Shadowing Practice: Conversational English - How to make polite requests - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi. We all want people to be polite to us, yet sometimes we forget how to behave politely towards others. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, I'm going to show you how to be polite to others and how to make requests politely so that people are more likely to do what you ask them to do. Okay? Let's look at the board. I've written a number of expressions that you can use for these purposes. Okay, so here are some of the many expressions that you can use. The first, of course, is with the word "please". By itself, you could say, "Please do something." All right? Next expression, "Could you please?" This is actually my favorite because you could use this in any context, and it always works. "Could you please?" And we're going to see exactly what you could add after that. You could also say, "Would you?" And you could also say, "Can you?" But in my opinion, "Can you?" is not as polite as "Could you?" All right? "Can you?" is very casual, and "Could you?" you could use in a business situation or in a formal situation. Okay?
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Now, one last one is the expression, "Would you mind?" Now, "Would you mind?" is special because when you ask somebody, "Would you mind opening the window?" The question is really there, "Do you have any problem with opening the window?" Or, "Do you have any objection to opening the window?" Right? So if you don't have any objection, then what you should say is, "No." So, "Would you mind opening the window?" "No, no problem. I'll open the window." So in fact, here, when you say, "No," you're saying, "Yes." To all the other ones, "Could you please open the window?" "Yes, I'll open the window." So to all of these, you can just say, "Yes" as the answer, and to this one, the positive answer is, "No." All right? If it confuses you, just forget about it. All right? There are many good expressions that you can use, but you should also understand when other people are speaking to you what you should say.
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So let's try with this one, and let's see what happens when we look at different contexts when people don't use a little something to make a polite request. Let's say you're at the bank, and someone says to you, "Fill in this form." "Oh, how's that going to make you feel? Not very nice." So it would be much nicer if they said, "Could you please fill out this form?" or, "Would you fill in this form?" Right? If you're in a restaurant, and you say to the waiter, "Bring us some water." Okay? Of course, the waiter will bring you the water, but it's not a very nice way to treat other human beings. So it's much nicer to say, "Would you bring us some water, please?" "Could you please bring us some water?" or, "Please bring us some water." Okay?
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Next one. Let's suppose you work in a call center, and you have to ask people for information.
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Now, of course, you want to use all the diplomacy you can, and you want to be as polite as you can, because sometimes your job is hard enough. So you don't want to say something like, "Give me your name." "Give me your address." "Give me your phone number." No. Much nicer to say, "Could you please give me your phone number?" "Would you give me your phone number, please?" etc. Okay?
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Next, in an office situation, if you say to someone, "Send them an email." Okay? Of course, it sounds like you're angry, and you don't want to sound angry around people you work with all the time, so much nicer to say, "Could you please send them an email?" "Would you send them an email, please?" All right? Or, "Would you mind sending them an email?" Another thing that happens when we use "would you mind" is that this verb has to change. "Would you mind filling in this form?" "Would you mind bringing us some water?" "Would you mind giving me your name?" "Would you mind sending them an email?" Okay? So remember that little change if you're using the last one, but only for the last one.
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Next one, if you're in a hotel, and you're asking them to send you some... You need some more towels in your room. So it wouldn't be very nice to say, "Send me some towels." It would be much nicer to say, "Could you please have someone send us some towels?" Or, "Could you please send me some towels?" Okay? Or, "Could you please send some towels to my room?" Any of those, as long as you're saying "could you please", it's going to be much nicer and you're going to get the desired effect. Okay?
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Next, on the phone. Instead of saying to someone, "Speak a little louder." Say, "Could you please speak a little louder? I'm afraid I can't hear you." Okay? These little words and expressions that we add on make life a lot kinder.
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Okay, next, at home. Also, it's really important to be kind to the people that we live with and that we say we love, so we don't want to give them orders all the time. We don't want to say, "Pass the salt." "Turn off the TV." "Close the door." We should say, "Could you please turn off the TV?" Or, I should say to the motorcyclist going by on this nice summer's day, "Could you please pass as quickly as possible?" All right?
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So, at home, "Could you please turn off the TV?" "Could you please close the door?" "Could you please pass the potatoes?" All right? Lots of ways to be polite at home, too.
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And let's say you're in public and you need to tell someone something. Also, use one of these expressions. "Would you switch off your cell phone, please?" "Could you switch off your cell phone, please?" Okay? So, remember next time when you're making a request, do so politely. The world on a personal level, your world will be probably a kinder place.
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And on a global level, we'll make our existence here on the planet a much better, more pleasant experience. Okay?
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So if you'd like to do a quiz on this subject, please go to our website, www.engvid.com.
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Good luck with your English.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This A2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Conversational English - How to make polite requests”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: send, expression, window, nicer, polite. This video has 14 sentences and 1086 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:12. The speaker talks at a natural 151 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 93% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 23 of its 14 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| polite adjective | /pəˈlaɪt/ | Well-mannered, civilized. |
| towel noun | /ˈtaʊ̯əl/ | A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath. |
| objection noun | /əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/ | The act of objecting. |
| waiter noun | /ˈweɪ̯təː/ | A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| formal adjective | /ˈfɔɹməl/ | In accordance with established forms. |
| casual adjective | /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/ | Happening by chance. |
| pleasant adjective | /ˈplɛz.ənt/ | Giving pleasure; pleasing in manner. |
| potato noun | /pəˈteɪ.təʊ/ | The edible starchy tuber of the plant species Solanum tuberosum. |
| behave verb | /bɪˈheɪv/ | To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. |
| quiz noun | /kwɪz/ | A competition in the answering of questions. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| diplomacy noun | /dɪˈpləʊməsi/ | The art and practice of conducting international relations by negotiating alliances, treaties, agreements etc., bilaterally or multilaterally, between states… |
| confuse verb | /kənˈfjuːz/ | to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand |
| politely adverb | /pəˈlaɪtli/ | in a polite manner |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| turn off verb | To power down, to switch off, to put out of operation, to deactivate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.). | |
| switch off verb | To stop or disable a device by turning a switch or a lever. | |
| fill out verb | /fɪl ˈaʊt/ | To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information. |
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 written |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should say |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | mind opening · mind sending |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | you're saying · you're using · you're asking |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 27 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: objection /əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/
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 polite, towel, objection.
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.