Shadowing Practice: F1 Nico Rosberg - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Nico Rossberg.
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Where's his journey taking him?
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At 24 years of age, he's already been all over the world.
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Formula One makes it possible.
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And almost wherever he goes, he gets by well.
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No wonder, as he speaks four languages fluently.
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Nico Rossberg, an exemplary racing driver.
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Born with speed already in his veins, thanks to Father Kiki.
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My father raced himself.
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He was a Formula 1 driver himself.
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In fact, winning the world championship in 1982 with Williams.
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So literally in the same position I'm in now, more or less.
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And so I grew up with it really.
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I was always there watching him and it always fascinated me.
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So I thought one day I'd like to do it myself.
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So then step by step I tried go-karts and enjoyed that and then started doing some competitions and started winning.
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And that's when it really gets you hooked onto it because winning is just an amazing feeling.
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And that's how I just progressed step by step all the way to where I am now.
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In the 2006 season, Nico Rosberg then ultimately got his first Formula One drive, racing for the Williams team.
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Although it was acknowledged that he had great talent, he failed to make a lightning start, often due to bad luck and the car at his disposal.
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Nevertheless, his star began to rise, if only modestly.
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The greatest success to date for the Wiesbaden board driver, second place in the 2008 night race in Singapore.
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After many disappointments, a reason to smile and an incentive to push on in 2009.
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Last year in general it was quite a poor season for us.
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We had some highlights which were nice but in general it was a bit of a struggle.
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So we can definitely do better this year
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and I hope we can do a lot better this year which would be really nice for the whole team.
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Indeed, he's very much a team player.
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Smart, technically clued up, and a guy with a good work-life balance.
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Monaco is where he calls home.
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He enjoys living, relaxing and training here in the sun of southern France.
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When I grew up here, I came here when I was very young, just a toddler.
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Then I went to school here.
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All my friends are here and all my regular haunts.
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So this is quite simply home and that's why I also really like spending my time here. to make it.
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smile a little bit because there are some of the characteristics of youth.
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You know, I know it all and I can get the job done.
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But the truth is he does know most of it and he does get the job done.
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And in that respect, considering his age to say someone 20 and 40 years ago of the same age,
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he is so much more advanced in his career and in terms of maturity.
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In other words, I guess I'm saying the youth of today has seen more,
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done more, will achieve more by the age of 21 than they probably would have done 20 and 40 years ago.
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And Nico is typical of that new type of young man.
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That sounds like a very satisfied team boss.
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And this year Nico Rosberg can continue to employ his talents for Williams' benefit.
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However, which team he'll be racing for in 2010 is still an open question.
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His contract with Williams is up.
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And despite some minor successes this year, Rosberg's hunger for victory seems certain to take him to one of the top championship contenders.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “F1 Nico Rosberg”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Nico, Williams, step, Formula, racing. This video has 48 sentences and 588 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:56. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| exemplary adjective | /ɪɡˈzɛmpləɹi/ | Deserving honour, respect and admiration. |
| fascinate verb | /ˈfæsɪneɪt/ | To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone. |
| fluently adverb | In a fluent manner, as expressing oneself easily, especially in a foreign language. | |
| modestly adverb | In a modest manner; with humility. | |
| haunt verb | /hɔnt/ | To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts). |
| contender noun | /kənˈtɛn.dɚ/ | Someone who competes with one or more other people. |
| vein noun | /veɪn/ | A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart. |
| toddler noun | /ˈtɑdlɚ/ | A young child (typically between one and three years old) who has started walking but not fully mastered it. |
| maturity noun | /məˈtjʊəɹɪti/ | The state of being mature, ready or ripe; the prime state of productibility and self expression. |
| employ verb | /ɪmˈplɔɪ/ | To retain (someone) as an employee. |
| incentive noun | /ɪnˈsɛntɪv/ | Something that motivates, rouses, or encourages. |
| characteristic noun | /ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/ | A distinguishing feature of a person or thing, a part of mental or physical behavior. |
| satisfy verb | /ˈsætɪsfaɪ/ | To be enough (for) |
| disposal noun | /dɪsˈpoʊ.zəl/ | A disposition; an arrangement, categorization, or classification of things. |
| disappointment noun | /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/ | The feeling or state of being disappointed: a feeling of sadness or frustration when something is not as good as one hoped or expected, or when something bad… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, he'll, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: exemplary /ɪɡˈzɛmpləɹi/, maturity /məˈtjʊəɹɪti/, characteristic /ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/, disappointment /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/
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 exemplary, fascinate, fluently.
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.