Shadowing Practice: Morgan Freeman Doesn't Think His Voice Is Special, Reveals His Secret to Staying Young (Extended) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Standing ovation for Morgan Freeman.
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Standing ovation for Morgan Freeman.
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They love you.
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We love you.
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Welcome back to the show.
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I think I should just go on out.
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Stop following my head.
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No, no, no, no. We have to talk.
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We have to do an interview.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, we have to talk.
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Talk about things.
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We have a lot in common.
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All right, all right, all right.
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You look fantastic, as always.
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Thank you for coming back.
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Thank you very much.
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You don't look so bad yourself.
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I appreciate it.
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We have a lot in common, besides having great voices.
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We also, uh, we golf.
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Yes.
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Yes. Are you...
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How's your golf game?
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Sucks.
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Me too.
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Really?
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Yeah, I'm...
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Better there.
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Yeah.
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Have you ever been good?
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I've seen you golf.
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I think you've...
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I've seen you do some great shots.
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All right.
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Uh, Jimmy.
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Sorry.
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See that end?
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Yes.
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It won't hold a golf club.
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Is that right?
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So, I only got this one to golf with.
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How good can it be? Is that right?
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I never realized that, but you still do well.
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Yeah.
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Do you still walk the course?
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Uh, no. I also got a bad foot.
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So why do you golf?
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Because I need to exercise.
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Yeah, you do.
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Yeah, golf is, you know, you don't really...
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I don't get paid to do it,
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so I don't have to make anybody's par.
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Par eight's good enough, right?
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Yeah, exactly.
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Just having fun.
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You were telling me you have a secret to aging,
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that you got a little secret from Clint Eastwood.
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What did he tell you?
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Never let the old man in.
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I love that.
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Don't let the old man in.
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Just don't...
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That's how you stay so young.
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Just don't let the old man in.
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Yeah.
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When did you realize you had an amazing voice?
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Do you think that you have an amazing voice?
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No. You don't?
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No. It's not special to you?
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No. Wow.
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It's yours?
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No. Right.
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But yours is.
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It's special to you and ain't special to me.
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Really?
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But you're the voice of God.
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Yeah, I...
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Please.
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But you know what I'm talking about.
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Everyone must say that to you.
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You are the voice of God in Bruce Almighty, in Bruce Almighty 2.
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And you have, you've narrated our planet.
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You're fantastic in that.
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Anytime I hear your voice,
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in fact, we've even had impersonators come on and impersonate you because everyone loves,
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they want to have your voice.
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You have a very great, special voice.
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Calming, soothing, articulate.
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Amazing.
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Fantastic.
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Did you go to vocal training?
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Yes, I went to college for about 20 minutes.
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And at LACC, Los Angeles,
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they call it community now,
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and it was city then, Los Angeles City College.
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And I had this instructor who,
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voice and diction, sort of got it in there somehow.
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Yeah, and what was his advice?
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You just said...
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A lot of people speak up higher in their voice box than they could.
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That's ridiculous.
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No, you could speak lower.
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Well, I know.
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I just, I choose to,
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I choose to do the other voice.
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Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave.
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But, yes, my voice is high.
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No. Your voice is...
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I think your voice is about as low as you ever gonna get it.
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What I mean, Jimmy, that wasn't a put-down.
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No. I meant that you speak normally.
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Your voice is in a normal pitch.
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Oh, thank you.
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I thought you were saying,
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I'm never gonna go through puberty or something.
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Which I didn't.
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I skipped over it.
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Never let the old man in,
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you know what I'm saying?
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No. We have fun.
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That's the thing about us.
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We have fun together.
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No, but here's us.
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So you have the diction, and you have that...
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But your voice was always that octave?
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No, no. I'm trying to tell you that this instructor dropped my voice about an octave.
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I mean, I really loved him.
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He did.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, because I mean, as long as I can remember from Sesame Street on and everything with you...
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Yeah, well, I was, what,
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50 years, 40 years old, 50 years old then.
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When you did that?
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Was it Sesame or was it Electric Company?
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It was Electric Company.
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But it was just children's television.
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Yeah, yeah, but I remember you.
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You were the best.
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I do remember you.
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But then that teacher must have been proud to see you go on to become Morgan Freeman,
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and here you are winning an Oscar winning an Oscar,
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he'd been nominated five times.
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Look at this.
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I mean...
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Not too shabby.
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Not too shabby.
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Right.
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Is it exciting winning an Academy Award?
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Yeah, I mean, Clint Eastwood did that.
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Yeah, exactly.
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If you could do anything that Clint Eastwood did, that's pretty cool.
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Yeah, well, we're buddies.
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Yeah?
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Yeah.
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You got to give him my best.
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Yeah?
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Yeah, I love Clint Eastwood.
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Good.
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Next time I see him, I'm gonna say...
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Jimmy Fallon.
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Yeah.
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Thank you.
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You have two big projects coming out, okay?
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One is a new series that you produce called The Grey House,
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which you're wearing a nice hat right now, saying The Grey House.
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It premieres tomorrow.
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It premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.
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I think it's a perfect time for it to come out, by the way.
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I think so, too.
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It's the 250th anniversary of our dear country.
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That's right.
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Lord help us.
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I know, but we'll get through it, yeah.
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But what is this, where is this set,
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and what is the idea behind the Grey House?
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The Grey House is set in Richmond,
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Virginia, long about 1861 when the Civil War started.
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And it's about these ladies who were spies spies for the Union Army,
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for the Union cause.
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I never heard that story.
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Well, nobody's ever heard it.
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That's why we're telling it.
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That's good.
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You need new stories.
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Real stories.
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Real stories.
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It's real.
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It's based on fact.
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Well, that's going to be fantastic.
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But then I'm also excited about the dinosaurs.
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This is, you're narrating this.
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This is Steven Spielberg, a four-part series on Netflix about dinosaurs,
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but I will tell you that the graphics and the...
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Unbelievable.
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I've never seen it.
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Honestly, it is fantastic.
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Is that what drew you to it,
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or did you and Stephen know each other?
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Yeah, no, Stephen and I know each other.
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We go back, all the way back to Amistad.
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Wow.
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Right.
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Jeez.
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And, you know, Morgan, would you...
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And I said, pshh.
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Of course, you got to do it.
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If it's Steven, yeah, he's gonna do a great job.
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But it's phenomenal, and the most realistic animation graphics I've ever seen that is gonna blow your mind when you see it.
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You don't believe it.
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Yeah.
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You know, I love it every time you come on the show.
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I'm so lucky to have you on the show.
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You're one of my all-time favorites,
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and thank you for being so fun and awesome.
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But also, I just...
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You're a legend, and it's cool that you do this.
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And I love music.
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I'm serious.
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I'm serious.
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I love you.
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Oh, I love you.
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No, I'm serious.
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I want to show a clip.
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Here's the voice of Morgan Freeman.
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He's so humble.
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He's the best.
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Narrating the dinosaurs.
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Take a look at this.
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Ankylosaurus...
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...versus T-Rex.
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An evolutionary stalemate.
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Millions of years in the making. But
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in this arms race, there's one thing that does set these dinosaurs apart.
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Intelligence.
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Intelligence.
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Yeah, come on.
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That's how you do it right there.
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Morgan Freeman, everybody!
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All four episodes of The Dinosaurs premiere March 6th on Netflix.
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More Tonight Show after the break.
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Stick around, everybody.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English listening and speaking skills through the engaging content of a conversation featuring the renowned actor, Morgan Freeman. This video captures a light-hearted interview that not only showcases his personality but also provides opportunities to learn English with YouTube. By shadowing his speech, you will focus on improving your English pronunciation and intonation. As you follow along, pay attention to the natural flow of conversation, which is essential for IELTS speaking practice and everyday communication.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Standing ovation - A prolonged clap from an audience, usually in appreciation.
- Golf game - The sport of golfing, often discussed casually among friends.
- Sucks - A slang term indicating that something is bad or disappointing.
- Bad foot - A term used when someone has an injury or pain in their foot.
- Exercise - Physical activity for health or fitness.
- Look fantastic - A compliment that means someone appears very attractive or impressive.
- Great shots - Refers to successful hits or plays in sports, particularly in golf.
Practice Tips
To maximize your learning experience, consider using these shadowing tips specific to the rhythm and tone of the interview:
- Listen Carefully: First, watch the video to familiarize yourself with the context and energy of the conversation. Pay attention to Morgan Freeman's vocal nuances.
- Shadowing Exercise: Pause the video after short segments and repeat what you hear, mimicking the tone and pace of the speakers. This will help you improve your English pronunciation.
- Record Yourself: Use a recording app to capture your voice while you shadow. Play it back to compare your performance with the original. This can be beneficial for identifying areas to improve.
- Focus on Intonation: Notice how emotions are expressed through intonation and stress. Try to incorporate these elements into your own speaking for a more natural delivery.
- Repeat Regularly: Revisit sections of the video to reinforce your learning. The repetition will make it easier to incorporate new phrases into your everyday vocabulary.
By consistently practicing with this shadow speech technique, you will be on your way to enhancing your speaking abilities, perfecting your pronunciation, and becoming more fluent in English.
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.
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