Shadowing Practice: My May Books - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hey guys, I'm here to talk about the books I read in May.
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I think I'm going to film some reviews on later dates.
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Usually I film in one go at the very end of the month, but I'm going to be a little bit busy at that time, so I might be filming these reviews on different dates.
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We'll see.
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Just in case I have an outfit change and you're wondering why.
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So the first book I finished in May was Creep by Emma Van Straaten.
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I have reviewed this book in short form and also throughout my vlog, so this might be a bit rehashed if you saw any of those.
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And as a side note, this book is known as This Immaculate Body in the UK where it was originally published.
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I would love to hear the reasoning behind the title change for North America.
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So if anyone knows, let me know, please.
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So this book follows a woman named Alice who decides to take up cleaning as a part -time gig.
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She's contacted by a man named Tom because he wants her to clean his apartment.
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And that's all it takes.
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Alice becomes deeply obsessed with Tom.
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Every week she goes to his apartment.
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She digs through his personal belongings.
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She rifles through his laptop.
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She reads his emails.
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She sucks on his toothbrush.
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She lays naked in his bed.
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She also does some cleaning while imagining their life together.
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She also checks like what podcasts he's listening to, what books he's reading, what kind of music he likes, what kind of food he likes.
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Also, when Tom finally meets her, he will think that they're meant to be.
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Despite never having met him and not actually knowing him, Alice believes that he will be the salve for her deep loneliness and issues that she's had throughout her life.
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The plot races toward their first meeting in a very jagged, haphazard,
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unreliable manner that's very intentionally done with the writing style as alice begins to unravel more
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and more the prose feels like it's picking up pace it's running mad
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so alice is an interesting character she clearly struggles with mental health issues
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that have distorted her view of reality
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and also herself she struggles a lot with very low self -esteem
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and i would say self -hatred
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that extreme self -hatred is really skewing not just her view of herself
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but of other people
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and their motives for example she works in this office environment with other women who are very pleasant and friendly towards her, they invite her out, they ask her about her weekend, they seem very genuine.
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But she simultaneously looks down on them in almost like a cruel manner while also being deeply jealous of them.
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She ruminates a lot on her loneliness and her perceived misfortune in life.
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She lets it eat her up, drive her to near insanity, and yet she chooses to be unpleasant
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and reject people who reach out to connect to her out of genuine interest and care.
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Alice gives an entirely too real meaning to the term unlikable narrator.
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I found it difficult to sympathize with her even after hearing more of her backstory
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and I guess her explanation for her behavior.
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I actually sympathized more for her sister.
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Okay I did feel for her in a very frustrated way.
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I just wanted to tell her Alice at some point we need to stop blaming others.
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Take responsibility for your own actions and your life.
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Don't give that power to a man who doesn't know you.
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So did I enjoy this book? in an eek manner.
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It was kind of a page turner.
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Actually a few people told me that they could not stand the writing style which I understand.
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It's very stream of conscious.
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Alice is basically babbling non -stop in these long dense paragraphs
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and I feel like that kind of writing can make people's mind drift at times.
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For me it worked because I thought it reflected her mindset well
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but there were moments I had to go back and reread what I just read.
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I do also wish that this book delve deeper into topics such as alienation race
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and class which are listed as topics on the back of this book i felt
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that it was very surface level
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when it came to those i do recommend this though
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if you love a crazy unhinged female narrator that you can't quite trust
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or if you're just looking for a book
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that will make you eek a bit the next book i
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read was a slim novella a leopard skin hat by anne
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sayre this was shortlisted for the international booker prize this year
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the publisher new directions kindly sent this to me as well
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as some other fabulous titles before reading this i did see some negative reviews for it.
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So I think this is a polarizing one.
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I liked it though.
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I was pleasantly surprised.
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So this is a book about a friendship between the narrator and Fanny.
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The narrator details their many years of friendship through snapshots.
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From the beginning and from the blurb on the back of this book, we know that Fanny suffers from psychological disorders.
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I think through the writing you can kind of infer what they are.
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Despite her not always being a nice or easy person to deal with, he does remain loyal to her or he tries to.
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But I also felt that he was like observing her
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and taking notes on her almost like she was a specimen i don't know
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if anyone else had
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that feeling i mean he's essentially narrating a deeply personal story
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about her without her input at the same time he's very aware
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that fanny has aspects to her that he will never know
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or have access to i found this so oddly moving i say
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that because i think the sections and the lines
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that were moving kind of creep up on you
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and then you would sit back
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and think wow maybe even shed an unexpected tear something interesting also happens in the narration where the writer
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and the narrator kind of split you realize wait
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so the narrator is not the writer of the story how does
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that work he is referred to as the narrator throughout
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but also the writer is omniscient to his thoughts and feelings
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so is the writer just the narrator referring to himself in
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third person for example this section might the narrator by any
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chance have transformed her into writing material might the eye he
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had trained on her have brought about her collapse oh come
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now thought the narrator even to entertain such a possibility is to credit yourself with far too much power
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still part of him couldn't help suspecting a share of responsibility in the separation of elements
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and fanny interesting yeah i surprisingly enjoyed this i found it interesting
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and tender i don't think it will be everyone's preference though but it's so short that I think it's worth a try.
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I will say I also strongly felt despite liking this
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that it would not win the International Booker Prize and I was right about that.
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However, I also didn't foretell the actual winner so that means nothing.
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After finishing A Leopard Skin Hat, I decided to pick up the other nominees for the shortlist
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that I owned and so I went on to read Small Boat by Vincent Delacroix.
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This is a translation from French.
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Did I say A Leopard Skin Hat is also a translation from French?
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I also already reviewed this one in short form so if you saw that this might be a rehash as well.
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This is creative non -fiction about a tragedy
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that occurred in 2021 where a boat of migrants attempted to cross the channel between France and the UK.
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Their boat begins to sink and so one of the men called for help.
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The operator tells the man to call the British authorities instead saying
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that the boat will be in British territory so it's their responsibility.
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The man keeps calling back, updating the operator and asking when help will arrive.
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The operator doesn't reassure him, doesn't comfort him.
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She's very cold and matter of fact.
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The man who's working with her at the time is also basically the same.
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She explains later that they're trained to be unemotional, astute.
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27 people end up drowning due to the woman's negligence and an investigation is launched.
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The woman is pulled into interviews with the authorities for being responsible for these people's death.
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So the book is actually told from the woman's perspective, the operator, at least the majority of the book.
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There is one section that is told from the man on the boat, his perspective.
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The writing is very despondent which I think is to reflect the woman's attitude.
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She questions why she's the one to blame
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when she's not the one who displaced them in the first place or as she says she didn't ask them to leave.
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She also oddly argues that the problem with many people is they cannot sit still.
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I guess implying that they always want more even though they don't need more.
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I feel like that was a very privileged take.
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The investigator is horrified at the woman's attitude
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and she's really almost setting up the questions to allow the woman to show remorse.
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She's giving her the opportunity a chance and the operator is thinking well it's
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because you want to sleep better at night feeling comforted
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that humanity still exists we're still good she thinks it's self -serving
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because people don't even help those who are suffering right outside
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their door given the chance the operator is refusing to take on all the blame for the suffering
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and the deaths of these people she's essentially saying you are
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all complicit as well she's thinking you're all spectators of suffering every day
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and your sympathy is only to soothe yourself
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so in my short form review a few people thought
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that this book is trying to show the woman the operator
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in a sympathetic light not at all she is portrayed as
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an apathetic monster i'm unsure what happened to the operator in reality
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but i didn't want to give any spoilers for this story
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what i'll say though is she does not meet a happy
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ending in fact it even mirrors the fate of the people
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that she didn't help we can even use her own words
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against her no one asked her to leave i think her character reflects the apathetic eye
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that sometimes society has towards suffering also the tendency to blame anyone else
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and eschew guilt it's easy to blame crises outside of ourselves on a bigger scale
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but on a smaller scale what are you thinking
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and doing society in general tends to be loudest
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when it's attacking kind of misplaced attention
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and enthusiasm this story reflects the apathetic attitude
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that the world has had towards migrants i also appreciate the value
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that this story places on empathy in a world where callousness can be seen as necessary to execute certain jobs
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or to survive in a harsh world.
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I think this book gives a lot to think about.
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It speaks about a tragedy that not many people have heard of, and it's relevant to our current society.
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I wanted this one to win the Booker Prize, but my pick has never won.
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But this time, from what I saw, many people chose this as their most likely to win as well.
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In the end, it went to Heartlamp by Banu Mushtaq i didn't end up reading
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that one before the winner was announced but i recently purchased it
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so hopefully i'll get around to it sometime soon i do recommend small boat though it's short
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but impactful the sun is going down
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but i'm going to try to fit in one more review
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for this video next i went on to read on the calculation of volume by solvay ballet
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so this was my last read from the international booker shortlist i feel this will be a short review
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because i don't have much to say about it this is
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only one part of seven i think only part one
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and two have been published in english
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and in its original language danish it's been published
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or written up to part five i think six
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and seven are not out yet
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so this is really just a small piece of a larger
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puzzle the gist is we have a woman named tara who is reliving the same day over
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and over again november 18th each section is numbered by the amount of times
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that she's lived that day
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so for example number 129 would be her 129th day of
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november 18th she has no idea why it suddenly happened In the beginning, every single day, she would inform her husband of what was happening.
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And together, they would try to break the cycle, but...
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No matter what, somehow the 18th would start over again for her.
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Everyone else, including her husband, would have no idea that she's in this predicament.
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For them, that November 18th would be their first one.
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So eventually she decides to figure it out alone.
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She's in a very isolated, lonely situation, living out a very predictable reality because she's already lived it many times.
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She knows when a cloud will be crossing the sky.
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She knows down to the second when it will start raining.
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She tries different routines to understand what is happening she notes
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that with certain objects she's able to carry them over into the next 18th
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and then with other things she's not able to she can't figure out really the rhyme
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or the reason i did enjoy this book but because it's short
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and only the first part i feel like there's not much for me to grasp onto
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so far in future parts we'll probably explore more the volume
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or dimension of time and its implications for tara the prose is very readable
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and it's also made up of these small paragraphs
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which i find makes a book more compulsively readable
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when you're faced with long chapters
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or pages long paragraphs it can look kind of daunting
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so what i'll say is this is interesting it's readable
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and i do recommend it i have volume two
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that i will be reading at some point this one wasn't
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so compelling that i wanted to immediately go into volume two
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but at some point i'll definitely return to tara's story let me know guys
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if you've read this one what are your thoughts okay
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so the next book i finally finished in may was the brothers karamazov by dostoevsky it took me two
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and a half months to finish this it was a journey
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and i feel like my review cannot do justice to the magnitude of it this is a book
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that people can
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and do study over like an entire semester of classes however i do have things i want to say
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and share about it i think that when you go into reading a book
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that you plan to analyze
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or critically engage with you need to know about the author
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what's their story what did they believe what was their intent in writing the story
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so in this case i feel it's nearly impossible to separate art from the artist his faith
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and philosophy are at the forefront of pretty much everything i've read by him
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and i can confidently say
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that one of the main reasons why he's writing this big story is he wants to hold forth.
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Tolstoy also famously does this, especially in Anna Karenina.
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Their characters will always launch into a lecture or sermon that will span pages.
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Sometimes those characters are revealing the author's own beliefs, and sometimes I don't think they are.
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For example, the Grand Inquisitor chapter here is one of Dostoevsky's most famous pieces of writing.
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Based on what I know of Dostoevsky and what he has written previously that I've read, and also based on just how this book ended, I don't think the Inquisitor represents Dostoevsky's own beliefs at the end of the day.
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Maybe it represents his doubt, because at the end of the day, who has unshakable faith in anything?
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So this is a story with plot and characters, but it's also, I would say, a collection of lectures and sermons.
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He's holding forth.
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Understanding this and anticipating Dostoevsky's intent, I think, will help you engage with the text better.
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So in this book, we have the Karamazov brothers who basically represent different beliefs.
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From the very beginning, we have the quirky narrator stating
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that Alyosha is the hero of the novel and this is his life story.
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I think there were supposed to be additional books.
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He states plainly Alyosha is the protagonist
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and as a huge hint the narrator states that Alyosha carries the heart of the whole situation within him.
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So we understand that what he represents is going to be very important.
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Alyosha is the brother that represents faith and like the spiritual.
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Knowing that and knowing that he is the hero
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and the protagonist of the novel we can already guess what Dostoevsky is going to argue.
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And then we have Ivan who's the middle son and he is the intellect.
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He's also the doubtful one.
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He engages with the world and faith logically and because of that he's going to have a very hard time.
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Again, we can see what Dostoevsky is putting down for us and then we have the oldest brother Dmitry, the hedonist.
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He's very impulsive.
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He lives in the moment.
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His goal is to feel good in life and he's going to forsake whatever gets in the way of that.
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There's also a fourth illegitimate Karamazov who will play an important role.
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So Dostoevsky uses these brothers to represent different beliefs in a very obvious, almost like fable manner.
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Their beliefs are going to dictate their actions the way they interact with the world
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and other characters it will cause turmoil for some
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and comfort others also by the end of the story where
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each brother ends up reveals a whole lot of dostoevsky's philosophy
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and very simply put the plot centers around the murder of
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the patriarch of the karamazovs their father however there is a
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lot of other stuff going on before after during there are
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a lot of characters as well for the first 200 to
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300 pages i feel like i was just trying to acclimate myself i knew immediately
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that aliosha was going to be the main character as well
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as his brothers as for other characters sometimes one will appear
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and play like a very significant role
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and then disappear for the rest of the novel sometimes characters make a subtle appearance
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and then play a bigger role later
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so especially in the beginning there's like flipping back
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and forth trying to remember who is who it explores a
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number of topics such as faith the presence of evil
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and suffering in this world nihilism the complexity of human nature
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also one of my favorite literary topics the question of free will
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and here i think it's presented in a very interesting way there's this big idea
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or proposition presented in the chapter the grand inquisitor maybe humanity
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doesn't want nor need free will in fact they can't even cope with having it they're tormented
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and maybe without free will society can finally be a utopia
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so the problem is god has given humanity a free will
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that they cannot deal with i mean look at what they've done
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so far with it and so god is the one to blame he's put humanity and this torturous moral conundrum, he's given them this.. battle between evil and good within themselves.
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Humans have repeatedly shown themselves to be incapable of choosing to be good, so God has set them up to fail.
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The idea is maybe without him, humanity can live in ignorant bliss.
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They won't have free will, instead they'll be oblivious, but at least they'll no longer torment themselves with these questions and there will be no more suffering.
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All of that is encapsulated in the story that Ivan tells in the Grand Inquisitor chapter.
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That's the nitty -gritty I took from it, but I think people have other theories as well i feel like you could truly sit down
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and try to decipher it more and more
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but at face value that's how i would describe one of the major topics
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and themes and how it's shown through the text
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so i did a short form review of this and i mentioned
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that one of the reasons why i like dostoevsky's writing
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so much is his pure craftsmanship he is weaving the most
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intricate story as someone who loves literature books you cannot help but admire
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that it's an obvious display of his intelligence for one like
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you have to be really smart to write something like this
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also his commitment he just snatches my literary wig i also said in my short form review
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that even if you're not personally religious the story is still relatable
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because it's about the human condition those questions that we all have
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and maybe keep you up at night and i can always appreciate a story
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that does your head in
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but leaves you with a sense of hope from what i've read he doesn't always choose to end his stories
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or his books like that i can appreciate that i love a reminder
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that redemption can and does happen also a reminder to have hope in one another However, I will say that I wanted more from my personal character in the story,
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especially for how it ended for that character.
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I'm not going to say who it is because I feel it could be potentially a spoiler.
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Out of the four brothers, one I sympathized with the most and felt was the most relatable one.
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I wanted something more for that character, but I understand why Dostoevsky left them like that.
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I also want to answer some common questions I got about this book.
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I think the number one I saw was, should you start with this one?
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if you're looking to read one of his novels specifically i still say to start with crime
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and punishment i found
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that one more entertaining more of a page turner in a
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frustrating anxious way at certain points in karamazov i did feel a bit mind boggled i didn't really get
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that sense in crime and punishment so i guess you could say it is easier
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or more accessible but crime and punishment is also very much morally expansive it tackles moral
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and societal conundrums as well but i think it was much easier to grasp throughout
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but it really just depends on personal taste i think also
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starting with the brothers is a great place as well
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because this is his magnum opus so
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if you end up wanting to read only one of his
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novels then at least it's this one i also got many questions about the translator
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so for the brothers karamazov i read michael r katz i
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got along with it fine i can't compare other translators of
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this story without having read them as well i did read two different translators for crime
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and punishment and the idiot and to be honest i feel
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that all three were cohesive and represented dostoevsky's writing voice the same you can find excerpts of different translations online.
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And if you are overly concerned, I would recommend reading a few paragraphs and then choosing whichever one flows the best for you.
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Also, a few of you have been asking to see my notes.
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I don't know if maybe there's an assumption that I'm taking very intelligent, insightful notes.
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I'm not.
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I take notes to remember certain things, especially characters and their traits.
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For example, here I have Alyosha kisses Ivan, like in his story.
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Another note I wrote down, Elise doesn't like Ivan.
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Here we have a title that says Ivan's philosophical rant.
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And then I just summarized it in bullet points.
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In this one, I got a bit more nitty -gritty with it.
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My notes are really just for me to be mindful and to ensure that I'm paying attention.
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Since I am setting aside so much time to read this, I want to make sure I'm making wise use of that time.
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Engaging, getting the most out of that time.
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But really, it's mostly helpful for me to remember what's going on because there's a lot.
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Also, Russian names, there are so many.
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They go by so many different names and nicknames.
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If you want to take notes, then take notes.
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If you don't I don't think it's a big deal.
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If you do just make sure it's serving you.
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If you don't want to do it then no big deal.
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My notes are not insightful or fancy especially if you're just reading this for fun like I was.
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I feel like what I've just said is just a snapshot of this book
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but hopefully it gets across the main gist or a gist at least.
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If you guys have also read this I would love to hear some other thoughts as well.
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Whatever you want to share your opinion I would love to hear it.
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The next book I went on to read was Eve's Hollywood by Eve Babbitt.
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This is part memoir.
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I think also so fiction is in here as well.
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These are snapshots of her life in Hollywood LA in the 50s and 60s.
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I actually think that this book may seem like a random pick for me, but the whole reason why I decided to read it is
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because I am going to LA at the end of the month.
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I thought it would be cute to read a book set in LA about LA.
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I did end up finishing this before leaving for my trip, so I didn't get to read it while actually in California as I had planned.
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I don't know if me finishing it quickly means that I liked it though.
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I did find her writing to be very readable.
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It was almost like going out to lunch with a friend who is telling you story after story
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and all you had to do is sit there and eat your sandwich while listening.
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Even though I did find it readable and
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interesting i don't think i connected to it that's not a negative critique
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because i don't think that's unsurprising she's writing about her devotion to
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and her love and appreciation of la i'm not from la
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so i don't feel
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that same connection i wasn't moved by it sometimes though a
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writer can inspire a nostalgia in you for a place you can kind of feel their connection to
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that place i didn't get that sense from this
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that could just be mean
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because i do know she's loved by many readers there were some parts
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that felt randomly snobby like it seemed
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that she didn't really like sf her explanation was something about
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hating the hippies in sf she explained it by saying
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that in general la natives look down on sf natives i don't know
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if that's true can anyone confirm in particular the chapter entitled the answer i found it particularly bizarre
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and near vitriolic i think once i read
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that one it kind of confirmed to me
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that she's not my type of writer personally there was a short part where she writes about street cats
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that I enjoyed
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but then there was a part right after where her actual cat gets hit by a car she says
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that her cat did it on purpose and
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that she wasn't sad about it
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because her cat was mean I also think the chapter called
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okay this one the Hollywood branch library I did like this
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chapter out of everything she wrote I found this very relatable this is a memoir
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and I do think it's unfair to expect anyone to be perfect morally perfect
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or perfect in any manner but I felt almost whiplash
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because she does come across as chill she characterizes herself as
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very down to earth she's showing us the real hollywood
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but then she would say something that would reveal herself to be not
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so chill or down to earth so i think
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if you're from california from la or if you feel a connection to
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that place maybe you would like this more than i did i also think
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that if you're into that era of celebrity
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or like music from the 50s 60s in hollywood you might like this i think
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that she doesn't state people by their actual name that or I just don't know who these people are.
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Anyways, this is my first foray into Eve Babbitt's.
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I know she's considered an iconic person, writer, but based solely on this, I don't think her writing is for me.
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I do have her other book, Slow Days, Fast Company.
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I've heard that one is better or more positively received than Eve's Hollywood.
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Let me know, any Eve Babbitt's enthusiast, should I read that one as well?
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Should I read other works by her based on what I thought about this one?
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Next, I finished Cousins by Aurora Venturini.
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She is an Argentinian author, so this is a translation.
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This one is very short.
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I finished it over the past holiday weekend in May.
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So this is an icky, sticky book.
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It's strange.
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It's weird.
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It is raw and honest.
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The narrator or writer of the story is a young girl, Yuna.
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The story follows her and the other woman in her very dysfunctional family.
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All of the women seem to have some kind of disability, mental and or physical.
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That includes Yuna herself.
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She has low cognitive ability, low emotional awareness, and she has difficulty expressing herself.
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She really doesn't like to use punctuation.
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A professor ends up noticing that Yuna has this talent for art.
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He's convinced that she has the potential to be a star in like the upper echelons of fine art.
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So with her talent, Yuna has the ability to improve her situation, to move up in society.
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She gets to make something of herself to escape the discomfort that her family has been exposed to.
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She also has the opportunity to help them as well.
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This was for sure a purposely uncomfortable, unpleasant read, but I think it worked.
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It didn't feel pointless, perverse, or gratuitous.
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Yuna has a very unique voice.
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She's mean, but she's honest.
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She's unlikable, but you can't help but like her.
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There's some intrigue there.
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She has this voice in the narration that I felt compelled to listen to, and I wanted her to succeed.
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However, Cousins is a tragic read.
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It is a dark, dank depiction of people who many would turn away from in discomfort
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or even be cruel towards as is plainly shown in the story.
421
Apparently this is not Venturini's usual style of writing but I think this is, if not her most popular, one of her most popular and she wrote it later in her writing career.
422
I would be curious to read more by her if anyone is familiar with her work.
423
If you would like to point me in the right direction of what to read next, I would be appreciative.
424
I think she's written a lot and I'm unsure what has been translated into English.
425
Oh, on the back there's a quote that I think concisely sums up this book.
426
It's by Pola Aloy -Shirak.
427
I probably saw that wrong, but she wrote that book, Mona, which I've been seeing around.
428
So she calls this a hellishly tender and hilariously twisted little woman.
429
I do recommend this short read if you're interested, but definitely check trigger warnings for this one.
430
Hey guys, I think I'm gonna end this May books video here, and I wanted to film an outro instead of ending abruptly.
431
There are only two more days left in May, and I'm only about this far into my current read, My Phantoms by Gwendolyn Riley.
432
So I don't think this will be in my May books review, realistically.
433
I'll be reviewing this in June books.
434
I hope you guys also had a great reading month in May.
435
Let me know if you read any standouts and have a great June.
436
Thank you.
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Who Will Benefit from This Video?
This video is perfect for intermediate English learners aiming to practice shadow speech and improve conversational fluency. The casual, storytelling tone mimics real-life dialogue, making it ideal for those working on natural pacing and intonation. Whether you’re using a shadowing app or practicing the shadowing technique manually, the speaker’s relaxed delivery helps you focus on rhythm without feeling overwhelmed. It’s also great for learners interested in analyzing character descriptions and nuanced emotions, as the host dives into a book’s plot and themes with detail.
Words & Idioms Worth Stealing
- Rehashed: To repeat something in a slightly different way (e.g., "Her review felt rehashed from earlier posts").
- Salve: Something that soothes or heals (e.g., "Music was a salve for his stress").
- Rifles through: To search quickly and roughly (e.g., "She rifled through her bag for keys").
- Unlikable narrator: A storyteller the reader struggles to connect with (e.g., "The book’s unlikable narrator made it hard to finish").
- Page turner: A book that’s hard to put down (e.g., "The thriller was a real page turner").
How to Get the Accent Right
The speaker uses a neutral, conversational accent with subtle pauses and emphasis—key for mastering shadowspeak. Focus on her pacing during emotional moments: when discussing Alice’s unraveling, her speech quickens, mirroring the character’s chaos. Notice how she stresses words like "deeply obsessed" and "jagged" to convey intensity. Practice shadowing her questions ("So if anyone knows, let me know, please?") to mimic natural rising intonation. For tricky phrases like "stream of conscious," slow down and emphasize each syllable to avoid slurring. Using a shadowing app can help you match her rhythm, ensuring you capture both the words and the emotion behind them.
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 asking · I've been seeing |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you are overly concerned, I would recommend |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have reviewed · have distorted · have transformed |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is known · are listed · was shortlisted |
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.