Shadowing Practice: Why California's musical road sounds terrible - Learn English Speaking with Video
Elige un modo de práctica
Cada modo abre una sala de práctica a pantalla completa.
39 oraciones
Si las oraciones son demasiado cortas o largas, haz clic en Editar para ajustarlas.
1
If you drive down a certain stretch of highway in the California desert, you will hear music.
2
It's supposed to sound a little bit like this.
3
But instead, it sounds like this.
4
That was the musical road of Lancaster, California, and as you may have heard, it's a little bit out of tune.
5
A lot of money was spent on that road.
6
It was a publicity stunt for a car company who wanted to show off how clever they are.
7
And doing the calculations for something like that isn't really difficult.
8
A musical note is a vibration in the air at a particular frequency, and those vibrations can be made by a violin string or synthesized by a computer,
9
or, in this case, made by vehicle tyres hitting grooves in the road.
10
The closer the grooves are, the faster the vibrations, and the higher the note.
11
So take the speed limit, divide by the frequency of the note you want, and that's how often there should be a groove in the road.
12
And if people travel at the wrong speed, well, it shouldn't really matter.
13
It'll just be like slowing down or speeding up any other bit of music.
14
It'll be in the wrong key, but it'll still sound right to most people's ears.
15
It won't sound like that mess.
16
So, what went wrong?
17
At this point, I'm indebted to David Simmons Duffin, an assistant professor of physics at Caltech, whose interests include quantum field theories and playing Baroque violin,
18
because he was, as far as I can tell, the very first person to figure out what went wrong.
19
And the problem was probably the English language.
20
Whoever did the calculations said that the grooves should be so far apart, let's say four inches for the first note, and they meant that there should be a groove every four inches.
21
But whoever gave the instructions to the work crew said that the grooves should be four inches apart,
22
and that was interpreted as four inches between the end of one groove and the start of the next one.
23
itself.
24
But your ears definitely do include it.
25
The highest note on that section of the William Tell Overture should be one octave higher than the lowest.
26
That means the frequency should be doubled and the grooves should be half the distance apart.
27
And they are if you don't include the width of the groove itself.
28
That error means that every note is distorted not by a fraction of its value, like if you're travelling at the wrong speed, but by a constant amount, by the width of the grooves.
29
The higher the note, the greater the effect of that distortion.
30
And the result is the mess that you are about to hear for a second time.
31
And the really strange part?
32
This is the second musical road built in Lancaster, California.
33
The first one, built by the car company, was too close to residents who complained about the constant noise, and probably this note here.
34
So the city paved over it and rebuilt it to the exact same wrong blueprints.
35
That's a take.
36
That is a take right there.
37
And in order to celebrate that take, I'm going to put my foot down.
38
This is an SUV.
39
It doesn't do that.
Descargar app
Todo lo que necesitas para hablar con fluidez
Pronunciación con IAEvalúa cada oración
Práctica de IPADomina cada sonido
VocabularioConstruye tu banco de palabras
Juego de vocabularioAprende mientras juegas
Mismo canal
C11
Flying a plane badly, on purpose.
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B24
Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps
British AccentCambridge Exam PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B24
The secret underground pipeline across Britain
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
Why robots still can't pick strawberries
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
How much helium does it take to lift a person?
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B25
How many robots does it take to run a grocery store?
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B27
Making an international standard cup of tea
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
The world's most frustrating work of art
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
Will YouTube Ever Run Out Of Video IDs?
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
The US-Canada border splits this road down the middle
British AccentTravel EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B12
This 1970s tank simulator drives through a tiny world
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
How can you legally fly a plane designed in 1910?
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B13
The never-used road where the BBC crash cars
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
If Educational Videos Were Filmed Like Music Videos
British AccentUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
This Video Is 2D And 3D Simultaneously: the Pulfrich Effect
British AccentUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
This 100-year-old ride must never change again.
British AccentDaily ConversationHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B21
I get excited about &.
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2Testing the world's longest echo
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B2Thomas, a tank engine, is not Thomas the Tank Engine.
British AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recomendar Video
B2321
17 oraciones
Why a Song Gets Stuck in Your Head
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C168 oraciones
Lesson Eight: Placement of the Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin's Conducting School
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
582 oraciones
You've (Likely) Been Playing The Game Of Life Wrong
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B266
85 oraciones
B2 English Listening Practice - U.S. Geography
American AccentTravel EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
C119 oraciones
Why is the English Language So Standardized — Ocean Vuong
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
24 oraciones
German Garmendia - Supernova (COVER)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
![Kurt Cobain [Nirvana] On musical theory & musicianship](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tSNUYTBao7I/mqdefault.jpg)
B23
31 oraciones
Kurt Cobain [Nirvana] On musical theory & musicianship
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
51 oraciones
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Yosemite Permits, Italy Superbonus, Salary Caps (Vol. 22)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B212
228 oraciones
Sound More Like A Native Speaker in English (4 Easy Fixes)
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
24 oraciones
Randy Bachman Tells the Story Behind the BTO hit, "Let it Ride".
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “Why California's musical road sounds terrible”. Las palabras que más se repiten: groove, note, road, inches, sound. Este vídeo tiene 39 frases y 550 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 3:28. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 159 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 83 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| groove sustantivo | /ɡɹuv/ | ranura, acanaladura |
| vibration sustantivo | /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/ | vibración |
| violin sustantivo | /ˌvaɪ.əˈlɪn/ | violín |
| calculation sustantivo | /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/ | cálculo, calculación |
| width sustantivo | /ˈwɪtθ/ | anchura, ancheza |
| blueprint sustantivo | /ˈbluːˌpɹɪnt/ | cianotipia |
| distort verbo | /dɪsˈtɔːt/ | deformar, distorsionar |
| indebted adjetivo | /ɪnˈdɛtɪd/ | endeudado, encalillado |
| octave sustantivo | /ˈɑktɪv/ | octava |
| synthesize verbo | /ˈsɪnθəsaɪz/ | sintetizar |
| tyre sustantivo | /taɪə(ɹ)/ | neumático, caucho |
| distortion sustantivo | /dɪsˈtɔːʃən/ | distorsión |
| interpret verbo | /ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/ | explicar, exponer |
| stunt sustantivo | /stʌnt/ | espectáculo peligroso, escena de alto riesgo |
| rebuild verbo | /ɹiːˈbɪld/ | reconstruir |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verbo | averiguar, captar | |
| show off verbo | chulear, lucir | |
| slow down verbo | desacelerar, decelerar | |
| speed up verbo | /spiːdˈʌp/ | acelerar, apurarse |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 11 contracciones y formas reducidas, como it'll, I'm, doesn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “th”: width /ˈwɪtθ/, synthesize /ˈsɪnθəsaɪz/
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: vibration /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/, calculation /ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/, distortion /dɪsˈtɔːʃən/, fraction /ˈfɹæk.ʃən/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: groove /ɡɹuv/, vibration /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/, violin /ˌvaɪ.əˈlɪn/, octave /ˈɑktɪv/, divide /dɪˈvaɪd/
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 groove, vibration, violin.
¿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.