Shadowing Practice: "Discipline is Everything" - Cristiano Ronald | [ ENGLISH SPEECH ] - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Well, for me it's a pleasure to be with you.

When I start to play football, I mean, when I was very, very young, with probably seven,

eight, nine years old, I started to play in home, in the street, with my colleagues, with my friends.

And I think this is where everything starts.

You know, that you start to feel that the sport is fun.

Did you fall in love with the game immediately?

I think so, yes.

I thought it was like the first love when I started to play in the streets.

It was fun and I said, listen, I like this.

Now, did you know that you were going to be a superstar your whole life?

Did you have that feeling?

Never, never, never.

I will be false if I say yes.

In the beginning, when you start, you always have that passion to enjoy yourself,

to spend time with friends and to have fun.

But in the beginning, not even with 14, 15, 16 years old, I didn't feel that.

Maybe after that, with 18, 19, 20s, yes, I start to feel everything was different.

In the beginning, probably was my father.

My father in the beginning pushed me a lot, not a lot, a little bit, to follow my dream.

In the beginning with seven, eight years, it was my father because he saw some

that I had some talent and he pushed me to play not only in the street,

but we had a local team in Madeira that they call Andorinha.

I don't know how you say in English, Andorinha, I don't know how you say, but now they're going to think it is a club.

Sure.

Madeira club that everyone knows if they and during I will tell you in English

is the name of the bird yeah

and I start you know to be with teammates

and I start you know the rule of football I start

that there to be honest I think both have to work in the same time because talent without work is nothing

and work without talent is nothing too.

So I think they both mix up.

So, and of course I have two.

I'm not will say that I have more one than the other one.

Because if you see my whole career for the last 20 years,

my level was high.

And this is, as you can know, it's really tough, not only in football, but in any area.

If you are top for 20 years is unbelievable.

And I do that and I continue to do that.

For me, it's a big achievement.

And my biggest motivation is to carry on, to still enjoy to make people happy to make my family happy

so for me i have both talent

and work ethic do you think you got a lot of

that work ethic from your father him pushing you when you were younger maybe both my mom too

mom and dad my brothers too i think it's it's this childhood to make you feel what you are

or make you be what what you are the difficult of of things that you pass through in your life

make you being stronger mentally to challenge a hard life

and of course the environment too helps i don't know

if you knows but I move with 11 years old from Madeira to Lisbon

which is it's it's it's hard to be honest it's probably

was the most difficult part in terms of professional of my career

so it was hard to left my family in in Madeira

to follow my dream in Lisbon without your family with 11

years old I can see now my kids cristiano my older son i don't know

if i will be capable to let him go to i don't know

at this age in this age two years more yeah will

be tough what's the cost what's the sacrifice of being this good for

that long you know what do people not see that you're doing

life is is a box of surprising

and it's hard you know it's not it's not easy you know to be in this level

and still push

and still motivate to carry on you know to score goals

to be in a good shape to compete with the young lions they they coming

and when they play against me they want to show they want to show me

that they are stronger than me

and faster than me you have to prepare very well not in terms of physically

but mentally too i think it's very hard

but in the same way it's a challenge you know

because as you can see you if you treat good your body you can maintain

so many many years and this is the big challenge for me

and uh it's great i feel i feel proud for

that to have this age

and still compete in a highest level for me it's it's great

and give me motivation to carry on first of all you

have a resting heart rate of 43 beats per minute

which you know but that's in the top one percent of men on whoop and even amongst professional athletes

it's in the top three percent so that's as you say top top top that is your sleep performance 81

so that's pretty good on average your strain is 14.9 every single day 14.9 out of out of 21

so that's high you're getting 51 of your days are in the green

and then the rest are in the yellow and

and then a very small percentage are in the red

so even with all this training your body's still recovering

which is really impressive what are you doing to recover

so well well i i can't say i can be cookie

and say i give you the map you are willing to do

that yeah it's the main the main point

because everyone wants to be christian but i give you the map you think you will do it that

it's difficult it's the discipline the discipline is the most difficult thing not only in the sport

but in the life small details in the end of the day will make the big difference in my opinion so

as you say

and i will keep repeat the consistency is the most difficult

thing just doing it every day yes every day do you ever wake up

and you're saying i don't want to do it today i fight against my mind yes sometimes it's it's up

and we are we are all human beings we are we

are not happy every day we are you know not in

a good mood every day it's normal it's part of it's part of us what do you do to overcome

that i fight against that you know it's it's the big challenge it's when you're You're not willing to do something,

but you have to do it.

This is the main point.

This is why I say our mind, it's a box of surprises and you have to challenge yourself to be consistent.

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I repeat, sometimes it's hard.

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It's what many people say.

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You like to go to the gym every day.

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Of course, no. It's not true.

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Nobody likes to go to the gym every day.

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But you have to do it.

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Probably yes, because your mental strength is coming from that, from that moment that's in a hard moment,

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you know, you should do it.

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So and I do it because after that, maybe in the beginning, you feel hard to start.

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But after when you finish the gym or cold plunge or, or even the training, you will feel better.

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For me, it's right now, it's a normal day in office, as you say, sometimes it's, it's part of my life.

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You know, it's like some people, they don't brush the teeth every day.

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They don't take a coffee every day.

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So I take cold punch every day because it's part of my, my routine, my, my journey.

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You know, it's it's, and it's, it's not a sacrifice for me, to be honest.

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I enjoy to do that.

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serious i'm not i'm not saying that's just surprise the people

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no no i'm enjoy to do it this kind of stuff

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probably for some persons they are a sacrifice is a nightmare

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but for me no i really enjoy to be honest

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because i felt after that i feel good what's your routine like uh

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which order do you do things we are animals of routines you know and my routines it's 90% of my days,

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they are very similar.

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You know, you want to know since I wake up?

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Yeah, let's do it.

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So in the morning, I wake up, I have my cold plunge,

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I have my machines, I have my showers and everything i wake up i go there

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first thing i diving first thing in the cold first thing is i prepare my water to drink

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because you know as you know during the night we've been dehydration it's yeah it's it's it's very low

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so i take my water my shower my cold plunge i coming down you know be nice with my

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with my family with my kids i give a hug i coming out to have lights in my eyes

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morning sunlight yes two three minutes just to give the information to my brain that it's it's

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early time to wake up yes and after that i take my coffee and

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when i start my day a nice conversation uh it's my

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routine what i like to do it it's like in the

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morning to sit take my coffee speak with with my kids with my wife

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and start the day this is my routine after of course during the day have thousand things to do it

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but this is the basic point this is the

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that gets you started yes

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and do you have any form of mindfulness meditation breathing practice

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I don't do it every day I do it for example the bridge I do it in meditation

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when I feel a little bit more stressful especially the day of the game game yeah

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when you do meditation before a game do you visualize the

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game at all visualize moments in the game yeah sometimes i do to visualize a few points

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that can happen in the game i like to do it

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and sometimes it's my subconscious they do it by himself yeah

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so but it's nice you visualize a few things not even during the game

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but during the period that you You go to the stadium to warm up, you know, before the game, during the game.

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And it's fun.

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It's fun, to be honest, and I like to do it.

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It's amazing how they can come true.

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What you see can come true, right?

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Many things.

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Even sometimes I speak with my friends and I tell them, I say, listen, today in the game, we're going to have a penalty.

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I felt the day of the game that they're going to give a penalty and something will happen in the game.

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I felt so I go more prepared because if you visualize before, you will be more prepared for that moment.

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So it's fun.

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I notice when you do a free kick or a penalty, there's like a moment right before you kick the ball, right?

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Or you go like...

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Breathing because it makes you calm.

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When I do that, it makes me my heart rate...

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Comes down.

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Comes down.

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Is that something you practiced?

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Yeah, you have to practice. But...

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But the routine of it?

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Everything leading...

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Because even in the training, I do it.

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I don't do it only in the game.

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I do it even in the training.

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So, because it's a habit.

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When you do so many things, one thing, it becomes a habit.

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So, this is what I try to do every time.

173

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 173 sentences and 2008 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:50. The speaker talks at a steady 145 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
routine noun	/ɹuˈtin/	A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure.
penalty noun	/ˈpɛn.əl.ti/	A legal sentence.
sacrifice noun	/ˈsæk.ɹɪ.faɪs/	Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.
meditation noun	/mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/	A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation.
compete verb	/kəmˈpiːt/	To be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend.
recover verb	/ɹɪˈkʌvɚ/	To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal).
breathe verb	/bɹiːð/	To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
habit noun	/ˈhæb.ɪt/	An action performed on a regular basis.
discipline noun	/ˈdɪsəplɪn/	A controlled behaviour; self-control.
motivation noun	/ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/	Willingness of action especially in behavior.
mentally adverb	/ˈmɛntəli/	In a mental manner; an idea thought out in one's mind, as opposed to an idea spoken orally.
ethic noun	/ˈɛθ.ɪk/	A set of principles of right and wrong behaviour guiding, or representative of, a specific culture, society, group, or individual.
consistent adjective	/kənˈsɪs.tənt/	Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature.
percentage noun	/pə(ɹ)ˈsɛntɪd͡ʒ/	The amount, number or rate of something, regarded as part of a total of 100; a part of a whole.
impressive adjective	/ɪmˈpɹɛsɪv/	Making, or tending to make, a positive impression; having power to impress.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
wake up verb	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	To stop sleeping; to awake.
come down verb		To descend, fall down, collapse.
mix up verb		To mix or blend thoroughly and completely.
warm up verb	/ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/	To become warmer.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 25 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, ethic /ˈɛθ.ɪk/, athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, brush /bɹʌʃ/, visualize /ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/
Long words — get the stress right: motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, consistency /kənˈsɪs.tən.si/, dehydration /dihaɪˈdɹeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

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

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?