Shadowing Practice: ENGLISH SPEECH | R. MADHAVAN: Break the Clutter (English Subtitles) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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181 sentences

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these are basic things you have to know

that you have to know how to dress correctly you have to know

if you have body order you have to know whether you're spitting on people's face

and how to stop it when you're speaking

if you don't do these things ladies

and gentlemen you will be in an average life doing an average job

and living an average life see you guys are in your uh you know at the threshold of the dreams

that you want to achieve please sit down it's going to be slightly longer

and you know you guys are going to actually determine how the environment around

you is going to progress along with you you must know

that at no point in your life is something impossible at no point

you could be in a place you could be born

and brought up in a place like bihar like i have done

and be a big enough star to come

and talk to people in coimbatore as a star

or you could be in the industry like the Tamil and Telugu industry and be known as the most exciting director.

Raj Maholi suddenly decides that he can make a film which is, if not better, but at par with Hollywood.

And he does that staying in India and he hits the ball right out of the park.

He becomes historic in just that one moment.

There is a huge lesson to be learned on things like that.

Everybody keeps saying success is when the right opportunity meets the right preparation right

so you can't have the right preparation by being the engineer

that you want to be and you keep looking out for

that right opportunity but what makes the right opportunity

and the right preparation come together when does

that synergy happen for you to be prepared for it

because um like they say if you're prepared

but you don't get the opportunity it's useless

if you have the opportunity you're not prepared it's not useless

but they have to meet at a point right and

that meeting happens because you will it to happen

because you want it

so badly to happen i could be walking down any street i could be anybody

but why did that one director come and meet me

and wanted me to act in that television serial

if you look at every next step in my career i have never prepared for it i have never imagined

that this could happen i never imagined

that mani will call me how would mani ratnam know about

a guy who's doing a television series in bombay without even seeing one episode of mine

so let's come back to that one point that happens the synergy

that happens between the right opportunity and the right preparation and

that happens when you have what is called situational awareness

so let me tell you a little bit about situational awareness situational awareness is

when in the as in the army they say

you're completely aware of what is happening around you at all times

so as i was saying the situational awareness happens

when you're completely aware of everything that is going around you at all times

and you should be able to do that

when we are in the army and

if you're walking down the ground parade ground anybody who's involved

with the defense will know what i'm saying is the truth

and if there's an officer walking away from the other side of the ground you have to stop

and salute him and say ram ram sarji

or whatever is the call of the unit

if you don't they'll give you a brick in your hand

and you have to shave with that break so thank you that's awesome

so what the situation is is because you should know

when the enemy is around you or when there is danger around you

you know how that is taught to you from

when you're a child that's taught to you in the form of good manners in the form of being courteous

so when when you say a good morning

or you sing a good afternoon or you're looking around

and helping a teacher who's carrying a book and being aware

that she needs help or you're watching around and stepping over a train

and not tripping on yourself you should know

that you're fairly evolved in the form of in the art of situational awareness

that's why people insist on teaching children good manners

and anybody who has good manners not it's not just a desire

it's not the desire just to be considered to be a polite guy

but the ability to know

when somebody needs to be wished somebody needs help somebody is in needs of assistance

or somebody has to run away

and that's that's why you teach your child good manners

and i will tell you today from the bottom of my heart

i might not be completely uh worthy of some of the opportunities

that i got but i grabbed it like hell

and i got those opportunities simply

because i was a very well -mannered person i was able to yeah

so and with that manner with the way you walk with your gate the kind of words

that you use it's very common to use normal language

when you're friends and everything

but most people don't even have a vocabulary the reason i started those classes in in kolhapur was

so that i had my friends who came to me and said maddie

We are very good engineers, buddy.

We're really good at what we're doing.

But the problem is I can't speak in English.

I can't speak in Marathi.

So when they come from Tatas in Kirloskos for campus selections, I'm not able to communicate to them.

They don't even observe a Kolhapuri boy wearing a terry cotton pant

and a shirt and wearing chappals and don't even consider that he could be a good engineer.

So when I said the fault lies with you guys, he says you have to break the clutter.

Nobody's going to come and say, hey, you know what?

Maybe you're a good engineer.

Let me give you a shot.

You have to be noticed in that very first instant.

And for two reasons.

One is that either you should know what is a good profession for you.

If you're not able to make an impression, then quickly change it.

This is not the be all and end all.

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Engineering or whichever subject that you choose to major in

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when you're in college does not literally have to be your lifelong profession.

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But give it a shot.

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At least know if that is a profession

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that you really want to pursue and excel in

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because that's the only way you'll survive is if you excel in it

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if you excel in it to such an extent

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that you think sleep dream eat breathe that particular job

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and i do that with acting

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and i'm telling you i do not know what else i would have been a really bad soldier

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because i would have

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because i think i'm a really good actor i'm involved completely 100 of the time i'm doing research

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if i have free time i'm going to youtube

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and finding out what is a different method of acting i just do

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that with a passion if you're not doing that for your profession know

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that you're in a secondary profession know that you're doing something

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which is not which the lord has not made you to to achieve glory in

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so you have to give it

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that shot now what i what i'm trying to tell you is

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that kolha puri friends of mine who then came to me

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and i said okay let's try and see if we can change

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that so at five o 'clock in the morning they would come to my room we'll go to the terrace

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and i started teaching them how to present themselves in the interview things

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that i had the good fortune of doing because i had many interviews

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and many group discussions to attend

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and then i started with basic things on how how to shake hands how to look somebody in the eye

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and speak how do you introduce yourself how do you shake

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hands with a lady as opposed to a man how do

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you speak on a phone what is dining table etiquettes what's telephone etiquettes what's

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when do you use a shrimp fork or a salad fork

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or a people might think i might don't require

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that i'm never going to work on those things i'm doing my father's business

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but you never know that is the prepare that is the preparation

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that you make to make

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that quantum leap in your careers these are basic things you have to know

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that you have to know how to dress correctly you have to know

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if you have body order you have to know whether you're spitting on people's face

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and how to stop it when you're speaking

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if you don't do these things ladies

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and gentlemen you will be in an average life doing an average job

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and living an average life having said that i'm not saying

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that is wrong that could be your calling my father is very happy living

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that sort of a life because they don't live in extremes

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but if you have a passion and

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if you have a desire to be exceptional

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if you have a desire to be seen apart from the crowd

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then this is the bare minimum thing you should do so

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when these guys went for the interview the next time in bolhapur

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i made it a point to call the tatas

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and say hey you know what what is wrong because i am from from jamshed were from the Tata Steel town.

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I knew the officers, I knew the senior gentlemen.

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I said, sir, you know, these friends of mine are extraordinary engineers.

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The mere reason why you're not taking them is because they don't know how to present themselves in English.

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How long is it going to take for you to send somebody who knows Marathi in your panel

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so that they can actually judge and see these guys are good enough for Tata Steel?

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Do you need good people who speak in English or do you need somebody who are good engineers?

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And he agreed.

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He actually sent people from Maharashtra

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and for the first time in the history of kolapur we had five guys getting into tata steel

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and kirlos girls and

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and i just wanted to say

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that i don't i'm not taking credit for it it is just i just felt bad

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because it is just just small three -day push

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that they required to achieve that so

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when they were interviewed they said four years of learning engineering one side

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and those three days with maddie we became engineers and successful today

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because of those three days

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and what i am teaching you is nothing extraordinary

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it is simple stuff it's the norms it's the way of the world

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so yes we are all radicals here i mean

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you guys are very awesome students you're sitting there quietly listening to me we used to make a ruckus

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if somebody came to give a speech but the idea is

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that you have to connect to the audiences

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that you're speaking to public speaking

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and group discussion skills can be taught in 15 minutes i used to challenge my students

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that i should i I should say, I will hold each and every one of your attention for 15 minutes

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because I will say such relevant stuff that you will be forced to pay attention to me.

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And that's how you make an impression.

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That's how you break the clutter.

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That's how you get seen in this world.

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And that's how you can achieve glory for yourself and this wonderful nation that you're part of.

181

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “ENGLISH SPEECH”. This video has 181 sentences and 2029 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:27. The speaker talks fast, about 194 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% 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
awareness noun	/əˈwɛɹ.nəs/	The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer.
preparation noun	/ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/	The act of preparing or getting ready.
profession noun	/pɹəˈfɛʃ.ən/	A promise or vow made on entering a religious order.
gentleman noun	/ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/	Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.
excel verb	/ɪkˈsɛl/	To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something.
passion noun	/ˈpæʃən/	A true desire sustained or prolonged.
extraordinary adjective	/ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/	Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
glory noun	/ˈɡlɔːɹi/	Great beauty and splendor.
impression noun	/ɪmˈpɹɛʃn̩/	The indentation or depression made by the pressure of one object on or into another.
shake verb	/ˈʃeɪk/	To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.
correctly adverb	/kəˈɹɛk(t).li/	In a correct manner.
fork noun	/fɔɹk/	A utensil with spikes used to put solid food into the mouth, or to hold food down while cutting, or for serving food.
spit verb	/spɪt/	To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.
extent noun	/ɪkˈstɛnt/	A range of values or locations.
gate noun	/ˈɡeɪ̯t/	A doorlike structure outside a house.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
walk down verb		To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's…
come together verb	/ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/	To assemble; to congregate; to combine.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go around verb		To move or spread from person to person.
look around verb		To inspect a building or area.
run away verb		To flee by running.
sit down verb		To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
step over noun		A dribbling move, or feint, in football (soccer), used to fool a defensive player into thinking the offensive player, in possession of the ball, in which the…

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We're really good at what we're doing.
Nobody's going to come and say, hey, you know what?
Maybe you're a good engineer.
That's how you break the clutter.
That's how you get seen in this world.

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to make · used to challenge
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	could be born · be known · be learned
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	film which is · anybody who has · friends who came
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have done · have never prepared · has not made

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/, breathe /bɹiːð/, threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, profession /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, impression /ɪmˈpɹɛʃn̩/, shake /ˈʃeɪk/
Long words — get the stress right: preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, exceptional /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/

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 awareness, preparation, profession.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: ENGLISH SPEECH | R. MADHAVAN: Break the Clutter (English Subtitles) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Show up! POWERFUL English Speaking Practice Repeat After Me Shadowing

do it no matter what they say

How to say brilliant things when you speak

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?