Shadowing Practice: China diversifies trade routes | Vietnam Today - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 27 sentences and 380 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:58. The speaker talks at a steady 128 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• corridor /ˈkɒɹɪdɔː/ (noun) — A narrow hall or passage with rooms leading off it, as in a building or in a railway carriage.
• expand /ɪkˈspænd/ (verb) — To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.
• freight /fɹeɪt/ (noun) — The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
• maritime /ˈmæɹ.ɪˌtaɪm/ (adjective) — Relating to or connected with the sea or its uses (as navigation, commerce, etc.).
• infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ (noun) — An underlying base or foundation for a building, organization, or system.
• strategic /stɹəˈti.dʒɪk/ (adjective) — Of or pertaining to strategy.
• rail /ɹeɪ(ə)l/ (noun) — A horizontal bar extending between supports and used for support or as a barrier; a railing.
• resource /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ (noun) — Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
• connect /kəˈnɛkt/ (verb) — To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
• increasingly (adverb) — Increasing in amount or intensity.
• vital /ˈvaɪtəl/ (adjective) — Relating to or characteristic of life.
• stretch /stɹɛt͡ʃ/ (verb) — To lengthen by pulling.
• fewer /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ — Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer
• rely /ɹɪˈlaɪ/ (verb) — To trust; to have confidence in; to depend.
• vessel /ˈvɛsəl/ (noun) — Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• pass through (verb) — To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another.

Pronunciation to watch

• The “sh” and “zh” sounds: tension /ˈtɛnʃən/, disruption /dɪsˈɹʌpʃən/
• Long words — get the stress right: infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, geography /d͡ʒiˈɑɡɹəfi/, diversify /daɪˈvɝ.sə.faɪ/, kilometre /kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/

How to practise with this video

1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like corridor, expand, freight.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video: