Shadowing Practice: This is what talking to a native English speaker is like. - Learn English Speaking with Video

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340 sentences

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There you go.

There you are.

I haven't seen you in so long.

I've got so much to tell you about my holiday, honestly.

It was fantastic.

I couldn't believe we were actually there.

I wanted to go to Japan for so long.

I wanted to see it.

And you always see it in movies, don't you?

You see Japan and the food and the lights and everything.

So we always had in our head, we want to go to Japan.

We always knew we were going to go.

And then we were looking to book our honeymoon and we just thought, you know what, why don't we just go to Japan?

But it weirdly felt like this kind of otherworldly place, like a place that you dream about going to, but actually you can't really go to.

So, yeah, we looked at the flight.

Bear with.

Nice, that.

Yeah, we looked at the flight and they weren't that bad.

Like I was thinking, oh, there's no way like these are going to be too expensive because people always say they say, oh, Japan's really expensive.

The flights are crazy, you know, so that kind of put us off doing it for a bit.

And we thought, oh, we just won't even bother looking at flights because they're probably way too expensive.

But we found a pretty good deal.

Actually, it wasn't that bad.

It was a really unknown airline.

And I'd never heard of the airline because it stopped off in Shanghai.

So it was a Chinese airline that I'd never heard of.

And I spoke to some Chinese people and they'd not even heard of it either.

So it was, yeah, we were taking a bit of a risk because it could have been a terrible airline, but it wasn't.

It was really nice.

The flight attendants were really nice.

The plane was clean.

The food was good.

I really like aeroplane food.

I know it's a bit controversial, but I actually really like aeroplane food.

I think something about the novelty of like you sit down

and there's a film in front of you can watch a little film.

You get your little food.

It's warm.

I don't know.

I love plane food.

I think it's great.

So yeah, it was like a 16 hour flight and we got there.

What did we do first we got there

and we we were knackered absolutely knackered to start off with

because when you travel it just makes you so tired doesn't it

so I think when we arrived we hadn't slept in about 24 hours

so I think we went straight for a nap I think

we went straight to the hotel had a nap um

and then we looked around and we started off in Kyoto

which was just so amazing because it was so historical

and all the buildings seem really well preserved and it's so interesting like the difference between you've got these really old buildings,

but there's a Starbucks in it.

So you've got like super old building

Starbucks or like super old building shop, you know, but you've got that contrast of old and new.

But it's amazing.

There are so many people, like so many people in Kyoto.

And I thought that would be overwhelming, but it actually wasn't because a lot of the tourists and a lot of the people are really respectful.

So even though there are thousands of tourists they're all kind of like walking in the right way

and not like being annoying not being loud being respectful

so it wasn't so bad so yeah what do we do

so the first day in Kyoto what do we do I can't even remember

we went I think we just explored I think

we kind of googled like best things to do in Kyoto things you absolutely have to do in Kyoto

and we just sort of ticked them off the list.

So there were a lot of shrines, temples, a load of temples, so many temples.

I've never seen so many temples in my life.

And all of them are so beautiful that you kind of go a little bit beauty blind, you know, because you see so many of them.

I had to keep reminding myself, like, this is amazing.

I know you've seen like three temples today that are all so beautiful, but try to, try to like remember this, try to take it in,

try to appreciate it

because you don't get stuff like this back home you don't get this you know back in the UK

and all of the gardens there'd be people like meticulously just like raking the sand

and and and picking up the tiniest bits of leaves

and gravel and everything to make sure that the garden was spotless

and that was just amazing um

so yeah we went to all the temples um what else did we do oh

I love love love love the concept of sitting on the floor that's my favorite thing ever in Japan

so in Japan you go to a coffee shop

and you sit on the floor or you go to a restaurant

and you sit on the floor I love it because

when you are walking 20 ,000 steps a day which we were

because we were just exploring so we were walking so much

so my legs were so tired um so

when we actually got to a coffee shop something about just being able to sit down

and stretch my legs out was amazing it was

so good it was so nice just to be able to sit on the floor

and stretch my legs so I would love restaurants in the UK to

employ sitting down that's that's going to be my new thing

and I think

if I could design my house from scratch I think I would um have sitting furniture no I probably wouldn't

But if I had a really big house, I might have one room that's like a sitting room.

I just think it's really fun.

Hotels were fine.

We just we didn't book a crazy, lovely, amazing hotel because we knew we weren't going to be staying there for too long.

Like if we went to Japan and we spent the whole time in our hotel room, we've done something wrong.

Like that's wrong.

So we just went for something that was clean, safe, in a good location.

Fine. So that was Kyoto.

Then we went to Osaka. Did we?

100

Yeah then we went to Osaka um

101

and I loved Osaka loved it I thought it was

102

so like artsy individual cool like really um yeah like kind of a bit alternative like I loved

103

you walk down the street

104

and there are all these um like decorations outside of the restaurants with these massive like statues of

105

shrimps and sushi

106

and I don't know it just felt a bit like Disneyland like some parts of it felt a bit like Disneyland, which I loved.

107

And everything was colourful and bright.

108

And the food was just, I don't think I'm very good with tempura.

109

I think that's what I've learned about me.

110

I don't think my stomach likes tempura.

111

So we went to like a tempura restaurant in Osaka and it was like a tempura platter.

112

So you had tempura prawns, tempura chicken, just like everything fried, fried stuff fried fried fried um

113

and the first couple ones I was like this is amazing

114

but I think just the sheer volume

115

and the sheer amount of fried stuff I felt a bit sick after that

116

but sushi I could eat sushi until I turn blue like I could just keep eating sushi

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it was amazing um

118

so yeah amazing food um yeah I think

119

I had some of the best food of the trip in Osaka to be honest

120

then we went to Tokyo loved Tokyo thought it was

121

so cool but wasn't my favorite I think it would go Kyoto first,

122

Osaka second, Tokyo third, only because Tokyo is a capital city.

123

And I never usually love capital cities.

124

I often think that they're a bit kind of the same.

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Obviously, Tokyo is very different to lots of other cities, but I don't know, just something about seeing like McDonald's,

126

Burger King, like shops that I recognize it doesn't feel as special

127

but I still loved Tokyo we went to a couple of really cool themed cafes

128

we went to um a maid cafe

129

which was very different to like what we're used to never been to anything like

130

that and it was kind of like uh yeah there were these girls dressed up as maids

131

and they did songs and dances and it was very um very cute you know

132

that was one thing I noticed about Japan there's a really big emphasis on kind of cute stuff

133

and um animated stuff

134

so many animated characters everywhere like you go on the train you sit on the train

135

and there'll be like a sign

136

that's saying something really important the sign is saying something like

137

um mind the doors like be careful of the doors

138

so you don't get trapped in the doors

139

but there'll be a cute little bear dressed as a train conductor going like

140

so this is really heavy focus on like animation and stuff and I guess that's I guess that's because of um

141

Japan's animation history like they're so linked with animation and anime

142

and things like that so that was really amazing yeah

143

but overall I think just the culture the food oh my god the food

144

I just keep dreaming about the food like genuinely I think I could eat nothing

145

but Japanese food for the rest of my life and be

146

so happy it's just so fresh like particularly like some of the restaurants we went to

147

which were really really good restaurants the ingredients were just

148

so fresh and real and like yeah so good

149

and yeah the culture everyone's really polite

150

we didn't come across anyone being rude even the tourists

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there like the tourists who were there weren't rude weren't nasty it was just such a lovely environment

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and I can see why so many people want to go

153

and I genuinely think it lives up to the hype so when everyone talks about oh

154

Japan's the best you should go to Japan I genuinely agree

155

and I'm desperate to go back and I'm kind of annoyed

156

that I don't live there right now like I'm

157

so jealous of people that live in Japan and people who live like a one hour flight away from Japan.

158

If I lived a one hour flight away from Japan, I would be there every weekend.

159

I would go all the time.

160

So I'm already planning another trip.

161

I am desperate to go back.

162

So yeah, I think that's going to be, well, maybe not soon.

163

We might not go back immediately, but I think we'll definitely go back within the next five years, hopefully, if all goes well.

164

But yeah, no, fantastic best holiday best holiday of my life definitely um yeah trying to think of anything else

165

i need to tell you that happened um oh we went on a cruise

166

while we were there i completely forgot

167

so the first week we just traveled on our own

168

and then the second week we did a cruise around japan as well

169

so we kind of got to experience it in two different ways so yeah amazing.

170

Best, best time ever.

171

So, so cool.

172

But anyway, how about you?

173

There you go.

174

There you are.

175

I haven't seen you in so long.

176

I've got so much to tell you about my holiday.

177

Honestly, it was fantastic.

178

Like I couldn't believe we were actually there.

179

Like I wanted to go to Japan for so long.

180

I wanted to see it.

181

And you always see it in movies, don't you?

182

You see Japan and the food and the lights and everything

183

so we always had in our head we want to go to Japan

184

we always knew we were going to go

185

and then we were looking to book our honeymoon

186

and we just thought you know what why don't we just go to Japan

187

but it weirdly felt like this kind of otherworldly place like a place

188

that you dream about going to but actually you can't really go to.

189

So, yeah, we looked at the flight.

190

Bear with.

191

Nice, that.

192

Yeah, we looked at the flight and they weren't that bad.

193

Like I was thinking, oh, there's no way like these are going to be too expensive because people always say they say, oh, Japan's really expensive.

194

The flights are crazy, you know.

195

So that kind of put us off doing it for a bit.

196

And we thought, oh, we just won't even bother looking at flights because they're probably way too expensive.

197

But we found a pretty good deal, actually.

198

It wasn't that bad.

199

It was a really unknown airline.

200

And I'd never heard of the airline because it stopped off in Shanghai.

201

So it was a Chinese airline that I'd never heard of.

202

And I spoke to some Chinese people and they'd not even heard of it either.

203

So it was, yeah, we were taking a bit of a risk because it could have been a terrible airline, but it wasn't.

204

It was really nice.

205

The flight attendants were really nice.

206

The plane was clean.

207

The food was good.

208

I really like aeroplane food I know it's a bit controversial

209

but I actually really like aeroplane food I think something about the novelty of like you sit down

210

and there's a film in front of you can watch a little film

211

you get your little food it's warm I don't know I love plane food I think it's great

212

so yeah it was like a 16 hour flight

213

and we got there what did we do first we got there

214

and we we were knackered absolutely knackered to start off with

215

because when you travel it just makes you so tired doesn't it

216

so I think when we arrived we hadn't slept in about 24 hours

217

so I think we went straight for a nap I think we went straight to the hotel had a nap

218

and then we looked around and we started off in Kyoto

219

which was just so amazing because it was so historical

220

and all the buildings seem really well preserved and it's

221

so interesting like the difference between you've got these really old buildings

222

but there's a Starbucks in it so you've got like super old building

223

Starbucks or like super old building shop, you know, but you've got that contrast of old and new.

224

But it's amazing.

225

There are so many people, like so many people in Kyoto.

226

And I thought that would be overwhelming, but it actually wasn't because a lot of the tourists and a lot of the people are really respectful.

227

So even though there are thousands of tourists, they're all kind of like walking in the right way and not like being annoying,

228

not being loud, being respectful.

229

So it wasn't so bad.

230

So yeah, what do we do?

231

So the first day in Kyoto, what did we do?

232

I can't even remember.

233

We went, I think we just explored.

234

I think we kind of Googled like best things to do in Kyoto, things you absolutely have to do in Kyoto.

235

And we just sort of ticked them off the list.

236

So there were a lot of shrines, temples, a load of temples, so many temples.

237

I've never seen so many temples in my life.

238

And all of them are so beautiful that you kind of go a little bit beauty blind, you know, because you see so many of them.

239

I had to keep reminding myself, like, this is amazing.

240

I know you've seen like three temples today that are all so beautiful, but try to, try to like remember this, try to take it in,

241

try to appreciate it because you don't get stuff like this back home.

242

You don't get this, you know, back in the UK.

243

And all of the gardens, there'd be people like meticulously just like raking the sand and

244

and picking up the tiniest bits of leaves and gravel and everything to make sure that the garden was spotless.

245

And that was just amazing.

246

So yeah, we went to all the temples.

247

What else do we do?

248

Oh, I love, love, love, love the concept of sitting on the floor.

249

That's my favourite thing ever in Japan.

250

So in Japan, you go to a coffee shop

251

and you sit on the floor or you go to a restaurant

252

and you sit on the floor I love it because

253

when you are walking 20 ,000 steps a day which we were

254

because we were just exploring so we were walking so much so my legs were so tired

255

so when we actually got to a coffee shop something about just being able to sit down

256

and stretch my legs out was amazing it was

257

so good it was so nice just to be able to sit on the floor and stretch my legs.

258

So I would love restaurants in the UK to employ sitting down.

259

that's that's going to be my new thing and i think

260

if i could design my house from scratch i think i would um have sitting furniture no i probably wouldn't

261

but in my in

262

if i had a really big house i might have one room

263

that's like a sitting room i just think

264

it's really fun um hotels were fine we just we didn't book a crazy lovely amazing hotel

265

because we knew we weren't going to be staying there for too long like

266

if we went to japan

267

and we spent the whole time in our hotel room we've done something wrong like that's wrong

268

so we just went for something

269

that was clean safe in a good location fine um so

270

that was Kyoto then we went to Osaka did we yeah then we went to Osaka um

271

and I loved Osaka loved it I thought it was so like artsy individual cool like really um

272

yeah like kind of a bit alternative like I loved you walk down the street

273

and there are all these like decorations outside of the restaurants with these massive like statues of shrimps and sushi

274

and I don't know

275

it just felt a bit like Disneyland like some parts of it felt a bit like Disneyland

276

which I loved and everything was colourful and bright

277

and the food was just I don't think I'm very good with tempura

278

I think that's what I've learned about me I don't think my stomach likes tempura.

279

So we went to like a tempura restaurant in Osaka and it was like a tempura platter.

280

So you had tempura prawns, tempura chicken, just like everything fried, fried stuff, fried, fried, fried.

281

And the first couple ones, I was like, this is amazing.

282

But I think just the sheer volume and the sheer amount of fried stuff, I felt a bit sick after that.

283

But sushi, I could eat sushi until I turn blue.

284

Like I could just keep eating sushi.

285

It was amazing.

286

Um, so yeah, amazing food.

287

Um, yeah, I think I had some of the best food of the trip in Osaka, to be honest.

288

Then we went to Tokyo, loved Tokyo, thought it was so cool, but wasn't my favorite.

289

I think it would go Kyoto first, Osaka second, Tokyo third, only because Tokyo is,

290

is a capital city and I never usually love capital cities.

291

I often think that they're a bit, um, kind of the same.

292

Obviously Tokyo is very different to lots of other cities, but I don't know, just something about seeing like McDonald's,

293

Burger King, like shops that I recognize.

294

It doesn't feel as special, but I still loved Tokyo.

295

We went to a couple of really cool themed cafes.

296

We went to a maid cafe, which was very different to like what we're used to.

297

Never been to anything like that.

298

And it was kind of like, yeah, there were these girls dressed up as maids and they did songs and dances.

299

And it was very, very cute.

300

You know, that was one thing I noticed about Japan there's a really big emphasis on kind of cute stuff

301

and animated stuff so many animated characters everywhere

302

that you go on the train you sit on the train

303

and there'll be like a sign

304

that's saying something really important the sign is saying something like

305

um mind the doors like be careful of the doors

306

so you don't get trapped in the doors

307

but there'll be a cute little bear dressed as a train conductor going like

308

so this is really heavy focus on like animation and stuff and I guess that's I guess that's because of um

309

Japan's animation history like they're so linked with animation and anime

310

and and things like that so that was really amazing yeah

311

but overall I think just the culture the food oh my god the food

312

I just keep dreaming about the food like genuinely I think I could eat nothing

313

but Japanese food for the rest of my life and be

314

so happy it's just so fresh like particularly like some of the restaurants we went to

315

which were really really good restaurants the ingredients were just

316

so fresh and real and like yeah so good and yeah the culture everyone's really polite

317

we didn't come across anyone being rude even the tourists

318

there like the tourists who were there weren't rude weren't nasty it was just such a lovely environment

319

and I can see why so many people want to go

320

and I genuinely think it lives up to the hype so when everyone talks about oh

321

Japan's the best you should go to Japan I genuinely agree

322

and I'm desperate to go back and I'm kind of annoyed

323

that I don't live there right now like I'm

324

so jealous of people that live in Japan

325

and people who live like a one hour flight away from Japan

326

if I lived a one hour flight away from Japan

327

I would be there every weekend I would go all the time

328

so I'm already planning another trip I am desperate to go back

329

so yeah I think that's going to be well maybe not soon we might not go back immediately

330

but I think we'll definitely go back um within the next five years hopefully um

331

if all goes well

332

but um yeah no fantastic best holiday best holiday of my

333

life definitely um yeah trying to think of anything else I need to tell you

334

that happened um oh we went on a cruise

335

while we were there I completely forgot

336

so the first week we just traveled on our own and then the second week we did a cruise around

337

Japan as well so we kind of got to experience it in two different ways so yeah Amazing.

338

Best, best time ever.

339

So, so cool.

340

But anyway, how about you?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “This is what talking to a native English speaker is like”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: japan, amazing, flight. This video has 340 sentences and 3906 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:00. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
temple noun	/ˈtɛm.pl̩/	A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
fry verb	/fɹaɪ/	To cook (something) in hot fat.
airline noun	/ˈɛɹˌlaɪn/	A company that flies airplanes to transport people and goods.
sushi noun	/ˈsuːʃi/	A Japanese dish made of small portions of sticky white rice flavored with vinegar, usually wrapped in seaweed and filled or topped with fish, vegetables or…
animation noun	/ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/	The act of animating, or giving life or spirit.
genuinely adverb	/ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/	In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly.
stretch verb	/stɹɛt͡ʃ/	To lengthen by pulling.
desperate adjective	/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/	In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
explore verb	/ɪkˈsploɹ/	To examine or investigate something systematically.
rude adjective	/ɹuːd/	Lacking in refinement or civility; bad-mannered; discourteous.
cruise noun	/kɹuz/	A sea or lake voyage, especially one taken for pleasure.
cafe noun	/ˌkæˈfeɪ/	A convenience store, originally one that sold coffee and similar basic items.
sheer adjective	/ʃɪɚ/	Very thin or transparent.
maid noun	/meɪd/	An adult or adolescent female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant). (In feudal times this could be anyone from a high-ranking assistant to a low-ranking…
respectful adjective	/ɹɪˈspɛkt.fl̩/	Marked or characterized by respect

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
sit down verb	To assume a sitting position from a standing position.
come across verb	To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
dress up verb	To put on special or fancy clothes.
look around verb	To inspect a building or area.
pick up verb	To lift; to grasp and raise.
walk down verb	To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's…

Sentences worth repeating

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

I haven't seen you in so long.
I couldn't believe we were actually there.
And you always see it in movies, don't you?
I've never seen so many temples in my life.
What else do we do?

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 seen · I've never seen · you've seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who live · cafe, which was
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	were knackered

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 112 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, wasn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, otherworldly /ˌʌðəɹˈwɜɹl(d)li/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sushi /ˈsuːʃi/, animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, sheer /ʃɪɚ/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/
Long words — get the stress right: animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/

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 temple, fry, airline.

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 →

Shadowing Practice: This is what talking to a native English speaker is like. - Learn English Speaking with Video

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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?