Shadowing Practice: Inside the Richest Country in the World | Monaco - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Monaco is the richest country in the entire world.

A microstate that sits right on the coast of the French Riviera

that is roughly four kilometers long and just half a kilometer wide.

A country that is so rich that one third of its entire population are millionaires.

And for decades, Monaco has been associated with wealth

and continues to do so by holding the most expensive average price for a home, docking some of the most luxurious yachts in the world,

and hosting the iconic F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

Everywhere you turn here makes you feel like you're in a James Bond movie.

So guys, welcome to Monaco.

You know, after traveling to over 50 countries, I never really had at the top of my list coming to Monaco.

But after arriving here this morning, this place is absolutely stunning.

But there is some good news

and some bad news about coming here to Monaco where the good news it's beautiful

and also very small it's actually the second smallest country in

the world next to the Vatican even myself coming from New

York City this entire country is smaller than Central Park

and the bad news is it is insanely expensive where we couldn't even afford a hotel here in Monaco

so we're actually staying in France and then have to take a train in every day.

So after walking around here in Monaco for the past hour, I need to say

that this place is just like one giant rich person museum

where all you see are these crazy mega yachts like this one with a helipad on it, all these crazy sports cars, and even insane apartments.

And I did want to say

that monaco like a lot of these other rich nations became rich

because it is a tax haven there's zero capital gains tax here

and zero income tax here

but monaco unlike a lot of these other countries the barriers

to entry to getting into monaco is a lot more difficult where in order to become a monaco resident

and to reap these tax haven benefits you need to deposit

500 000 into a bank account as well as own property

and owning property here monaco is not cheap where the average one bedroom apartment is five million dollars

so what i'm learning is

that in order to even move into this country you already

have to be pretty well off yeah you already have to be a multi -millionaire to even get into monaco

so just when you thought you made your first million you gotta do

that like five to six more times but then you're saving

so much on taxes yes and you to live in a beautiful place like this

and you know i'm not one myself

but i've heard once you make your first million

that next million is easier soon soon yep guys make sure to like

and subscribe since hopefully soon our adsense can afford one of

these mega yachts promise we'll take all the subscribers on it

so typically when i film these travel videos i like to include a native from

that country to share their experience about their own country

but this is probably the first time where I haven't been able to find anyone in this community

or even when asking friends of friends of anyone who lives here in Monaco

and I think

that has to do with there only being 39 ,000 people

where probably a high majority of them do not watch my YouTube vlogs

but I do have a friend named Fran who just moved here to Monaco from America

so we're gonna go meet up with her

and have her share her views and opinions about what it's been like so far living here in Monaco.

All right so we just made it here with Fran.

Bonjour.

Fran why did you move here to Monaco of all places?

The most expensive place I've ever been.

In the world but it is the birthplace of luxury

and it is the best place to study luxury

and to learn about it so that is why I moved here

and now I'm in a program it's going to be 10 months long of nothing

but yawning Formula one and luxury partnerships that sound pretty nice

and so far from living here what have you noticed that's interesting

and unique about this country monaco has taken such good care of its people

and its inhabitants there's let's think there's stairs everywhere escalators everywhere

to get up about beautiful mountains everything is the people are

so friendly and they're so welcoming to people like me

that are studying abroad so monaco really is a special place wow

so you would say

that the people here are actually really nice yes people here

are actually very nice i feel like they expect you as a tourist to not be nice

but then as soon as you are

and you smile they're more than welcoming to you

so for the past 30 minutes we have just stood here watching all of these crazy race cars

and supercars coming up this bend

but now to end the evening we are about to go

on an adventure to see monaco from a much different perspective

and hike with chris all the way up here how long should this take

i don't want to promise you anything because then you'll get mad at me

but let's go all right supposedly it's a couple hours up a couple hours down

so let this Monaco hiking adventure begin now Monaco the French

Riviera this entire part of the world is absolutely beautiful where right now we are about to go

and see it from a completely different perspective all the way up this mountain would you call

that a mountain yeah that's about yeah it feels like a mountain it's a mountain for sure

so we got off the train at cap die

and now it's about an hour

and a half hike all the way up to the top

of this mountain where we're hopefully going to be able to

get an incredible spectacular view of the country of monaco

and what's amazing about this hike is it's one of those

hikes where the entirety of the hike is just overlooking the

french riviera this is incredible yeah this is like easily one

of the most stunning places in the entire world i understand how it like attracts people

so much that there's a huge reason why they'd want to live here

and they would do anything to make that so yeah

and i feel like this hike haven't seen cover too much

but so far i mean we're not at the top yet

but even just this half of it has been so amazing

so really excited to see what it's like from the top

If you guys are coming into Monaco and looking for an adventure, highly recommend doing this hiking trail.

It wasn't too hard, but it most certainly wasn't easy.

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Also, I am a little confused because I saw some people here in like nice clean white pants.

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Pretty sure you could also drive up here.

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Is that right Chris?

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I think there's like, I think there's a different access point from Monaco.

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Okay he definitely didn't tell me that before.

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This was definitely the more adventurous way

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and now from up here you just get the most insane view of the entire country of Monaco.

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Crazy to see it from this perspective and just see the square kilometers of this place.

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It's only two square kilometers but to come up here and see all two square kilometers

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it's just pretty magnificent

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and a lot of the things here to do in Monaco are super expensive

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so if you're looking for something more on a budget

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and want an adventure definitely recommend coming up here

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and doing this hike we've already been up here for about 45 minutes and

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probably not going to leave anytime soon because I do not want to do

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that hike back down as someone who does usually travel more

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on the budget side of things I never really had Monaco on my list for traveling

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but now after coming here seeing the french riviera

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and monaco i would highly recommend it especially with doing this hike

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and getting a view like this just is something i wasn't expecting

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so we may have a new job opening up here on the channel someone who can look into

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if you have to actually hike or not listen think about all the pizza we ate in the past couple videos.

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That's true.

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We needed that.

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All right.

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No, I'm glad we got the hiking.

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Just funny that we could have drove here.

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So we were just up here flying the drone

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and we met a really nice local named Razmik

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and he wanted some shots of him with the drone and now in return he said he's getting us pizza.

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Bring us pizza.

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You got the pizza?

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Oh my gosh, incredible.

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I'm going with this one wow this is beautiful what do

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you do exactly here in monaco i'm working as a private banker

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assistant wow that's cool how do you like living in monaco i like it yeah can you feel

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that a lot of people in monaco you can sense all

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the people who have a lot of money that's like seeing

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the sports cars the yachts most of them yeah yeah they're

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going to get used to it most of them are kind like they don't yeah

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so you would say the people are nice definitely yeah yeah

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i mean i tell you got giving us pizza thank you

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now to start off day two here in monaco we're doing

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another free thing to do by coming down to the public beach.

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This is where you can get amazing views of the city and the sea and just experience the French Riviera.

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or maybe here it may be called the monaco riviera i did want to mention

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that we grabbed food before this and i was shockingly surprised

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that the prices weren't too ridiculous where we were able to get a burger fries a drink

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and even a coffee for 22 i was expecting everything to be just ridiculously expensive

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and we even stopped by a mcdonald's because we thought

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that would be the only option for an affordable meal

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but luckily things around town you can find some good bargains

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And I must say that this has to be the fanciest McDonald's I've ever been to

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or even right behind me We have a beautiful view of the Monaco Harbor So if you do want to travel here, there are ways to do this place in a more affordable manner

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But next up we are about to head over to the F1 area where the track is

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and even go inside one of the famous car museums

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Excited to check this out

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So I was just looking out at all of these insane mega yachts

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and decided to look up the richest people here in the country of Monaco.

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And I saw that a lot of the people here gained their wealth from art collection, which I'm not entirely surprised by,

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since contemporary art is a great addition to anyone's investment portfolio.

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Since if you take a look at the numbers, contemporary art prices have outperformed the S &P 500 by 164 % for the past few decades.

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But when have you ever been able to afford a picasso traditionally this is an asset class

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that only billionaires can get in on

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but thanks to masterworks they are democratizing the process

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and allowing normal people like you

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and me get in on the action it's actually really simple they buy some artwork securitize it with the sec

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and then you're able to buy shares of it on their websites

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and if you ever need liquidity you can easily sell your shares on their secondary market

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or wait until they sell their piece at auction

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and then you can make your profits now legally i do have to add

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that past performance is no indication of future results

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but this definitely sounds like an interesting opportunity to me especially

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because it's not correlated to stocks bonds and crypto

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so start diversifying your portfolio today with art by going to masterworks .art slash brett conti

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or by simply clicking the link down below

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so guys this right here is where tony stark almost got assassinated in iron man 2

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and also where they have the racetrack for the formula one monaco grand prix now monaco wanted to participate

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and have their own grand prix but one of the rules is

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that your racetrack has to be within your country's border

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and monaco as we know it is relatively small compared to france spain Germany, and Italy, where they have vast countrysides.

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But this did not stop Monaco

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and encouraged them to use their own streets with their beautiful landscapes

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and crazy horseshoe bend turns and having that be their Grand Prix racetrack.

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And within just a couple of years, this had huge success and made the Monaco Grand Prix probably the most iconic and most successful race in the entire world.

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And that is why today, this one event attracts some of the wealthiest

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and well -known figures from all over the world as a symbol of status

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so they can dock their mega yachts in the monaco harbor

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which give them the best seats in the house as the

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f1 cars race just a couple feet from the water guys

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my mind is blown right now i was just thinking to myself how they afford all of these crazy cars

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and then i just learned that all these cars are owned by by one person, and that person is the Prince of Monaco.

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So this museum is essentially just paying to look at his car collection.

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This has to be worth tens, if not hundreds of millions of euros, all in this one museum.

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Now the origin of Monaco's wealth comes back to right here, the Monte Carlo Casino.

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And back in 1861, France and Monaco set up a treaty that made Monaco a sovereign state.

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But in exchange for this, France took away Monaco's biggest GDP contributor, which were the citrus farms, which essentially made Monaco broke.

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So Monaco needed to figure out new ways to make money, and they noticed that casinos were illegal in pretty much all the other countries in Europe.

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So they decided to open up one right here in Monaco, the Monte Carlo Casino.

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And this casino became so successful so soon that in the year 1869,

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that's when they decided to drop income tax and they were able to make all their money from this casino right here.

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People really do love the gamble.

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And this then resulted in a lot of millionaires

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and very wealthy people to come here to Monaco and set up shop and live here.

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And now this casino is still here today

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and featured in a lot of famous movies including my personal favorite James Bond Casino Royale

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which is exactly why I bought this bow tie, brought this suit all the way from New York

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and ready to go live my James Bond dream

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so until next week remember to like subscribe

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and we're going all in on black on my AdSense so let's do this

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so after Exploring the entire 2 square kilometer country of Monaco and seeing what it has to offer,

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there is no doubt that this place is the richest country on earth.

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And it turns out, once we dug deeper in research, it seems that the catalyst for this country's wealth all stems from the Grimaldi family

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and the creation of the Monte Carlo Casino, which then followed by the nation eliminating income tax and attracting tycoons to move to Monaco.

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Even though this country is super expensive, it's also super beautiful and unique as well.

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So whether you can afford a hotel here or want to take a 20 -minute train ride from France like us, this country has a ton to offer.

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If you guys enjoyed this video, please make sure to like and subscribe as it truly helps me out a lot.

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And I will see you next week.

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From Prague, Czech Republic.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Inside the Richest Country in the World”. This video has 218 sentences and 2748 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:55. The speaker talks at a natural 173 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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
hike noun	/haɪk/	A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise.
casino noun	/kəˈsiːnəʊ/	A public building or room for gambling.
yacht noun	/jɑt/	A slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock.
pizza noun	/ˈpi.tsə/	A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables.
prix noun	/pɹiː/	Synonym of prize.
adventure noun	/ədˈvɛn.t͡ʃə/	A feeling of desire for new and exciting things.
mega adjective	/ˈmɛɡə/	Very large.
insane adjective	/ɪnˈseɪn/	Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
luxury noun	/ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi/	Very wealthy and comfortable surroundings; the state of being that they create.
attract verb	/əˈtɹækt/	To pull toward without touching.
subscribe verb	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).
millionaire noun	/ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/	Somebody whose wealth is at least one million (10⁶) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies).
formula noun	/ˈfɔː.mjʊ.lə/	Any mathematical rule expressed symbolically.
essentially adverb	/ɪˈsɛnʃəli/	In essence: by nature.
affordable adjective	/əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/	Able to be afforded; inexpensive or reasonably priced.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
get in on verb		To gain participation in an activity, especially an attractive one.
open up verb		To open.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
back down verb		To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
come down to verb		To reach by moving down or reducing.
drive up verb		To cause or force a price, quantity, rate, etc. to increase.
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:

The most expensive place I've ever been.
No, I'm glad we got the hiking.
You got the pizza?

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	has been associated · i've heard · haven't been
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	anyone who lives · someone who does · someone who can
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	has been associated · may be called · is blown

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 39 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/, birthplace /ˈbɝθˌpleɪs/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: luxury /ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, partnership /ˈpɑɹtnɚʃɪp/, auction /ˈɔkʃən/, indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, portfolio /pɔːtˈfəʊ.liˌəʊ/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/

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 hike, casino, yacht.

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: Inside the Richest Country in the World | Monaco - 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?