Shadowing Practice: Brian Cox explains why he loves modern football - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
180 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
And as I get older, I really love watching the game because I do think it is the beautiful game.
2
It's a game of extraordinary skill.
3
The way fortunes change within seconds in football, I just love it.
4
I think it's a great game.
5
I'm sad I could never play the game, but in a way I'm a much better audience or a spectator.
6
Brian Cox is one of the most recognisable actors in the world, a star of the stage and the screen, and also a Golden Globe winner,
7
for his leading role in HBO's Succession.
8
I'm not dignifying that question with an answer.
9
You can both off.
10
Born in Dundee, Scotland, Brian is also a huge soccer fan, a fan of his local team in Scotland, but also of Manchester United.
11
Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, coming to the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer,
12
Brian invited us to his home in order to talk about his memories of soccer
13
and also his hopes for Scotland and the Tartan army this summer.
14
Brian, thank you so much.
15
We're going to talk about football today, or soccer, because we're in the United States.
16
Yes, I know, what a terrible thing.
17
That's the one thing I object to.
18
Just, that's the only thing?
19
No, no, no, I don't object to a lot of things, but I do, I do, the way they've hijacked a game,
20
which is basically rugby, rugby with helmets and call it football.
21
I find that extraordinary, the Americans do that, and then they get away with it.
22
Football is when you kick the ball
23
and that's why to me football is the beautiful game
24
but of course unfortunately i was hopeless i was embarrassingly
25
i was whenever a team was picked i was the one
26
that was called i suppose we'll have to have cox
27
because i was a disastrous my brother on the other hand was a great footballer
28
he could have really gone quite far my cousin or second cousin bobby
29
Cox was an international.
30
So there was, you know, it's in the family, except it was bypassed by me.
31
You were telling me before we were filming about your cousin then went on to open a pub.
32
Yeah, he has a great name.
33
Well, he had this pub because he invented a lot of people would dispute it,
34
but he invented a thing called the sliding tackle and his pub was called the sliding tackle.
35
But he was a brilliant right back.
36
He was a brilliant back.
37
He was really gifted and he became an international advancement, but he was a wonderful player.
38
You played a little bit at school?
39
Yes, when they let me.
40
Football was a sort of humiliation.
41
It was my weekly humiliation that I would be assured that I'd, you know, because I was such a smart ass,
42
that I'd be humiliated by something and it was because of my lack of my footballing skills.
43
Could you tell me your first memories of watching football, either live or on television?
44
I think my first memories would be my dad taking me to, it would be a Dundee game,
45
even though he was a Dundee United fan, but I remember going to a Dundee game with my dad when I was a little boy.
46
The great thing about Dundee is it had two footballing pitches, Tanner Dice and Dens.
47
and Tanner Dice was Dundee United and Dundee was Denz Park
48
but they were literally next door to one another
49
so you could actually sit in Dundee United's ground
50
and watch a game in Dundee because it was they were
51
so close and vice versa you could do the same and
52
so it was just infamous and those two that was how we were and now
53
Dundee is planning to move which I think is a great sadness because the fact that there were duality teams was,
54
I think, very important and made
55
Dundee very unique.
56
Do you also have a team in England that you followed at that time or was it just Dundee?
57
No, it was always
58
United, Manchester United, because I was a child when, and I remember it vividly, waiting to hear about Duncan Edwards,
59
you know, the famous plane crash.
60
I think of Munich in Munich, of course, the famous Munich playing clash.
61
And that's what locked me on to Man United, because all these young men,
62
and Duncan Edwards, who was the extraordinary player of all times, his range was amazing, fit as anything.
63
So it was a very traumatic thing, and it made me, as a kid, I remember feeling very empathetic towards
64
Man U, you know and it just became my team really uh from
65
that point on because of what busby recreated
66
and they you know they were called the busby babes you know
67
and they were amazing team absolutely amazing team is there a player from the modern day
68
that you you really enjoy watching maybe apart from the messi or ronaldo
69
that everyone's well i like odegaard
70
i think he's a very good player he's a man
71
you know he's a he's a captain of the the arsenal team i think is a wonderful player
72
and i think they've got some really interesting players at arsenal now they've been moving very quickly but also
73
I'm still attracted to the old guy, the Bobby Charlton and the Jack Charlton.
74
What the Charlton brothers did was amazing.
75
They were just astonishing.
76
And also the fact that the way
77
Bobby was so intrinsically locked into him, Man U.
78
When players, before a game, many of them will have superstitions.
79
Superstitions that they have where they must do a certain routine.
80
Have you ever had that as an actor or as a performer?
81
No. Why not?
82
Because I don't believe in it.
83
Have you seen others have that?
84
I mean, I see that people do it, you know, and I acknowledge it and say,
85
fine, you know, whatever gets you through the day, fair enough.
86
It's not me.
87
I've never had that kind of attitude.
88
I mean, for me, it's always about work.
89
It's about doing the work and completing the work
90
and finishing the work and being best
91
that you can be at the work you know
92
and i'm talking about my work my job as an actor
93
and so there's no qualification for
94
that that's just the way it is as far as i'm concerned
95
and that's what i identify when i see a great team is
96
that sense of commitment
97
because it's all about commitment you know it's all about the committed nature of football and uh
98
when you see it like i'm i'm particularly impressed now with arsenal
99
i've been you know it's been not easy for them they've had a rough time of it you know
100
because they went very far very quickly.
101
And I still think they can go far because I think Arteta is a great manager.
102
I think he's a really considerable manager.
103
And I think it's a pretty amazing team in many ways, the Arsenal team.
104
And you will turn 80.
105
Ah, don't you?
106
We don't go there.
107
Yeah, OK, go ahead.
108
I'm sorry to say.
109
No, that's OK.
110
I'm actually very happy to say it's a fantastic thing.
111
And you're going to have a celebration.
112
Yeah.
113
But this is being moved to accommodate an Arsenal game this is the weather they're playing
114
that famous game at the champions league finals so i've got
115
that you know i have to move everything till eight o 'clock at night
116
so i've told everybody come after the game i want people in fact
117
i just think as i get older i really love watching the game
118
because i do think it is the beautiful game
119
it's a game of extraordinary skill the way fortunes change within seconds
120
and football i just love it i think it's a great game i'm sad i could never play the game,
121
but in a way I'm a much better audience or spectator.
122
When you think ahead to this summer, to the World Cup, is the United States ready for the Tartan army?
123
Do they know what's coming?
124
Yeah, I'm not sure if they are ready for it.
125
I mean, it's going to be important to see how much of a Tartan army there's going to be, you know, I'm delighted.
126
I mean, it's just great mean scotland has had a a few little bad lucks in in in terms of world cup
127
and i think this scottish team is astonishing i think they really have done an amazing job
128
and they've they've outshone teams in the past
129
and we've got some great players playing what do you put
130
that down to time and tide really i i i think also
131
when you're so left out of it for so long
132
and you get back in you go back in with a vengeance and those young players have just played wonderfully well.
133
I mean, wonderfully well.
134
You know, it's very impressive.
135
What's the young guy who plays the forward?
136
He's really interesting.
137
Norm McTominay.
138
Yeah, he's astonishing.
139
Astonishing player.
140
I mean, he really is and will probably go very far as a player.
141
But he also really pulled that team together.
142
I mean, it was very much played from the guys on the field.
143
They were running the show, which you don't always see that with a team.
144
Usually the managers are on the show, but occasionally you get the players who actually think, well, let's just do it and get together.
145
What do you think they can actually achieve at the World Cup?
146
What's your expectation and your hope?
147
Well, I would like to see them go quite far.
148
I think they could get to the quarterfinals.
149
I really do.
150
This summer, if say you were there in that locker room, in the dressing room with the players before the game,
151
having been through, watching so many incarnations of Scottish teams, what would be your message, your team talk to those players?
152
Do what you do.
153
Do what you're capable of, because we know what you're capable of.
154
And just ramp it up.
155
Ramp it up.
156
Play like you've never played before.
157
This is a big opportunity for you.
158
And there is a hunger there now.
159
I could see that in that team.
160
The little bit I've seen of that team play.
161
There's a real hunger.
162
So I'm mildly optimistic, really.
163
When you're in a football stadium and you're surrounded by...
164
other football fans and there's a moment of euphoria in the stadium what what is it
165
that football brings people
166
that they maybe find hard to find in other parts of life
167
now well i think it's also community you know i think you know you're always
168
when you go to the gunners have got great community manu has got great community
169
you know i mean it's the community
170
and that's the great thing about the fanship in in the uk
171
it's it's it's a very it's very deep it's very deep rooted
172
you know it's not it's not a it's not a trivial thing
173
it's just there that's part of their way of life where i'm thinking i'm i'm not that way
174
because i'm not i'm not good enough as a player
175
i'm fucking disaster as the worst player ever i mean
176
you know i mean as i say i suppose we'll have to have cox
177
that was my that was the story of my football career
178
but to watch the game to see the game to see the magic of the game
179
and to understand the principles of the game
180
and see the principles of the game exercised by the great teams there's nothing like it
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B21
754 sentences
Rio Meets Robert Lewandowski - Competing Against Messi & Ronaldo | I Said ‘Yes’ to Man United
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
114 sentences
Celtic's Martin O’Neill is right to be annoyed at VAR! | Hotline Live
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
70 sentences
Every position in soccer explained
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
287 sentences
Brad Pitt & Damson Idris Argue Over The Internet’s Biggest Debates | Agree To Disagree | LADbible
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
85 sentences
WHEN ATHLETES GET CAUGHT CHEATING!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2128 sentences
How Lampard's Ghost Goal Changed Football Forever
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
237 sentences
비오는 날 영국인이 좋아하는 건? | 영국영어 팟캐스트 This or That ep06 A rainy day walk
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
47 sentences
Football Explained | The Big Bang Theory
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
166 sentences
Get To Know NEW Premier League Players 👋 | On The Spot
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
388 sentences
Native English Speakers Talk for 20 Minutes - Learn English Through Podcast 🎧 Sports - S2E5
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
29 sentences
'It stings forever' - Aaron Boone on New York Yankees losing to Dodgers in World Series | MLB on FOX
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
240 sentences
Robert Pires - The Right-Footed Magician Arsenal Abandoned
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Brian Cox explains why he loves modern football”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: player, football, Dundee. This video has 180 sentences and 1979 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:58. The speaker talks fast, about 180 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| arsenal noun | /ˈɑːsənəl/ | A military establishment for the storing, development, manufacturing, testing, or repairing of arms, ammunition, and other war materiel; an armoury. |
| extraordinary adjective | /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/ | Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual. |
| soccer noun | /ˈsɑk.ɚ/ | Association football. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| cousin noun | /ˈkʌz(ə)n/ | Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a… |
| bobby noun | /ˈbɑbi/ | Cocaine. |
| commitment noun | /kəˈmɪtmənt/ | The act of sending a legislative bill to committee for review. |
| rugby noun | /ˈɹʌɡbi/ | A form of football in which players can hold or kick an ovoid ball; rugby football. The ball cannot be handled forwards and points are scored by touching the… |
| principle noun | /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/ | A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief. |
| fortune noun | /ˈfɔːtjuːn/ | Destiny, especially favorable. |
| slide noun | /ˈslaɪ̯d/ | An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again. |
| tackle verb | /ˈtækəl/ | To force a person to the ground with the weight of one's own body, usually by jumping on top or slamming one's weight into them. |
| hunger noun | /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/ | A need or compelling desire for food. |
| invent verb | /ɪnˈvɛnt/ | To design a new process or mechanism. |
| humiliation noun | /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/ | The act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get away with verb | To get away, or escape, taking (something) with one. | |
| get together verb | To meet, to gather together, to congregate. | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I think it's a great game.
- I'm not dignifying that question with an answer.
- You played a little bit at school?
- Have you seen others have that?
- What's your expectation and your hope?
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 | they've hijacked · Have you ever had · Have you seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was picked · was called · was bypassed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 53 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, they've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: humiliation /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/, occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/, assure /əˈʃʊɹ/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, humiliation /hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən/, occasionally /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, celebration /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/, considerable /kənˈsɪdəɹəbl̩/
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 arsenal, extraordinary, soccer.
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.