Shadowing Practice: (AOT) Erwin Smith | The Commander - Learn English Speaking with Video
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123 sentences
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1
I'd like you to hear a story from my childhood about my father.
2
He was a teacher and we trust the crown with the future of humanity.
3
Who should decide?
4
Who has the right?
5
Who will you trust, Niall?
6
Ervin, tell me, what are you planning to do?
7
I'll make a gamble.
8
Same as always.
9
Good evening.
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I am Ervin Smith, commander of the Survey Corps, also known as the Scout Regiment.
11
Your attention!
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Soldiers of the Survey Corps!
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If this dream of yours comes true, what will you do then?
14
I don't know.
15
What the hell's Ervin doing?
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He's off his rock!
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You realize I'm asking this now because you might not live that long.
18
The lunatics leading the Titans straight for us!
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That may be the day we learn the truth about our world.
20
And I'll be damned if I'm going to miss it.
21
Being there, is that important?
22
Yes.
23
More than humanity's victory?
24
Yes.
25
But first ask yourself.
26
Can you give your heart?
27
Can you give everything for humanity?
28
Let the Titans chase you!
29
All squads follow my lead! Do what?
30
Ervin, you conniving bastard!
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You're using us as bait again!
32
God...
33
What's going on?
34
Is this hell?
35
Not yet, but it will be.
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All soldiers, charge!
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Fire!
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I...
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Ervin!
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Your arrogance has brought Hell right to our door!
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I know.
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And I offer no excuses.
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You knew what this would do to us, you son of a bitch!
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You knew and our lives be damned!
45
Why?
46
Damn you, why? For humanity. For victory.
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Together we give our hearts!
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Jack!
49
Genuine harbingers of change must be able to do what others won't dare.
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Sacrifice their heart.
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Accept the burden of doing the unspeakable.
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Whether we'd like to admit it or not, the fact is this.
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To rise above monsters, we have to abandon our humanity.
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We've come to the moment of truth!
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Mankind's fate is decided now!
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There is no future in which we reclaim these lands without Eren, and there never will be!
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Go!
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Recover Eren from the armored titan and retreat!
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Your heart and soul to the cause! Do it!
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Advance!
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Forward!
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I said advance, goddammit!
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Eren's right in front of you!
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Do not falter!
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Damn you!
66
You traitors!
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My father, he was a teacher.
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I'm about to announce our final mission.
69
All troops, line up!
70
Faced with the annihilation at the hands of Titans, Humanity took refuge behind the walls and realized 100 years of peace.
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So what now?
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Do you have any kind of plan?
73
We lost all records of what humanity's earlier past might have looked like.
74
That's what all of us were taught.
75
The plan could go a few ways, but for it to succeed, the recruits and I had to die.
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So I asked my father a question.
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He then proceeded to tell me a theory of AIDS.
78
Even as a child, I was astounded.
79
Some part of you decided that humanity's fate only mattered if you could live to see it.
80
Can you see them too?
81
Our comrades, they're all standing around us.
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They bled and died for each other, while I fought for a selfish dream.
83
And now, standing on this mountain of brave corpses, I have quite the view.
84
Still, Krisha's secret lingers in the back of my mind.
85
You let us well.
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Fought hard.
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No one else could have gotten us this far.
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Before I die, I'd like to see it.
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The truth of our world. Be honest.
90
Are all of us.. riding toward death?
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Yes, we are.
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They want to know what we did with the sacrifices that they made.
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What became of...
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The hearts they gave.
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Everything that you thought had meaning.
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Every hope, dream, or moment of happiness.
97
None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield.
98
None of it changes what a speeding rock does to a body.
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Do you think you can forgive him someday?
100
He became a devil because he had to.
101
We were the ones who put him up to it.
102
I've made it my mission in this life.
103
To atone to my father by showing the world he was right.
104
I'll make the choice for you.
105
Give up on your dream and charge to your death.
106
Lead those crying children straight to hell.
107
We all die.
108
Does that mean our lives are meaningless?
109
Does that mean that there was no point in our being born?
110
I'll reach the Beast Titan and tear him apart.
111
Would you say that of our slain comrades?
112
What about their lives?
113
Were they meaningless?
114
They were not!
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Fire!
116
Their memory serves as an example to us all!
117
The courageous fallen, the anguished fallen!
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Their lives have meaning because we, the living, refuse to forget them!
119
And as we ride to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us!
120
I promise!
121
because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world my soldiers push forward
122
my soldiers scream out my soldiers rage
123
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH You
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “(AOT) Erwin Smith”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: soldiers, Ervin, titan, humanity, dream. This video has 123 sentences and 842 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:27. The speaker talks at a steady 113 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 25 of its 123 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| comrade noun | /ˈkɑmɹæd/ | A mate, companion, or associate. |
| titan noun | /ˈtaɪtən/ | Something or someone of very large stature, greatness, or godliness. |
| meaningless adjective | /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.ləs/ | Lacking meaning. |
| bleed verb | /ˈbliːd/ | To shed blood through an injured blood vessel. |
| anguish noun | /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/ | Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress; an emotional state caused by intense misery or suffering. |
| annihilation noun | /əˌnaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/ | The act of destroying or otherwise turning into nothing, or nonexistence. |
| astound verb | /əˈstaʊnd/ | To astonish, bewilder or dazzle. |
| connive verb | /kəˈnaɪv/ | To secretly cooperate with other people in order to commit a crime or other wrongdoing; to collude, to conspire. |
| falter verb | /ˈfɔltəɹ/ | To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off. |
| harbinger noun | /ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/ | A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something. |
| linger verb | /ˈlɪŋɡɚ/ | To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so. |
| lunatic noun | /ˈluːnətɪk/ | An insane person. |
| reclaim verb | /ɹɪˈkleɪm/ | To return land to a suitable condition for use. |
| unspeakable adjective | Incapable of being spoken or uttered. | |
| buckle noun | /ˈbʌkəl/ | A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| line up verb | /laɪnˈʌp/ | To align; to put in alignment; to put in correct adjustment for smooth running. |
| push forward verb | To continue to act or do something, especially with a lot of effort | |
| stand around verb | To stand without doing anything; to do nothing productive; to waste time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Ervin, tell me, what are you planning to do?
- Can you give your heart?
- Can you give everything for humanity?
- Do you have any kind of plan?
- Can you see them too?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be damned · is decided · were taught |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has brought · We've come · I've made |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'll, I'm, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: anguish /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/, annihilation /əˌnaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/, selfish /ˈsɛlf.ɪʃ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like comrade, titan, meaningless.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.