Shadowing Practice: Can You Understand My Friend’s CRAZY Story? | British English Listening Practice - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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hello i'm dave and i'm elliot and today you are going to hear a story from my friend elliot um and you will listen without the captions at the bottom and any um help words at the top that i well potentially right will give you later so you'll listen to it one time and then you listen to it again to test your listening skills you'll learn some vocab and um yeah so elliot we've got a few stories haven't we yep i would like to hear your new york story which is all about you well you can…
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hello i'm dave and i'm elliot and today you are going to hear a story from my friend elliot um and you will listen without the captions at the bottom and any um help words at the top that i well potentially right will give you later so you'll listen to it one time and then you listen to it again to test your listening skills you'll learn some vocab and um yeah so elliot we've got a few stories haven't we yep i would like to hear your new york story which is all about you well you can start it off i guess yeah let's see how it goes so um back when i was 27 all those years ago I found myself at the end of a kind of my first serious relationship.
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I was suddenly single and to be honest I was I think experiencing heartbreak for the first time and I obviously wanted to get over that and I'd been in this relationship for so long that I needed to do something independently and prove to myself that I could be okay, I would be fine on my own.
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So potentially the cliche thing of a solo trip was booked but at the same time i'm not all that brave so i didn't want to go anywhere where i didn't learn i didn't know the language um which is ironic given that this is an english language learning channel um so i went to america and i'd been to new york once before with my family so i was pretty comfortable with going there but it was still exciting So I decided to, yeah, as you say, go to New York for 10 days, I think.
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Wow, that's a long time.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Well, I wanted to make it worthwhile.
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And as I said, I'd already been to New York before.
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So I've seen the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, etc.
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I wanted to see the other side.
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I was interested in the nightlife of New York.
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They do say it's a city that never sleeps.
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um anyway it is a very very nerve-wracking experience getting ready sort of having a shower getting ready putting your going out clothes on with no one to go out with not knowing if you're going to meet anyone where you're going to go where you'll end up it was yeah i remember every single night being nervous like i have no idea what's going to happen this evening and the first day I got there I got ready and I went down to the bar and I had a couple of beers I needed some Dutch courage and I spoke to the concierge and he said he recommended the oldest pub in New York so I went there and it was absolutely heaving it was really really busy and I sat on my own in the corner.
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I didn't talk to anybody.
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So sort of my first real attempt was a failure.
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So I went to another bar and talked to nobody, just sat on my own.
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Then I went to one more and I thought, that's it.
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You know, this is my first night, the holiday.
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I can't do it.
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I can't sort of talk to people.
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So I was like, I'm going to go home.
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and I on my way back I walked past one more bar called the Thirsty Scholar I thought I'll just I'll just go there and lo and behold I ended up chatting to this whole group of guys this group of lads and they were really really nice and I brought them around they brought me around.
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And it was sort of the peak of winter.
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It was absolutely bitter.
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And I had brought a hat and I brought gloves.
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The one thing I'd forgotten was my scarf.
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And one of the guys actually gave me their scarf, which I think I still have.
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It's a bit strange, really, that.
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Yeah, a bit weird.
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But, you know, it was the perfect start to my sort of holiday.
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I kind of thought I can do this funny little thing that happened as you can imagine I'd had a fair bit to drink at this point and I got a taxi back to my hotel and I walked through the lobby and I went up the lift to my hotel room and then realized this is not my room this is not my hotel I'd just gone in the wrong hotel entirely somehow I made it back to where I was actually staying funny You're going to now listen to it again with the captions, right, the subtitles and some help, some words on the top.
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And I'll see you in it.
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Well, we will see you in a second.
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So back when I was 27, all those years ago, I found myself at the end of a kind of my first serious relationship.
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I was suddenly single.
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And to be honest, I was, I think, experiencing heartbreak for the first time.
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and I obviously wanted to get over that and I'd been in this relationship for so long that I needed to do something independently and prove to myself that I could be okay I would be fine on my own so potentially the cliche thing of a solo trip was booked but at the same time I'm not all that brave so I didn't want to go anywhere where I didn't learn I didn't know the language which is ironic given that this is an English language learning channel so I went to America and I'd been to New York once before with my family so I was pretty comfortable with going there but it was still exciting so I decided to yeah as you said go to New York for 10 days I think wow that's a long time yeah yeah well I wanted to make it worthwhile and as I said I'd already been to New York before so I've seen the Empire State Building the Statue of Liberty etc I wanted to see the other side I was interested in the nightlife of New York they do say it's a city that never sleeps right anyway it is a very very nerve-wracking experience getting ready sort of having a shower getting ready putting your going out clothes on with no one to go out with It's not knowing if you're going to meet anyone, where you're going to go, where you'll end up.
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It was, yeah, I remember every single night being nervous.
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Like, I have no idea what's going to happen this evening.
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And the first day I got there, I got ready and I went down to the bar and I had a couple of beers.
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I needed some Dutch courage and I spoke to the concierge and he said he recommended the oldest pub in New York.
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so i went there and it was absolutely heaving it was really really busy and i sat on my own in the corner i didn't talk to anybody so sort of yeah my first real attempt was a failure so i went to another bar and talked to nobody just sat on my own then i went to one more and i thought that's it you know this is my first night the holiday i can't do it i can't sort of talk to people uh so So I like i'm gonna go home and i on my way back i walked past one more bar called the thirsty scholar i thought i'll just i'll just go there and lo and behold i ended up chatting to um this whole group of guys this group of lads and they were really really nice and i brought them around they brought me around and it was sort of the peak of winter it was absolutely bitter um and i had brought a hat and i brought gloves the one thing i'd forgotten was my scarf and one of the guys actually gave me their scarf which i think i still have it's a bit strange really that yeah a bit weird but you know it it was the perfect start to my sort of holiday i kind of thought i can do this funny little thing that happened as you can imagine i'd had a fair bit to drink at this point um and i got a taxi back to my hotel and I walked through the lobby and I went up the lift to my hotel room and then realized this is not my room this is not my hotel I'd just gone in the wrong hotel entirely somehow I made it back to where I was actually staying funny uh and then it kind of went from there you know I had little adventures every night I found a speakeasy bar which was in a coffee shop the bar I was just hidden behind this curtain.
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That's cool.
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It was really cool.
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I actually went there twice.
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Wow.
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One time I went to a musical and I went to Hard Rock Cafe and I was in the waiting room, but all the chefs ran out saying, everyone's got to get out, the kitchen's on fire.
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And I went out and no lie, in Times Square, there are all these fire engines because there was a fire in Hard Rock Cafe.
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Oh my goodness.
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So that was quite an experience.
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But it was on my last night where I think I'd probably bit of confidence by this point maybe a bit too much okay and um i went back to that speakeasy bar and because i'd met some people there so i met them again and then we went to a few other bars and then i ended up at a house party i can't remember where it was or whose party it was but it was really good fun um but i had had quite a lot to drink um and then towards the end of the night I remember going to an all-night diner and eating pancakes and having a milkshake which just now sounds so horrible at 4am in the morning.
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There are a couple of police officers in there, I got my photo with them or cops.
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Do you have that photo?
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Somewhere.
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If I can find it I'm happy to to share it.
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And then I rang my mum actually just saying I've had a brilliant night you know because they I was five hours behind in New York so if it was 3.30 in the morning it was 8.30 in the morning for my mum and I guess she could probably tell how drunk I was when I was on the phone and that's the last thing I remember.
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The next moment I was woken up by a phone ringing, not my mobile phone, it was a landline and I was like where is this coming from?
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I didn't even know there was a phone in my hotel room so I kind of ventured over to the phone and answered it and it was my mum on the line saying what's wrong, what's wrong?
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and I was like, how are you calling the hotel room?
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My, how do you have this number?
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And it turns out that I had massively overslept.
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My flight was in about an hour's time and I needed to get up and get out of the hotel room ASAP.
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So I put the phone down and then the next thing I know, there's a bang on the door.
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Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
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So I went to the door and it was the manager of the hotel saying, you need to get out.
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You're way past checkout time.
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Oh my God.
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Oh my God.
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So thank the Lord I'd actually packed the night before because I would not have had time to pack all my clothes.
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That's lucky.
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So I literally just grabbed my stuff and ran out of the hotel.
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I didn't even have time to go to the toilet or anything.
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So I had to go to a Starbucks, buy a coffee just to use their toilet because there's a special code to get into the loo.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, it was incredibly stressful.
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And on my mobile, I'd got about 20 missed calls.
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So my mum had obviously realised that I was not in the best condition, that I'd overslept because I'd not answered my phone.
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She'd rung the hotel and they'd put her through to my room.
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Hang on, this car's coming.
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What do we do?
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Let's stand here.
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Yeah, okay.
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And that was it, really.
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I mean, I made it.
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I, yeah, I made it to the airport.
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Oh, just the skin of my teeth.
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It was so stressful.
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And then at the airport, I had a right headache.
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So I had another beer and that helped.
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And then I was so, so tired on the plane.
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So I thought, I'm not going to watch a movie.
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I'll just watch an episode of Family Guy because it's 20 minutes and then I'll be able to fall asleep.
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In the end, I spent the six hour flight just watching episode of Family Guy after Family Guy after Family Guy, just feeling awful.
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But yeah, I got home.
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I was fine.
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I proved to myself I could be alone, do things independently and have fun.
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Independently, but with a little help from your mother.
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From my mum, yes.
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Well, I was going to say, like, do you think you could do this all again now by yourself?
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Would you do it ever again like that?
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I know it's very difficult, right?
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Because you have a family and a boy, a young boy.
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But, you know, do you think you could still do that again?
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The same kind of thing.
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Go on a trip.
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How about to another country?
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Good question.
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Could you do that, do you think?
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I'm not sure I'm as brave as I was back then.
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I'd like to, though.
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Yeah.
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Like, do you think you could go to Japan by yourself?
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oh that's very very different because again there's a language barrier i can't read i can't you know i can't see a sign and understand what it's saying i wouldn't be able to read a menu people would help you and they have they have english menus as well you know japan is on my bucket list it's japan is on my bucket list i'm desperate to go there um it might have to be not a solo trip which is great but um i don't know i probably could do it again but i i would have to psych myself up in advance psych yourself up that's a good phrase everyone another good phrase that we didn't use is hair of the dog yes because when Elliot woke up too late in the hotel went to the airport decided to have another beer because he didn't feel very well we say like that's hair of the dog hair of the dog yes the hair of the dog that bit to you yeah so it comes from exactly um all right well if you are patreon members we have a really special story for you which is how elliot met his wife and it's genuinely very heartwarming and it's one of my favorite stories so we'll see you over there if not make sure you download the free vocab checklist and we'll see you in another video bye bye

Why practice speaking with this video?

Engaging with this listening practice video not only enhances your ability to understand British English but also allows you to develop your speaking skills in a real-life context. Learning English through storytelling, like the narrative shared by Elliot about his adventures in New York, provides an excellent opportunity for shadow speech practice. As you listen to the story, you’ll notice various expressions and emotions woven into the dialogue, which are crucial for mastering conversational English. By practicing along, you can improve your fluency and confidence in speaking, mimicking the natural speech patterns used by native speakers.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

  • Conditional Statements: Phrases like “if you’re going to meet anyone” help illustrate hypothetical situations. This structure is vital in everyday English conversations, offering learners ways to express possibilities.
  • Narrative Tenses: The use of past simple and past continuous, as in “I went down to the bar” and “I was experiencing heartbreak,” adds depth to storytelling. This is particularly useful for learners wanting to express past experiences.
  • Expressions of Emotion: Elliot’s use of phrases like “I was nervous” and “I felt excited” allows learners to convey feelings, an essential part of effective communication. Incorporating such expressions enhances relatability in conversations.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Listening to the transcript reveals some tricky pronunciations that English learners often struggle with. Words such as “scarf,” “concierge,” and the phrase “Dutch courage” may pose challenges. The accent present in this video—British English—can also be distinct from other English variants. Engaging with the video will help you familiarize yourself with these nuances. Moreover, repeating sentences out loud while shadowing Elliot’s story allows learners to focus on the fluidity of speech. The phrase “the city that never sleeps” showcases rhythm and intonation that are key components in sounding natural when speaking.

Practicing with this video not only aids in comprehending authentic British English but also connects you with vital language patterns that will dramatically enhance your command of the language. Whether you are a beginner or looking to polish your skills, incorporating shadow speech techniques while watching English learn with YouTube content can lead to significant improvement in your overall English proficiency.

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.

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