Shadowing Practice: The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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ways of running a country.

Liberty, egality, fraternity.

Woah!

Welcome to the United Kingdom.

Here we invented the train.

Loooooo aboard!

Holy smokes!

You're in a German factory my friend.

Here we harness fire and coal to create all these sexy leader hoses.

This is incredible!

I can't wait to see where I'll end up next.

Wh-where am I?

You're in Russia.

Have I gone back in time?

No, this is just how it is.

Are you a farmer?

Worse.

Technically my landlord owns me, which makes me a serf.

I'm scared.

You should be, because I haven't eaten in four days, and you look pretty tasty.

Hey Jimmy, how are your travels?

I hate you!

Russia in the 19th century.

Feudal, underdeveloped, and stuck in the past.

While the rest of Europe had been modernizing and improving their citizens' lives, Russia's rulers were taking a different approach.

My lord, we're falling behind the rest of Europe.

It's time to industrialize, give the people rights, and share your power.

Russian Tsars had no time for pathetic ideas like liberty

and modernization because they were too busy having the time of their lives.

While the serfs were breaking their backs in the fields, the Tsars held all the power and they didn't have to listen to anyone.

Want to run the country like a backwards feudal kingdom while the rest of Europe outpaces you militarily and economically?

Go right ahead.

Want to keep the people uneducated so they don't get any ideas?

There's no one to stop you.

Want to keep exporting grain even when there's a massive famine causing hundreds of thousands to die?

That is your God-given right.

While all of this was great for the Tsar, if you were literally anybody else, it probably sucked because Russia was falling behind.

If they were to keep up with Europe, they'd need a strong ruler with some big ideas.

Oh look, here comes one now.

Hey everyone, it's me, Tsar Alexander II, and And I've got some big news.

I'm releasing you all from your serfdom.

You're all free.

Yep, I'm the best.

Oh, there is one thing though.

I spoke to your local lords and they weren't happy about losing all their free labor.

So as a compromise, you're all gonna have to pay them back a near impossible amount of money for the next 49 years.

Expect your lives to barely change.

Okay, bye.

Now I know what you're thinking.

This Tsar Alexander II seems like a pretty cool guy.

He's trying to reform the country and get Russia on the right path.

Everyone must love this guy, right?

Wrong.

Why does one man get to decide the fate of everyone in the country?

This whole system is dumb.

Somebody should do something.

Like what?

Like kill the czar.

You're gonna kill the czar?

Well, me?

No, I'm busy.

I was kinda hoping you'd do it.

Okay.

See, the people love me.

They're throwing flowers, confetti, and high-grade explosives.

Okay, Nicholas, your grandfather has a mild case of being blown up by a terrorist, And he's not looking too hot, so we're gonna go say our goodbyes, okay?

No, it'll be too scary for him.

Nonsense, it won't be scary at all.

We're just gonna say a quick goodbye.

Ready?

Boy!

Look at me!

The people did this to me!

And one day, they'll do it to you!

See?

Wasn't scary at all.

So Alexander II was dead.

But luckily, they had another Alexander lying around.

Alexander III.

And he felt his dad's reforms had weakened the Tsar's authority.

Russia was massive and as a result had many ethnic minorities.

Non-Russians?

More interested in their own cultural heritage than in loving me?

Isn't it great?

So much beautiful culture and diversity in our great nation.

Alexander thought all these minorities should be a little more Russian and thereby loyal to him.

So he repressed religious minorities.

He repressed non-Russians.

He introduced the Ukraina, a secret police force that repressed anybody who thought having a czar was dumb.

If Alexander II was the great reformer, Alexander III was the great repressor.

Now that's how you run a country.

Hey dad.

Ugh, great.

It's my son Nicholas who I like to call a girly girl because he's so weak and pathetic.

100

When are you gonna grow up?

101

Eh, you still look like a girly girl to me.

102

But dad, I grew a beard.

103

Yeah, an ugly girly girl beard.

104

If Nicholas was to one day be czar, he needed his dad to teach him how to run the country.

105

But his dad instead suggested that Nicholas go somewhere else.

106

So Nicholas went to Japan, got an edgy dragon tattoo, had his head sliced off by a policeman, and then came home.

107

Now will you teach me how to rule?

108

I suppose it's time.

109

Okay, there's a lot you need to know before becoming Z- Uh-oh.

110

What?

111

I've got kidney inflammation.

112

Oh, no!

113

Upon his father's death, a totally unprepared Nicholas II ascended to the Russian throne.

114

He wasn't a reformer like his grandfather, nor was he a repressor like his dad.

115

Nicholas was Nicholas.

116

Timid, easily swayed, and more interested in doing whatever the hell this is, or this, or this.

117

He wasn't ready to rule, and he himself admitted it, saying, I'm not yet ready to be Tsar.

118

I know nothing of the business of ruling.

119

Bit of an awkward time to bring it up.

120

However, Nicholas firmly believed that he was chosen by God to be Rush's big daddy.

121

And while he doubted his ability to rule, he was gonna give it his best shot.

122

And hey, who knows, maybe he wouldn't be so bad after all.

123

To get things off to a good start, Nicholas promised free pretzels and beer to a huge crowd in Moscow to celebrate his coronation.

124

So enticing a proposition to starving peasants that the ensuing stampede left nearly 1500 people dead.

125

What the hell happened?

126

We're not sure, but you're scheduled to go party with the French at 8 o'clock.

127

Shouldn't I stay here out of respect for the people?

128

Whenever since ours ever respected the people?

129

Hmm.

130

Nicholas's decision to go party with the French immediately tarnished his image.

131

Some were calling him Nicholas the Bloody.

132

The Tsars had been partying hard at the expense of the people for long enough.

133

They'd emancipated the serfs, but failed to lift them out of poverty.

134

They used their secret police to crack down on anyone who might criticize them, and they'd failed to modernize and give the people rights, something the rest of Europe had begun doing over a century ago.

135

The rule of the Tsars was quickly becoming outdated, and more and more Russians began wondering if there was a better way.

136

For many, the solution was simple.

137

Just look to the West.

138

Republics, democracies, and constitutional monarchies galore.

139

But a small growing group rejected that for an even better idea.

140

A little something they called communism.

141

Take Vladimir Lenin, an intelligent member of Russia's middle class, and also a massive ill-tempered jerk.

142

If you disagreed with him about anything, he wasn't afraid to call you out.

143

You fat-headed, simple-minded, vapid, cockeyed imbecile!

144

Tenderheart bear is a FAR superior care bear to bedtime bear!

145

And he was no stranger to political unrest either.

146

His older brother was executed for plotting to kill the Tsar, and Lenin himself was expelled from university for participating in a student protest.

147

But how did Lenin go from being a middle class nerd to the arbiter of socialist divinity?

148

Well, to tell that story we first need to go back a few decades to

149

when a man named Karl Marx wrote a manifesto explaining how capitalism is a system whereby the stinky bourgeoisie oppressed

150

and exploited the working masses and

151

that only through class warfare could the to work his rise up in a state of communist utopia.

152

Now go back forward a few decades to Lenin reading that manifesto and loving it.

153

But publicly admitting you loved Marx and not Russia's big daddy would get you the cruelest punishment imaginable.

154

Exile to Siberia.

155

Enjoy exile where you'll live with your wife, chill around town, and secretly write socialist newspapers.

156

Hey, that doesn't sound so bad.

157

And your mother-in-law's going to live with you.

158

No!

159

Once Lenin finished his stint in Siberia, he left Russia for Europe where he was free to hang out with other Russian Marxists

160

and talk about how great communism was.

161

Now today, you might hear the word communism and think of this.

162

But that's not how intellectuals living under a tough czarist regime saw it.

163

To them, communism promised a land where all were equal, where workers weren't exploited, and even people like you could get a girlfriend.

164

So Lenin joined a party of Russian communists living in Europe, and he founded a communist newsletter that was smuggled into Russia to try to radicalize the people.

165

However, not everyone in the Socialist Party agreed with Lenin.

166

In fact, they disagreed with him on a lot of issues.

167

And Lenin was so uncompromising that he caused a split in the party.

168

During one conference, a heated debate broke up and Lenin was unwilling to give an inch.

169

You pig ignorant, half-witted, fatuous morons!

170

Cereal is a soup!

171

Listen, Lenin, you're a smart guy, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

172

We're outta here.

173

All in favor of cereal being a soup?

174

Hey, would you look at that?

175

in the majority!

176

So Lenin set up his own faction within the party he called the majority, or Bolshevik if you're speaking Russian, and the other faction became known as the minority,

177

or Menshevik, and oddly the majority were often in the minority and the minority in the majority.

178

The Mensheviks were less radical, whereas Lenin wanted the Bolsheviks to be loyal to him and his uncompromising ideas, and if you weren't loyal, well then you're gonna get a big great beatdown.

179

Mensheviks worried that Lenin's attitude could lead to a one-man dictatorship, but come on, does this guy look like a dictator to you?

180

For now, Lenin remained in Europe, writing his socialist newspaper and impatiently awaiting an opportunity to overthrow the Tsar and bring communist utopia to Russia.

181

Cool, a free hat.

182

Who the heck are you?

183

I'm definitely not a Russian secret police officer spying on Marxists.

184

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185

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201

So, muchos arigatos, mon petit pois.

202

Now, where was I?

203

Oh yeah.

204

A timid, easily swayed Tsar.

205

A massive ill-tempered jerk, impatiently awaiting a communist revolution.

206

And revolution was coming, but not in the way Lenin thought.

207

Back in St. Petersburg, one of the Tsar's most skilled

208

and influential advisors knew the country finally needed to catch up with the rest of Europe.

209

Hey Nick, we really got to industrialize, get more factories, and make some, I don't know, textiles or something.

210

Hmm, won't that change the social fabric of Russia?

211

Maybe.

212

Hey, isn't it past your bedtime?

213

But I haven't had my milk and snuggles yet.

214

Will you snuggle me?

215

Um, Nicholas thought modernization was boring, but he let Sergei do his thing.

216

And do his thing he did.

217

He borrowed some money and got Russia some sexy factories.

218

And you know what sexy factories means.

219

Sexy workers.

220

Dirt poor sexy workers.

221

Long hours, low wages, filthy disease-ridden factories, sleep in overcrowded dormitories with all your stinky worker friends, get your arms ripped off in a freak Russian dole accident.

222

Conditions were terrible.

223

But this growing working class wasn't about to take it lying down.

224

They started to do what workers do best, strike.

225

Despite Sergei's efforts, people in Russia still weren't happy.

226

Peasants were still poor, liberals still wanted reform, and now the workers wanted better working conditions.

227

And the problem with being an autocrat is that when everyone's unhappy, there's only one person to blame.

228

You.

229

The people hate me.

230

What do I do?

231

Ooh, I know.

232

Why don't we find a weak and pathetic nation to go to war with?

233

We'll win easily, and everyone will love me again.

234

Why don't we just try treating the people better?

235

As luck would have it, an opportunity for war was forming in the Far East.

236

Russia wanted to expand its sphere of influence into northern China.

237

And coincidentally, so did Japan.

238

But Japan didn't really want war, so they proposed an idea to reduce the tension.

239

Hey man, we'll let you do your thing in Manchuria if you let us do our thing in Korea.

240

I don't think so.

241

We've got the largest army in the world.

242

What do you have?

243

I'm the Emperor of Japan.

244

I have a giant mecha suit.

245

Whoa.

246

Cool.

247

Nicholas and the boys didn't see Japan as a threat, so they felt they could push Japan around.

248

But little did they know, Japan had been rapidly militarizing.

249

And when they launched a surprise attack on a Russian fleet at Port Arthur, everyone was shocked.

250

Nicholas hoped it was an opportunity to win a quick war and regain the support of the people.

251

Nobody seriously thought a puny Asian country could defeat a European superpower, and the Russian people were filled with patriotic spunk.

252

Hey everyone, we're at war with Japan!

253

Hey everyone, we're losing the war.

254

The Japanese won.

255

An embarrassing defeat for Tsar Nicholas.

256

Russia had enough problems, but now it had been internationally humiliated.

257

The public were outraged.

258

Unrest increased.

259

Nicholas needed snuggles now more than ever.

260

The tension was rising rapidly and Russia was on the verge of revolution.

261

All it needed was one disaster to push it over the edge.

262

And that disaster would come in January 1905 from an unlikely source.

263

A handsome Orthodox priest named Father Gapon.

264

Father Gapon was leading workers and their families to the Winter Palace.

265

But this wasn't some violent uprising, it was a peaceful protest.

266

They wanted to deliver a petition to Nicholas, which simply asked for more freedom and better working conditions.

267

The protest was actually so peaceful and respectful that the Marxists thought it was a big waste of time.

268

Hey Nicholas, some priest is leading a peaceful protest, says here they want to give you a petition.

269

A peaceful petitioning priest?

270

I better get out of here!

271

Nicholas had actually left the Winter Palace days earlier, and in his place they brought in a truckload of troops, ordered to stop Father Gopon from reaching the palace.

272

Hello good sir, and long live the Tsar.

273

Please, allow me to pass this simple petition to our dear father, Nicholas II.

274

Good day to you too.

275

Please allow us to respond by opening fire.

276

What began as a peaceful protest ended in tragedy.

277

Imperial soldiers opened fire on the crowd.

278

Around 200 civilians died.

279

800 more were wounded.

280

All they wanted was the opportunity to ask Nicholas to improve their lives.

281

Instead, they were met with bullets.

282

Nicholas didn't personally order the troops to fire, but as an autocrat, he got the blame.

283

The event became known as Bloody Sunday and Nicholas's reputation plummeted.

284

Strikes erupted across the empire.

285

Workers demands increased.

286

Liberals demanded political power.

287

Peasants demanded land.

288

The country was out of control and the 1905 revolution had begun.

289

Listen Nicholas, peasants seizing my land and murdering my family I can tolerate, but illegally chopping my wood?

290

That's obscene!

291

And the worse I treat my workers, the more they strike.

292

I don't get it.

293

Everyone relax.

294

As long as the military is still on my side, there's nothing to worry about.

295

Sir, the sailors are starting to mutiny.

296

Well, my life just sucks!

297

With Russia still losing to the Japanese, unrest was growing in the military, and some sailors had even taken to killing officers.

298

Having the people against you was bad enough, but if the military joined in, it would be game over.

299

To make matters worse, in October, workers and Marxists, including one Leon Trotsky, began setting up local elected councils, called Soviets, that coordinated strikes and supplied the workers.

300

Sergei could see the writing on the wall.

301

Things were going south fast, and he needed a big idea to save the Tsar.

302

And luckily, he had just that.

303

You see, all these angry people from different parts of society weren't really working together, meaning there was a weakness to exploit.

304

Sergei wrote a manifesto that would give the liberals an elected assembly called the Duma.

305

It took some convincing, but eventually Nicholas agreed to share power and have his laws approved by an elected assembly.

306

Hey liberals, here's your stupid manifesto.

307

Happy now?

308

We certainly are.

309

But what about these guys?

310

Aren't you going to give them what they want?

311

Oh goodness no. I was just going to kill them.

312

With the liberals satisfied and after ending the war with Japan, the Tsar brought thousands troops home, who then dismantled the Soviets, arrested their leaders, and crushed the peasant uprisings in the countryside.

313

And how about that pesky parliament Nicholas had agreed to share power with?

314

Well, he then wrote a bunch of new laws, which basically said, hey, remember that manifesto I wrote and how you guys were going to approve my laws?

315

Mm-hmm.

316

Slight change of plan.

317

Actually, I'm going to do whatever the hell I want, and you guys are going to shut up.

318

What?

319

The people won't stand for this.

320

People?

321

What people?

322

You know, this is why people don't like you.

323

And just Just like that, Nicholas had survived the 1905 revolution.

324

But wait, a revolution? In Russia?

325

Where was Lenin?

326

Well, Lenin and his communist pals were still in exile.

327

He tried desperately to radicalize the uprising, but all he could do was watch.

328

As the movements failed to organize, the liberals sold out the poor, and the Tsar outplayed the people.

329

Furious, he believed Russia had missed a great chance for a real revolution.

330

From now on, he felt the only way left was an armed revolution by the workers.

331

Watching the events of 1905 unfold, Lenin learned a lot.

332

The Tsar, however, would prove to have learned nothing.

333

After the 1905 revolution had failed, the Tsar's new top man was Pyotr Stolopin, and he had big ideas to prevent any more chaos.

334

Step one, reform agriculture.

335

This'll make the peasants love you.

336

And step two, we'll kill anyone who doesn't.

337

To discourage any more revolutionary ideas, Stolopin began to crack down even harder on the Tsar's opponents, and thousands were sentenced to death.

338

The noose even earned itself a new nickname, Stolopin's necktie.

339

I don't get it.

340

Oh, I see, because it goes around my neck.

341

That's so funny.

342

But despite the oppression, many positive reforms were also being made, and the Russian economy even began to improve.

343

This was a problem for Lenin.

344

If the people weren't suffering, then they wouldn't support a revolution.

345

Still in exile and lacking funds, the Bolsheviks simply weren't in a position to do anything.

346

Luckily, it was around this time that Lenin met an incredibly handsome Georgian, with your second favorite historical mustache, Joseph Stalin.

347

Lenin and Stalin met at a communist convention in Finland, and Lenin liked Stalin because he was a real go-getter, and was great at fundraising for the Bolsheviks.

348

And by fundraising, I mean kidnapping, robbing, extorting, bribing, ransoming, assassinating, prison breaking, stealing, bankrating, executioning, and stealing again.

349

Hey Stalin, the Mensheviks aren't so hot in all this stealing, but we still need money, so the next time you do a big heist, just do it quietly.

350

Okay, quietly.

351

Got it.

352

If this isn't quiet, I don't know what is.

353

Stalin's wacky antics eventually got him exiled to Siberia, but he had established himself as a Big Bull's Bolshevik.

354

However, no amount of Bolshevik bulls could stop what was happening.

355

The Russian economy was making a recovery.

356

For the Tsar, things were looking up.

357

This is great!

358

All Nicholas has to do is sit back and not mess anything up.

359

Hey everyone!

360

Big news!

361

I'd like to introduce you to my new best friend.

362

He's a crazy, drunken, beardy, horny, scandal-ridden magic wizard man.

363

And he smells like a goat.

364

We're screwed.

365

Rasputin.

366

A dirt poor peasant from dirt poor nowhere.

367

But unlike all the other dirt poor peasants, Rasputin had holy healing powers.

368

And when this holy mystic wandered into St. Petersburg, people began to notice.

369

He quickly became famous, and word of this mystery man in his healing hands made its way to the royal palace.

370

The appearance of a holy homeless healer was of great interest to the Tsar and his wife.

371

As far as royals go, they weren't that inbred, but they were just inbred enough for their son Alexei to get hemophilia.

372

Or in layman's terms...

373

Mamma mia, that's a lot of blood!

374

Knowing Rasputin could heal people, in 1906, Alexandra asked for Rasputin to come and see if he could cure their son.

375

And crazy as it sounds, Rasputin did heal Alexei, possibly by taking him off his doctor-prescribed aspirin.

376

Having seemingly done the impossible, Rasputin became very, very close to the royal family.

377

But having a crazy homeless wizard man hanging around wasn't a good look for the Tsar, because Rasputin was freaky.

378

Not only was he a big fan of alcohol, but he'd also throw these crazy parties with Russian nobility, where he'd f and f* all night long,

379

and then he'd fed, not a guy's f*ing, and nobody knew how the goat got on the roof.

380

Initially, the press were banned from talking about Rasputin, but eventually, the ban was lifted, and the tabloids went to town.

381

The whole thing was a huge scandal, and everyone was freaked out that this guy was influencing the Tsar and his wife.

382

Nicholas could have spent this period of relative peace improving his image.

383

Instead, he spent it doing this.

384

But as weird as the whole The whole Rasputin thing was, so long as the economy continued to improve and the people's lives kept getting better, maybe Nick would be okay.

385

Maybe there would be no more revolutions.

386

Maybe this video could even end right here.

387

Or maybe things were about to get worse.

388

A lot worse.

389

You see, the year is 1914 and that means it's time for World War One.

390

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Nicholas, Lenin, Tsar, Russia, Russian. This video has 390 sentences and 3958 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:59. The speaker talks fast, about 189 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
manifesto noun	/ˌmæn.əˈfɛs.toʊ/	A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially that of a political party.
czar noun	/zɑː(ɹ)/	An appointed official tasked to regulate or oversee a specific area.
communism noun	/ˈkɒmjᵿnɪz(ə)m/	Any far-left political ideology or philosophy advocating holding the production of resources collectively, especially by seizing it through revolution.
exile noun	/ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/	The state of being banished from one's home or country.
heal verb	/ˈhiːl/	To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.
girly adjective	/ˈɡɝli/	Characteristic of a stereotypical girl, very effeminate, gentle; unmasculine.
repress verb	/ɹəˈpɹɛs/	To forcefully prevent an upheaval from developing further.
unrest noun	/ʌnˈɹɛst/	A state of trouble, confusion and turbulence, especially in a political context; a time of riots, demonstrations and protests.
luckily adverb	/ˈlʌk.ɪ.li/	In a lucky manner; by good fortune; fortunately.
pathetic adjective	/pəˈθɛtɪk/	Arousing pity, sympathy, or compassion; exciting pathos.
loyal adjective	/ˈlɔɪəl/	Having or demonstrating undivided and constant support for someone or something.
autocrat noun	/ˈɔːtəkɹæt/	An absolute ruler with infinite power.
feudal adjective	/ˈfjuːdəl/	Of, or relating to feudalism.
impatiently adverb	/ɪmˈpeɪʃəntli/	In an impatient manner.
industrialize verb	/ɪnˈdʌstɹiəlaɪz/	To develop industry; to become industrial.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
fall behind verb		To be late (for a regular event)
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
blow up verb		To explode or be destroyed by explosion.
break up verb		To break or separate into pieces.
crack down verb	/kɹæk ˈdaʊn/	To take harsh action (against), as when enforcing a law or rule more stringently than before.
do over verb	/ˈduˌoʊvɚ/	To cover with; to smear or spread on to.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Have I gone back in time?
When are you gonna grow up?
Hey, isn't it past your bedtime?
Why don't we just try treating the people better?
Aren't you going to give them what they want?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if the military joined in, it would be
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was made · being blown · was chosen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	anybody who thought · anyone who might · anyone who doesn

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 102 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: pathetic /pəˈθɛtɪk/, thereby /ðɛɹˈbaɪ/, throne /θɹəʊ̯n/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: impatiently /ɪmˈpeɪʃəntli/, modernization /ˌmɑdɚnɪˈzeɪʃn̩/, faction /ˈfæk.ʃən/, influential /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/, revolutionary /ˌɹɛvəˈluʃənɛɹi/
Long words — get the stress right: manifesto /ˌmæn.əˈfɛs.toʊ/, impatiently /ɪmˈpeɪʃəntli/, industrialize /ɪnˈdʌstɹiəlaɪz/, modernization /ˌmɑdɚnɪˈzeɪʃn̩/, radicalize /ˈɹædɪkəlaɪz/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like manifesto, czar, communism.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?