Shadowing Practice: Family Values of the Top 1% - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is an advice to people who are trying to be self -made millennials?

Do not listen to non -self -made ones.

So us, right?

hey guys

so welcome to the second episode of the privileged few today

we're going to my friend's house he's pretty much a crazy rich asian

and he also is going to show us his mansion so

it's going to be absolutely mind -blowing let me give him a call

oh darling hello hey bro so we're already on the way right okay i'll be right along thank you Sia.

He gets too philosophical sometimes, but trust me, his house is so with it.

Bloody sun.

Oh!

Ouch!

Well, that concludes my morning, and I presume Albina should be here any moment.

oh hello

that didn't take long did it it took way too long

i haven't all right now i'm in the world okay anyhow you're

so fancy as always oh well i mean prepared for you didn't i now i feel like i'm not prepared

but i my excuse is that i'm just from the airport

so okay but trust me you're never too casual are you i try miros it's been a

while since i saw you okay you are no longer a crazy rich asian student in london

but one thing which remained the same about you okay is

that you stay humble okay i didn't know i used to come off as a crazy rich asian but Yes.

Well, that's the thing.

You don't come off like that, but that's the reality.

That's how people perceive, isn't it?

Why do you think all of the rich kids study abroad?

Knowledge as such is not as important.

What a modern person probably needs more is being worldly.

And I think that's something that unites a lot of people from different countries,

that they're worldly they went to the same restaurants in the same cities perhaps kind of itineraries look similar

and i'm not a huge fan of that

but then again you know it's what you end up having anyway

so that's probably true culturally we're so much closer than we actually think

so the differences is you know they're just miniscule it's probably

in the way we look you know in the way behave i mean culture is important

but the thing that they don't have is culture it's very much of a networking aspect I think

so for me my dad he was always telling me

that no matter where you go you are taught by the same books

but it's about the people who surround you yeah surroundings is

the most important thing I think even though it's important to fit in right

and your circle can I say was pretty flashy you were not like them

so did you not feel like you had to prove anything

to anybody how come you're different no actually the actual reason is

because I sucked at it it's true i really sucked

because there were so many like guys super popular especially among the girls who would be like

so natural like and showing off i wasn't able to better present myself

and i always actually felt like oh it's like some kids more natural with it i'd say yeah

so that's that was my shortcoming uh in fact

and then late years later i fell in love with it

and actually I now use it as sort of my my strength rather than my weakness.

There's a football club called Chelsea Football Club FC and because we used to live not too far from the ground

For two years, we had a booth, not like a booth, it's like a room, a private dining room with a table, which is always catered, like for eight people,

and then with a private balcony for eight as well

so you you have like a season ticket for all the home matches

but you know with a little bit of perk in there uh

so it would be the funny thing is like even

if you're sick or didn't show up it would be served regardless it's just

because the um it was the pub is what it was part of the deal

and then i was so stupid because um uh me

and my parents we went there was fun the first few

times then it was like most of the football games are on sundays

so my mom was you know uh like oh should we

just go there for the for the food they're like yeah sure just for for the food for lunch

so yeah alcohol is like you know wasted should we just you know finish

that drink that and then it never occurred to me at

that time i could be the most popular guy

and like in university or like in among my friends circle

because you know all like among girls

which was my objective obsessive objective back then

because as i've said i wasn't like you know

that easygoing at a time so um i never used it in like in my favor

and i think that

if there would be like nowadays like i i go back how stupid i was

but like other kids in my place would have been much much smarter

and like oh it was a missed opportunity oh dear big

time big time yeah oh talking about chelsea russian oligarchs oh right okay you recently met with chichvarkin i did

and how do you feel in their presence

because do you feel a lot of people even

if they're wealthy yeah they feel very uncomfortable talking to other successful people do you feel motivated by them

or is it just like what do you oh yeah many things first of all um

because i was the one paying the sort of the entrance

fee to his business store i was there more to listen

rather than speak obviously i want to make you know good impression of myself

and like whenever opportunity presented obviously you know want to throw a good you know joke here

and there but i i think it's just it's many things i don't know

if it's me being asian and like we have this respect was like older people we try not to interrupt and

especially successful people i think uh you just want to listen to them don't you because

even here in kazakhstan like i've met um some some of

the people who leaves me the buildings where i for my restaurants

so they're quite well often i say um it's just an opportunity to absorb Let's go back to your university years,

what was your allowance?

3000 pounds, at that time the pound was much stronger than US dollars, so that's like 2008, so it's like twice the US amount,

but it has to be said that I didn't have any expenses,

so no rent no because i used to live with my parents and no food expenses or anything

obviously so it was just completely you know unattached yeah whatever you can do with it

so what were you doing with it um actually i didn't have an idea

so i just saved it up and bought myself camera gear really yeah yeah

because i mean like you know um first few years you

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do something with it you just you know go hang out you know buy this

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and that but after a

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while you just have no idea what to do with it you're

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so responsible um well i mean yeah it was the first

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time i was actually given like you know money like in

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the beginning of the month rather than like you know expenses based like

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when you were at school right

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so like mom i want to buy like i don't know like a toy

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or this i need here like that you just ask specific amounts whereas like

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when you as you grow up you're given like some sort

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of allowance budget for you to plan for you to

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and I don't know I just had no idea what to do with it what

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if you would not fit in the budget throughout

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that month what would you do I could probably ask

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but I didn't

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because I obviously had savings like carryovers from previous months yeah

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actually I traveled really well I think traveling was always sort of the best reward for saving i'd say yeah

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so traveling was not a part of the budget you know

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it was actually it was yeah yeah i wouldn't ask for anything extra plus

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because when you're in london you have you know um easy jets you know budget airlines just to go

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and actually the name of the game at the time was um you would feel happy

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if you were able to save you know bit a bit here

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if you could buy the same thing

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but just a bit cheaper you know on a sale you'd actually feel more rewarded at that time.

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not sure how it is right now but i look up to you i want to be like you because

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my college experience was so different okay i had the budget right

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and i also lived in the dorm for the first two years

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because it was a requirement okay but every time i would go to new york

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or to boston

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or i would have to go somewhere for vacation there wasn't a part of the budget okay

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and then when i graduated

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and i started working i started being friends with my co -workers

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and they asked me something about savings and i was like what is

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that and then i realized that now i was 21

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and they didn't even have any savings this is one thing

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which i would do differently than my parents i would be way more strict with my kids budget

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because i feel like sometimes my parents didn't want to say no to me

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but that was the thing how they actually not only spoiled me

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but i wasn't financially aware i don't want to put too

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much control over the kids you know what i mean like even though we might not admit to ourselves maybe

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like you know dozing is like one degree of control and that's what i don't want to do is like

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if you want to teach him responsibility just give you know as much as you can

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and see if he like what he or she does with it

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so I think it's just you know there's no right

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or wrong so that's that's probably what I learned

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so then based on what you're saying you wouldn't want your

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child to have like a monthly allowance no actually I would

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but then I wouldn't limit I think it's like it's one

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thing to learn how to live on a tight budget

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but there's also another skill one has to learn how to live on a grand budget I'd say that's

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so true yeah it's also responsibility and you know that that fails a lot of people at the same time so

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a lot of people always ask rich kids why do you even choose to work in the first place

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because if you wanted to you didn't have to do that

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so what is your internal motivation to work

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or was it never even considered that you wouldn't work in your case well

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that that's for sure obviously I always perceived myself as a creative guy parents being an energy business

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and like I'm completely the opposite

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but I think it's for a lot of kids it's like

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proving their worth to their parents they're not scumbags I'd say are we allowed to say

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that we are okay okay great

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so you feel like you have to prove yourself well I

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mean I think for a lot of kids it started

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that way teen times and then like in their 20s first you have to prove your worth Then it becomes,

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I don't know, maybe like just an idea that everyone else is sort of doing something.

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There's always a competitive edge to it, isn't it?

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Like there's always siblings, there's always other kids.

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And I think competitiveness is actually what, you know, made humans, humans.

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I mean, where we are is the smartphones we have and technology this whole competition, I think it's just a very natural state for a human being to be in.

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So, when you're talking about competitiveness with your siblings, is it a healthy competition or can it get toxic from time to time?

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Because everybody watches Succession right now, right?

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Oh, right, okay.

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And everybody's opinion is like cut -throw environments with your siblings, but how does it work within your family?

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Oh, within my family, it's very simple because we've divided our sort of directions per se in business.

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So we started together with my brother doing a super like convenience store chain business.

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Obviously it wasn't super successful so we sold it to one of the larger retailers here.

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And then I decided I want to be in restaurant business

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so I built a chain from there on

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and then my brother he's like in a fitness industry

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so they're like completely like non -overlapping sort of directions per

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se yeah you said you're very different from your parents right right okay

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so was there a competition within siblings who gets to inherit

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what your dad does definitely not i think um i have more extended family

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so my case is probably different

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so uh never crossed my mind i think i'm being honest

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but uh i knew that i would not be starving at any point

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so that gives some sort of basis for confidence does it give you more confidence to start a business

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when you know that there is a safety net behind you oh definitely

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there is this gender debate

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which is okay as all as world as you're saying are

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the women your sisters yeah do you have sister I have a younger sister yeah is she also working?

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Does she want to work?

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No, she just graduated.

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couple of years ago she's obviously 10 years younger she got married last summer

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so they just moved over to LA in the foreign country

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while her husband is you know doing an MBA course

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so she's just you know figuring things out per se

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so do you think that there are different expectations from men

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and women in your family certainly yeah I don't know it's just like I think people are more relaxed

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when it comes to like you know a girl uh it

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used to like i'm not i hope i hope i'm not being sexist

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but like obviously she's the youngest

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and everyone adores her more than everyone else i were given

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a choice i would say just yeah just give her everything

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as long as she's happy i have two older sisters okay

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so it's three of us are girls there all right

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and i always felt like i feel so bad for

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that who's gonna inherit it and then i was like actually me

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but i always felt like my dad would be even though my dad says

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that he's a hardcore feminist

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because he has three daughters i felt like he would feel more calm

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if he had sons

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because every time i talk to him about his business he's

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like oh this is too dangerous i don't want you to go down

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that route one has to have a thick skin to be in business

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and obviously you wouldn't want your child to experience some of the things

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that you've experienced you know all this sort of confrontation maybe

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some you know fighting especially like you know it's probably some

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parents are protective of of their girls for example like especially my wife you know

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if like i'd be okay to like i don't know ride

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coach bus whatever like you know get into a fight anywhere

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but like as long as like my wife is safe i feel good

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so i think it's just probably somewhere somehow like we develop this sort of

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you know protectionism shall we say does your wife work yeah

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certainly yeah is she your business partner yeah she is my business partner owner actually of the business

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that i'm doing because

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of the tax optimization so to speak and then

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but her primary job is like um she's doing um with my brother's wife

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and my wife they're doing a business together they have a

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clothing brand that's amazing yeah how does gender roles work in your family

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because it looks like you are very progressive because your wife works

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but at the same time you are not putting pressure on her I think

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if girls are listening to this you are the ideal type of man

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because that's what everybody is looking for my parents

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and like my generation were completely different and

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when I was a kid like i also i always used to hear this sort of idea

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that you one has to pick a girl judging by their mother

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and that's probably true for most cases

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because you know at the at the end of the day

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we end up being who we you know aspire to most of our childhood

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and like uh

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but at the same time um in in my case i think that's furthest from the truth

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so my parents obviously you know completely different generation

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and i'm never gonna judge them for that so my mom used to be a doctor

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a practicing doctor so obviously my father was in the business so

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obviously she had to give up certain things when you know me

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and my brother but then when my sister was born

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so it was just you know burning at both ends at the same time so she just committed to being a mother, a sort of head of the family.

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Our generation, we appreciate what we've seen from our parents, but I don't think we want to replicate that in any way.

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So in my immediate family, that is being me and my wife and my son, I'm hoping that we'll be, you know, equal partners, you know,

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doing decisions, you know, equally.

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I'm hoping it's as equal as it could get given you

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know all the cultural physiological I don't know like whatever circumstances

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but I'm hoping it's so

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when you say equal I know a lot of people will think 50 50 right what do you mean

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when you say equal but what is 50 50 time money for example in America right okay

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and I don't want to generalize and say America but typically

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when somebody says 50 50 it's we are renting an apartment

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and both of us are paying 50 % of

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that rent we're going to grocery store one day I'm buying groceries the next day she is buying groceries

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or he's buying groceries obviously one thing I learned over the years is what works for two works for two so

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if it works for those people I'm super happy for them

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obviously it's not the way I would be I would call

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it too anal obviously to be like you know nitpicking you know on like The way it works,

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obviously, when my wife, actually my girlfriend back there, so fiance after that, when we met, she used to live in Dubai, having a crazy career in fashion house,

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French couture house, so in PR, and then obviously she moved over to my country so that this whole thing worked.

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So she's made a great, great contribution so obviously I kept my business

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and she came like moved over so there's an argument who's made a bigger contribution she gave up her whole life

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career everything to just move and then even like at

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that time we weren't even married

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and then from there we built you know a family

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so there's never a possibility to sort of put a finger

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so yeah obviously I do you know because my business was up

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and running by the time you know she moved but we expanded it so we made it bigger

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and you know uh nominally i could be the provider of the family but then

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if you measure the commitment for you know for the whole

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thing to come together there's probably you know yeah yeah it's like an end like endless arguments

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so i i don't know i just appreciate what you know what what's been done that's very nice

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that you acknowledge it because so many people don't acknowledge those sacrifices

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which women make in order to keep the relationship alive

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and what happens today is that often it's measured only financially it's a promise yeah

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if you fail on the promise you know there has to

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be a sizable enough um compensation one should not fail on their promises it's like what i generally believe in

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so there's this idea that all the asian people have karaoke in their homes

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and it's what they do like day and night sing karaoke

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and even though it's not the furthest thing from truth here we are small cinema i love these chairs

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and the saddest thing is that like

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we still end up just watching netflix on our mobile phones

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in bed regardless who watches like a telly these days there is this topic

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which is so popular in america right now it's prenup.

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Do you have it and do you believe in it?

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No, I didn't do a prenup, but I think it's just such a relaxing document at the same time, because I mean no one gets married to get divorced,

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so once you have it you can just forget about it, so I think it only makes sense.

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My personal opinion, I think I wouldn't get married without a prenup

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and the reason for this is

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because I think a lot of couples they don't discuss a lot of financial questions in the beginning yeah

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and prenup kind of forces you to have this conversation with the lawyer

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and better understand what is the expectations of the other person that's

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so true yeah yeah yeah what things would you sort of stipulate in your prenup

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anything and everything I think a lot of people don't understand

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that prenup is not only about the financial aspect

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but you can also talk about a lot of emotional things

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which are involved for example horrible example

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but unfortunately it does happen in life right what happens

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if one of the partners sleeps

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and you already have a child are they allowed to be

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super close with your new partner what type of relationship are you expecting to have with the new partner

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because i think it's also very good to discuss such hard questions

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while you and your future husband

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or future wife are still in a good relationship okay

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and you're not doing it hot headed i mean hypothetical ones

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hypothetical then i would also include privacy of my intellectual property for example

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if i'm discussing some business ideas with my husband i would want to make sure

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that if we get divorced he's not going to be using them

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so a lot of those type of things oh well that's

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that's very detailed I'd say I actually haven't thought as much in

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that depth to be honest

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but yeah it's just like whichever is meant to give you

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comfort at the end of the day you know having thought

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and actually I think it's a very mature thing

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because especially in the in business and in like in friendships people delay making hard decisions until the very last

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and um one thing i actually love about you know women in in like in corporate environment is that they're not

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you know shy or afraid to sort of confront

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and I don't mean in a bad way like you know like shouting like scandals

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or anything it's just um to openly talk and that's confronting isn't it

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and it's most peaceful sort of meaning uh their colleagues not

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not like you know leaving the problem until the very last last moment

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when it becomes like a disaster so I think that's that's a very mature thing

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and you know may the couples live happier ever after exactly i also one thing

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which i want to point out is that i trust myself

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and my future partner more than i trust the government i

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don't want them to be the ones who are splitting our

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assets all right i'd rather figure it out with him in the beginning

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and then we know what goes to me

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and what goes to him i mean it's just two adults having adult conversation

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because a lot of us you know we get married

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because of like the sheer love and like passion and one thing

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which I would also include in the prenup is motherhood expectations something

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which is very important to me

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so you know I work my whole life I really enjoy working but

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when I have kids I really want to dedicate my life

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to motherhood for example for two to three years okay

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and as I'm doing this obviously I'm putting all of my trust financially on the other person.

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So I would say what I'm expecting financially and put it in the contract.

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Not that I don't trust my husband, but I just believe in things more when there is a signature there.

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Interesting, yeah.

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But then again, that makes sense because, you know, people have to declare things, commit to things.

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And when you write things down, or in this case, put a signature, it's also a form of commitment in front of you,

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in front of the universe in front of him or herself

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so that's probably yeah that's why it works in it do

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you believe in trust funds I do yeah I mean these

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mechanisms were created invented by rich people for rich people

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so they wouldn't invent something that's you know it's not gonna be beneficial to them down the road so of course.

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Are there any conditions you have been thinking of for the trust fund of your children?

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With my son being only five I think it's a bit maybe a bit early

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but probably we should start thinking about that yeah.

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Yeah because I was thinking that this is such an amazing tool

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if you're in a wealthy family to keep your kids motivated.

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Oh absolutely absolutely Absolutely.

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And also, it's kind of like a safety mechanism as well.

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They could be subject of fraud, bad divorce or anything.

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So you want to have this sort of dozing of the aid that you want to set up for your offsprings.

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What are the rich people hobbies, in your opinion?

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I find these things too stereotypical, to be honest.

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And then labelling is, you know,

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what I really want to sort of avoid doing here because obviously like,

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yeah, you do this and obviously if you do like rowing, you're successful.

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You're probably like, you know, Ivy League preppy guy wearing Abercrombie.

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People label and I think it's for the lack of knowledge of the other.

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and my personal worldview is like one has to bridge

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that gap of knowledge people hate each other just

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because they don't know as much as they should about the other

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so I think there's one thing

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that fixes all the diseases all the hatred in the world is knowledge and like sort of familiarity with the other,

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I think.

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Obviously, expensive hobbies, they're expensive hobbies that other people cannot afford is like car collecting,

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collecting wine, all sorts of possessions.

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But other than possessions, I don't know, it's very universal.

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We very luckily live and a very increasingly universal universe,

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if that makes sense, where, you know, things that used to be prohibitively expensive for, you know, generations back are becoming more open.

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I'm going to share one trick, how to play some Chinese music, even though you are complete rubbish, just like myself and piano.

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No, here's the secret, only play the black keys.

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Yeah, sounds Chinese, doesn't it?

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That's my secret.

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What is an advice you would give to people who are trying to be self -made millionaires, for example?

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Okay, do not listen to non -self -made ones, just like myself.

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So us, right?

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Yeah, immediate surroundings, immediate environment of the people is what matters the most

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and I think if one is short for ideas and don't know what to do is...

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the easiest way is to just throw yourself in a group of you know fun seeking interesting people

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that you know that they're not you know wasting their time like determined people um chances are

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if you spend a little bit too much time with like you know gangs

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and criminals or i don't know uh that's who you're gonna become

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and pick up on so just fix your immediate surrounding if you have no idea what to do, like right now.

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That's a good advice.

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Okay, so one of the things which we discussed in my first episode with the European kid, watch it if you still haven't,

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is that he, when he was friends and he was saying that he's not friends with the poor people, and if he was, he would never pay for them.

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What I was telling him is that I had friends from different financial backgrounds and

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if i would want them present somewhere i would always cover

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their spendance what do you feel about this um i used to do

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that but i think um that's where your roads actually sort of diverge at some point

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because i mean you can't be um you'll start to question

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if it's like what's the reason for like for your friendship i think i think i would agree with

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that with with the person you just mentioned yeah to an extent

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because you don't want to be the sort of um you

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don't want your friends to be there just for the perks you know

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and even though you have such crazy crazy network one of the questions

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which i often get asked is as a rich kid do you have friends who are not rich kids

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and if you do how did you meet them oh yeah absolutely um It becomes more unnatural down the road,

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I'd say, but at school, everything you need for happiness was like in PlayStation or computer games, so no, of course not.

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I think it becomes more evident as we grow and, you know, sometimes, you know, like especially when you travel, like perhaps some, you know,

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budget for a hotel or for something would be comfortable for you

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but then again you wouldn't want to sort of make the

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other person uncomfortable by you know opting for something like

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that you want like a more expensive hotel like you know

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one thing i do not want is for my friend

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and i to be like sitting in different cabins uh of an airplane

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so if like i'm in business

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and he's in economy okay i'm lying a little bit

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so maybe that That is the maximum threshold that I would allow myself because it's just too much back pain nowadays.

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But case in time, I was in Kilimanjaro two years ago.

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I climbed the mountain.

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So we would stay in a tent.

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We'd eat from the same plates, eat the same food.

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And I think that's more important.

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And I think it's about the decision.

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If you don't want to do it, don't go with the person in the first place.

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But if you did, commit to it.

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I'm just trying not to make the other person too uncomfortable by, you know.

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But you draw the line at the economy.

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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I think if you are defined who you are by the cabin you choose, then you are a finished person because,

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like, it's not an important deal.

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Obviously, in a long -haul flight, in longer flights, obviously, you'd want maximum comfort that you can, but it doesn't define you.

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The moment it starts defining me and puts me into these sort of confines, I'm a loser is what I think.

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So I think there's nothing more liberating than being free to choose either or, not to be just stuck to anything.

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But one thing where I draw the line 100%, if it's my wife, I don't want her to be uncomfortable, stranded in queues and everything so if it's my son

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or my wife 100 but i'm more more flexible

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when it comes to me obviously probably my wife doesn't feel

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that way like she's more free to explore

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but then uh i don't know i just want like the utmost comfort for my wife

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so that that's that's an interesting one

441

because i don't want her to be stranded like uh in

442

a long queue there's there could be a conflict here and there so yeah.

443

And lastly who would you like to see on our show next?

444

I think Stadgei, he's so reverent and fun.

445

Oh okay actually there's even better idea, Eve Jobs.

446

Oh, of course, that would be amazing.

447

Horse riding, all the things, modelling, she's very big and prominent, and obviously Steve Jobs being the father figure.

448

Thank you for taking the time of your day to show us your house, which is absolutely beautiful, and to give us an opportunity and our audience to get to know.

449

So masks come off, no more humbleness, no more humility.

450

Let's go party!

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Family Values of the Top 1%”. This video has 450 sentences and 5665 words to shadow. The speech runs for 35:33. The speaker talks at a natural 159 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

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

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
uncomfortable adjective	/ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/	Not comfortable; causing discomfort.
financially adverb		In terms of finance or money.
sibling noun	/ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/	A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
comfort noun	/ˈkʌm.fət/	Contentment, ease.
divorce noun	/dɪˈvɔːs/	The legal dissolution of a marriage.
expense noun	/ɪkˈspɛns/	A spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds.
expectation noun	/ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/	The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.
hobby noun	/ˈhɑ.bi/	An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
allowance noun	/əˈlaʊəns/	Permission; granting, conceding, or admitting.
groceries noun	/ˈɡɹoʊ.s(ə.)ɹiz/	Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies; the commodities sold by a grocer or in a grocery store.
universal adjective	/ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/	Of or pertaining to the universe.
regardless adverb	/ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/	Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences.
commitment noun	/kəˈmɪtmənt/	The act of sending a legislative bill to committee for review.
suck verb	/sʌk/	To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast).
aspect noun	/ˈæspɛkt/	Any specific feature, part, or element of something.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come off verb		To become detached.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
give up verb		To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
come together verb	/ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/	To assemble; to congregate; to combine.
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
go down verb		To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.

Sentences worth repeating

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

That's how people perceive, isn't it?
Why do you think all of the rich kids study abroad?
There's always a competitive edge to it, isn't it?
Do you have it and do you believe in it?
What are the rich people hobbies, in your opinion?

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 come · used to live · used to like
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if he was, he would never
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are taught · is always catered · would be served
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	it's been · i've said · i've met

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 147 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/, booth /buθ/, hypothetical /ˌhaɪpəˈθɛtɪkəl/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, thick /θɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/

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 uncomfortable, financially, sibling.

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: Family Values of the Top 1% - Learn English Speaking with Video

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