Shadowing Practice: Benedict Cumberbatch & Louise Brealey read letters from wartime lovers - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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December 1944.
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Dearest, so very worried about what is happening in Greece.
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On the news tonight it spoke of it spreading and it seems to become a battle.
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My worst suspicions of what the British army went to Greece for are fulfilled.
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I don't know how this is affecting you and whether the ordinary people are involved.
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Of course you won't be able to tell me much.
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I can only just hope for your safety.
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Darling, I have no complaints about your letters.
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I am too happy that it is my body that you want that occupies your thoughts.
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If you didn't write and tell me these things I should suspect you of being interested in somebody else's body.
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You keep concentrating on mine.
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My breasts, my vital, vibrant spot.
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My hands and my desires.
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Well, I am glad you have four blankets to keep you warm.
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If I was there you wouldn't want any you'd be hot
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enough here am I a blooming iceberg of a maiden waiting to be roused into a fire not just melted
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but changed into a fire and there are you miles
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and miles away needing an extra blanket during this last month
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I've reached rock bottom I no longer need a nurse Christopher I I need the whole vital man in you.
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Your strength, your energy.
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When, when will you make me a whole woman?
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Stunted growth.
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That's what I'm suffering from.
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My body's stunted.
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My affections are stunted.
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Even my mind suffers from this incompleteness.
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I want to be...
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I want to be your mistress,
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to be used to the uttermost.
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I want to fuss you, look after you.
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I want to be your companion in arms, away with depressions, fed-upness, waiting.
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I'm so sick of being a cold, haughty virgin.
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Crikey, talk about untapped resources.
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It isn't easy to express these things in words, but you have done it.
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You have moved me right down, down to the foundations.
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You have accomplished what I shouldn't have thought was possible.
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You have opened a vision of a new world, a new experience for me.
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I cannot help but be so very, very grateful to you.
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that in front of me I can overcome my black moods
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and rise up again and know
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that this life is worth the living pancakes yes we had your lemons with them
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that was why I made them I rather think your lemons
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helped to get rid of my cold maybe your letters as
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well all those things help you know the lemons on the practical side and the letters on the mental side.
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I had to giggle about my bravery in bombed London.
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I live here, work here, and there isn't anything else to do but live here and work here.
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And like most things, up to a point, you get used to it.
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It's one's low resources that one has to be brave about.
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All the usual aches and pains get you down easily.
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Extra effort tires you out.
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But we're all in the same boat so it isn't as bad as it sounds.
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Besides the battlefront sound so much worse.
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I concentrate on that when I feel pathetic.
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I'm just listening to the nine o'clock news and it's most disheartening.
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It says it's spreading not slackening.
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Oh dear Christopher I really can't think of I can't think of anything else.
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I do really want to be cheerful but it's so difficult.
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Christmas and you out there.
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I love you and my heart's aching.
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It's so lonely and desolate without you.
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My mind keeps going into such flights of fancy on how to get to you, from stowing away on a ship to applying to the war office.
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It's silly, but it does get so bad sometimes.
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I went to see The Circle, John Gielgud's production by Somerset Maugham.
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I didn't think much of it.
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To me, Gielgud seemed such a milk and water specimen.
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No fire, just a beautiful voice.
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I think I've got a bit choosy over the theatre.
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I've seen some really fine plays during the war, and my standards got a bit high.
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I've been horribly chatty in this letter.
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That's the result of worrying.
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I've kind of got you on my mind in a different way.
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The situation in Greece is getting into my hair, despite all my efforts to remain calm.
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Keeping calm is my motto, but I do wish I knew how things were with you.
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I love you.
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Bessie.
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31st of January 1945.
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My dearest one, I have just heard the news that all the army men taken POW are to return to their homes.
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Because of the shipping situation, we may not commence to go before the end of February, but can probably count on being in England sometime in March.
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Maybe sooner.
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It has made me very warm inside.
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It's terrific, it's wonderful, it's shattering.
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I don't know what to say and I cannot think.
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The delay is nothing, the decision is everything.
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Now I am confirming in my head the little decisions I have made when contemplating just the possibility.
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I must spend the first days at home.
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I must see Deb and her mother.
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I must consider giving a party somewhere.
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Above all, I must be with you.
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I must warm you, surround you, love you and be kind to you.
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Tell me anything that's in your mind.
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Write tons and tons and tons and plan our time.
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I would prefer not to get married.
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But want you to agree on the point.
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In the battle, I was afraid. For you.
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For my mother, for myself.
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Wait, we must, my love, my darling.
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Let us meet, let us be, let us know but do not let us now make any mistakes.
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I am anxious, very anxious, that you should not misunderstand what I have said.
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Say what you think, but please agree, and remember I was afraid, and I am still afraid.
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How good for us to see each other before I am completely bald?
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Have a few fine little wisps of hair on the top of my head.
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Not much good me trying to write about recent experiences, now that I know I shall be able to tell you everything myself within such a short time.
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What I have my eye on now is the first letter from you saying that you know I am all right, and then next saying you know I am coming to you.
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Must try and keep out of hospital with some of these post-POW complaints.
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Plan a week somewhere, not Boscombe or Bournemouth, and think of being together.
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The glory of you.
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When I was captive, I used to try and contact you and think hard.
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Bessie, my dearest, I am all right.
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Do not worry.
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I never thought that I would get through somehow, but now it's over and you know that I am all right
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and going to be with you soon to join and enjoy.
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Do not get very excited outwardly.
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I am conscious of the inner tumult, the clamour, but I am not too much outwardly joyful.
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Moderation is my advice.
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Watch the buses as you cross the streets.
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we're free of duties
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and yesterday I went to our friends in Athens taking some of your coffee and cocoa
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which they were very pleased to have thank you for sending it we were embraced very excitedly kissing
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and so on continental fashion I hope
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that you will not start buying any clothes
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if you have any coupons left because you think you must look nice for me.
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I shall be sorry if you do.
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Just carry on as near as possible to normal.
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My return at the present time allows us to make public our mutual attachment.
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I shall tell my family that I hope to spend a week away with you somewhere during my leave.
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My counsel to you is to tell as few people as possible.
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To someone like Miss Ferguson, you can politely reply to observations that you thought it was your business rather than hers.
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Try to avoid preening yourself and saying much.
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This is my advice, not anything but that.
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I hope you understand.
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I do not ever want it to be anything but our affair.
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Do Do not permit any intrusion.
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I do not know how long leave I shall get.
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I could get as little as 14 days, and I may get as much as a month.
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I'm wondering how I shall tell you that I am in England.
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Probably it will still be quicker to send a telegram than a letter, and I hope to send you one announcing that I am on the same island.
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I will send another when I'm actually soon to get on the London-bound train, and you can ring Lee Green 0509 when you think I have arrived there.
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You must bear in mind that I shall be with my brother until we get home.
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Also, that having been away from home for so long, my parents will want to see a lot of me.
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I hope that everything will work itself out without any unhappiness to anyone.
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I shall be in great demand from two or three points, and it will be difficult to manage without offence.
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Strange thing, but I cannot seem to get going and write very freely.
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All I'm thinking about is, I am going home, I'm going to see her.
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It's a fact, a real thing, an impending event like Trove Tuesday, Christmas Day, or the Lord Mayor's Banquet.
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You have to be abroad, you have to be really, truly, hermetically sealed off from your intimates,
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from your home, to realise what a gift this going home is.
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The few letters of yours that I had on me, I burnt the day previous to our surrender, so no one but myself has read your words.
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In the first ten days of our captivity, I did not think any soft thoughts about you.
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All I did was concentrate on trying to tell you I was all right.
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But when we had a few supplies dropped by aircraft, at great risk to themselves in the misty snowbound Greek mountain villages, and we started hoping we might get sent home upon our release,
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I was always wondering about you, about us.
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It is a pity that the winter weather will not be kind to us out of doors.
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It would be nice sitting next to you in the pictures, no matter what may be on the screen.
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It would be grand to know that we have each other's support and sympathy.
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Won't it be wonderful to be together, really together, in the flesh?
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Not just to know that a letter is all we can send.
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I love you, Chris.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Benedict Cumberbatch & Louise Brealey read letters from wartime lovers”. This video has 157 sentences and 1811 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:03. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| stunt noun | /stʌnt/ | A daring or dangerous feat, often involving the display of gymnastic skills. |
| concentrate verb | /ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/ | To bring to, or direct toward, a common center; to unite more closely; to gather into one body, mass, or force. |
| lemon noun | /ˈlɛmən/ | A yellowish citrus fruit. |
| ache verb | /ˈeɪk/ | To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed. |
| outwardly adverb | /ˈaʊtwɚdli/ | Externally or on the outside, or on the surface. |
| blanket noun | /ˈblæŋ.kɪt/ | A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting. |
| darling noun | /ˈdɑɹlɪŋ/ | Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one. |
| anxious adjective | /ˈæŋkʃəs/ | Nervous and worried. |
| battlefront noun | The region or line along which opposing armies engage in combat. | |
| blooming adjective | /ˈbluː.mɪŋ/ | Opening in blossoms; flowering. |
| chatty adjective | /ˈt͡ʃæti/ | Of a person, chatting a lot or fond of chatting. |
| choosy adjective | /ˈt͡ʃuːzi/ | Taking care when choosing that what is chosen best suits one's tastes, desires or requirements. |
| clamour verb | /ˈklæm.ɚ/ | UK and Canada standard spelling of clamor. |
| contemplate verb | /ˈkɑn.təmˌpleɪt/ | To look at on all sides or in all its aspects; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study, ponder… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| keep out of verb | To stay away from (a place or condition). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- When, when will you make me a whole woman?
- That's what I'm suffering from.
- I'm so sick of being a cold, haughty virgin.
- I love you and my heart's aching.
- It's so lonely and desolate without you.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've reached · have done · have moved |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are fulfilled · are involved · be roused |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, I've, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: sympathy /ˈsɪm.pəθ.i/, pathetic /pəˈθɛtɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, intrusion /ɪnˈtɹuːʒən/, moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, shatter /ˈʃætɚ/, affection /əˈfɛk.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: hermetically /hɚˈmɛt.ɪk(.ə)li/, misunderstand /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/, moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, captivity /kæpˈtɪvɪti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like litter, stunt, concentrate.
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.