Shadowing Practice: 🍽️How to Speak English at the Restaurant | Comprehensible Input - Learn English Speaking with Video

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In this video we're gonna learn speaking English and having conversation in a restaurant.

And I will teach you more than 20 words to talk about foods

and also restaurants and very useful questions and sentences to order and comment on the food and on the restaurant.

Let's go!

I just got in the car and I'm going to start the car.

Actually the restaurant is not really far from where I live

but I'm going to take my car because I have some equipment like stands, I mean mobile stands to record the video.

So that's why I'm going there by my car.

Remember when you want to say you go somewhere

and you want to say what kind of vehicle you use

in order to get there you should use by i go

there by my car i go there by bus i go there by taxi and

if you go there walking you should say i go there on foot

so i'm not going there on foot and i'm going there by my car.

I just put the key in the ignition and I started the car but right now I turned off the car.

If you want to say that exactly at the moment you are doing

that activity you should say I am starting the car

and I started the car because you were talking about it in the past.

Gear up and let's go.

Normally while driving you should fasten your seat belt but

because the restaurant oh my god that was a speed bump

but because um the restaurant is just a stone's throw away i'm not fastening my seat belt and I'm just heading there.

I arrived at the restaurant and I parked my car.

Now let's get out.

So I pull the handle, I'm opening the door and I'm getting out.

Actually I think that angle was too close so you didn't see me in a good angle.

I think this angle is better.

So I parked the car a bit far from the restaurant

so I need to walk to the restaurant

but it's not a long walk it's just a short distance

and my friends also are here

so yeah I'm getting inside I'm on foot I didn't cross the street

because my car was on the same side as the restaurant.

This is a mechanical automated sliding door so I'm getting in.

I just entered the restaurant and this is the waiter.

Hi.

Welcome to our restaurant.

Thank you so much.

So I'm only one and I want a table for myself.

All the tables are available.

You can sit wherever you want.

Okay thank you.

Can I seat there yes sure now we're gonna take a seat actually he's my brother

but in this video he's acting as a waiter this is the chair i want to sit on

and this is the table that i want to sit at remember

when you want to choose a table you say i'm sitting at this table

if you're sitting on a chair which is around a table

so we never say i'm sitting on the table

because this means sitting on the table but we don't do

that we sit at a table we sit on a chair

so right now i'm pulling out the chair

and i'm sitting on the chair i sat on the chair

and right now i'm waiting for the waiter to give me the menu.

I'm going to call for the waiter.

He will come and I will ask for the menu.

Remember when you say ask for it means you want something.

I asked for the menu it means I I want the menu.

So could you please come here for a minute? Do you need something?

Yeah, could you please give me the menu?

Yes, sure.

Can you wait please?

Yeah.

Okay.

He went to fetch the menu.

What is the meaning of fetch?

It means when you go somewhere, take something and bring it for someone.

It means fetch.

Fetch.

Here you are.

Thank you so much.

So this is the menu and it's only on one page.

Actually, I don't know what to choose.

So I'm going to choose the food which is my favorite and that is rice and kebab.

Rice and kebab, let me find it.

I think this is the one that I really like and actually they have two kinds.

One with Iranian rice, which is a bit more expensive,

and the other one is a mixture of Iranian rice and Indian rice.

Kebab and rice is really cheap in comparison with other countries.

You know for Iranian people it is normal but

if I tell you the equivalent in dollar that would be almost two dollars for each dish.

So it is considered really cheap.

But in this restaurant which is considered a fancy one it is not really fancy

but it is a medium upwards we could say.

For example the rating is 7 out of 10

but the quality is really really high because their food is made and cooked with Persian Iranian rice.

I don't know if you've heard or not

but Iranian rice is one of the best kinds of rice in the world

and if you want to learn speaking english like a pro

and you want to be able to have english conversation in different situations in a restaurant in the airport

and blah blah blah or you want to learn english

because of your business you want to learn business english or

if you want to prepare for ielts toefl or pte you can easily trust me and my team.

So if you want to book a free trial lesson with me to assess your level for free with completely no charge,

click on the link above and see our plans.

Did you decide?

Yes, I want a rice and kebab with Persian rice, with Iranian rice.

Okay, it will be ready in 10 minutes.

Okay.

But first I should set the table.

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Okay, you can set the table.

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Okay.

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He just set the table.

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Remember, the past form of set is set.

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It is an irregular verb and it doesn't change in the second form and third form.

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And this is also another important thing.

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Usually in English grammar we don't say verb two, we say past form of the verb

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and for the third form of the verb we say past participle form of the verb.

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Remember that.

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So yeah, I was saying that he set the table, he gave me some bread which I'm not gonna eat because it has rice.

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In Iran, we usually have food either with bread or with rice.

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So whenever we have one of them, we don't eat the food with the other one.

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My food is ready and the waiter is bringing my food here.

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Here you are.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you really, really much.

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Thank you for your services.

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So let me tell you what this food is.

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This is the rice.

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Actually on top it is flavored and colored with saffron and this part is normal rice white rice and this is the

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Kebab, so we call it kubide in Farsi in English.

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It will be kind of ground beef kebab and and they put it on a stick and then they barbecue it.

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And in order to make the rice moist, remember we don't say wet,

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we say moist when a food has water, is watery.

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So in order to make the rice moist, we have butter.

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But it is...

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I think melted butter yeah it is melt we pour it on the rice

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and it gets a kind of buttery flavor which is really nice

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and in order to give it some extra moisture

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and flavor we also have barbecued tomatoes with this food

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and some people eat barbecued pepper which I don't really like and this is also lime juice

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which is not organic that's why I'm not gonna add it to my dish

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and this is a kind of Iranian traditional plate in

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which we're serving the food and this is also a kind of Iranian drink.

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It is really, really common in the Middle East.

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In Iran we call it duq, but in some other countries they call it Iran, like in Turkey and Arabic countries.

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But we have to shake it first and then we can drink it.

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Since I'm really thirsty, I'm going to take a slurp of this duq, this drink first.

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And by the way, I forgot to tell you how it is made.

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It is yogurt, basically.

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I don't really know how it is made, but it is yogurt plus water and some other stuff like salt and I think that's it.

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So I'm going to twist it off.

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I twist it off the lid.

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Oh my.

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It was carbonated so the gas just pumps out.

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I didn't know it was carbonated.

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If a drink is carbonated, we can also call it fizzy.

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So this one was fizzy duk.

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I don't like fizzy ones, but I have bought it that's why even though I don't like it I have to drink it.

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In this restaurant they have another kind of duq

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which is not carbonated and it's not fizzy but

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that is not organic that is made by a company it is pasteurized it is processed

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and you have to peel off the covering but I'm really really hungry

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So let me peel off the butter's cover and pour it on the rice.

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And then we have to mix the rice so that it gets the buttery flavor.

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One hour later.

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We'll take a little bit of the tomato and also a piece of kebab.

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And this is gonna be a great bite.

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I'm really stuffed and it was really flavorful and delicious.

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and now the waiter is coming and I think he wants to clean the table.

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Shall I clean your table?

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Yes, please.

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And I'm really sorry because my drink was fizzy.

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No problem.

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No problem.

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Okay, thank you.

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You're welcome.

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So I wanted to tell him that my drink was fizzy and that's why it just spilled around everywhere.

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And I'm really sorry for that, but that wasn't my fault.

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And by the way, when it was off camera,

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I wiped off the drinks which were spilled on the cover with these napkins.

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So this action is called to wipe off.

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And since I'm not using this, I didn't use it in my food.

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They're going to take it and I think they're going to sell it to another customer

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and now let me comment the food.

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So it was a really nice food.

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It was full of flavors which were my favorite.

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If you come to Iran I completely, I absolutely recommend having this food in a nice restaurant

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and don't try to add seasonings but there is a very special kind of seasoning

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which is i think persian we call it somak so whenever you have kebab

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you add it to kebab and it would give a kind of sour,

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very very little sour flavor and it would make it tasty, more tasty I could say.

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And about the restaurant, as I told you, it's a fancy one.

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It is not really luxurious but it's good.

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The quality is really nice and the staff are really kind and thoughtful because when they saw my drink just pumped out,

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they came here to help me but I asked them not to intervene because I could clean the table myself.

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And now it's time to go to the checkout and pay for the food I had.

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Just now I understood that I shouldn't go to the checkout.

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They will bring the receipt and I will have to pay at my table.

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Now I'm going to call for the waiter to come.

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I'm sorry, can I have the receipt please?

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Yes, sure, here you are.

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Okay, thank you.

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Uh -huh, I see.

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So, shall I pay in cash or by card?

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By card, please.

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Alright.

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By card, here you are.

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He's posing the car with the pose machine.

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Now I'm going to tell him my password, my PIN.

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It is...

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Thank you so much.

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Yeah, so the transaction is done.

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I paid for the food and it's time to go home.

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And finally, that was it for this video.

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If you want to have access to the special worksheet of this video, which is only for the members of our channel click on the link above

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and join our channel's membership I hope you enjoyed this video

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and make sure you subscribe to my channel and like this video see you in the next one

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Why Practice Restaurant English with This Video?

Learning to speak English in real-life situations like restaurants is key to feeling confident when traveling or dining out. This video uses comprehensible input—clear, context-rich dialogue—to help you pick up natural phrases without feeling overwhelmed. Whether you’re ordering food, asking for a table, or talking about how you arrived, the scenarios mirror everyday interactions. It’s perfect for english speaking practice because you can listen, repeat, and even try shadowing (copying the speaker’s tone and rhythm) to build fluency. Plus, you’ll learn 20+ food and restaurant terms, making it a one-stop resource for practical communication.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

The video is packed with useful structures. Here are 3 to focus on:

Transportation phrases: "I go there by car/bus/taxi" or "I go on foot" (not "by foot"). This is a common way to talk about how you travel, and the speaker emphasizes using "by" with vehicles and "on" with walking.
Prepositions for seating: "Sit at a table" (not "on a table") and "sit on a chair." Mixing these up can cause confusion—imagine saying you’re "sitting on the table"! The dialogue clarifies this with a relatable example.
Present continuous vs. past simple: "I am starting the car" (current action) vs. "I started the car" (completed action). The speaker uses both to show how to talk about actions in the moment versus the recent past.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Even simple words can trip you up. Watch out for these:

"Ignition" (ig-NISH-un): Many learners mispronounce the middle syllable—focus on the "nish" sound, not "nish-ee" or "nish-uh."
"Automated" (aw-TOM-ay-ted): Don’t rush the "ay" sound; stress the second syllable to sound natural.
"Speed bump" (speed bump): The speaker says this quickly, but make sure to pronounce both words clearly—don’t blend them into "speedbump."

Practicing these with a shadowing site or by repeating the video can help you improve english pronunciation. Try shadow speech—pausing the video and repeating lines immediately—to mimic the speaker’s rhythm and intonation. With time, these phrases will feel second nature, and you’ll be ready to order with confidence at any restaurant!

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is considered · is made · is set
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	chair which is · food which is · rice, which is
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've heard · have barbecued · have bought
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should use · should say · should fasten

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: 🍽️How to Speak English at the Restaurant | Comprehensible Input - Learn English Speaking with Video

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