Shadowing Practice: Tom Holland on Going Sober & Building a Brand That Matters - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Let's talk about Bureau.
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So you're so passionate about this alcohol-free lifestyle
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that you actually decided to jump all in and create your own like non-alcoholic beer.
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So what was the inspiration for that?
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I think as an actor in my position, I'd been approached loads of times by different companies to set up something, whether it could be, you know,
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an alcohol, a rum, a vodka, a beer, a clothing line, all that sort of stuff.
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And I'd never come across anything that sparked any sense of passion in me.
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And it wasn't until I got sober and I was dealing with the struggles of getting through that every day.
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And I noticed a void where there weren't good enough replacements for people like me who wanted to go to the pub,
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enjoy the social aspects of it.
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share some golden juice with your friends and then go home.
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And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be a great thing if I could turn not only my sobriety into a great thing for my lifestyle, but a great thing for my future
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and a tool for other people who are maybe trying to achieve the same thing that I have.
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But then also a product for someone like my dad.
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My dad loves a beer after work or when he gets home, but sometimes he doesn't want to drink, but he just wants to crack something open and drink it.
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So I just started kind of going around town
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and asking my agents to help me find people that were setting up these companies.
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I spoke to Athletic and, you know, I was a big fan of theirs and Bill Shouflat.
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Yeah, I was trying to kind of get involved there, but they were doing so well that they didn't need any help, which I totally respect.
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And then I started speaking to my agents about like, well, what if I set up my own one?
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And, you know, it's a pretty daunting task, but their WME are so fantastic at putting the right people on the table.
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So I met with this company called Imaginary, who are an investment venture capital company.
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And we kind of had this idea of building our own product.
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And it's been one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done.
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For me, it's felt like a school project.
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of like, do you guys have The Apprentice in America?
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Sure.
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It feels like I'm on The Apprentice.
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Yeah.
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Remember the other president who was the head of the...
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Oh, shit, that's right.
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He did do it, didn't he?
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Because we had Alan Sugar did it in England.
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Oh, yes, that's right.
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He did do that.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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I remember now.
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But it's been such a joy working with the creative departments,
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figuring out what we want the company to represent then I think it's really important for me
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that Biro isn't ramming sobriety down people's throats.
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It's for everyone.
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It's for people that don't drink.
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It's for people that want to drink less.
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And it's for people that drink a lot, but one night they need to wake up early and be switched on the next day.
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And I think that it represents this void in the market.
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I noticed that, you know, all non-alcoholic beers like Peroni or Heineken Zero or Guinness Zero, they're all blue.
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All of their cans have like a blue connotation.
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So like Bex is Bex blue, Peroni is Peroni blue.
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And I think that's really unfair because it's like you're in the bar with a big signpost saying like, I'm drinking a non-alcoholic beer.
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So my goal was to come up with something that you could drink in a bar that was as appealing,
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that scratched the itch as much as a real beer, but you didn't have to pay the price for it in the morning.
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And something that was inclusionary rather than exclusionary.
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So my hope is, is that Biro can represent the non-alcoholic beer market
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and that it can be something where people like myself can feel included in a place where I sometimes feel excluded.
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It's great, man.
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I think it suits you perfectly.
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It's smart when you see people like Ryan Reynolds and George Clooney with their spirits companies.
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I mean, obviously, this is like a smart play for anybody who's in a position like you to explore, but to marry it with a real passion,
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you know, to be not only, you know, kind of the face of this thing, but also an evangelist of a lifestyle that is about community and connection.
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I think it's great.
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And I think that this, segment, this market is exploding and only going to continue to grow.
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You know, Bill at Athletic told me his whole story.
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Like when he started, like he couldn't find anybody to work with.
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He had a brewer partner and they just couldn't even find anybody to do small batches because everybody was like, there's no market for this.
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And the products that have always existed have been, to your point, kind of like wave the flag, you know, for the problem drinker where you're just kind of announcing.
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It feels like they're just checking a box.
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And it's about like the negative aspects of this rather than
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kind of pushing the ball forward towards like the positive lifestyle aspects of this.
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Well, I think that the language with alcohol-free drinks is always about what they're lacking.
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And what we want to promote is what you're gaining.
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That's why we're kind of coining this idea of a life enriched.
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Just because there's less alcohol in it doesn't mean that it's lesser beer.
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It's brewed the same.
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It's the same ingredients.
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It's just ever so slightly different.
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So for me, it's not about what it doesn't have.
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It's what about you gain from having it.
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And I think that that is something I'm really passionate about.
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I think to what you asked me earlier, like, what is it about a project that gets me excited in terms of acting?
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It's like, do I believe in the message?
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Do I believe in the story?
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Is it something I'm passionate about?
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if yes my foot's in the door I'm ready to do it
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and that's exactly what Bureau has presented to me here an
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opportunity to tap into something I've never sort of understood before
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but I'm really passionate about making a difference
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and helping people out I'd love to have had a Bureau
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in my first year of sobriety it would have made it a lot easier for me
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and I hope
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that maybe in the future it can help people afterwards you
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brought some you're gonna you're gonna let me bring some of it maybe we'll take a quick break
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and we can like bring it out yeah just appear in the middle yeah
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look what magically appeared i know isn't it amazing can you
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believe this is just it's like a spider-man movie i just was saying it's really interesting like
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when you're doing press for something like a film especially
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and it's been a secret for so long when you talk about it for the first time, there is this weird adjustment process of like,
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I'm not supposed to talk about this.
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I've been keeping it a secret for so long.
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And now the floodgates have opened.
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And this is the first time I've ever spoken to anyone about this.
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It's been under lock and key.
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Even guys at my golf club are like, what is this thing you keep rushing off to work on?
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And I haven't told anyone.
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So I'm really happy today.
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How long have you been working on it?
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I mean, the creative, we've been working on it for about a year in terms of like the liquid itself, like what it tastes like, the flavors that we want to try and enhance,
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the branding and the marketing, which is the part of the process that I was most involved with.
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It was probably what a five month process, five to six months, seven months, which was great.
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It was awesome.
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But then the setting it up and hiring the right people, that was about four or five months beforehand.
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And we've been so lucky.
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John, our CEO, I met with two guys.
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And the moment I started speaking to John,
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I knew that he was the guy that was going to represent what I wanted to try and create the best.
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He was very authentic.
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He was very honest and kind and thoughtful, but also incredibly driven and successful.
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So I was really drawn to him.
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And I think how he's helped me
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and our team get to where we are is a testament to him as our leader, which is great.
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Yeah, it's cool.
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So what do we got here?
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You got a couple, for people that are just listening and not watching on video, you got like, we have a bureau presentation here.
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We have three different kinds.
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So SKUs is a new thing I've learned in my rapid business life.
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We've got three.
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We've got Edge Hill IPA, which is like a hazy IPA, which is my favorite.
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Edge Hill is the hill in which my school is on top of.
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So that's kind of where I grew up.
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The green is the Kingston Pils.
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It's like a classic take on a pilsner.
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Kingston is where I grew up.
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So that kind of represents home.
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And then the cream is the wheat, the noon wheat named after my little dog, which is one of our favorites.
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And they're great.
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For me, they really scratched the itch.
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It's been such a pleasure learning about the process of brewing beer, the difference between brewing non-alc beer and, you know, your full strength beer.
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And then also having the ability to ask Grant, our brewmaster, I'd love to have a stronger aftertaste of hop with the hazy.
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And then he'll explain how he'll go about doing that and all that sort of stuff.
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So being able to build a product that's tailored for my taste that I get to share with everyone has been awesome.
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Which one should I try?
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Well, what do you like?
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What's your go-to kind of beer?
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I mean, not too heavy.
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I mean, listen, first of all, I went to treatment in 1998.
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Okay.
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So you were like, what, two years old?
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I would have been two years old.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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So it's been a minute.
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Okay.
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You know what I mean?
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So it is a weird thing because it's been so long
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and I didn't like get sober and then kind of drink non-alcoholic beer, that I'm of two minds with it.
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Like on the one hand, I think it's fantastic.
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These things exist, but it's also, it's also, it's a weird thing because when I taste it, because now they're so good, right?
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Like I'm like, am I having a beer?
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It lights up a part of my brain that freaks me out a little bit.
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One of the things I'm really excited about with Biro is
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that we are never going to bring out a full strength beer.
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so you know that when you're holding that gold can, you're safe.
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Yeah.
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There's no booze in it.
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So which one?
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The wheat?
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That's a wheat.
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So that would be like a Hefeweizen or a Blue Moon.
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Then your Pilsner would probably be the lightest of the three.
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Let me try that one.
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That's kind of your standard lager.
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And then this is the really juicy one.
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Right.
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This is the...
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I'll taste both.
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And by the way, I should say, this isn't like a sponsored thing.
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No, no, no, no. There's no, yeah, like there's no, like I'm just doing this because I believe in what you're trying to accomplish.
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Thank you.
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And I think the alcohol-free lifestyle is such an important one.
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And to the extent that there are options and alternatives out there for people, like I'm supportive of that.
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And that's where it ends.
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So if people think like there was money that got exchanged, no, that's not what this is about at all.
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Well, she is. So, yeah.
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This is my first time sharing a beer.
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There you go.
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All right.
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Well, I'm honored that you would come here first.
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yeah man it's it's
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so wild there's like such a vivid sense memory like my brain immediately goes to some party
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that i was at like you know like
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when i was you know 25
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or whatever it's a trip i mean it tastes really good
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but it is it is like it is it is a little freaky
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if i'm being totally honest because it's so close
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and again like back to what i was saying is now
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that we are getting so close and it's really difficult to discern the difference.
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It's so important to me
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that this kind of color coded thing for our company becomes the gold standard of what non-alc is
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so that you know there's no sense of doubt.
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My brain is like, when am I going to feel it?
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Like I can feel my brain going, okay, just give it a minute.
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You'll start to feel it.
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Yeah.
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But it's not coming don't worry you could drink as many of those as you like
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and drive home that's the hazy this is my favorite the
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ipas were my go-to it's really juicy oh yeah i like
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that one yeah that's nice i'm also reminded of several months
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ago i had the guy who founded upside foods in here who is pioneering cellular meat.
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So he's growing.
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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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He's growing like chicken in these like brewing.
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Yeah, I mean, it is a brewing process almost.
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And he brought his chicken products.
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So I haven't eaten meat in a very long time.
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And tasting that was also like a weird.
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I bet that was wild.
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But it is real chicken just without the sentient animal.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Wow.
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It's wild.
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It's really interesting.
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It's a crazy future.
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I haven't tried it.
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I'd be very interested to try it though.
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I mean, It tasted exactly like it.
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And he would say that it's actually a healthier because they can
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toggle down the saturated fat or they can kind of make it a little bit healthier and it's not
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infused with antibiotics and hormones and all the like.
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It didn't grow up in some disgusting situation.
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Eating shit and stuff.
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And then also it has the texture and the flavor of what a chicken would have if it wasn't so domesticated.
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You know, like more like before humans started to, you know, kind of screw with the genome and the living conditions.
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And what I know this might sound like a stupid question.
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But people have a huge thing.
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They have like, there's a huge resistance to it.
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Like there's a huge ick factor.
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Like this is unnatural and I get that.
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But when you consider how many billions of these animals are slaughtered and the conditions in which they're raised, like it begs the question of what is natural.
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Yeah.
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And also, like, look at bananas, like bananas aren't supposed to look like they do,
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but they've been genetically denatured and modified to look that way and stay riper for longer and all that sort of stuff.
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So even the things that we think are natural are not natural.
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Right.
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They grow the cells on like a lattice work, I guess.
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Wow, that is crazy.
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I don't know exactly how they do it.
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There's a lot that goes into creating the right texture, etc. But, you know, they're basically like muscle cells that they're literally growing.
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So they would just grow a chicken breast?
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Basically, yeah.
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How does it work with like growing a chicken leg?
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I don't know.
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Do they grow the bone in there?
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I don't know.
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I don't know.
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But I mean, they're working on, you know, they have beef and chicken.
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They can basically do whatever, you know.
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And then you're like, well, could you like grow human meat?
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Like, so many good people are going to be cannibals.
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It's like weird.
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But I guess that's like one step in the direction for like regenerative medicine of,
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you know, amputees maybe in a hundred years down the line.
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The future of what's possible.
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Yeah, I went to some conference and there were some scientists and doctors who were pioneering, like growing heart tissue and lung tissue.
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Yeah, it's like we're entering a crazy new world.
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Yeah, I think skin grafts and stuff like that will change.
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And we work with a charity called Deborah in the UK and their American equivalent is called EBRP.
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It's a charity that helps kids with EB.
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What's EB?
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Which is a disease called epidermolysis bullosa.
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and it's essentially like to my understanding we have nine layers of skin
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that all move over each other that's why our skin is
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so flexible but to someone with eb their skin is fused together
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so they don't have that luxury so
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if they were to quickly close their hands their skin would crack
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and it's gnarly they bleed
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and they're blistered all over their bodies they have terrible uh health complications down the line
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and their life expectancy is very short.
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The benefit to EB, though, is that there's only one degenerative gene, whereas with cancer, there's hundreds of thousands of genes that can go wrong.
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So EB is at the forefront of gene therapy.
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So when all these people are trying to use gene therapy to kind of change the world, EB is the one that they're trying to solve because they know what the defective gene is.
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And they've now got these topical treatments and all sorts of different things that are working, that are like making a difference.
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And there's no cure for it yet.
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But they are on the precipice of curing it.
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And when they cure it, and they unlock that technology, that will change the world.
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That's cool.
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Yeah, it'll be crazy.
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And philanthropy is a big piece of your life too, right?
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You have a trust and you have your tentacles in lots of different areas with that.
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so for me what I love about the Brothers Trust
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which is really the thing I'm most proud of is the ability to be boots on the ground
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and see the difference that is made by helping these different people
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and raising awareness for certain things like EB no one knows
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about it yeah I've never heard of it no one's ever heard about it
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so I love being able to bring attention to things like
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that and all that sort of stuff and I love being able to see the difference that we make as a trust.
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And we've traveled to see the different charities and I love it.
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I really find it to be something I'm super passionate about.
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And my mom, God bless her, she's an absolute saint.
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She runs the whole family enterprise, right?
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Yeah.
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So my brothers and I are kind of like the face of the operation.
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And then my mom is the engine and she runs it.
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And it's a full-time job for her and she's great.
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We couldn't do it without her.
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I'm curious about your relationship with your own potential for transformation because you've put alcohol in the rear view.
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This thing that was problematic, that was challenging and difficult for you to let go of, right?
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Those experiences are transformative in and of themselves
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because they give you this sense of possibility and potential when you unleash something latent like that, right?
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What's currently challenging you or tripping you up now that maybe you need to look at or address?
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I think the biggest thing that I'm facing right now, which is without a shadow of a doubt,
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the most first world problem that anyone has ever experienced is the power of choice.
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And it comes down to Spider-Man.
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When I signed my contract for Spider-Man one, I signed a six picture deal.
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I was 18 years old.
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I was more excited than I'd ever been about anything ever.
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and for the last 10 years, I have been at the beck and call of Marvel and Sony and proudly so.
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It's been the best experience of my life.
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I'm now at a juncture where I can say no and now that I've been afforded that power,
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I am struggling to figure out what is the right thing to do.
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It's meant I've had to put my foot down in certain instances, which I haven't been allowed to do in the past.
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And I think the learning curve that I'm on right now is dealing with that new sense of power, making sure that I don't abuse it,
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but making sure that I do the best thing for me rather than for the studio.
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And really the best thing for the character.
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I don't want to make another movie for the sake of making it.
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The studio wants you to make another Spider-Man.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, they do.
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And I want to make another one.
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I want to make many more, but I want to do it for the right reasons.
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And now, like I said to you earlier, sometimes I miss the day when getting the job was the win.
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I am navigating and figuring out what having that kind of power means and that responsibility.
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Yeah.
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And I'm figuring it out and I'm speaking to people and asking questions.
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And, you know, I've been speaking to Downey a lot, especially about him making his return, which is super exciting.
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He's back.
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He's gone on that exploration and he still came back to do more.
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That was a tough secret to sit on
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because I have a reputation for ruining things and I strategically have done no press.
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You're a little loose-lipped around MCU secrets.
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Yeah.
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I guess in terms of challenges or things that I'm dealing with, that would be it.
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And I'm by no means complaining.
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It's a wonderful place to be.
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But it is something that keeps me up at night, and I'm constantly thinking of like, is this the right thing to do?
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Am I going to do justice to the character?
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Am I going to do justice to the fans?
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I definitely don't want to just make a movie for the sake of it, because that's not what Spider-Man represents.
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So yeah, it's a complicated one. That is.
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That is complicated.
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It's going really well, though.
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Yeah, it is.
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This is what we call a high-quality problem.
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You know, it's like cry me a river, right?
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But it's a problem nonetheless.
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And it's a huge decision that has, you know, kind of downstream implications for a lot of people, right?
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And also interesting to me, because I've heard you talk about being sort of an unrepentant people pleaser, right?
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And so it's confronting you with your innate people pleasing tendencies to try to make a decision outside of that,
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that is not only in your best interest, but in the best interest of the franchise.
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And what is in service to this character that's much larger than you and what you wanna do.
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And the fans as well.
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I owe everything to the fans of Marvel and myself.
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They've been so kind and generous to me.
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Like after Civil War came out, I felt like Civil War was my audition to the world.
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Like I'd gotten the part of Spider-Man.
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I did the film with the Russo brothers and that came out and that to me felt like my, will you embrace me as Spider-Man?
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And they did.
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And I'm so grateful that they did.
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And I feel like I owe it to them to give
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and deliver the best version of what the next chapter for Spider-Man looks like.
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And I think that's really important.
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And I think the creative integrity for something like that is really important.
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And the studio is on board and supportive and really collaborative.
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And I've been so blown away by how welcoming they've been into that creative room.
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But, you know, we're working now with the pedal is to the metal.
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We're trying to get it going as soon as possible.
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Things are looking great, but there's still a lot of moving pieces
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that need to come together for us to hit the ground running.
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Right.
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So what is the ticking clock on this decision and what are the variables?
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Is it the script, the team, the story?
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Like, how are you going to make this decision?
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What are the factors that come into play that's going to sway you one way or the other?
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I'm not really sure about how much I can talk about
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in terms of what are some of the challenges we face creatively and logistically.
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No one's listening.
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You know, come on.
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Obviously, one of the things to like bear in mind with Marvel is
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that there is your film is a small cog in a large machine and that machine has got to keep running.
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And you need to make sure that you can fit into
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that timeline at the right time to benefit the bigger picture infinite number of machines across the multiverse yes exactly
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so you know that's one of the challenges we're facing and
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and the time in which we need to get
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that done is a tall order
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but definitely achievable um with the fantastic people we have working on it now
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but my biggest thing is the creative we have a creative
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and a pitch and a draft which is excellent it needs work
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but the writers are doing a great job
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and i read it three weeks ago
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and it really like lit a fire in me so nair
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and i sat down and read it together
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and we at times were like bouncing around the living room
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like this is a real movie worthy of like the fans respect
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but there's a few things we need to figure out before we can we can get
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that really going but it's exciting and i'm really really excited about it.
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You straddled that question well and avoided all the political pitfalls.
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Every bit of media training kicked in there.
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Yes.
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Well done.
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Thank you.
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Well done.
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It's not for me to say whether you disclosed something you shouldn't have, but it was handled beautifully.
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Yeah.
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If this had alcohol in it, I'd be in trouble.
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I know.
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Yeah.
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I'm like, am I drunk?
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No, I'm not drunk.
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No. Are you having a good time?
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Well, why don't we close us out with just a few reflections or thoughts for somebody who's flirting with, you know, the alcohol-free lifestyle.
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Maybe alcohol is a problem, maybe it's not, but they've been inspired about what you had to share about like how much better your life is
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and they're looking to take the first step.
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Like where does that person begin?
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How should they navigate it?
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What can they expect?
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And maybe some tools that might be helpful.
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Well, I think for me, try a life of less and, And I think what we have here with Biro is a beer that does both.
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It scratches the itch of wanting to have that drink, but you don't have to sacrifice the next day.
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I think that it's a beautiful journey, one that I've made friends for life on,
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people that I've related to and built relationships with that I didn't have before, but then through sobriety, we've become really close friends.
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And I just think there's no harm in giving it a go
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because my lawyer is sober and he's someone that has been really helpful for me, especially in times where I've been at a bar like, oh, I want to have a drink.
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And he gave me a piece of advice once, which was really helpful, which was you'll never wake up the next day and say, oh, I wish I had a drink last night.
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Never.
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And that for me has been really helpful.
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And I hope that Biro can fill that void for people.
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I'm really proud to be here today
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and I'm really proud to have a product
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that I can stand 10 toes down and represent
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and believe in the message and know that there's more to this product than making money.
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Like I really want to make a difference in this space
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and I really want people to have something that helps them feel included.
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Very cool.
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So if people want to learn more about Bureau and pick some up, how do they do that?
444
So October 16th, bureaubrewing.com.
445
You can get it nationwide and then 1st of January next year, just in time for dry January, we should be in stores nationwide at some major retailers.
446
Hopefully it will grow and grow and grow and the community will grow with it.
447
It's a mission.
448
Yeah.
449
No, it's a mission. And it's needed.
450
You know, there's a lot of people out there suffering unnecessarily, unaware that a better experience of life is freely available.
451
And that's the beautiful thing.
452
It's not even freely available.
453
It's like cheaper.
454
Yeah, that's right, right?
455
It's not even free.
456
It's like you're essentially pay you to do it.
457
Yeah.
458
And if you're hung up about what your friends are going to say, everyone's self-obsessed.
459
They're not thinking about you anyway.
460
And you can put one of these bureaus in your hand and no one will know that.
461
No one will be the wiser and everything is going to be fine.
462
Exactly.
463
There you go.
464
And I feel like with something like this in your hand, like no one's going to be questioning whether that's got booze in it or not because it's a beer.
465
It looks like a beer can.
466
It doesn't have less than.
467
It's brewed the same.
468
It's a beer.
469
It's not blue either.
470
And it's not blue.
471
When we were working with the colors, because I like the idea that the different colors are easy to remember.
472
Something I don't like about craft brewery is when you go to the bar and they're like, which one do you want?
473
And you're like, I don't know the names of them.
474
There's like seven different hazy these and hazy that.
475
I like the idea of like, I like an IPA, give me the red one.
476
I like a Pilsner, give me the green one.
477
Simple.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Tom Holland on Going Sober & Building a Brand That Matters”. This video has 477 sentences and 5169 words to shadow. The speech runs for 28:15. The speaker talks fast, about 183 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| brew verb | /bɹuː/ | To make tea or coffee by mixing tea leaves or coffee beans with hot water. |
| hazy adjective | /ˈheɪzi/ | Thick or obscured with haze. |
| alcoholic noun | /ˌæl.kəˈhɔ.lɪk/ | A person who is addicted to alcohol. |
| passionate adjective | /ˈpæʃənɪt/ | Fired with intense feeling. |
| sobriety noun | /səˈbɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/ | The quality or state of being sober. |
| wheat noun | /ˈwiːt/ | Any of the several cereal grains, of the genus Triticum, that yields flour as used in bakery. |
| itch noun | /ɪt͡ʃ/ | A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area. |
| pilsner noun | /ˈpɪlznə/ | A pale, light lager beer. |
| sober adjective | /ˈsoʊ.bɚ/ | Not drunk; not intoxicated. |
| void adjective | /vɔɪd/ | Containing nothing; empty; not occupied or filled. |
| booze noun | /buz/ | Any alcoholic beverage. |
| juicy adjective | /ˈd͡ʒuːsi/ | Having lots of juice. |
| pioneer noun | /ˌpaɪ.əˈnɪɹ/ | One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow. |
| texture noun | /ˈtɛkst͡ʃə(ɹ)/ | The feel or shape of a surface or substance; the smoothness, roughness, softness, etc. of something. |
| banana noun | /bəˈnænə/ | An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| blow away verb | To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind. | |
| bounce around verb | To discuss or brainstorm (ideas) on a topic. | |
| bring out verb | To elicit, evoke, or emphasize (a particular quality). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's like, do I believe in the message?
- Do I believe in the story?
- Is it something I'm passionate about?
- What's your go-to kind of beer?
- I'm like, am I drunk?
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 | I've been keeping · have you been working · we've been working |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | it's been · have always existed · has presented |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | been approached · be switched · was really drawn |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · marketing, which is · months, which was |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 152 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/, theirs /ðɛɚz/, nonetheless /ˌnʌnðəˈlɛs/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, nationwide /ˌneɪ.ʃənˈwaɪd/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: alcoholic /ˌæl.kəˈhɔ.lɪk/, sobriety /səˈbɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, antibiotic /ˌæn.taɪ.baɪˈɑ.tɪk/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/
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 brew, hazy, alcoholic.
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.