Shadowing Practice: Nobody Can Match Matt LeBlanc’s MAGNETISM! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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All you want is a dinkle, but you envy the swank.
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Things through which you can tinkle, and play this, and simply let hang.
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After hearing Matt LeBlanc sing Joey's Freud song all these years later, there's another masterpiece from Joey's musical genius crafted by the exact same hands.
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Get it?
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Same hands?
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You know what?
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It's probably better if I just show you.
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Ask him about the song in the casino.
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In Vegas, there's a song in a casino with a croupier.
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Ooh.
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Same hands.
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Oh, the hand?
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Oh, my God.
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This hand is your...
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God, this is so...
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This hand is your hand Watching Matt LeBlanc's best moments,
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one question comes to mind.
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Was he really playing Joey, or was he just being himself?
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But before Joey, life wasn't exactly going great for him him, Matt LeBlanc was completely broke, before friends ever happened.
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You were broke when you got friends, isn't that right?
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Like seriously broke.
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You know when you think, alright I got a little money in the bank, I can hold out till the next gig.
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I think I was down to $11.
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$11.
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Now that's holding out too long.
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Because even if I said at that point, alright I'm gonna go get like a waiter job, by the time that $11 ran out would have been before the first paycheck on that job.
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You waited too long.
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I would have started.
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Back then, sometimes, the difference between getting the job and not getting it was simply having a good headshot.
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But a good headshot costs money.
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And this time, didn't have a Chandler around to pick up the tab.
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So he shows it to me and I go, ah, forget it, don't worry about it.
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So I go to the drugstore and buy like a three -pack of Emory boards.
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Wait a minute, you filed your own tooth down?
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Yeah.
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Tooth filed down.
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Check.
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Uh, good headshot?
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Check.
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We're down to the final two for Joey on Friends and now there's only one thing left to do.
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Cross our fingers and hope the other guy makes a huge mistake.
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Do you know when you were auditioning for Joey that you were going to get that part?
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You know, I went in a bunch of times, then it got down to like me and this other guy.
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This one other guy and me at the final callback.
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And so I go in there and they give you like a breakdown, like a little basic description of who the character is.
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This is like an Italian -American struggling actor in New York.
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So I go in for the final callback and this other guy
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And I don't mean if he did any disrespect to the guy, but he's like dressed as a cowboy Wow,
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and I was like, well one of us is way off base Didn't get the memo you didn't get the memo.
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Here's the funny part the guy in the cowboy boots who lost the audition
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Ironically ended up playing Joey later in the show No, no, no, no!
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How you doing?
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What are you doing?
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Damn it!
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Oh, go wait in the hall.
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But before any of that happened, Matt had to quit the job he already had and say goodbye to his family.
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And like any kid leaving a small town for the big city, he got exactly the kind of support you'd expect from his family.
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When you go to your parents and you say, I want to go and and it's because
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so many people say they're gonna go and and and be an actor in the big city And it doesn't work out.
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Were your parents supportive when you told them?
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No I told my mother I'm gonna, you know, I was I was a carpenter I was working on a framing crew
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and I told my mother I think I'm gonna quit this
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and I'm gonna move to New York and be an actor and she said what?
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Matthew, what do you know about acting?
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I said nothing?
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I'm gonna go try and figure it out.
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Uh -huh.
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So what does she say now?
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If you thought Joey's whole, I will eat pretty much anything, thing was just part of the character, well, you'd be wrong.
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You probably remember the episode where he ate Rachel's infamous meat trifle.
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But apparently that wasn't the worst thing Matt LeBlanc ever ate.
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I wish it had stopped there.
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Joey, obviously, ate a lot.
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Everything.
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Everything.
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But what was the worst thing you had to eat?
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Do you know what I'm talking about?
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Yeah, the trifle thing.
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First, there's a layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam, then custard, raspberries, more ladyfingers, then beef sautéed with peas and onions.
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There's a really funny story with that.
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So, Ross is saying he doesn't like it, and Rachel hears him and hurts her feelings, but he doesn't want to hurt her feelings, so he eats the whole thing.
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No, no, no. He said, no, no, no, no, it's delicious, and eats it all.
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But there was too much on his plate, so he starts to eat it all, and he can't finish it, and he starts laughing.
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So we cut, and as we're cutting, he kind of spits it back on his plate, like that.
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And I'm sitting right next to him, and I didn't, I'm looking the other way.
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I didn't see him spit it back on his plate, right?
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So I take his plate, I go, give it to me, and I scrape some on my plate.
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I go, here, let's go again.
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And we go again and now I'm eating it And we finished the take no one says anything
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Cut to the wrap party and we're watching the blooper reel and I'm watching them going.
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Oh, I remember this is funny It tastes like feet
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after matt leblanc's dessert incident unfortunately the bad luck didn't end there
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you know the episode where joey's arm is in a sling
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and yes matt leblanc really did dislocate his shoulders you probably think you know how it happened.
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But the real story behind it was a little different.
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qualifies as a stunt and somehow I ended up completely upside down
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and I was going to land on my head between the table
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and the chair so I put my arm up to break my fall
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and just exploded my shoulder so I get up
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and everybody thought it was part of the show you know
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everyone's laughing I'm like yeah that's pretty funny ah just in total pain
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so I go upstage and into Monica's bedroom and I go in there
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and I just kind of collapse against the wall I'm looking I'm like my shoulder's gone
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and my arm is sticking out of my ass basically
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and i'm like what the heck and i look up
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and anthony edwards from er yeah was happened to be they
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were at the next stage over he just happened to be there watching the show
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and he comes in and i'm like wow did i hit my head too
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because i know you're not a real doctor get out of here
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while friends was still on the air matt leblanc had a catchphrase that became even more famous than he was
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And years later, that catchphrase would give his daughter huge opportunity.
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You know, my daughter, she's such a chip off the old block.
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My sense of humor is if I know something irritates you, I'm going to play on it and key on it as much as I can.
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One of my friends taught her that, you know, when she was really little, you know, you have to say,
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And, when Emilia Clarke found herself sitting next to Matt LeBlanc, you can probably guess the one thing she wanted to hear.
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Yeah, kind of.
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Did you get to talk to him?
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Yeah, kind of, maybe.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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I'm actually blushing.
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Yeah, I just think you're wicked.
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I do have one slight request from you, though.
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What's that?
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So, would you be able to ask me how I'm doing?
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Oh, yes, do that.
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Yes.
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Well, since I, you know, haven't been up to speed on the show, I will say, you know, how are you doing?
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Even years after Friends ended, you could still find a fan almost anywhere there was electricity.
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It got to the point where Matt LeBlanc was recognized as
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Joey even in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco by people living in traditional cave homes.
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We were in Morocco in the Atlas Mountains and I mean people are living in caves.
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I mean they actually that's where they live
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and there's this shooting this one thing where I'm in this uh kind of dune buggy like car aerial nomad
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and there's an extension cord coming out of this cave
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and this guy comes out of the cave and he sees me
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which kind of stopped there
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and he goes hey how you doing i couldn't believe it there's electricity they're watching it
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and one thing matt always found hilarious was hearing all the
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different voices they gave joey in other countries episodes are friends they're both everywhere episodes is 180 countries
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or something crazy just saying yeah Have you met the other Matt?
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Have you heard the other Matt?
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No, I've heard some of the voices.
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They sent us a long time ago on Friends, they sent us like a DVD.
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They gave it to us as a rap gift one year, like just one scene, like one from Japan, one from Spain, one from Germany, and it was hysterical to hear all the voices.
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And the Japanese guy that does me was the funniest.
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Thank you very much.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Nobody Can Match Matt LeBlanc’s MAGNETISM!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: matt, joey, leblanc. This video has 147 sentences and 1637 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:52. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 25 of its 147 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cave noun | /keɪv/ | A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside. |
| electricity noun | /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/ | Originally, a property of amber and certain other nonconducting substances to attract lightweight material when rubbed, or the cause of this property; now… |
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| casino noun | /kəˈsiːnəʊ/ | A public building or room for gambling. |
| tooth noun | /tuθ/ | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
| cowboy noun | /ˈkaʊˌbɔɪ/ | A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West. |
| spit verb | /spɪt/ | To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc. |
| memo noun | /ˈmɛməʊ̯/ | A short note; a memorandum. |
| audition noun | /ɑˈdɪʃən/ | A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent. |
| finger noun | /ˈfɪŋɡɚ/ | A slender jointed extremity of the human hand, (often) exclusive of the thumb, and the corresponding part, irrespective of including a thumb, in many other… |
| bedroom noun | /ˈbɛdˌɹum/ | A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping. |
| extension noun | /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/ | The act of extending; a stretching out; enlargement in length, breadth, or time; an increase. |
| delicious adjective | /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/ | Pleasing to the sense of taste; tasty. |
| genius noun | /ˈd͡ʒin.jəs/ | Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art… |
| chip noun | /t͡ʃɪp/ | A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| hold out verb | To hold (something) out; to extend (something) forward. | |
| get down to verb | To start focusing on doing something serious | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| go in for verb | To enter a competition. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You were broke when you got friends, isn't that right?
- Wait a minute, you filed your own tooth down?
- Were your parents supportive when you told them?
- Matthew, what do you know about acting?
- Do you know what I'm talking about?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't been · Have you heard · I've heard |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was happened · was recognized |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 53 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, didn't, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/, extension /ɪkˈstɛnʃən/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, blush /ˈblʌʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/, ironically /aɪˈɹɑnɪkli/, ladyfinger /ˈleɪdiˌfɪŋɡɚ/, hysterical /hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like cave, electricity, layer.
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.