Shadowing Practice: Benedict Cumberbatch Plays With Puppies While Answering Fan Questions - Learn English Speaking with Video

Creating lesson...
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Hi, I'm Benedict Cumberbatch.
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I'm here at BuzzFeed and I'm here to play with puppies and to answer your questions.
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I'm excited.
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I'm excited to meet the pups.
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Bring in the pups.
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Hello, you're a big puppy.
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What are you doing in here?
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What a strange environment you need.
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What was that noise?
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What was that noise?
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Okay, okay.
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What's in the jar?
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What's in the jar?
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What's this?
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What's this?
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What's this?
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It's a question.
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What's the best and worst thing about playing Doctor Strange?
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The best thing is, yeah, you eat that question.
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Eat it up.
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Yeah, yeah.
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There's a lot of best things about it.
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Best thing is probably having a cloak that means I can fly, which means I get to do wild work, which when it's done right and not for too long in a harness is incredibly good fun.
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Some of the stunts are really good fun to do, the training and all of that I really enjoy.
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It's a big old workout.
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Yes, it is.
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Meow.
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The worst thing is, I don't know, it's a really gifted gig.
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I'm very lucky.
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If I'm to moan about something, what would it be?
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Maybe the cloak again.
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The cloak is quite cumbersome.
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No pun intended.
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Hello.
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Yeah, it can be quite a sort of awkward thing to work with.
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Cookie jar.
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No, I'm joking.
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It's just it's a question.
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I'm so sorry.
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Do you still know how to play the violin?
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If so, which do I still know?
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I never knew how to play the violin.
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Next question.
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It was all fakery and really embarrassing.
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You know, this is something that takes years of practice from the age of three
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and then I'm supposed to sort of turn it around in a couple of months before before doing a bit of Sherlock.
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Not good, my friends.
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I could pretend to be a lot of things with some degree of authenticity, but that is something well beyond me.
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If there was a season five of Sherlock, what would you want to happen to your character?
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Next question.
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Who's the first real friend you made in Hollywood, and do you two still speak?
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I don't know, I mean, Gary Oldman, I guess.
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Yeah, we still speak.
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First time I went to Hollywood, I did Star Trek, and I don't speak to them nearly, I mean, Zoey I see more of, obviously, because of the Marvel thing,
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but Chris I adore, and Zachary as well.
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Yeah, it is a great family.
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It was a great family to be part of for a little while there.
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And darling Anton as well.
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I wish I could still speak to, very sad.
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Don't eat my questions before I've read them.
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It's like having naked flames in the room, it's just wonderful.
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How hard was it to jump back into your normal life after playing a role like Patrick Marrott?
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Good question.
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Difficult, I've abstracted myself from my normal life for a little while, especially when I went to the dark zone of cocaine and heroin abuse and trashing hotel rooms in the New York episode.
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Just didn't really want to go home with any of that, swimming around my brain and body.
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I mean, not literally, but just psychically and physically, because you just have to pretend and put yourself there.
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You need some space.
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But most of the time, I switch on and off pretty easily.
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Which app on your phone do you use the most?
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Probably Waze.
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Hey, go easy.
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You may be bigger.
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But that's not playing fair.
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Stop it.
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Yeah, because I'm your own size.
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No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. If you could do a film adaptation of any TV show you loved as a child, which one would it be?
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Why would I want to do a film of something that worked well in its time as a TV series?
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I mean, don't get me wrong, that happens a lot, but that's not my gig.
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I'm not too fond of that stuff.
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Are you ever going to join Instagram or Twitter?
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Denada.
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No, absolutely not.
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Who are your all-time favorite musicians?
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Which present artist are you listening to nowadays?
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I don't have an all-time favorite.
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I mean Bowie, The Stones, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Who, Pink Floyd.
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What am I listening to at the moment?
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Well, Elbow's new album is great.
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Moonshaped Poole gets a lot of play, Radiohead.
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I love Tom's new album as well.
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It's a very good film he did with Paul Thomas Anderson.
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Being so serious whilst your relative chews my boot.
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I want to see my boot.
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I want to see my boot.
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Describe a puffy day.
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Hello.
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This is a perfect day, isn't it?
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Getting my ear licked by a puppy.
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Yeah, this is pretty perfect.
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This is great.
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But I mean, the rest of perfect with me would be private, so I won't describe it.
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Work-wise, though, a perfect day is...
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I don't know.
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I love my job.
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Pretty much every day is a good one.
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A perfect day is when I've had eight hours sleep.
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It's a perfect day.
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What are some people.. pet.. peeves.
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Oh, God, but people sound so grouchy when they answer these questions.
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I don't know.
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People leaning on the horn thinking it's going to make traffic move faster.
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People being trapped in their bubble, you know.
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People have been trapped in their bubble full stop.
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Mobile phone usage, negative impact of some of social media.
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I mean, I could go on.
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I'm an old fogey now.
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43, sufficient.
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Good question.
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I really could go on.
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So I will.
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Dirty tricks, demagoguery, fake news.
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Everyone's a critic and angry but they don't necessarily have any kind of nuance.
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They just want to shoot the messenger, sometimes not the message.
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The fact that we're in a crisis people, a climate crisis.
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These little puppy dogs.
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Save the puppies if not yourselves.
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Stop using single Use plastic.
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Try and stop digging carbon fuels out of the ground.
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Please leave the fossil fuels alone for these puppies.
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It's a dangerous question to give me.
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Yeah, can I have another pet peeve?
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Yeah, burning rainforest.
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What the f* is wrong with the world?
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What was it like babysitting Tom Holland during your MCU press tour?
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Difficult.
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Like I said, I had to teach a kid how to shave, how to brush his teeth, the fact he had to do it both day and night.
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You know, personal hygiene is a bit of an issue with teenagers, and Tom's no exception to that rule.
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So, you know, I fumigate the rooms, I get out, you know, You know, it was tricky.
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But you know, he's, in all innocences, he's a gentleman, brilliant, wise beyond his years, tolerant of me, and a dear friend.
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I love working with him and bring on the next project.
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Goodbye.
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Thanks so much.
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I'm Benedict Cumberbatch.
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Watch my movie.
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It's called The Current War.
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It's not mine.
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It belongs to other people too.
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It's really good.
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North Shore Animal League America.
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Thank you puppies and thank you for looking after them.
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They're very sweet.
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Bye bye.
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you

Why practice speaking with this video?

Practicing speaking through engaging videos, like Benedict Cumberbatch playing with puppies while answering fan questions, offers English learners a unique context to enhance their speaking skills. This lively interaction not only makes the learning process enjoyable but also allows learners to pick up conversational phrases and authentic expressions. As you listen and mimic Cumberbatch's responses, you're actively participating in a real-world scenario, which can significantly improve your English pronunciation, confidence, and fluency.

Moreover, using a shadowing app with this video can amplify your learning experience. Shadowing involves repeating what you hear in real-time, which helps in mastering intonation, rhythm, and the natural flow of spoken English. The lighthearted atmosphere of playing with puppies makes it easier to stay engaged, making it a great choice for English speaking practice.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Analyzing some dialogues from this video can provide insight into useful grammatical structures and expressions:

  • Question Formation: Phrases like "What’s the best and worst thing about...?" demonstrate how to structure inquiries effectively. Understanding question formation is crucial for engaging conversations.
  • Conditional Statements: Cumberbatch remarks, "If I'm to moan about something, what would it be?" This conditional structure is essential for expressing hypothetical situations, a common aspect of English conversation.
  • Descriptive Language: When he describes his experience as a "big old workout," learners can see how adjectives and colloquial phrases bring flavor to language. Using descriptive words enhances your storytelling abilities in English.
  • Usage of Humor: His playful comment about the cloak being "cumbersome" showcases how humor can lighten conversations and make interactions more relatable. Incorporating humor into your speaking can make you more engaging.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Diving into pronunciation, several tricky aspects arise in this video that learners should be aware of:

  • Cumbersome: This word's pronunciation can be difficult, especially for non-native speakers. Pay attention to the syllable stress: cum-ber-some. Practicing it in phrases can help solidify your understanding.
  • Violin: The smooth pronunciation of this word can trip up learners due to its flowing vowel sounds. The correct articulation is crucial for clarity in conversations about music or hobbies.
  • Engaging Expressions: Phrases such as "What's in the jar?" feature varied intonation, emphasizing the importance of stress and pitch in spoken language. This is vital for conveying emotions and reactions effectively.

By focusing on these common pronunciation traps and utilizing the engaging context of the video, learners can greatly improve their English pronunciation and gain confidence in speaking. Integrating this fun content into your practice is a wonderful way to learn English with YouTube while also enhancing your language skills.

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.