, the woodblock printer, fireworks, and, in modern times, magnetic core memory, an early type of RAM, synthetic blood developed by Thomas M.S.

136

Chang, whom the book mistakenly called Chan, IVF and the surgical robot.

137

But with 44 points is the much smaller country of Scotland.

138

The land of lochs gave the world the steam engine with separate condenser by James Watt, the threshing machine, gas lighting, the waterproof raincoat, the thermostat,

139

the steam hammer, the pneumatic tyre, chloroform anesthetic, the oil refinery, the hydraulic jack, colour photography, the telephone, time zones, the electric drill,

140

the steering wheel, television, radar, beta blockers which help manage blood pressure and aid heart issues and anxiety, and the ATM.

141

Now if you factor in Scotland's historically tiny population, its inventiveness is perhaps the most extraordinary in the world.

142

So good work Scotland, ratio wise you're the MVP.

143

Now with 46 points is Italy.

144

Its inventing spans from ancient times when it gave us glue, wick candles, ball bearings, the architectural dome and horseshoe,

145

to medieval slash renaissance times with spectacles, jeans, musical notation, the Gregorian calendar, and the anemometer to measure wind speed,

146

to early modern times with the barometer and hygrometer and the piano, to the invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta, electroplating, the other telephone guy,

147

big contributions to radio, big contributions to the nuclear reactor, and the jacuzzi.

148

Pizza was not listed however, which is ridiculous us.

149

We get a big jump now with the next country, France.

150

102 points.

151

From exceedingly ancient times, there were breakthroughs like the first known built shelter, braided rope, oil lamp, and chisel, to inventions from more documented times, such as the vernier scale,

152

centrifugal pump, metronome, steamboat, the hot air balloon, the parachute, the metric system, stethoscope, braille, photography, the airship,

153

rechargeable storage battery, pasteurization, in which harmful microorganisms are eliminated from products such as milk, barbed wire, the vaccine for cholera,

154

the vaccine for rabies, the vaccine for tuberculosis, the incubator, the septic tank, the first motion picture camera, the hairdryer, the more influential film camera,

155

the outboard motor, the slidey tube lipstick thingamajig, the anti-lock braking system, scuba diving, the radial tyre, non-stick pans,

156

computer-aided manufacturing, and the food processor.

157

Pretty good France, but Germany's up next with an impressive 115 points, the flute, the coiled spring, Gutenberg's printing press, the newspaper,

158

the magnetometer, artificial fertilizer, the Bunsen burner, the microphone, the revolving door, the motorcycle, the car or automobile,

159

the motorboat, x-ray photography, the aspirin, synthetic detergent, the coffee filter, the harbor process, which converts nitrogen to ammonia,

160

a process vital to modern fertilizers and which is responsible for feeding about half the world's population, polystyrene, the vaccine for diphtheria,

161

electron microscope, ballistic missiles, the first digital electronic computer, the co-invention of cloning, the first video game console,

162

the scanning tunneling microscope, mp3, co-invention of the driverless car, high temperature superconductor, the AI chatbot,

163

and the atom laser, which sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie.

164

Now scoring 166 points is a small green section of the earth known as England.

165

Its inventions include, and we're Starting off big here, the sandwich.

166

Hey, come on, they're good.

167

Coke-based iron smelting, in which processed coal replaced charcoal in the smelting of iron, which made iron stronger and cheaper and encouraged ramped-up production, key to the Industrial Revolution,

168

as was the atmospheric steam engine and spinning jenny, which massively increased textile production.

169

Then there was the marine chronometer, compound steam engine, powered loom, gas turbine, the corkscrew, the hydraulic press, vaccination,

170

the first being Edward Jenner's cure for smallpox which is believed to have saved more lives than anything else in human history.

171

Then there was the locomotive, the train, the light bulb, which had its beginnings in Sir Humphrey Davy's ARC lamp, canned goods, blood transfusions, the fire extinguisher,

172

the electric motor, and, by the same guy, the balloon, the lawnmower, the mechanical computer, postage stamps, standardized screw system,

173

variable resistor, the first computer program, Portland cement, the third most manufactured thing on the planet, the rubber band, the hydraulic crane,

174

the Francis turbine, trawler fishing, the Bessemer process which revolutionized steel production, celluloid, linoleum, antiseptic surgery, Vaseline,

175

the steam turbine, the safety bicycle, Meccano, the electric vacuum cleaner, indicators and electric turn signals, stainless steel, the tank, flip-flop circuits,

176

providing the foundation for modern electronics, the co-invention of animation, cat's eyes, the co-invention of the jet engine, the intraocular lens, the hovercraft,

177

the backhoe loader, the hip replacement, DNA profiling, and the World Wide Web, the system by which we can access the internet.

178

But somehow this wonderful magical source was not listed.

179

I wish I had some Worcestershire sauce.

180

I can't say Worcestershire.

181

Now, if we add England's inventions to those of Scotland and Wales for a combined total of what they in fact are, a unified country, the UK, we get a whopping 213 points.

182

But even that's not enough to beat the number one country, the country that invented the most stuff, which is...

183

Hey, what's that sound?

184

Oh no. That's right, the United States of America, who scored a mind-blowing 410 points.

185

That's over a third of all inventions.

186

Wow, incredible!

187

These inventions include, again roughly going in chronological order, the lightning rod, submersible craft, bifocals, there's Benjamin Franklin again,

188

the cotton gin, massively expanding cotton production, the submarine, the breech loader rifle, dental floss, the combine harvester,

189

the revolver, vulcanization, wherein rubber could be toughened, the grain elevator, ether anesthetic, the typewriter, ah here's a good one, the ice cream maker, morse code,

190

the passenger elevator, the machine gun, the roller coaster, the paper clip, the air brake, the cutting wheel can opener,

191

sand blasting, the phonograph, which first allowed us to hear recorded sound, the electric iron, the electric fan, the dissolvable pill, the skyscraper,

192

the dishwasher, the escalator, the ferris wheel, breakfast cereal, the powered hearing aid, radiotherapy, the zoom lens, the silencer,

193

air conditioning, windshield wipers, the plane, the tea bag, automatic transmission, the tractor, infrared photography, the liquid fuel rocket,

194

traffic lights, the pop-up toaster, micro electrodes, technicolor bringing color to films, sound in films, the bulldozer,

195

power steering, PVC, masking tape, the electric guitar, the phillips screw, the trampoline, nylon, fiberglass, surround sound,

196

night vision goggles, the bazooka, super glue, cruise control, the microwave oven, Chemotherapy The Transistor These are minuscule electronic amplifiers and switches

197

that control electricity's flow and help to launch the digital age Now you'd think that'd be enough

198

but they couldn't help themselves

199

and kept inventing stuff The Defibrillator The Supersonic Aircraft The first

200

plane to break the sound barrier The Barcode The Robot The

201

Credit Card The Airbag The Vaccine for Polio WD-40 Automatic Doors

202

The Hard Disk Drive Big Contributions to AI The Artificial Neural Network The Integrated Circuit The Laser The industrial robot.

203

The space observatory.

204

LED.

205

UAVs, drones.

206

Plasma screens.

207

The vaccine for rubella.

208

Kevlar.

209

The virtual reality headset.

210

The main book I was going by misspelled Morton as Morgan.

211

Graphical user interface.

212

LCD.

213

RAM.

214

The cochlear implant.

215

The cellular mobile phone.

216

Email.

217

The personal computer.

218

The supercomputer.

219

Okay, that's enough.

220

The word processor gene therapy, reusable spacecraft, internet protocol, MMOs, the touchpad, the Hubble Space Telescope,

221

Java computing language, USB connection, stem cell therapy, the smartphone, cloud computing, the synthetic genome,

222

the tablet computer, the artificial womb, quantum error correction breakthroughs.

223

I don't know what that means.

224

Space-based planetary defense and brain-computer interfaces, and that was just some of them.

225

I was frankly astounded to see the sheer dominance of the US from the 20th century onward.

226

Even with the inventions by non-Americans in this time frame, most of them did their work and research in the United States.

227

Why was this?

228

Well, partly the answer must be due to massive funding compared to other nations, NIH, NSF, DARPA, NASA, as well as prestigious educational facilities,

229

Ivy League colleges, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Silicon Valley.

230

While places like China, Germany, Japan, Russia, France, the UK and South Korea produce an amazing number of patents and research papers,

231

the United States still dominates in producing most of the high-impact patents, breakthroughs and discoveries.

232

For example, a person in South Korea may come up with a new type of shoelacing.

233

That's good, that's a patent, but it's not going to change the world like quantum computing or reusable orbital rockets.

234

Or will it?

235

That's it from me for now and until next time, bye bye!

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “which country invented the most stuff?”. Las palabras que más se repiten: invention, ancient, listed. Este vídeo tiene 234 frases y 3226 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 19:09. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 169 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. Solo el 71 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es exigente.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
invention sustantivo	/ɪnˈvɛnʃən/	invención, invento
invent verbo	/ɪnˈvɛnt/	inventar
vaccine sustantivo	/vækˈsin/	vacuna, linfa
inventor sustantivo	/ɪnˈvɛntɚ/	inventor, inventora
compute verbo	/kəmˈpjuːt/	computar, calcular
transistor sustantivo	/tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/	transistor
microscope sustantivo	/ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌskoʊp/	microscopio
turbine sustantivo	/ˈtɜː.baɪn/	turbina
hydraulic adjetivo	/haɪˈdɹɔːlɪk/	hidráulico
breakthrough sustantivo	/ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/	brecha
medieval adjetivo	/mɪdˈi.vəl/	medieval
lens sustantivo	/lɛnz/	lente, luneta
patent sustantivo	/ˈpeɪtənt/	patente
laser sustantivo	/ˈleɪzɚ/	láser
anesthetic sustantivo	/ˌænəsˈθɛtɪk/	anestésico

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
come up with verbo		ingeniar, ingeniarse
check out verbo		investigar, chequear
come across verbo		pasarse a
figure out verbo		averiguar, captar
find out verbo		averiguar, anoticiarse
go through verbo		atravesar
look up verbo	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	mejorar
pop up verbo		aparecerse

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

Things, processes, that is what we're dealing with here.
I'll tell you what's embarrassing.
It's not even certain that we invented the boomerang.
I don't know what that means.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	were not listed · be considered · was born
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	people who made · man who put · fire, which is

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 20 contracciones y formas reducidas, como can't, couldn't, don't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: synthetic /sɪnˈθɛtɪk/, breakthrough /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/, anesthetic /ˌænəsˈθɛtɪk/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: invention /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/, influential /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/, citizenship /ˈsɪtɪzənʃɪp/, animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: anesthetic /ˌænəsˈθɛtɪk/, spectrometer /spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.tə/, elevator /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/, electronics /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɑ.nɪks/, automobile /ˈɔː.tə.məˌbil/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: spectrometer /spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.tə/, steer /stɪɹ/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: invention /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/, invent /ɪnˈvɛnt/, vaccine /vækˈsin/, inventor /ɪnˈvɛntɚ/, medieval /mɪdˈi.vəl/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: transistor /tɹænˈzɪs.tɚ/, lens /lɛnz/, laser /ˈleɪzɚ/, jeans /d͡ʒiːnz/, citizenship /ˈsɪtɪzənʃɪp/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como invention, invent, vaccine.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: which country invented the most stuff? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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