Shadowing Practice: Ross and Rachel Finally Get Divorced | Friends - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Oh, honey, thank God you're home.
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I was getting worried.
3
I picked up the divorce papers.
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Uh...
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I've already signed everything, and I put little X's where you need to sign.
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Oh, little X's.
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Great!
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That makes up for everything.
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You know, I...
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You've done a lot of stupid stuff too, okay?
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Oh, name one stupid thing that is as stupid as this one.
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Okay, how about you flew to London to stop my wedding?
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How about you told me you loved me after I was already married?
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Wait a minute.
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That was different.
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I did those things because I was in love with you.
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Yeah, right.
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You're right that's very different.
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So let's just sign the papers.
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What?
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Nothing.
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Okay, can we just sign, please?
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- I'm sorry.
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Congratulations.
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Okay, wait, Ross, wait a minute.
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Um...
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I kind of have a little confession.
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What?
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Uh...
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Well, you know, this whole marriage thing.
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Kind of my idea.
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Excuse me?
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Uh, well, remember how we were too drunk to remember anything the night we were married?
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Yeah. And, uh...
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Yeah, I didn't really -- I didn't want to say anything, but it just kind of kept coming back to me and -- Um,
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remember we were in the casino and for some reason you thought it would be funny to eat a lot of grapes.
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And, uh, and I thought it would be funnier If we got married,
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So, as a compromise, we decided first to get married and then to eat a lot of grapes. So, um...
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Sorry.
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got us into this whole thing.
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So then if you think about it, this is all Your fault.
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Yeah, don't push it, though.
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I got to say, I-- I know he divorced a lot of women.
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Never thought I'd be divorcing you.
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I know.
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I always thought if you and I got married, that would be the one that stuck.
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And it wouldn't be a secret.
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And we wouldn't have our wedding dinner at Pizza Hut. Did I even treat?
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No, it was on the house.
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It was a newlywed special.
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That may be the most depressing thing I've heard in my life.
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I should probably get these to my lawyer's office.
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Thanks, Ross, for taking care of all this.
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Eh, no problem.
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- I'm gonna need a copy of those.
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Totally.
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Yep.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Ross and Rachel Finally Get Divorced”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: married, stupid, sign. This video has 57 sentences and 387 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:21. The speaker talks at a steady 115 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 9 of its 57 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| divorce noun | /dɪˈvɔːs/ | The legal dissolution of a marriage. |
| grape noun | /ɡɹeɪp/ | A small, round, smooth-skinned edible fruit, usually purple, red, or green, that grows in bunches on female vines of most species of genus Vitis and the… |
| congratulations | /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/ | Expressing praise and approval, expressing approbation. |
| honey noun | /ˈhʌni/ | A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans. |
| casino noun | /kəˈsiːnəʊ/ | A public building or room for gambling. |
| compromise noun | /ˈkɑmpɹəˌmaɪz/ | The settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions. |
| confession noun | /kənˈfɛʃən/ | The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad). |
| depressing adjective | /dɪˈpɹɛsɪŋ/ | Causing depression or sadness. |
| newlywed noun | /ˈnjuːliˌwɛd/ | A recently married person. |
| fault noun | /fɔlt/ | Culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event. |
| excuse verb | /ɪksˈkjuz/ | To forgive; to pardon; to overlook. |
| stupid adjective | /ˈstjuːpɪd/ | Lacking in intelligence. |
| minute noun | /ˈmɪnɪt/ | A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds). |
| wedding noun | /ˈwɛdɪŋ/ | A marriage ceremony; a ritual officially celebrating the beginning of a marriage. |
| secret noun | /ˈsiː.kɹɪt/ | A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 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've done a lot of stupid stuff too, okay?
- You're right that's very different.
- Never thought I'd be divorcing you.
- Did I even treat?
- I should probably get these to my lawyer's office.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, confession /kənˈfɛʃən/, push /pʊʃ/
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 divorce, grape, congratulations.
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.