Shadowing Practice: Mamdani's Very Bad Week - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Zoran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, had himself weak.
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Well, first, his administration put out a map of New York's immigrant neighborhoods, 30 of them, and somehow just forgot Little Italy, you know, like the most famous immigrant neighborhood in the entire city.
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And then, while America is bombing the Iranian regime and they're firing on American bases, Turns out Zoramandani's top international affairs official.
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Why do you even have an international affairs official as a city?
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Are you in your own country or something?
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They scheduled a meeting with Iran, like their ambassador to the UN, and didn't tell the State Department.
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And that only went away when the State Department found out
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and had to explain to Mamdani's people what a city is versus what a country is.
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So no time for little Italy.
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Plenty of time for Iran.
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Alrighty, so Zohar Mamdani has decided apparently that Italians are not real New Yorkers.
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Real New Yorkers are from Pakistan or from...
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Bangladesh or Palestine.
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There's little Palestine as well.
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Little Palestine, by the way, sounds really terrible.
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That sounds like not a wonderful, incredible place, actually.
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If it in any way mirrors the world, actual pals, maybe both don't exist, I don't know.
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In any case, Zora Mamdani put out a map.
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that shows all of these immigrant enclaves.
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And they missed one called Little Italy, which, of course, is probably the most historically important New York City enclave,
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So that was like the original Little Italy. So instead...
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Mom, Donnie just put out a bunch of neighborhoods that he invented like Little Pakistan or Little Senegal.
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or Little Yemen.
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By the way, who wants to go to Little Yemen?
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well guys we're gonna go we need to go visit little yemen Okay, like the Houthis hanging out there, like who's in little Yemen?
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Again, these are not real names of neighborhoods.
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He is calling them names of neighborhoods.
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This is the New York City Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs. So.
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There is also, by the way, no...
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no labeling of Jewish areas in, say, Crown Heights or in Brooklyn or Borough Park or something.
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Well, in a statement, a city hall spokesperson said the map was not designed to highlight religious enclaves in the Big Apple.
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Instead, it said it highlights neighborhoods in New York City
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that have substantial foreign -born populations from regions and countries around the world.
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Well, I didn't realize that Italian is religion.
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And they said little Odessa, which is featured in the map, has a substantial Jewish population.
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So great job, everyone in New York City.
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You ignored Little Italy.
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The Italians are pissed.
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This is where we need to insert the clip of Tony Soprano explaining that Columbus was a hero here in America.
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He was a victim of his time. Who cares?
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It's what he did.
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He discovered America is what he did.
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He was a brave Italian explorer.
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And in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero.
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End of story.
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So again, if you think the Italians, I mean, that reaction from the Sopranos, that's about where things are going to go.
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If you think
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that Italians in New York City are going to be very
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high on the getting rid of little Italy in favor of little Pakistan, good luck to you, Zoran Mamdani.
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It turns out, again, that he has a core constituency.
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That constituency is the constituency he is interested in serving all the time, all the time.
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And that constituency is.
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middle to upper class white people?
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and immigrant populations.
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that he likes that is the entire constituency.
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There is no other constituency.
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And other constituents who voted for Cuomo.
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He's not going to give him the time of day.
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Remember, Zorn Mamdani is the guy who literally took a picture of himself
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and put it up on social media in Black Lives Matter summer of 2020.
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flipping off, a statue of Columbus.
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It turns out that the inanimate statue didn't care.
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But, He put up a picture of himself flipping off the statue of Columbus.
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with the phrase, take it down.
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So Columbus needs to go, but we must, must, must.
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inform visitors to New York where little Yemen is, where little Pakistan and little Palestine are.
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Sounds awesome.
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unsurprisingly, by the way, Mamdani, who is trying to run the city of New York as though it's its own little polity, it's his own country or something.
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A top Mamdani official tried to meet with the Iranian government.
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which is kind of wild.
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According to City Journal, A top official in Zahar Mamdani administration's Office for International Affairs, made plans to meet with the Iranian ambassador and permanent representative to the UN.
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Commissioner Ana Maria Archila was scheduled to meet with Amir Said Arivani, Iran's permanent representative to the UN.
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alongside a couple of other senior officials in the mayor's office for international Affairs.
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The State Department instead met with Mamdani and his administration to say, guys, you are not allowed to do that.
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You don't run your own foreign policy with regard to Iran, as much as Zoran Mamdani would like to think.
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that he does.
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On April 16th, A message seen by City Journal was sent to staff within the mayor's office for international affairs
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asking them to prioritize diplomatic engagement in part, based on whether foreign officials are in political alignment, or leftist.
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That's amazing.
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So, They wanted to do diplomatic engagement only with regimes that agree with them.
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And the first place they tried was Iran.
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Hmm.
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I can't imagine why.
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You mean that Zoran Mamdani and his priorities match up with the priorities of the Iranian ayatollahs?
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Shocking to me.
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Can't believe it.
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Just can't believe it.
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Speaking of which, by the way, this is increasingly just the left.
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Abdul El -Sayed.
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The Michigan Senate.
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Democrat.
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who which by the way is in and of itself insane He's going to end up winning that primary over in Michigan, Abdul El -Sayed, with the endorsement of the party.
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And people have been sleeping on how insane it is
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that this person is going to be a nominee for a major party.
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Yesterday, Abdul El -Sayed's campaign attacked Haley Stevens, who is his rival in the race.
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for having voted in favor of of a bare bones resolution that passed through Congress.
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paying some sort of tribute to Charlie Kirk and condemning political violence.
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And so apparently, according to Abdul El -Sayed, that's really, really, really bad.
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So according to Abdul El -Sayed, no tribute at all to Charlie Kirk, no mourning of Charlie Kirk, no signaling of sympathy for the death of Charlie Kirk,
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but also But also Abdul El -Sayed was caught on tape saying, That he would not, in fact,
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celebrate in any way the death of Ayatollah Khomeini because too many of his supporters were upset about it.
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So yes, that's sympathy for people who support Ayatollah Khamenei.
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No sympathy for people who liked Charlie Kirk or even thought
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that Charlie Kirk was just an important part of the political conversation.
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This is where the Democrats have gone at this point.
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Now, again, the mayor's office back to New York, They have been trying to start their own sort of foreign relations department.
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Last month, according to City Journal, Zoram Andani intended to meet with Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
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And the meeting again was called off after the State Department was like, what are you doing?
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Who do you think you are precisely?
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But this is the whole thing.
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Zormandine doesn't need to be president.
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He thinks that New York is his flagship city.
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And he is going to run its own foreign policy.
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And he's going to make it unlivable for people he doesn't like there.
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That's how this is going to go.
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So I know there are a lot of Democrats that say, oh, well, he talks about game, but he's not going to be able to do anything.
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Famous last words.
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Famous last words.
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Already, real estate investors are fleeing the city.
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Jews in New York City, who are not willing to hide their Judaism beneath the veneer of anti -Israel trash.
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are already thinking about leaving.
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And frankly, they should because a city that elects at Zahran Mamdani is probably not a city that is great for people.
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who traditionally like the country.
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and utterly unsurprising that the same mom donnie who's flipping off a statue of columbus is perfectly happy meeting with Iran.
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It is all the same thing forever and always.
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That red -green alliance, the Marxist -Islamist alliance, is alive, it is kicking, it is well.
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And it also has that horseshoe aspect where they have the sympathy of people like the Tucker Carlson's, Marjorie Taylor Greene's, and Thomas Massey's of the world.
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What an amazing video you just watched.
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Wasn't that amazing?
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Well, you know, if you think so, head on over to dailywire .com slash subscribe to watch the full show ad free or check out this crazy story here.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you’ll practice understanding conversational English with a focus on real-world topics and casual tone. The video discusses a mayor’s controversial decisions, using everyday language, sarcasm, and cultural references. You’ll work on following fast-paced speech, identifying idioms, and grasping implied meaning—skills that help you communicate naturally in English. Plus, you’ll get tips to improve your pronunciation through shadowing, a technique called "shadowspeak" that builds fluency by mimicking native speakers.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Enclave: A distinct area within a city where a particular group lives (e.g., "immigrant enclaves").
- Constituency: A group of people a leader represents (e.g., "his core constituency").
- Substantial: Large in amount (e.g., "substantial foreign-born populations").
- Pissed: Slang for angry (e.g., "The Italians are pissed").
- Highlight: To emphasize (e.g., "the map was not designed to highlight religious enclaves").
- End of story: A phrase to signal finality (e.g., "Christopher Columbus is a hero. End of story").
Practice Tips for Shadowing
This video’s tone is conversational and slightly sarcastic, with a moderate to fast pace. To master "shadow speak," start by listening to short 5-10 second clips. Pause, then repeat immediately, matching the speaker’s rhythm and stress—notice how words like "incredible" or "controversial" are emphasized. Focus on mimicking the casual tone, especially phrases like "Alrighty" or "good luck to you," which sound natural in everyday talk. For tricky parts, slow the video down, but aim to shadow at full speed to build fluency. This practice will not only improve your English pronunciation but also help you understand how tone conveys meaning. Try "shadowspeaks" daily with this video, and you’ll soon notice your speech sounds more natural and confident.
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 | have been sleeping · have been trying |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was not designed · is featured · are pissed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Odessa, which is · guy who literally · people who support |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has decided · have gone |
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.