Shadowing Practice: Inside Thailand's Wildest Markets - Learn English Speaking with Video
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67 sentences
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Floating markets have been at the center of communities in Thailand for hundreds of years.
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They were originally built along canals and rivers at a time when water transport played an important role in daily life.
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One of the most popular in Thailand is the Ampahua Floating Market, 45 miles from Bangkok.
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It stretches 30 miles along a canal on the Maeklong River.
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And today, hundreds of vendors use the Impala floating market to sell and cook a wide variety of delicious Thai dishes.
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When I was in the morning, I was scared of people.
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I was scared that the food was going to be a mess.
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I was afraid to eat.
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The food is like the world.
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But the food is not good because there is a panchon.
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You can eat the rice and the rice and the rice.
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You can eat the rice and the rice.
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You can eat the rice and the rice.
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You can eat the rice and the rice.
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I have a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm going to make a lot of food.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the second year of the year of the year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the year of the year of the
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year of the year of the year of the year of the year.
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I'm a member of the year of the year of the
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year of the year of the year of the year of the year.
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If you don't know, you can taste it.
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You can taste it.
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And it will be with us.
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We live with Thai society, and the Thai world.
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Okay, just watch.
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Three, two, one.
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This is Thailand's Meklong Market.
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About an hour south of Bangkok, every day, beginning at 6 .20 in the morning, a train runs through Maiklong Railway Market,
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one of the largest produce and seafood markets in Thailand.
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Through the stalls, selling fruit, ice cream, fish, through everything.
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And if you're wondering which came first, the market or the train, the answer is the market.
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The Maiklong Railway built a commuter train to Bangkok back in 1905.
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The track they laid ran right through the middle of this market which had been around for decades.
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Rather than moving, the vendors stayed put, adjusting their business to the train times.
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Eight times a day, seven days a week.
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We have to do it in 3 minutes.
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We have to do it in 3 minutes.
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We will know that this is the price we have to know.
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When we get the light, we will feel the light on 3 minutes.
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We keep the light on top and the light on top.
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We keep the light on top, we keep the light on top.
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We also see the kids to make the light green light.
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This system has been perfected over the years.
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With produce just inches from the train's wheels, tourists and vendors wait as the train passes through.
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Then, everything goes back to normal.
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Or at least as normal as an active train line market can be.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Inside Thailand's Wildest Markets”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: member, rice, train, eat, vendors. This video has 67 sentences and 697 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:47. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| vendor noun | /ˈvɛn.dɚ/ | A person or a company that vends or sells. |
| canal noun | /kəˈnæl/ | An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| stretch verb | /stɹɛt͡ʃ/ | To lengthen by pulling. |
| delicious adjective | /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ | Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty. |
| dish noun | /dɪʃ/ | A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. |
| adjust verb | /əˈd͡ʒʌst/ | To modify. |
| stall noun | /stɔːl/ | A compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed. |
| seafood noun | /ˈsiːfuːd/ | Food from the sea, including that derived from fish, shellfish, crustaceans, cephalopods, seaweed, algae, marine mammals, and other marine organisms. |
| commuter noun | /kəˈmjuːtɚ/ | One who commutes (etymology 1). |
| originally adverb | /əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ɪ.nə.li/ | As it was in the beginning; at first. |
| transport noun | /ˈtɹæns.pɔɹt/ | An act of transporting; conveyance. |
| cook verb | /kʊk/ | To prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc. |
| lay verb | /leɪ/ | To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| pass through verb | To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another. |
| run through verb | To summarise briefly. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 26 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, dish /dɪʃ/
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 float, vendor, canal.
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.