Shadowing Practice: Gus: "Explain yourself" | Breaking Bad (Bryan Cranston, Giancarlo Esposito) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Walter, you've been busy.
2
You want to put your arms out to the sides for me, if you would?
3
You know I haven't slept since Thursday.
4
I was out all night cleaning up after you.
5
I need my sleep.
6
You said no half measures.
7
Yeah.
8
Funny how words can be so open to interpretation.
9
You get your car fixed?
10
Not yet.
11
You're gonna wanna get your car fixed.
12
Let's see how this goes first.
13
I'm sorry.
14
I'm getting ready. Has your condition worsened?
15
Excuse me?
16
Your medical condition.
17
Has it grown worse?
18
Not that I know of, no. Is there a ringing in your ears?
19
Are you seeing bright lights or hearing voices?
20
I'm quite well, thank you.
21
No. Clearly you are not.
22
No rational person would do as you have done.
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Explain yourself.
24
My partner was about to get himself shot.
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I intervened.
26
Some worthless junkie.
27
For him, you intervene and put us all at risk.
28
Some contemptible junkie who couldn't keep the peace for eight hours.
29
That's right, he couldn't.
30
He was angry because those two dealers of yours had just murdered an 11-year-old boy.
31
I heard about it.
32
He should have let me take care of them.
33
Maybe.
34
Then again, maybe he thought it was you who gave the order.
35
Are you asking me if I ordered the murder of a child?
36
I would never ask you that. Where is Pinkman now?
37
I wouldn't know.
38
A couple of time zones away, at least.
39
Beyond that, I'd only be guessing.
40
He has enough money to last forever.
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He knows he needs to keep moving.
42
You'll never find him.
43
I don't know, Walt.
44
It's what I do, after all.
45
He's out of the picture.
46
I saved his life.
47
I owed him that.
48
But now he and I are done, which is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?
49
You've always struck me as a very pragmatic man, so if I may, I would like to review options with you, of which it seems to me you have two.
50
Option A, you kill me right here and now.
51
Apparently I have made that very easy for you.
52
You can kill me, no witnesses, and then spend the next few weeks or months tracking down Jesse Pinkman, and you kill him too.
53
A pointless exercise, it seems to me, but that is option A.
54
What is option B?
55
I continue cooking.
56
You and I both forget about Pinkman.
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We forget this ever happened.
58
We consider this a lone hiccup in an otherwise long and fruitful business arrangement.
59
I prefer option B.
60
You'd need a new assistant.
61
I could get right on that.
62
No. This time I choose.
63
Your car.
64
Get it fixed.
65
Yeah.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Gus: "Explain yourself"”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: option, Pinkman, fixed, kill. This video has 65 sentences and 452 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:59. The speaker talks slowly, about 91 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 11 of its 65 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 12 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| intervene verb | /ˌɪntəˈviːn/ | To become involved in a situation, so as to alter or prevent an action. |
| contemptible adjective | /kənˈtɛmptəbəl/ | Deserving contempt. |
| fruitful adjective | /ˈfɹuːtfl̩/ | Favourable to the growth of fruit or useful vegetation; not barren. |
| hiccup noun | /ˈhɪkʌp/ | A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound. |
| pragmatic adjective | /pɹæɡˈmætɪk/ | Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory. |
| worsen verb | /ˈwɝsn̩/ | To make worse; to impair. |
| worthless adjective | /ˈwɜːθ.ləs/ | Having no worth or use; without value. |
| pointless adjective | /ˈpɔɪntləs/ | Having no point or sharp tip; terminating squarely or in a rounded end. |
| lone adjective | /loʊn/ | Solitary; having no companion. |
| rational adjective | /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/ | Capable of reasoning. |
| owe verb | /oʊ/ | To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone. |
| dealer noun | /ˈdiːlə(ɹ)/ | One who deals in goods, especially automobiles; a middleman. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
| track down verb | To hunt for or locate; to search for; to find. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You get your car fixed?
- You're gonna wanna get your car fixed.
- Let's see how this goes first.
- Is there a ringing in your ears?
- Are you seeing bright lights or hearing voices?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, couldn't, you've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
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 intervene, contemptible, fruitful.
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.