Shadowing Practice: The British Museum is full of stolen artifacts - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This is the British Museum.
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It's the world's largest world history museum, and it draws millions of visitors every year.
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Inside, it holds more than 8 million cultural and historical artifacts from all over the world, which cover 2 million years of human history.
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If you follow the museum's recommended list of "don't miss" items, you'll see its starpieces.
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Like this Easter Island sculpture that's about a thousand years old.
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Or this bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva.
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Thank you you But there's a problem hidden in the museum, and we can see an example of it along this route.
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Out of those 12 pieces, nearly half have disputed ownership.
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The British Museum claims those pieces belong there, on display for the world to see.
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But in recent years, many have been fighting to get them back to where they came from.
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The list of disputed museum treasures is keeps on growing.
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Should cultural artefacts return to their home countries or be left in Western museums?
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The subject of intense debate as to who should now own them.
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Let's start with some context.
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In the late 1600s, the British Empire began expanding across several continents.
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It became the largest empire in history, controlling about a quarter of the world's land and population.
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During its centuries -long rule, the empire took precious resources and wealth from countries all over the world,
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including cultural and historical artifacts.
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many of which ended up here,
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in the British Museum, which was founded in 1753 and kept growing to accommodate all the new pieces in its collection.
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Lots of the items in the museum were legally acquired and are completely undisputed,
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like this one: a 2 ,000 -year -old Roman vase sold to the museum by a duke in 1945.
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The problem is, with the pieces that are disputed, Like the first item you see as soon as you walk in: the Rosetta Stone,
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taken by British troops from the French in what is now Egypt.
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Or further in, the Parthenon sculptures, removed from the Acropolis in Athens by a British lord and sent to the British Museum.
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Or over here, on the floor dedicated to African art.
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The Benin Bronzes.
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some of the most contentious items in the museum.
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The Benin bronzes are kind of hard to categorize because they include such a huge range of items,
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from engraved ivory tusks to brass sculptures to plaques.
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But they were all produced here, in the Kingdom of Benin, in present -day Nigeria.
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This wealthy and industrious kingdom produced thousands of objects and art pieces starting in the 1500s.
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A lot of the items adorned palace walls and were used for religious rituals, but they weren't just decorative.
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There were visual archives of the kingdom in a society know them.
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That's Professor Chika Okekeagulu, an art historian and professor from Nigeria who teaches at Princeton University.
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They told their history, how they narrated the histories of kingship,
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of the kingdom, its political and social life.
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But in 1897, Benin would lose thousands of these cultural pieces.
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At the time, European colonial powers were expanding south in what was called the Scramble for Africa.
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They split up the continent into spheres of influence for financial exploitation.
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All these pink areas were the British ones.
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Benin, over here, was in Britain's sphere of influence.
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But the kingdom didn't comply with Britain's trade demands.
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And in January of 1897, it led to what was called the Benin Disaster,
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plus their many guides and servants.
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In response, 1 ,200 British troops embarked on a mission called the Benin Punitive Expedition.
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The British wanted revenge, but the mission was about more than just that.
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There were reports of these vast treasures in the palace of the King of Benin,
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and that if they could retrieve these treasures,
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sales from it could offset the cost of the invasion. And so...
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The punitive expedition, in other words, was also an economic enterprise.
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The British soldiers, armed with machine guns, conquered the city and burned it to the ground, but not before carefully taking thousands of artifacts.
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They piled them up neatly, photographed them, and even labeled them loot.
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This photo, taken at the Benin Palace after the raid, shows soldiers with the dismantled plaques that were brought to the British Museum and sold all over the world.
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And after hundreds of years, the once prosperous kingdom was gone.
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The region fell under full British colonial control until 1960, when Nigeria, including the city of Benin, gained independence.
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But even though they were finally free, their historical artifacts were still spread all over the world,
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locked up in Western institutions like the Leipzig Museum of Ethnology in Germany and the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
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And, of course, the British Museum.
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1995, in London.
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That was my first time of seeing an original ancient Benin at work.
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was, yes, at the British Museum.
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Being in the presence of these magnificent
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objects and knowing that I had to travel all the way from Nigeria to see for the first time these objects.
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It was a mixture of pride in the achievement of these ancient artists.
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And anger mixed with a sense of loss at what could have been
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if I only had to travel a few hundred miles.
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But at this point you're limited to
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those privileged like me who could get a visa to travel all the way from Nigeria to England to encounter these objects.
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most Nigerians will never see them.
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you In March 2000, Benin's royal family tried to change that.
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They officially requested all cultural property illegally taken be returned to the rightful owner.
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But for the most part, the British Museum has ignored any requests.
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The museum is restricted by a government act that prevents it from returning objects, but it has also made its stance clear.
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In July of 2020, the British Museum told Vox: We don't restitute, but we are absolutely committed to lending as widely as possible, including to Nigeria.
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The museum's foundational value resides in its breadth, scale, complexity, and unity, and as such is a true library of the world.
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Chica doesn't see it that way.
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The British Museum still behaves like a colonial museum.
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You cannot claim to be an encyclopedic collector of stolen objects.
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But some are starting to reckon with this history. In 2014, the grandson of this British soldier from the 1897 Benin Punitive
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Expedition returned these two items he had inherited to the Benin royal family.
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And in 2007, the Benin Dialogue Group was formed.
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Western museums that hold the bronzes and Nigerian government representatives have been discussing potential solutions ever since. But...
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As of today, none of the bronzes have been returned.
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But this is just one story.
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This legacy is bigger than the Benin bronzes.
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There are hundreds of contested items in the British Museum, with their own rich histories and with original owners trying to retrieve them.
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But the problem is even bigger than the British Museum.
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It's a legacy of centuries of colonial power that repeats itself again and again, with different artifacts, in different museums.
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Because these requests aren't just about items.
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They are also about cultural and historical identity and who gets to own it.
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"This is a long -term project.
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It may last beyond my own lifetime,
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but the point is that it's now to start that process.
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We cannot wait any longer for a next generation to even begin.
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the necessary task and project of cultural reconstitution.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “The British Museum is full of stolen artifacts”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: museum, British, Benin, item, cultural. Deze video bevat 97 zinnen en 1240 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 9:29. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 131 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 83% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| artifact zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɑɹtɪfækt/ | artefact |
| sculpture zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/ | beeldhouwwerk, beeld |
| colonial bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /kəˈloʊ.njəl/ | koloniaal |
| expedition zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/ | expeditie |
| treasure zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/ | schat |
| retrieve werkwoord | /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/ | terugbrengen, terugkrijgen |
| sphere zelfstandig naamwoord | /sfɪɚ/ | bol |
| continent zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkɑntɪnənt/ | werelddeel, continent |
| contentious bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/ | omstreden, aangevochten |
| dismantle werkwoord | /dɪsˈmæntəl/ | ontmantelen |
| embark werkwoord | /ɪmˈbɑɹk/ | beginnen, starten |
| engrave werkwoord | /ɪnˈɡɹeɪv/ | graveren |
| industrious bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ɪnˈdʌstɹi.əs/ | ijverig, vlijtig |
| kingship zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkɪŋʃɪp/ | koningschap |
| narrate werkwoord | /ˈnæɹeɪt/ | verhalen, vertellen |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| end up werkwoord | belanden, terechtkomen |
| fall under werkwoord | vallen onder |
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — iets dat eerder begon en nog bezig is | have been fighting · have been discussing |
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | be left · was founded · are disputed |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | have disputed · has ignored · has also made |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 8 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals don't, aren't, didn't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: expedition /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/, treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/, contentious /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/, foundational /faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃə.nəl/, kingship /ˈkɪŋʃɪp/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: expedition /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/, categorize /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/, encyclopedic /ensaiːkloˈpʰiːdək/, foundational /faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃə.nəl/, industrious /ɪnˈdʌstɹi.əs/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: punitive /ˈpju.nɪ.tɪv/, retrieve /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/, categorize /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/, engrave /ɪnˈɡɹeɪv/, reside /ɹɪˈzaɪd/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: artifact /ˈɑɹtɪfækt/, plaque /plæk/, categorize /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/, dismantle /dɪsˈmæntəl/, narrate /ˈnæɹeɪt/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: categorize /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/, engrave /ɪnˈɡɹeɪv/, grandson /ˈɡɹæn(d)sʌn/, illegally /ɪˈliːɡəli/, magnificent /mæɡˈnɪfəsənt/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als artifact, sculpture, colonial.
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.