Shadowing Practice: I Tried Eating & Drinking Alone in Dublin, Ireland - Learn English Speaking with Video

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All right, here's the story.

I just arrived on a red-eye this morning.

I'm a mess.

But I'm here in Dublin for one day before I start a campaign with the tourism board tomorrow.

So I had two options.

I can go to my hotel room and just sleep all day or I can go out drinking here in Dublin.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I actually got some pen and paper and I got a to-do list here in Dublin.

There's six things that I really want to do.

I've been to Ireland a couple of times and my favorite thing is to be honest just drinking in pubs.

With that in mind, let's eat this and let's dive in.

Stomach coated, let's go split the G.

First I gotta find a pub that's open at 11am on a Monday.

Turns out in Dublin that's not really a hard thing to do.

This is the Palace Bar, a Dublin institution that's been pouring pints for over 200 years

willie here's the third generation of his family to run this place his grandfather bought it back in 1946

and vowed not to change a thing apparently

if i'm going to learn anything about irish pub culture this is a great place to begin

what's this guy back in the day

if a man come in with his wife or his partner

or his mistress This is where the women would sit in the snug.

It would be all men at the bar.

It's like there's only a ladies bathroom in the palace since the late 70s.

Really?

Yeah.

We used to have to let them up.

Well not me, my father would have to let them upstairs to the family home.

What you're looking at here is a lot of the original architecture.

Okay.

Now there was a renovation, bit of a renovation done in the 1880s.

But you're still looking at a lot of early 1800s and then the 1880s, the Victorian era.

Okay.

So it's regarded as a Victorian Dublin public.

Many a famous meeting that took place in here, like former Attorney General and the Labour leader to run the first lady,

Mary Robinson, to run her as the candidate and she became the first female president of Ireland.

Really?

Yeah.

It was in the snog, it was decided, they put her forward there, yeah.

The Bureau was very famous back in the day.

It was like we're on Fleet Street here.

So across the road you had the Irish Times, the Irish Press and this was a real melting pot here in the back room.

We were probably a very censored country in our international thinking.

Like we were very much a Catholic controlled country.

Sure.

But they say what took place in this room here, a lot of the men, they would have shaped Irish journalism, Irish writing, Irish poetry, Irish music.

Now there is one modern twist in here and And that's the pint Willie suggests I start with.

About a year and a half ago, Willie and a group of 12 family-owned Dublin pubs started brewing their own beer under the name Changing Times Brewery.

A way to create their own future without completely relying on the massive beer companies that dominate this industry.

Very smart.

And honestly, the stout is really good.

Respectfully, I put task number two on pause to enjoy the local beer in a legendary location.

I don't want to get too deep too early, but man, I miss it.

I miss.

This is the first, yeah, this is the first trip outside the country that isn't Mexico in two years.

Travel very much is like exercising.

You forget how much you love it or how good it is for your soul until you do it.

You're like, oh no, I'll put it off, I'll put it off.

But, yeah, this is the first start of the day and it's too early to get emotional over one drink.

But I can't sit for too long or the jet lag will catch up, so I gotta keep moving.

There it is.

That's what I want.

Alright, next up we're inside the Jamison Distillery on Bow Street.

I'm just going to sign through what this is all about.

Good morning, how are you?

What do I do?

Do you have the passage?

No, I have no idea.

I just showed up.

All right.

So you have to go all the way to the right end.

There's a counter information.

You're going to get the ticket.

Once you're going to get the ticket, they're going to take you up straight from there.

They're going to talk about the history and they're going to give you the sample of it.

All right.

So I got a drink coupon 33 euros for 33 euros for that.

How are you?

All right.

It's a quick look around this impressive campus and then straight upstairs where the tour begins.

Up here you can grab your included drink.

Jameson and Ginger start the tour.

That's nice.

And then a Jameson guide rounds up the group and begins the show, which is basically three phases.

First, the history, how John Jameson started making whiskey back in 1780

and how this Dublin distillery grew into one of the biggest whiskey brands in the world.

Room two, how it's made, the ingredients, the aging process and what makes Irish whiskey different.

She smells like hairspray.

Finally, the best room, the tasting, where you get to try three different variations of Jameson, all with their own unique flavor profiles, and equally as effective.

Raise our glass, and we'll say Slown Shot.

Slown Shot.

This one's going to make you want to pull your head back initially if you're like, you're going to slap in the face.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this is Tristan, he's the man.

If you come here, you gotta check out one of his twists.

Give me some fun facts.

Whiskey.

Whiskey originally came from the Irish Ishka Baha.

Now when the English came over they couldn't pronounce the Ishka part, so they started slurring their words.

Probably had a few whiskeys themselves, so they started going Ishka Ishka Ishka Whiskey Whiskey.

That's where the word whiskey comes from.

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In the French French, the Irish word Ishka for water.

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No mother at all.

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You're a man, a legend.

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Thank you very much.

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My pleasure.

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There you go.

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All right, I'm moved to our next location now, and I want to take a quick minute to thank the sponsor who helped make today possible in more ways than one, and that is Aerolo.

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A huge shout out to Erlo for sponsoring and supporting this channel.

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and with that being said let's dive in to our next location.

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Alright about a 25 minute walk from the Jameson factory and we have made it to our next location for lunch.

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There Sheehan is.

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Let's go inside and grab some lunch.

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It's time for a traditional pub lunch.

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Honestly one of my favorite aspects of Irish culture

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and this place Sheehan's was recommended to me by Willie at the Palace Bar.

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I was looking for a good spot for lunch.

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Well after that diggle, it's down the road.

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And Willy from the Palace Bar says, you gotta come over here.

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Well Willy's right with you.

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And in here, I instantly felt like family.

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They even had me pour my own Guinness.

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And Nick showed me the extended seating upstairs where you could reserve your own whiskey locker.

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Michael Flatley, from Riverdance.

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I see a lot of tealing, is that the...

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Yeah, tealing is very good.

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Knife Horn, you know the guy from One Direction?

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Okay.

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So there's a few quite famous guys.

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Nick here tells me that I was gonna get the lamb stew but Nick tells me I gotta get the Dublin Cottle.

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Yes.

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That's the last one are you trying to get rid of it?

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No, no, no. It's just a very good old traditional lamb stew. Is it?

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And you guys do it all right here?

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Oh yeah, I've just had it myself.

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You did?

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All right.

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First official Guinness of the day.

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Let's see if I can split that G.

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Fail.

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That's delicious.

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Man, I really liked Willy's.

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I really liked Willy's stout as well.

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I'm just hanging out at the pub.

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What can I tell you guys?

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Alright, we got a couple of big old stew here with little sausages, ham, potatoes. That is heartwarming.

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Truthfully, the last I've been here, this is my third time here, and every time I've had a good pub meal, like a good pub stew,

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it's always been so warming, and it's always a little cold outside, and you get a big stew,

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like, sure, it's not as elevated as a cuisine or as celebrated but man a good stew, good fish and chips in the pub,

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I mean that's tough to beat.

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I did a road trip by myself many years ago here throughout Ireland

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and I still go back to the moment of like sitting at a pub having a Guinness

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and eating a stew or a roast or something and it's one of the fondest memories I've had from traveling.

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You know cold and rainy outside and the The pub is always warm and welcoming and this is no exclusion.

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Nick and the team here are great

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and it's like every pub you walk into it has its own personality and their own characters and this is special.

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Mmm.

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Hearty.

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Delicious.

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Ah.

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Traditional lunch.

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Check.

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With Stu and Guinness weighing me down now, I gotta catch a second wind.

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And Nick tells me I can find it over at the Long Haul, another Dublin institution that has their own Irish whiskey.

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And I mean, at this point, it'd be rude if I didn't try it.

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This is Long Haul, it's a single cast whiskey.

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Okay.

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Okay, there's ice in one on the side.

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Only 317 bottles of it because it's a single cast.

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The way to get the best flavour from Irish whiskey is just one drop of water.

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One drop of water.

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No ice?

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No ice.

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Keep the ice to the side.

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It wouldn't be traditional.

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If you enjoy it, if you drink, you have ice on it.

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But it's not traditional.

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Okay, thank you.

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Alright, I switched over to their proprietary long haul whiskey.

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Alright, that takes the edge off a little bit.

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I had to switch over to whiskey.

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Truthfully I can't drink beers all day.

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It slows me down.

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I gotta go over to the hard stuff to keep me going.

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This is as antique and as custom as it gets in here at the long haul

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and it's been spoken highly of all day today.

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It's a good spot.

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They have these dividers as well.

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So, I mean, if I wasn't alone, I think maybe I'd like them because,

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you know, with your small group or whatever and you can enjoy yourself and you're kind of cut off from other groups.

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But being by myself, I kind of want to talk to other people at the bar.

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I got hit with a wall right here.

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So that part of it isn't great.

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But, you know, besides that, this is great.

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your own little space.

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You ever just think more people got to travel?

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People sitting in the park, people walking around downtown here.

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It's like, you don't get these experiences.

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Okay, now I really got to pull myself away from the barstool and take a minute for a quick sightseeing break.

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Nice.

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Well, I just tried to go in here, the bar of Ireland, and apparently it is not what I thought it was.

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turns out it's a legal office not a bar at all I just took a wrong turn

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and walked into Trinity College it's buzzing in here man it

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feels like we're in Harry Potter it feels like a different

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time I've been into the library before the the book of Kells

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so I'm not gonna go in there

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but this place is pretty cool it's a real college too

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and there's just like tourists everywhere I don't know how people deal with like tourists just run. Did you hear that?

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That guy just farted so loud.

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He just crop dusted me.

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He walked by and just gave me the guy in the orange jacket.

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You see him?

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He walked, he's like he took a couple of steps back behind his wife and just farted right, right next to me.

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All right, I'm taking a time out.

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Trinity College lawn.

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I just needed a minute.

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This is probably a bad idea.

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The trick with jet lag is just don't stop moving.

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Don't stop drinking.

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But it's just after 3.30 right now.

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So I'm going to take a minute.

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And then we'll press on.

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This feels really good right now.

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I'm going to take a minute.

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I hope this isn't a bad idea.

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just looking up and seeing trees man that's awesome I just passed out for a good half hour

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whoa all right I gotta keep moving uh let's go get a drink

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wait before we have another drink I gotta go figure out what a spice bag is

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but en route I get sidetracked by a buzzing pizza shop called Bambino.

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The slices look pretty good coming out, so why not?

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Listen, I got no business getting pizza right now, but I walked by this spot.

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Nobody recommended it for me.

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I walked by it and there was a crazy long line.

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It's called Bambino, and the slices look good.

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It's a major flop, but parmesan basil on top, they were shredding up there.

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pepperoni pizza with vodka sauce major major flop but it smells great so i had to stop for a slice

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this irish no did i just want it because today's just about just doing what we want yeah

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dang this sauce lacks a good amount of flavor

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but the crunch is there pepperoni's got no kick to it

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but the crunch is there but it's good but the basil and the parmesan the pepperoni

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make up for it slice of pizza in dublin why not right this is a little appetizer

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because i've been drinking and i felt like a slice

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all right the pizza was just an appetizer

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but the real real dinner is going to be right here

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this is the xian street food this is where i'm going

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to go get a spice bag busy already this is This is where I'm going to go.

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That's what everybody told me to go to today.

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We're in the mix, let's go get a spice bag if we can.

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I have no idea what to expect Now I've been to Ireland a few times before like I said, but I've never heard of a spice bag

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while walking around today I asked random people what I should eat

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and a spice bag was definitely the most interesting answer I got all day

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So here I am at this place to try it for myself.

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My first spice bag.

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We got it.

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We secured the spice bag basically seasoned chicken strips and french fries.

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I think I made a rookie move though and I didn't get a side sauce.

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I saw a lot of people getting a side sauce.

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You gotta get the side sauce right?

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I messed up.

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You have to order the sides the sauce separately.

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Oh should I ask for it?

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Excuse me, did this come with sauce oh man i messed up

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so spice bag what do i what do you usually do you get the spice bag

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and then you order something with it as for me i

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would just usually do it you go straight up yep okay

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well then that's not too i'm not too stupid yeah definitely how do you feel about going to college

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and there's just like tourists all over your college every day yeah well it's distracting

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Sometimes we're so excited because the place that you go every day looks like a tourist attraction.

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Okay, so it's alive and...

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Yeah, but when I was late for my classes, some tourists are blocking the main entrance and taking videos.

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Well, it is fine.

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Someone said, could you...

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Yeah, I would get so frustrated.

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Sometimes some tourists will walk into your car.

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Really?

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Yeah.

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Thank you, Chris.

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Great to meet you.

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Chris tells me I'm not crazy for just getting it with all the sauce.

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I probably should have got some sauce.

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Maybe I'll get some sauce.

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All right.

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I did it.

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I got curry sauce and satay sauce.

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These are the two most popular.

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Let's try it now.

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Yeah.

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Flavor city.

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A little taste of India, a little taste of China.

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A dry rub seasoning on there.

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Kind of like a matcha chili.

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So I'm going to get more of those chilies.

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And this is the satay.

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Sate always has my heart.

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A little peanut flavor in there.

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A little touch of vinegar.

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After a couple drinks, just some chicken strips and french fries.

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What could go wrong?

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Alright, and my final task of the day, I'm over in the Smithfield neighborhood, which definitely feels a lot more local,

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a lot more residential, away from the Temple Bar area area.

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I'm looking for the cobblestone which is said to have live music on a nightly basis.

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It's almost seven o'clock now.

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I am well fed.

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I am well lubricated.

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Let's see if we can find some live music to finish my tasks of the day.

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Cobblestone.

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I think I see it straight ahead.

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I hear the music already before I even walk in.

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Oh let's go inside.

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Here it is, live music.

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My final mission is complete.

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And that would have been enough, but Tom, who runs the place, tells me that there's a traditional Irish dance class happening in the back room if I wanted to join.

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And thanks to the help of a few pints and a couple of Irish whiskies, I accept without hesitation.

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This is the beauty of Ireland.

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You can walk into a pub by yourself and somehow a few hours later you're dancing in a room full of strangers.

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No plans, no reservations.

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I'm exhausted from 15 hours of travel, but somehow I still feel alive.

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Well, except when they do all these spins.

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Why is there so much spinning?

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You see, when I landed in Dublin this morning, I thought I was gonna spend the day drinking alone.

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But that's the funny thing about this place.

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You might arrive by yourself, but you're never really alone for long.

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And I know this isn't the most profound of travel deeper missions, Would you ever just need a day where you want to go out and have a couple of drinks by yourself?

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All right. That wraps the day.

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I'm going to end the episode here.

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I'm going to go back in and listen to some music.

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Maybe have a Guinness or two more.

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Maybe a whiskey. Who knows?

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It's my day off.

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I hope you guys enjoyed the video.

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If you did, thumbs up, comment, subscribe, all that good stuff.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “I Tried Eating & Drinking Alone in Dublin, Ireland”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: irish, whiskey, dublin, pub. This video has 377 sentences and 3578 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:27. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
whiskey noun	/ˈwɪski/	A liquor distilled from the fermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley).
spouse noun	/spaʊ̯s/	A person in a marriage or marital relationship.
stew verb	/stu/	To cook (food) by slowly boiling or simmering.
slice noun	/slaɪs/	That which is thin and broad.
willy verb	/ˈwɪli/	To cleanse wool or cotton, etc. with a willy, or willow.
haul verb	/hɔl/	To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or oxen, or a motor vehicle.
flavor noun	/ˈfleɪvə/	The quality produced by the sensation of taste or, especially, of taste and smell in combined effect.
pint noun	/paɪnt/	20 fluid ounces, approximately 568 millilitres (an imperial pint).
upstairs adverb	/ˌʌpˈstɛɹz/	Up the stairs; on or to a higher floor or level.
appetizer noun	/ˈæpɪˌtaɪzə/	A small, light, and usually savory first course in a meal.
cobblestone noun	/ˈkɑbl̩ˌstoʊn/	A rounded stone from a river bed, fit for use as ballast in ships and for paving roads.
distillery noun	/dɪˈstɪləɹi/	A place where distillation takes place, especially the distillation of alcoholic spirits.
parmesan noun	/ˈpɑːmɪˌzæn/	A hard, full-fat Italian cheese from Parma or its neighboring province Reggio Emilia.
pepperoni noun	/pɛpəˈɹoʊni/	A spicy salami-style Italian-American sausage made from cured pork and beef seasoned with pepper.
roam verb	/ɹoʊm/	To wander or travel freely and with no specific destination.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come over verb		To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.
mess up verb		To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss.
walk around verb		To walk with no planned destination; to meander.
catch up verb		To pick up suddenly.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.

Sentences worth repeating

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

Good morning, how are you?
Do you have the passage?
That's the last one are you trying to get rid of it?
What can I tell you guys?
You ever just think more people got to travel?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	that's been pouring · i've been drinking
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've been · have made · I've just had
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was decided · being said · was recommended
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	show, which is · cobblestone which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 88 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, gotta. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: truthfully /ˈtɹuːθ.fəl.i/, thumb /ˈθʌm/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, hesitation /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/, exclusion /ɪksˈkluːʒən/, reservation /ˌɹɛz.ɚˈveɪ.ʃən/, shout /ʃaʊt/
Long words — get the stress right: appetizer /ˈæpɪˌtaɪzə/, distillery /dɪˈstɪləɹi/, pepperoni /pɛpəˈɹoʊni/, renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, respectfully /ɹɪˈspɛkt.fə.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 whiskey, spouse, stew.

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: I Tried Eating & Drinking Alone in Dublin, Ireland - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?