Shadowing Practice: I Tested The World's Biggest Buffet! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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1
This is the world's biggest buffet.
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Come along with me to experience this madness.
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This is insane.
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Take a look.
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We're going to be testing all of the sections of the world's biggest buffet to see if bigger actually means better.
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The first section most people check out is, of course, the starters.
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We're definitely slightly underdressed.
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Yeah, 100%.
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This is not like a scabby little buffet.
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This is like a Roman, you know, like people are properly dressed up but it is 38 degrees out there, so no chance.
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So what do we actually start with?
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Like, where do you decide what to start with?
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I kind of haven't even got my bearings yet.
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Yeah, you can get lost in here for sure.
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There is over 1 ,200 square meters of buffet, serving over 500 people per service two times a day.
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Do you reach in and grab it?
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I feel like you don't reach in.
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Yeah, I know, I do.
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Even just like grabbing a leg seems a bit...
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Is that allowed?
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Have I just ruined their whole display?
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I'm kind of just eyeing up everything now.
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I don't want to grab something and then regret it and be like, why didn't I get that?
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Yeah, but we are just at the starters right now.
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We got a long day.
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Right, here we go.
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A couple of Bellini pancakes.
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Lovely.
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Get a little bit of salmon.
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The salmon looks phenomenal.
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But not only that, I'm getting caviar.
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I mean, what buffet is doing big portions of caviar like that?
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That looks like something I feel like, mate.
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You've got to get that.
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Remember, that's Augustus Escoffier's special treat.
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Do you want one?
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No. I'll have a bit of yours, because I know you won't finish yours.
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I would say this is a pretty good, like, starting.
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Yeah.
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That's fine.
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Got a bit of lobster, got a little roll and.. it.
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Jesus, mate.
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A napkin's a bloody blanket.
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It's massive.
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You could tie it around.
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Give me the best cut of meat now.
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First things first, what was in this?
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What did I get here?
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I don't know.
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It's a tuna roll.
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I fucking hate tuna.
52
I love tuna.
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I hate tuna.
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Nothing beats a tuna mayo sandwich.
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I'm essentially doing the bougie version of that.
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You're getting in.
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Are you starting with the tuna?
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Yeah.
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Oh, that's actually pretty good.
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Wait, it's reminding me of something, though.
61
School dinner?
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Jacket, that's it.
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The one thing about crab legs is the faff.
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I know what you mean.
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Like, see all this?
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It's just nonsense.
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I know.
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There's an art to it, though, that if you do it, you can pull that whole string of meat.
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Don't look at me for a dinner.
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Right, I'm glad you're here. But...
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See what I mean?
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But you took all the bone out, essentially.
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You did the opposite.
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Great job.
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Great job.
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Yeah.
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I'm going to tuck in any minute now.
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There you go.
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Keep going.
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Go on.
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You're nearly there, mate.
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Yeah, I mean, it tastes like a crab does.
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No, this is ridiculous.
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There has to be...
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I can see what I'm doing here.
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I'm pushing the crab to the bottom.
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So it's all there, right, okay.
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And then you crack this open in half then.
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Yeah.
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Again, if that's even meant for this.
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Do you know what?
92
What about I just go down the middle, that is?
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I'm going to wait for the explosion.
94
Oh, you want me to just snap it?
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Like this?
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We've already done strong, yeah.
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Okay, this could be embarrassing.
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Beautiful.
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Oh, there we go.
100
Oh, wow.
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There you go.
102
Thank the meat. That was humiliating.
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Yeah, I know.
104
For fuck's sake.
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Can I be honest with you, I don't love loads of cold seafood in general, but this is actually working.
106
Crab with crab.
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Yeah, that's a good chunk.
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Yeah, lovely.
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Lobster show here, or is that like the pinnacle?
110
Oh, so you just took the whole thing, did you?
111
What did you do?
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Oh, you just got a little...
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You got the tail, that's it.
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That is one thing I will say about lobster.
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It looks like you're getting a lot more than when you actually end up...
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And for the amount you're doing...
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Oh mate, come on.
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Yeah.
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You about it?
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Yeah, it's nice.
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It's good lobster.
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Doesn't taste like overly fishy.
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Yeah, it's fine.
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Good with me.
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Alright, let's try a bit of this salmon.
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And serving caviar like this at an all -you -can -eat buffet is absurd.
127
So it's definitely fish eggs.
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Right.
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The salmon's lovely.
130
Do you know what?
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I maybe prefer this to usual caviar.
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It's not as salty.
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It's not as intense.
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It's not as intense at all.
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I don't know if you want to try this lovely -looking thing over here.
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Here we go.
137
Yeah, it's ham hock.
138
OK.
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And jellied ham.
140
Very salty.
141
Is it nice?
142
Mmm, it's so juicy.
143
I don't think you'd freak out about the texture.
144
Right then, let's give this a whack.
145
It kind of just goes, rather than the jelly, it just goes to a liquid quite quickly.
146
OK.
147
Imagine a juicy ham.
148
Mmm.
149
You're chilling.
150
That's fine.
151
It's not fine.
152
You don't like that at all?
153
That's not doing it for me at all.
154
You're freaking out. That...
155
That's not okay.
156
I'll be honest with you, I think in a buffet, if you have such a wide range, I don't think you're going to get like legendary level stuff, but you're getting, as long as everything's good,
157
I think that's a successful buffet.
158
If you come to a buffet, why are you bothering with the starters?
159
All right, well out of five, rating the seafood in the starters, I'm going to come in with a 3 .5.
160
I might have to match you with that.
161
Yeah, 3 .5.
162
I think 3 .5 is a reasonable one.
163
All right, cheers to that.
164
Cheers to the starters.
165
On with the next.
166
It was soon approaching the time for one key experience, one that we were told we could not miss.
167
So this is pretty cool.
168
Like, I've never seen a duck warship like that in my life.
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But I'm excited.
170
So it's called press duck.
171
This is a classic French cooking technique where they quite literally
172
crush the duck carcass using this like big heavy metal press to extract all sorts
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and then they put that into the sauce.
174
You're gonna get yourself a little bit of duck?
175
Yeah.
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You're gonna sit this one out.
177
I feel like I gotta take my hat off to pay respect to the duck.
178
One more?
179
Am I just getting on scraps or what?
180
You're getting a nice bit.
181
No, no, you got the fresh one.
182
The fresh one.
183
The one we made earlier.
184
Nah, it's all good.
185
We'll just hold on here.
186
Yeah.
187
When we eat this, it's gonna go off.
188
I just know it.
189
Now this is where the real feast begins.
190
I'm actually really excited to try this and they say that it's all to do with the sauce.
191
All to do with the sauce.
192
Wow.
193
Yeah.
194
That's banging.
195
Yeah.
196
That is really good.
197
I just have to get the idea of that blood bit out of my head.
198
It's a thick duck gravy.
199
Yeah, and it's not too strong.
200
It's not ruining the duck flavours.
201
When they were throwing in butter, lemon, pepper, I was like, I don't know how this is going to taste.
202
That's fired me up for the rest of this buffet.
203
This makes you think, why did we waste the space on starters?
204
Yeah, it does...
205
Since you've said that, I can't stop thinking that potentially the way that we've approached this tactically...
206
It's a bit wrong.
207
We might have to have some breaks.
208
Next up, I want to go and try this truffle soup.
209
They had them all laid up, about 20 of them.
210
And I was like, can I just...
211
He was like, yeah, we said, we said...
212
Excuse me, what is this soup?
213
The, um...
214
This is a famous soup, right?
215
And good to just grab?
216
Thank you.
217
This seems to be like a big deal.
218
Oh, bits of carrot, all right.
219
Okay.
220
I mean, it looks like a lovely -looking soup, this.
221
I don't know whether we cut it up a little bit more with the...
222
Yeah, all right.
223
What is the spoon soup?
224
Surely this is a spoon soup.
225
Yeah, it's the circular one for sure, isn't it?
226
Let's try this.
227
What's that?
228
Have they got...
229
Is it stuck in it?
230
Oh!
231
There you go.
232
Oh, you can definitely taste the black truffle in that.
233
I think I've got a bit of truffle in there.
234
Is that it?
235
That's a strong tasting soup, that.
236
That's.. that's.. that's punchy.
237
I don't know if it's like a sin to say this, but I don't know if I'm the biggest fan of it.
238
No, it's okay not to like food.
239
I actually need a wee.
240
I'll give you a little toilet tour.
241
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242
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246
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247
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248
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254
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255
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256
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257
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258
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259
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Right.
261
Where the hell is ha - Where is Harrison?
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He's been away for ages.
263
And once I'd found Harrison, it was then time to get our hands on a main course.
264
I of course went with a classic steak.
265
So what happens is you order
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and then he reads out on the mic what the order is
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and then you just hear a yes chef in the background.
268
There are so many orders going in.
269
The only downside is I have no idea what my dish in French sounds like.
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So when they shout it out, I'm just gonna panic and take a plate.
271
Harrison, on the other hand, went for something a little bit different.
272
How many omelets do you make a day?
273
Uh, 200.
274
200?
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Yes.
276
Wow.
277
All good.
278
Is that the scrambled egg?
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Yeah.
280
Scrambled egg.
281
Okay.
282
What did you get?
283
So I got essentially just a steak.
284
Okay.
285
Let's get into it and have a little look here.
286
Yeah, like, done medium.
287
Don't mind it.
288
There was definitely a char on it, but it is good.
289
Definitely a char on it, yeah.
290
I'm curious to see what your truffle scrambled egg tastes like.
291
Salt, pepper, two eggs, took what, 15 seconds?
292
I was like, ooh, I wouldn't mind a bit more.
293
Do you know what, though?
294
I feel like it has cooked up.
295
It's not too runny.
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No, it's okay.
297
Truffle center.
298
They love truffle here.
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And it is what it is.
300
If you like truffle, I think you're going to have the best three hours of your life in there.
301
Right.
302
I'm heading back up there.
303
We never addressed the beginning bit where the geezer got clattered by the door.
304
Do you remember right at the beginning when he was introducing us and the door just shut on him?
305
He got clarted by a door.
306
How have I forgotten that?
307
Could not tell you what that is.
308
Not a clue.
309
Couldn't tell you what that is but it's from the Augusta Scoffier.
310
Oh what?
311
Is that cheese?
312
No, I don't know mate.
313
I think that's fat, innit?
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Yeah, that is fat.
315
Actually I'll try a little bit because then I'm going to waste it.
316
I'm going to have a bit of that.
317
I just thought those are the...
318
Right, what have we actually got going on here?
319
This is a bit of everything.
320
Well, the only thing I can tell you is, on everything, it said the Auguste Escoffier.
321
Ah, so he's like the French goat of cuisine.
322
He's like, the way I am to YouTube, he is to...
323
Would you say that's a great...
324
Yeah.
325
Yeah.
326
If you guys have made it this far, there are over 60 % of you guys that simply have not subscribed.
327
Don't forget to hit that subscribe button or scan the QR code if you're watching this on your TV.
328
This looks like...
329
I think that's going to be the best one, man.
330
Are you sure you want to...
331
No, because I want to start on a positive note.
332
All right, because this smelt the best as well.
333
Ooh.
334
Fire.
335
Unreal. So good.
336
Wow, that beef is...
337
It's better than the beef you just had.
338
Mmm.
339
I don't know what that is, mate, because I don't think it even cuts.
340
See, what is that?
341
A bit of pork belly?
342
Maybe?
343
God no. What have you given me there?
344
I don't know.
345
I don't mind a bit of tongue on tongue action, so that wouldn't put me off.
346
I feel like that's the in -between of a foot.
347
In terms of main courses so far, if you're giving a rating, for me, if I just had that duck it's a 5 out of 5.
348
That duck, that pressed duck.
349
If I wasn't doing a video where I was eating stuff, I would just keep going back and getting more of the duck.
350
I'm giving the mains a four out of five, because I actually think they're all solid and there's loads of stuff in there that I would go and load up, but because we're in the business of trying everything,
351
there's going to be stuff there that you're not a big fan of.
352
I think I'd just, I'd maybe give it a bit more than four.
353
Yeah, okay.
354
Maybe go like 4 .2.
355
Okay.
356
4 .2, son.
357
For the penultimate course, there was none other than a meat and cheese board.
358
Now, this place actually holds the world record for the largest selection with over 111 different types.
359
And if you look closely, you can see they actually rank each cheese by the strength.
360
The higher the number, the stronger it gets.
361
Right, look how busy it is now.
362
This is insane.
363
Right.
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You're just doing a plate of everything.
365
I'm just gonna grab some stuff for us to try with me
366
This is brave that they're allowing people to just manhandle this Yeah,
367
now it looks like a dickhead Yeah Giving it the large ones look at the state of this Right.
368
Oh, okay.
369
There we go.
370
There we go.
371
There we go.
372
It's good slice great slice.
373
Well done.
374
Let's see it So we've got a few of the meats, now I want to get a bunch of the cheeses.
375
So this right here, this sign, directly translates to the cheese that stinks.
376
I want some stinky cheese, look at this, wow.
377
Love me a bit of brie.
378
Sorry.
379
So on here, it's got the different strength ratings.
380
So this is a 4 out of 10 in terms of flavor.
381
I'm going to see if I can find a 10 out of 10.
382
So this right here, look at this.
383
I found not only a 10 out of 10, an 11 out of 10.
384
This is going to be intense.
385
Let's get a little slice of this.
386
So the reason why I've decided to top up on the champagne is not because I have an alcohol problem,
387
it's because we were explicitly told in between cheese bites you want to refresh a plaque palette.
388
I do like that they do this.
389
So let's try Let's try a little four.
390
Here we go, we've got a couple of soft cheeses here.
391
Okay.
392
That's pretty inoffensive.
393
Oh, that's nice.
394
Yeah, really nice.
395
Now, my favorite cheese is a brie.
396
Cheers to that.
397
Cheese.
398
Oh.
399
Okay.
400
Lovely.
401
You can definitely notice between the four and the five there.
402
It's gone up quite, I'd say it's gone up a marginal step for just one.
403
I would have thought that's a six.
404
Six?
405
No, that's quite the jump.
406
They've undersolved the five.
407
This here is an 11 out of 10 on the cheese strength leaderboard.
408
Refresh the palate.
409
Refresh the palate.
410
Oh, no. This kind of just weeds me out, though.
411
Really?
412
I'm going to have a good go.
413
No, I'm getting a proper go.
414
I think that's all you.
415
Our breath is going to be honking.
416
Mental.
417
Oh my god.
418
Mental.
419
I don't know if I can even bite.
420
I'm just gonna sound my tongue like...
421
Oi!
422
Oh!
423
Cow.
424
Cow.
425
My breath is stinking.
426
Cow, bro.
427
Cow!
428
Look at that.
429
That is.. that hurts intense.
430
And I see why they've given it that rating.
431
You've had a gorgonzola.
432
That's no gorgonzola, that.
433
Right?
434
That's mellow.
435
I might have got a headache from that.
436
That's bad.
437
For anyone who's a bit iffy about cheese, because people get grossed out about cheese, that, I think they'd never want to even say the word cheese again.
438
It's intense.
439
Don't get me wrong.
440
I can see if you are a cheese connoisseur, I can see why you would like that.
441
But that was an experience.
442
That was a bush tucker trial.
443
Shall we move on to the jamon?
444
Let's start with the small one.
445
What have we got?
446
Which one did I cut?
447
That was my thick cut.
448
Yeah, you have that one.
449
You have the 6 out of 10.
450
6 out of 10.
451
You're going 5 out of 10.
452
5 out of 10.
453
I've cut mine too thick.
454
It's lovely, that.
455
I'm not a ham on expert, but you know the one where it's super thin and you put it on your mouth and it just melts.
456
Mine's a bit more aged and firmer.
457
Yeah, but you did have a fit fat.
458
I think we should go halves on the 9 out of 10 here.
459
Are they rating this on what?
460
Funkiness or are they just rating this on like, yo, that's a 9 out of 10, that's pretty fire?
461
No, no, no. They're doing it based on flavour strength.
462
Right.
463
How ham on is this?
464
That's a seven.
465
This is a nine.
466
Yeah.
467
That's really nice.
468
It's not necessarily that much.
469
I'm not getting the difference of like, oh my God, that's going from five to...
470
Maybe it's not that for this then.
471
Maybe they've done it in a different way for this.
472
I actually don't think I'd be able to tell the difference.
473
I don't know whether that was just because it was thinner, but I much preferred that one that we just had.
474
All right.
475
Well, let's try the seven out of ten.
476
Okay.
477
Oh, this is more...
478
This tastes like it's more raw.
479
You know what I mean?
480
This tastes like I'm actually just bit into flesh.
481
A leg.
482
This has a...
483
Right?
484
It has a bite to it.
485
Yeah.
486
It's not like dried.
487
Do you know what time it is?
488
Time for dessert.
489
Let me be clear with you.
490
At this point, I had barely any room left.
491
But when it comes to dessert, there's always room.
492
And my God, I was excited for this.
493
I already eyed up the chocolate fountain, which looks right up my street.
494
It is absolutely packed.
495
But this is what we're here for now.
496
All this.
497
Wowee.
498
Hi there.
499
Hello.
500
So, could I get some crepes?
501
Is this okay?
502
Yeah, thank you.
503
I'm gonna grab this, I'm gonna get myself chocolate cake.
504
I'm gonna get chocolate and strawberries.
505
Yeah.
506
Whoa!
507
Yeah, this is going off.
508
Wonderful, thank you very much.
509
Appreciate it.
510
One of these.
511
One of these.
512
One of these. And.. sorry about that.
513
One of these.
514
And do you know what?
515
Put a bit over that.
516
This is the type of stuff I'm on.
517
I made my own desserts.
518
Look at that.
519
That is outrageous.
520
This is probably the best dessert selection I've ever seen at any buffet ever.
521
You really went for the chocolate, huh?
522
Yeah.
523
I don't think we got a single duplicate dessert.
524
Yeah, that's great.
525
I kind of went for two as well so we could each have one.
526
Thank you, that's very kind.
527
Crème brûlée.
528
I didn't do that.
529
What's the crème sousette?
530
Can I try it or is it...?
531
It's got quite a bitter taste in terms of the sauce.
532
Yeah.
533
There's alcohol.
534
Yeah.
535
I think that's kind of been a running theme for this meal, actually.
536
They use Grand Marnier in this, a little orange liqueur.
537
Yeah, I can definitely taste that.
538
It's definitely there.
539
Oh, mate, you like chocolate, don't you?
540
Oh mate, that looks good.
541
Let's get in on the chocolate tart.
542
I mean that's as chocolatey as it gets.
543
Wow, it's chaos.
544
That's so good.
545
You know what it is?
546
You know when you were making like brownie at home?
547
Oh my god, that.
548
It's the goo.
549
You lick the bowl.
550
Yes, that's what that is, exactly.
551
In a dessert.
552
Right, well I'm going to go away from the chocolate.
553
Break it up in the strawberry.
554
Let's go here.
555
What have we got here?
556
Is this just a strawberry tart?
557
I think it is, yeah.
558
See what I mean?
559
The strawberries kick here.
560
Yeah.
561
Our strawberries are like 70 % of that.
562
Yeah.
563
We saw the video where it turns out we get the strawberries from England.
564
Yeah, from Somerset.
565
All right, cool.
566
Nice, mate.
567
I feel like we've got a bit of caramel going on here.
568
Ooh, crunchy biscuity base, possibly.
569
Couple of layers there for you.
570
Mm, good crunch at the base.
571
Ooh, yeah, caramel.
572
You're too heavy on the caramel.
573
That looks a lot heavier than it tastes.
574
Mm.
575
But let's venture onto your plate.
576
I feel like we've attacked that.
577
What do you want?
578
A chocolate mix up?
579
Oh, God.
580
Rum -baba?
581
Yeah, so how do you pronounce that?
582
Rum baba.
583
Rum baba.
584
This is soaked in rum.
585
Look at this, guys.
586
Pure alcohol.
587
Prepare, your mouth is about to be filled with rum.
588
Oh, my God.
589
Yeah, it's just rum.
590
It's good, though.
591
You get hammered off that.
592
That is quite nice, though.
593
I've never had that before, but...
594
Popular in Italy.
595
Right.
596
Yeah.
597
This right here.
598
Dangerous.
599
Havana's finest Cuban cigar.
600
Okay.
601
Double chocolate and care.
602
Oh, that's lovely.
603
I'm about it.
604
Yeah.
605
Cold, refreshing.
606
Oh, yeah, that's great.
607
That's big.
608
Great.
609
That's really good.
610
I might wrap it up with our jelly friend.
611
Wrap it up with our jellies.
612
Here we go.
613
I do like these little jellies, you know.
614
Yeah.
615
Great.
616
Brilliant.
617
Way to end the meal.
618
Yeah.
619
Right, dessert rating, hear me, I'm actually, I'm gonna give it a five.
620
And the reason why I'm giving it a five is, we tried to eat as much of it as we could, but there was so many good desserts there.
621
I just think if you can't find something that you love there, you're not gonna be able to find a dessert that you like.
622
I'm gonna go 4 .4.
623
4 .4.
624
4 .4.
625
Highlight of the buffet.
626
Mm -hmm, I think we're gonna say the same thing.
627
Yeah.
628
100 % the duck.
629
The duck, the press duck, insane.
630
The show, the history, they do it correct.
631
And there we have it.
632
That is the biggest and arguably the greatest buffet in the entire world.
633
Thumbs up from you.
634
Thumbs up from me.
635
Cheers.
636
Cheers, guys.
637
Oh, empty glass.
638
That was close.
639
It was such a good take.
640
Yeah.
641
We were about to do it, but we're still rolling.
642
There we go.
643
We're still rolling.
644
And we're good.
645
Cheers to that.
646
Oh well, that was Bud Bites.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 643 sentences and 4050 words to shadow. The speech runs for 25:56. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| duck noun | /dʌk/ | Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and… |
| buffet noun | /bəˈfeɪ/ | A counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought. |
| dessert noun | /dɪˈzɝt/ | The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc. |
| soup noun | /sup/ | Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food… |
| rat noun | /ɹæt/ | Any of the numerous members of several rodent families that usually have short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than… |
| cheers | /t͡ʃɪəz/ | A common toast used when drinking in company. |
| starter noun | /ˈstɑɹ.tɚ/ | Someone who starts, or who starts something. |
| strawberry noun | /ˈstɹɔˌbɛɹi/ | The sweet, usually red, edible accessory fruit of certain plants of the genus Fragaria. |
| tuna noun | /ˈtjuː.nə/ | Any of several species of fish of the genus Thunnus in the family Scombridae. |
| intense adjective | /ɪnˈtɛns/ | Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering. |
| crab noun | /kɹæb/ | Any crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace. |
| bite verb | /baɪt/ | To cut into something by clamping the teeth. |
| jelly noun | /ˈd͡ʒɛli/ | A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and… |
| lobster noun | /ˈlɑb.stɚ/ | A crustacean of the Nephropidae family, dark green or blue-black in colour turning bright red when cooked, with a hard shell and claws, which is used as a… |
| refresh verb | /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/ | To renew or revitalize. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go off verb | To explode. |
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| dress up verb | To put on special or fancy clothes. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| get in on verb | To gain participation in an activity, especially an attractive one. |
| get over verb | To overcome. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 156 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, thin /ˈθɪn/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: refresh /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, chef /ʃɛf/
- Long words — get the stress right: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
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 duck, buffet, dessert.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have I just ruined · We've already done · I've never seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were told · is soaked · be filled |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the best · the biggest · the largest |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was soon approaching · were throwing · was introducing |
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.