Shadowing Practice: Could This Thing *Really* Fly? - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
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This video is brought to you by FarmKind. More about them at the end of the video.
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The Quetzalcoatlus – one of the largest pterosaurs that ever lived – was able to… fly?!
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That doesn’t sound right.
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I mean, look at this thing – it’s the size of a giraffe!
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However, giant pterosaurs’ ability to fly is really well-established in the scientific community.
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So how on Earth did this giant manage to fly?
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Hi, I’m Ever and this is MinuteEarth.
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Thanks to the fossil record, we know that pterosaurs had wings with elongated hand bones, just like every other flying vertebrate. But simply having wings doesn’t mean you can actually fly.
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If you’re too heavy for the size of those wings – or if you can't flap them fast enough – you’ll never get anywhere. And compared to the biggest flying creatures alive today – the Kori bustard, or the wandering albatross, or even the Andean condor, depending on how you measure it – the Quetzalcoatlus was way, WAY bigger.
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But, despite this giant pterosaur’s wingspan, scientists estimate that it was only about as heavy as a large pig.
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Now with the wing-to-mass ratio looking more decent, giant pterosaurs still needed to be strong enough to flap them.
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And while wing muscles themselves aren’t preserved in the fossil record, we know pterosaurs had huge bumps in their forelimb bones and highly modified breastbones, with ample attachment space for powerful chest muscles – just like modern flying birds do.
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So it’s reasonable to believe their wing muscles were pretty brawny.
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On top of that, pterosaurs had mostly hollow bones that increased the volume of their respiratory system – again, just like modern flying birds – which allowed them to deliver tons of oxygen to all those flight muscles!
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All this likely helped a Quetzalcoatlus’s big body stay aloft once it was in the air.
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But getting into the air in the first place is the hardest and most energy-intensive part of flight.
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Flying birds use their strong leg muscles to launch themselves into the air; that’s why the bigger a bird is, the larger and more powerful its legs tend to be.
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Giant pterosaurs were so huge that, in order to jump into the air like birds, they would have needed truly gigantic legs that would have made them definitely too heavy to fly.
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So they solved the whole launching problem in a different way: they used their powerful wings for the dual purpose of taking off and flapping.
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And this strategy is so efficient, that bats independently evolved it as well.
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By the way, I think that this is my favorite fact about giant pterosaurs –and bats, of course.
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Once you look at all the evidence and the facts, it makes perfect sense that these giant pterosaurs could truly soar.
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They might look too big and wonky, but the Quetzalcoatlus was about as close as we’ve ever come to a flying pig.
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Pigs these days, of course, rarely fly.
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And – sorry to be a downer, especially after that uplifting video - but in a lot of places, the conditions they’re kept in are heartbreaking.
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As someone who loves animals, I hate to see any animal suffering so much.
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That’s why we want to help make a genuine positive change with today’s sponsor, FarmKind.
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FarmKind helps improve the lives of animals by recommending expert-reviewed, top charities whose work really makes a big difference.
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Like Sinergia Animal, which is helping end the inhumane practice of keeping breeding pigs confined in tiny crates.
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FarmKind never takes a cut of your donation; it all goes to the charities helping animals.
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If you sign up for just $15 bucks a month, that’s just 50 cents a day, you'll save 350 animals from unnecessary suffering in your first year. Use the code MinuteEarth for a 50% boost on monthly donations.
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If even a fraction of this community did that, we'd transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals. Check out the description for more info. Thanks FarmKind.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Could This Thing *Really* Fly?”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: pterosaurs, wing, giant, animal, flying. Deze video bevat 32 zinnen en 662 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 4:16. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 155 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. Slechts 81% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| fossil zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈfɑsl̩/ | fossiel |
| donation zelfstandig naamwoord | /doʊˈneɪʃən/ | schenking |
| pig zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpɪɡ/ | zwijn, varken |
| albatross zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈæl.bəˌtɹɔs/ | albatros |
| brawny bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /bɹɔni/ | gespierd |
| breastbone zelfstandig naamwoord | borstbeen | |
| bustard zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈbʌs.tɚd/ | trap |
| confine werkwoord | /ˈkɑnfaɪn/ | begrenzen, inperken |
| giraffe zelfstandig naamwoord | /d͡ʒəˈɹæf/ | giraf |
| inhuman bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ɪnˈhjuːmən/ | onmenselijk, inhumaan |
| vertebrate zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈvɛɹ.tɪ.bɹeɪt/ | gewervelde, werveldier |
| wingspan zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈwɪŋ.spæn/ | spanwijdte |
| gigantic bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /d͡ʒaɪˈɡæntɪk/ | gigantisch |
| wander werkwoord | /ˈwɑndɚ/ | zwerven, rondtrekken |
| modify werkwoord | /ˈmɑ.dɪˌfaɪ/ | modificeren, veranderen |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| check out werkwoord | onderzoeken |
| take off werkwoord | uittrekken, afzetten |
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | is brought · aren't preserved |
| Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding | someone who loves · Animal, which is |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 11 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals doesn't, you'll, aren't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: donation /doʊˈneɪʃən/, fraction /ˈfɹæk.ʃən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: respiratory /ɹɪˈspɪ.ɹət.ə.ɹi/, independently /ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəntli/, unnecessary /ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: pig /ˈpɪɡ/, bustard /ˈbʌs.tɚd/, evolve /ɪˈvɑlv/, intensive /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/, breed /ˈbɹiːd/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: flap /flæp/, albatross /ˈæl.bəˌtɹɔs/, giraffe /d͡ʒəˈɹæf/, wingspan /ˈwɪŋ.spæn/, gigantic /d͡ʒaɪˈɡæntɪk/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: pig /ˈpɪɡ/, elongate /əˈlɔŋˌɡeɪt/, gigantic /d͡ʒaɪˈɡæntɪk/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als fossil, donation, pig.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.