Shadowing Practice: We're Reading Dracula in October - Learn English Speaking with Video

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October belongs to Dracula right here

so most of you know I host a book club the

seriously well -read book club it is part of my patreon

and you will find a link to

that in the description below it's $20 a month

but we pick a classic each month we read it we discuss it in detail on Voxer.

I make private videos that are only available to the Seriously Well Read book club members.

And since October is not only just Halloween, but also Victober, and Dracula is a Victorian novel,

what better time to read Dracula, okay?

And, okay, Dracula, Guinness Book of World Records says that Dracula has been portrayed on screen over 538 times.

That was 10 years ago.

So who knows how many times Dracula has been portrayed on screen since then.

So everybody thinks they know the story, but most people haven't read the original novel.

If you're one of those, if you haven't read the original novel Dracula, or if you have read it and you want to read it again.

October is the perfect time to get in on this.

I'm telling you, it's going to be a blast, okay?

I'm Randy Ray.

This is The Literate Texan.

It's my channel on YouTube where I talk about books and reading, highbrow, lowbrow, everything in between.

I'm not sure what you would consider Dracula.

It's old enough that you might think it's highbrow, but it's gothic horror enough that you might think it's lowbrow.

I don't know whether it's highbrow or lowbrow.

I just know it's the good stuff and you'll enjoy it.

And don't think that because it was published in 1897, it's going to be hard to read.

It is not hard to read.

You will not have any trouble with the language in it at all.

We're not reading Shakespeare or Beowulf here or Chaucer.

It's written in almost contemporary English.

And so they're, they're just a handful of, of phrasing differences, but yeah, you won't have any trouble at all with Dracula in terms of reading the language.

Okay.

So let's talk about the book for just a second, Dracula.

Most editions are about 400 pages long, but it varies.

This is my copy.

This is the Norton critical edition.

So it's got all kinds of extra stuff in it, but you can usually find a copy of Dracula in like a Signet classic or something like that for next to nothing.

And actually you can go to standardebooks .com and you can get an ebook version of Dracula completely free.

I mean it's in the public domain.

It was originally published in 1897.

It was written by Bram Stoker.

Bram Stoker is considered one of the great original gothic horror writers.

In fact the Horror Writers Association of America.

Their annual award for fiction is called the Brom Stoker Award, okay?

Now, I haven't read his other works, but I understand none of them come even close to being as good as Dracula.

I don't know.

I've heard different things.

You know, he also wrote The Jewel of Seven Stars.

I can't remember the names of them.

He wrote seven or eight novels, I think, and some short stories.

One of the short stories that he wrote was called Dracula's Guest.

And is it Dracula's Guest?

It might be Dracula's Guest.

It might be Dracula's daughter.

I'm not sure which, but I think I'm going to do a read aloud of that one.

And I'll probably do that for free right here on the YouTube channel, so you won't have to miss out on that.

But it's a great book.

The pacing is terrific.

The characterization is interesting.

It's an epistolary novel, okay?

If you don't know what that means, and I didn't until someone explained it to me.

An epistolary novel is a novel that's told using clips from newspaper clippings,

diary entries, letters, and that sort of thing.

Now, you might think that's weird, and you might have trouble understanding that, but you know, you'll be surprised.

If you've read Carrie by Stephen King, that's also an epistolary novel.

Epistolary novels are pretty common, actually.

You don't necessarily know that's what you're reading unless you know about that sort of thing.

But yeah, Dracula is one of the best examples of an epistolary novel that's out there.

And it is legitimately scary.

And there's some fascinating themes going on at work.

It basically, it asks the question,

what happens in civilization when ancient evil encroaches upon modern civilization?

I'm not going to get into too much more detail

because I don't want to spoil any of the plot for you

and I'm going to recommend to you if you're not familiar with the novel don't spoil it for yourself.

Let it do its work on the page because and just forget what you've seen in the movies if you can.

Don't think about the TV shows.

Let the novel do its work, because believe me, it's worth it.

Okay, so why are we reading Dracula today?

Why now?

What makes this worth reading now?

Well, you know, as I already explained, it is Victober, so this does give you an opportunity to read something that was written in Victorian England, okay?

And this is one of the great Gothic novels.

If you like Stephen King, if you like Clive Barker, if you like Grady Hendrix, if you like any number of modern horror authors,

a lot of them are drawing on that tradition, especially if you're reading vampire novels, okay?

Modern vampire novels like They Thirst by Robert McCammon, which is a favorite of mine, Salem's Lot by Stephen King,

Live Girls by Ray Garton, you know, a lot of these modern novels draw upon Dracula for their version of vampires.

They all play with the tropes,

but basically, modern pop culture and modern pop culture's depictions of vampires are all talking back to Dracula, okay?

Now, Bram Stoker didn't invent the vampire, okay?

He didn't invent the vampire story.

In fact, he was heavily influenced by some other works.

There's a book called Camilla by Jay Sheridan and Life I Knew, which I think is great extra credit reading.

And one of the things that I'll do for my book club members is offer extra credit reading, and there'll be plenty of it.

But, you know, there was Varney the Vampire, which was a penny dreadful that seemed to go on forever.

It was influential on Dracula, too.

Dracula, far better book. So, yeah, Dracula, you think you know the story too

that that's why it's

so much fun to read in my opinion you think you know the story

but actually you don't it's full of surprises okay

and it's fun to think okay how much of our pop culture understanding of vampires

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and Dracula actually come from the original novel

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and where did these pop culture versions of Dracula differ okay

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and you know there was a movie in 1931 starring Bela Lugosi called Dracula, directed by Todd Browning.

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There was a silent film called Nosferatu, which was based on Dracula.

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There was The Horror of Dracula, which was the first of the Hammer series of Dracula movies,

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which starred, you know, Peter Cushion and Christopher Lee, and countless others.

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Those are just some of the most famous versions of Dracula.

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Jack Palance has played Dracula.

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Frank Langella.

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Gary Oldman has played Dracula.

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And it doesn't matter which versions you've seen, you will find stuff in the novel that's going to surprise you, it's going to scare you,

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and it's going to delight you.

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Now, all of my book clubs are read -at -your -own -pace book clubs.

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You don't have to read according to any particular schedule

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but I always provide guidance and I like to do this so that the people participating know

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where they should be to finish in the course of the month

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but also you don't want to spoil things for people who aren't reading as fast as you are

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so if you know where we're at in the discussion

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because we'll have lengthy discussions every Friday but

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if you know where we're at in the book you'll be able to avoid spoiling it for other people

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and I do ask that out of courtesy of the other members of the book club

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that you do that I'm going to put the reading schedule in the description below okay

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but also I'll have the reading schedule posted on patreon .com okay

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and there will be a voxer discussion group voxer for those

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of you who don't know it's just a voicemail instant messaging service

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but it's particularly well suited for discussions of books you just leave a voicemail

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and everybody in the group gets the voicemail or you send a text

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and everybody in the group gets the text I've tried other

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options for hosting discussions voxer works best for me since I'm

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hosting the book club that's the one we're gonna use I know some people prefer discord

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and that's okay they can host a discussion over on Discord if they want to.

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I won't be joining in.

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Discord, it just doesn't work for me.

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I don't know if I'm an old fogey or what.

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But here's the calendar, okay?

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So first of all, i think october 1st

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or october 2nd i think the first friday in october is october 2nd okay

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so we're not going to have a discussion on october 2nd that'll be

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when you start reading it we'll have our first discussion

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and the first video on october the 9th

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and to be caught up to be where we need to be you should have finished with chapter eight

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and i'm not using page numbers because the different editions have different page numbers okay

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and I'm also basing the stomping points around the story arcs okay

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so they're not exactly even

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but they're close okay I think you know one week we're

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reading 100 130 pages one week we're reading 117 pages I think there's another week we're reading 87

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or 90 pages something like that but I mean it's close

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but I'm more concerned with the story beats being natural ending

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points than I am with an arbitrary page number goal each week.

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So October 16th, you should be finished with chapter 16.

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Not starting chapter 16, but finished with chapter 16.

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And then October the 23rd, the third week, you should be finished with chapter 22, it's only six chapters.

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And then on October the 30th, that'll be our grand finale.

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That'll be our final discussion.

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You should be finished with the book by October the 30th.

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That's the reading schedule.

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Like I said, it's going to be posted in the description below.

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It will be posted over on our Patreon site too.

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And also my plan is every Friday on the Patreon site, I'm going to put up a fairly lengthy video discussing Dracula.

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Now, I have had some health problems in the past

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that have prevented me or slowed me down in terms of putting together these videos, but I get so enthusiastic and excited about Dracula

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that it's like there's a whole ain't no stopping me now kind of thing going on here.

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So that's one of the big selling points of the Patreon .com membership are the videos.

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And I want to thank the people who are in my

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Patreon group for being patient with me in the months

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that I haven't been able to fulfill that and get all the videos live that I necessarily were promised.

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Okay, I want to reiterate this again.

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Why are the divisions where I put them?

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Chapter 8, Chapter 16, Chapter 22 two.

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It's not based on number of pages.

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Okay.

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They're roughly equivalent, but they're pretty various.

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It's because they're based on story beats.

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Okay.

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I want, I don't want to end in the middle of one of the mini story arcs

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or one of the plot arcs.

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Okay.

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And like any book, you know, this has multiple story arcs.

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Trust me on this.

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Okay.

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The schedule is the way it is for a reason.

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It's a good schedule.

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And this is not my first time to host a discussion of Dracula or to host a reading of Dracula.

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And trust me, it's just a good schedule.

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Okay, now if this is your first time reading Dracula,

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don't worry if Dracula, the character or the story,

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seems to be different from what you're expecting, okay?

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The first story arc in Dracula, and I'm not spoiling much here,

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concerns Jonathan Harker in Castle Dracula, okay?

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It is different from what you've seen in the movies, okay?

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In a lot of ways, it's more effective and scarier, but it is different don't let

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that throw you off okay

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and then the story arcs you know various movies are faithful to the book in various ways

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but even francis ford coppola who made dracula with gary oldman

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and anthony hopkins great cast by the way even he is not completely faithful to the novel

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so don't worry about that don't worry about the language being too difficult you won't have a problem with it.

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Don't worry about archaic references.

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There's not a lot of that to worry about.

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You don't need a bunch of footnotes.

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This was written in modern day English.

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For example, if you've read the Sherlock Holmes novels, you'll have no trouble with this.

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If you've read Pride and Prejudice, if you've read Charles Dickens,

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you will have no trouble at all understanding Bram Stoker's language in Dracula.

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And I am going to suggest avoiding adaptations of this while we're reading it.

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Once we get towards the end of it, I'll have some adaptations to suggest and some things to look for in those adaptations.

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And I am going to have...

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what i call extra credit assignments or additional things to read

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that are completely 100 % optional yesterday i made a video about literary double features books

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that are good to read back to back

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and one of the ones i suggested was reading dracula back

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to back with salem's lot salem's lot is a stephen king novel from 1978

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and it's marvelous it's absolutely terrific but it stemmed from the idea of what

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if Dracula came to America to a sleepy town in Maine instead of going to London, England.

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That was the springboard for that one.

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But I'm also going to suggest that Dracula was partially the inspiration for the Lord of the Rings.

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A lot of the story beats are the same.

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Gandalf you can see as being a type of Van Helsing character.

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Frodo you can see as being kind of a Jonathan Harker character.

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Sauron, the Dark Lord, is kind of a Dracula character.

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Even Gollum is like Renfield, okay?

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You can draw these parallels, but of course it's different.

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He's working in a secondary world instead of a modern American, or what was then modern day England and Transylvania.

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But, uh, but yeah, so that's another one where it can make for a really entertaining back -to -back read.

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But there are other things too, like Camilla, I've already mentioned by Sheridan Lafaneu, really great.

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There are excerpts from other things,

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but I'll have extra credit stuff that you can read if you're interested that will enhance your enjoyment of Dracula.

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It's one of the perks of belonging to the book club

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okay how can you participate this is part of my patreon

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okay this is a bonus this is what we're doing for

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the month of october for my patreon my patreon is how i support this channel okay

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so it's 20 a month you can start

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and stop at any time you want

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if you want to just join just for dracula

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and then leave that's okay i don't think you should i think you should stick around for all the classics

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that we read there because it's fun

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and you will not find a more interesting

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or interested group of readers than the people who participate in my book club it is a terrific community

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so to participate just go to my patreon sign up there

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look for the posts okay there will be posts there there will be videos there

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and contact me once you sign up for the Patreon.

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Let me know that you're on Voxer

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and I will add you to the Voxer discussion group

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because that's where the discussion is going to take place is in

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that Voxer discussion group and in the comments to those videos.

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That's about how simple it is.

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I mean naturally you'll need to get a copy of Dracula

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and do the reading but if you want to participate that's all you got to do.

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Get a copy of the book, do the reading.

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If you're having trouble finding a copy of the book let

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me know i will help you get a copy of the book okay um

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but yeah this is a patreon only thing

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and you know i've got something free coming up for lone

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star book club members too we're going to be reading the turn of the screw that's free and

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if you're looking for a free option to read something scary

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with me in october you got it the turn of the

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screw is what we're reading as part of the Lone Star Book Club, and I'll make another video about that soon.

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But that's all you need to know about how to participate in the seriously well -read book club's reading of Dracula.

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Sign up over at my Patreon, get a boxer account if you don't already have one, let me know so that I can add you to the discussion group,

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read the book, and participate in the comments of the videos that I post over there at patreon .com.

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So this year, October belongs to Dracula.

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And even if you think you know the story, even if you read Dracula before, but especially if you haven't,

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I think this book and this discussion is going to have a lot to offer you.

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So we're going to start on October the 1st. If you're thinking about joining in, contact me and let me know if you have any questions.

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I include my email address and my Voxer in the description of all my videos, and you're welcome to contact me there anytime.

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You're going to get a faster response if you contact me via Voxer, though, that's for sure.

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And with that, I'm going to let you go.

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I'm just going to ask you to do two things for me before our next video.

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One, stay hydrated.

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It's so much more important than you think.

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And two, please, book two, stay sexy.

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I love you guys.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 270 sentences and 3142 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:09. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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
participate verb	/pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/	To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
horror noun	/ˈhɒɹ.ə/	An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance.
arc noun	/ɑɹk/	That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon.
spoil noun	/spɔɪl/	Plunder taken from an enemy or victim.
belong verb	/bɪˈlɒŋ/	To have its proper place.
scary adjective	/ˈskɛə.ɹi/	Causing fear or anxiety
adaptation noun	/ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/	The process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.
terrific adjective		Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.
necessarily adverb	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	Inevitably; of necessity.
pace noun	/peɪs/	A step taken with the foot.
faithful adjective	/ˈfeɪθ.fl̩/	Loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause.
civilization noun	/ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/	An organized culture encompassing many communities, often on the scale of a nation or a people; a stage or system of social, political, or technical…
lone adjective	/loʊn/	Solitary; having no companion.
lengthy adjective		Having length; long and overextended, especially in time rather than dimension.
portray verb	/poɹˈtɹeɪ̯/	To paint or draw the likeness of.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get in on verb	To gain participation in an activity, especially an attractive one.
put together verb	To assemble, construct, build, or formulate.
put up verb	To place in a high location.
sign up verb	To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.

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 you're interested that will enhance
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been portrayed · haven't read · I've heard
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	has been portrayed · was published · was written
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	McCammon, which is · Vampire, which was · Nosferatu, which was

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 118 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: faithful /ˈfeɪθ.fl̩/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, partially /ˈpɑɹʃəli/
Long words — get the stress right: participate /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/

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 participate, horror, arc.

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: We're Reading Dracula in October - 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

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?