Shadowing Practice: How do Okinawans live longer than anyone else? | euronews 🇬🇧 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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46 sentences
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Do you want to live to a hundred years old like the people of Okinawa?
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The Japanese archipelago is breaking records in terms of longevity.
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Okinawa is 160 islands bordered by the Pacific Ocean, lulled by a subtropical climate.
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The welcoming population makes it a great place to live, and for a very long time.
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The archipelago has the largest number of centenarians in the world, three times more than anywhere else.
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To understand the secrets to their long lives, let's go to a restaurant run by Emiko.
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Before being a cook, she was a dietician.
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Emiko is located in Ogimi, a village of 3 ,000 inhabitants known to host a record number of centenarians.
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By observing the recipes of her elders, she created the longevity menu based on seasonal vegetables.
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what we grow in the vegetable garden we cook
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and the customers taste it right away we have a way of life where the vegetable garden
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and the kitchen are closely linked and as a nutritionist I feel
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that the food is very fresh their average age is 91
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years old they're still working as a dancer a tofu producer and an association president.
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Kikue, Shiu and Yukiko have an inexhaustible appetite for life.
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I don't try to live as long as possible.
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It happens naturally because we all gather, laugh and cry together.
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And that's what's good.
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That's what we say.
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That's it.
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That's really the way of life in Okinawa.
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I think the secret of longevity is not to worry and move on.
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The other secret is a small lemon called Shikwansa, of which the village of Agimi is the largest producer.
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Okinawans love the fruit's bitter juice, which has anti -inflammatory properties.
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At 103 years old, Tamaki Shinpoku is still monitoring the harvest of the chikwanza field that he bought in retirement,
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the fruit of his life.
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Regardless of if the weather is good or bad, we eat chikwanza.
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I also eat a lot of mandarins, and my friends too.
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That's our little pleasure.
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The recipe for longevity is also work.
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Our quest leads us to this plantation.
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Banana fibre is used to weave basho fu.
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Mrs. Taira, who will be a hundred years old next winter, has been designated as a living national treasure for her contribution to Japanese culture.
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Because without her, the seven -century -old basho -fu, produced oni in Ogimi, would have disappeared.
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I am no longer able to do a job that requires strength.
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And even if I'm not as good as I used to be because I've aged, I forget my age when I work.
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I think if I don't have that, I can't live.
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It takes a year to create a kimono.
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The precious object will be sold for 18 ,000 euros.
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The good news is the Okinawans are ready to share their secrets of longevity in Irabu, a small island in the far south of japan a women's
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association here offers tourists the chance to discover edible wild herbs the treasure is sakuna the so -called long life grass
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they say it extends life expectancy by a year every time you eat a leaf
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cooking with people at homes and experience you'll not find anywhere else in japan
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The highlight of the show is the hibiscus flower in tempura.
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A natural diet, an active life after retirement, and a unique joie de vivre.
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That's the secret of longevity.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 46 sentences and 563 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:41. The speaker talks at a steady 120 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| longevity noun | /lɒnˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/ | The quality of being long-lasting, especially of life. |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| producer noun | /pɹəˈdjuːsə/ | An individual or organization that creates goods and services. |
| recipe noun | /ˈɹɛs.ɪ.pi/ | Any set of instructions for preparing a mixture of ingredients. |
| treasure noun | /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/ | A collection of valuable things; accumulated wealth; a stock of money, jewels, etc. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| regardless adverb | /ɹɪˈɡɑɹd.lɪs/ | Without attention to warnings or indications of bad consequences. |
| flower noun | /ˈfloʊɚ/ | A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens… |
| discover verb | /dɪˈskʌvə/ | To find or learn something for the first time. |
| grass noun | /ɡɹɑːs/ | Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as… |
| monitor noun | /ˈmɑ.nɪ.tɚ/ | Someone who watches over something; a person in charge of something or someone. |
| juice noun | /d͡ʒuːs/ | A liquid made from plant, especially fruit. |
| contribution noun | /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/ | Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole. |
| extend verb | /ɛkˈstɛnd/ | To increase in extent. |
| quest noun | /kwɛst/ | A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, can't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: treasure /ˈtɹɛʒəɹ/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, plantation /plænˈteɪʃən/, dietitian /daɪəˈtɪʃən/, nutritionist /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ənɪst/
- Long words — get the stress right: longevity /lɒnˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, inflammatory /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/, archipelago /ˌɑɹkəˈpɛləˌɡoʊ/
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 longevity, vegetable, producer.
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.