Shadowing Practice: Curb Your Enthusiasm: Young Larry - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Can you believe it?
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No. Seeing that in your pool.
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Who expects something?
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I wouldn't have even dreamed something like that.
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Imagine.
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You know, why me?
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What's...
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Why you?
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What's in my house?
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Welcome to Netflix.
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Larry David, Jeff Green to see Don Winston Jr. Great.
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Just give me one sec.
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Don Jr. Don Jr. Yeah.
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Don Jr. How do you have a name like that?
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Must be horrible.
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Trump has really ruined it for all Don Juniors, hasn't he?
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I would not want that as my name.
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Oh, my God.
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All right, Larry.
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Jeff?
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Thank you.
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Elevators are to your right.
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Thank you.
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Oh, hey.
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You going out with Brooks' funeral?
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I have no choice.
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Who throws a funeral for themselves while they're alive?
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He does.
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And I have to speak.
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He's asked me to speak.
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No. Yeah.
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No. Yeah.
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Oh, geez.
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Yeah.
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All right, you ready for my pitch?
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Yeah.
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The show is called Young Larry.
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It's about my life when I was like 24, 25.
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I lived in Brooklyn with my parents and my uncle, Mo, lived upstairs with my grandmother.
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Mo was in his 70s.
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He pushed racks in the garment centers, would take the subway every day.
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He never spent a nickel in his life, so he had over a million dollars saved up.
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So one day, Uncle Mo comes up to me and he says, I'm moving into the city and I want you to live with me,
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and if you live with me, I'll leave all my money to you." Wow.
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Wow.
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So in the show, I move in with Uncle Mo,
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and, uh, I do everything that I can to accelerate his.. demise.
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So how does he try to kill him?
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Subtly.
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You know, like, giving him terrible food to eat, Ruben sandwiches, you know, making him climb up six flights of stairs, telling him the elevator's broken,
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you know, things like that.
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So young Larry, what's going on in his life right now?
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Like, what is he doing?
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Okay, very good question.
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Thank you.
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He's a private chauffeur.
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He drives for an old woman.
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I was a private chauffeur.
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I drove this old lady around.
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She was blind.
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I never cleaned the car.
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She had no idea.
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And so he has this huge Cadillac limousine at his disposal that he uses all the time.
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And I was trying to be a stand -up comic.
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So I was just starting out doing my act.
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Oh, that's really interesting.
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You know, we'll see him do stand -up.
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Sure.
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When he's not chauffeuring or whatever and trying to kill his uncle.
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Wow.
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I love this.
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I think this is great.
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Really?
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I think we want to do this show.
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In a word, in.
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Yeah?
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Yes, in.
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Are you kidding?
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Really?
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Absolutely.
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Look at that.
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Oh, my God.
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Purell?
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How about that?
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I'm good for now.
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I'm good for now, but thanks.
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I'm not a Purell hoarder.
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Remember the pandemic, the hoarders?
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Oh, yeah.
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Nasty people.
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Terrible.
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They're like horse thieves in the Old West, aren't they?
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Okay.
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You'll find that I'm a pleasure to work with?
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Eh, don't give me any notes.
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That's all.
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I'm not joking.
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I'm not joking.
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It's not a joke.
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That's great.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 102 sentences and 542 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:11. The speaker talks at a natural 171 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| uncle noun | /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/ | The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent. |
| funeral noun | /ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/ | A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased. |
| joking verb | /ˈd͡ʒoʊkɪŋ/ | Kidding, trying to fool. |
| horrible adjective | /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/ | Causing horror; terrible; shocking. |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| comic noun | /ˈkɑmɪk/ | A comedian. |
| ruin noun | /ˈɹuː.ɪn/ | The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle. |
| climb verb | /ˈklaɪ̯m/ | To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending). |
| nasty adjective | /ˈnæs.ti/ | Dirty, filthy. |
| grandmother noun | /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/ | A mother of someone's parent. |
| stairs noun | /ˈstɛɹz/ | A contiguous set of steps connecting two floors. |
| sandwich noun | /ˈsæn(d).wɪd͡ʒ/ | A dish or foodstuff where at least one piece, but typically two or more pieces, of bread serves as the wrapper or container of some other food. |
| subway noun | /ˈsʌbˌweɪ/ | An underground railway, especially for mass transit of people in urban areas. |
| disposal noun | /dɪsˈpoʊ.zəl/ | A disposition; an arrangement, categorization, or classification of things. |
| elevator noun | /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/ | Anything that raises or uplifts. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| stand up verb | To rise from a lying or sitting position. |
| come up to verb | To approach. |
| save up verb | To accumulate money, especially for a specific, planned expenditure. |
| start out verb | To emerge suddenly; to jump out. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, they're, aren't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/, thief /ˈθiːf/
- Long words — get the stress right: elevator /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/, accelerate /ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/
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 uncle, funeral, joking.
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.