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Shadowing practice: 50 Phrases to Sound Native | Easy English 59

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Full transcript

  1. Hello, welcome to Easy English.0:00
  2. Today I have a challenge to give you 50 phrases in under 10 minutes to help you sound like a native.0:02
  3. No props.0:08
  4. No problem.0:10
  5. Let's go!0:12
  6. So, in making this challenge, I wanted to make you a quick video and not just waffle on.0:13
  7. Talk a lot without giving any useful information.0:19
  8. About this subject, there's many phrases you can use in many circumstances and long, boring videos are not my cup of tea.0:22
  9. Something you don't like or aren't interested in.0:30
  10. Disclaimer, when researching this topic, I must admit I did nick a few phrases.0:33
  11. An alternative to stolen.0:39
  12. But, hopefully, you'll still think this video's mint.0:42
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  1. Great!0:46
  2. So, let's say you're out with some locals and having a chin wag, a conversation, and you want to show off your newly learned phrases and make some new mates.0:47
  3. Friends!0:58
  4. You could splash out, spend lots of money, and offer to take them out for a pint, a beer or a drink.1:00
  5. Be careful though, drinking in the UK isn't cheap and could cost you a bomb.1:09
  6. A lot of money.1:15
  7. Hopefully, your night out isn't a shambles.1:17
  8. A disaster.1:21
  9. And you end up going on a fun bender.1:23
  10. A wild drinking spree.1:26
  11. Combined with some decent pub grub.1:30
  12. Pub food.1:33
  13. And then, Bob's your uncle.1:36
  14. Ta -da!1:39
  15. You've made your first English mates.1:40
  16. Cheers!1:43
  17. Good health or good wishes.1:44
  18. Cheers!1:46
  19. Your new UK mates could possibly be a bit cheeky, rude, but in an amusing way.1:48
  20. They could be a bit dim.1:55
  21. Stupid.1:58
  22. Maybe full of beans.2:00
  23. To have lots of energy and enthusiasm.2:02
  24. Possibly gobbie.2:04
  25. Loud and interruptive.2:06
  26. But most probably, they'll be the bee's knees.2:08
  27. The best.2:12
  28. Before I go on, I'd just like to twist your arm.2:14
  29. Pressure you into doing something.2:18
  30. Into checking out our Patreon page, linked below.2:20
  31. You'll find the full monty of learning exercises.2:24
  32. Everything necessary.2:28
  33. You'll be gobbsmacked.2:30
  34. Amazed.2:33
  35. Out of all the options you'll have to learn along with our videos, we offer a bog standard.2:34
  36. Basic.2:41
  37. Transcript for all our videos.2:43
  38. A savvy.2:45
  39. Intelligent.2:47
  40. Vocabulary list to help with the more difficult words.2:49
  41. And a handful.2:52
  42. A manageable quantity.2:55
  43. Of great video content.2:57
  44. So don't faff about.2:58
  45. Waste time.3:00
  46. And be a Wally.3:03
  47. An idiot.3:05
  48. Become an easy English member now.3:07
  49. You'd be gutted.3:09
  50. Upset.3:11
  51. To miss out.3:13
  52. Moving on.3:14
  53. Next subject.3:16
  54. You can even learn these phrases at work.3:18
  55. Provided your schedules not chock -a -block.3:21
  56. Extremely full.3:25
  57. If you've got an assignment and a deadline soon, you could decide to do a bodge job.3:27
  58. A job that's completed quickly and carelessly.3:34
  59. Or wing it.3:36
  60. To do something without preparing for it.3:38
  61. Whilst learning these phrases.3:40
  62. Or when the deadline is due, just sky -voff work.3:43
  63. Avoid work by leaving early or pretending to be ill.3:47
  64. You could even use these phrases on your break when you're Hank Marvin.3:51
  65. Starving.3:56
  66. Or when you fancy a fag.3:58
  67. A cigarette.4:01
  68. Then you can winch.4:03
  69. Complain.4:06
  70. About how your boss is annoying and overly posh.4:07
  71. Up at class.4:11
  72. Or how your colleague is well -fit.4:13
  73. Attractive.4:17
  74. But a few sandwiches short of a picnic.4:18
  75. Mad.4:22
  76. You'll probably learn these phrases on your days off too.4:23
  77. When the weather is minging.4:27
  78. Gross.4:29
  79. The bugger all to do.4:30
  80. Nothing.4:33
  81. Apart from fanny about.4:34
  82. Waste time.4:37
  83. And become a curtain twitcher.4:38
  84. A nosy person.4:40
  85. Watches all their neighbours.4:41
  86. So thanks for having a butchers at this video.4:43
  87. Butchers hook.4:47
  88. Look.4:48
  89. I've got five more to go.4:49
  90. So I'm not going to bottle it.4:51
  91. Quit.4:53
  92. I think most of these phrases are a doddle to learn.4:55
  93. Simple.4:59
  94. I just hope you won't take the mickey.5:00
  95. Make fun.5:03
  96. Out of my attempt to crowbar.5:04
  97. To force.5:07
  98. In all 50 phrases.5:08
  99. Because overall I'm impressed with my efforts.5:10
  100. And I'll see you next time.5:13
  101. Ta -ra.5:15
  102. Bye.5:16
  103. Three.5:17
  104. Two.5:18
  105. One.5:19
  106. A wild drinking spree.5:21
  107. Three.5:23
  108. Two.5:25
  109. One.5:26
  110. Attractive.5:26
  111. One.5:27
  112. Attractive.5:28
  113. Attractive.5:30
  114. Attractive.5:31

British English Speaking Practice: 50 Phrases at B1 Pace

This clip is one presenter from Easy English running through fifty native phrases in under ten minutes, at B1. The pace measures 176 words per minute, faster than 41% of the catalogue, so the challenge is not the vocabulary difficulty, it is keeping up with a British speaker who barely pauses before defining the next idiom.

He states his own target in the opening lines: "Today I have a challenge to give you 50 phrases in under 10 minutes to help you sound like a native." That sentence sets the rhythm for everything after it: phrase, then a short plain definition, then the next phrase, with almost no gap between them. Good material for English speaking practice because each idiom arrives with its own gloss, so you never have to guess a meaning before repeating it.

Shadow This Line: How the Idioms Are Built

Three lines from the opening show the pattern worth noticing before you shadow this line for real.

  • "So, let's say you're out with some locals and having a chin wag, a conversation, and you want to show off your newly learned phrases and make some new mates." One long sentence carrying two idioms back to back, chin wag and mates, each defined the moment it lands. Say it in one breath if you can, that is how he says it.
  • "And then, Bob's your uncle." A fixed British expression with no literal meaning to work out. Listen for the flat, almost throwaway intonation, it is delivered like a punchline, not a new piece of information.
  • "Before I go on, I'd just like to twist your arm." Notice the stress falls on twist and arm, not on the softer words around them. Repeating the stress pattern, not just the words, is what makes this useful for British English pronunciation practice.

A Working Order for This 126 Line Recording

The video packs new phrases in every few seconds, so working line by line beats trying to absorb a whole minute at once.

  • Start at line 2, the challenge statement, and repeat it until the rhythm feels natural before moving on.
  • Take line 14 next on its own, it is the longest sentence in the opening and the hardest to say in one breath.
  • Isolate the short definition lines, like "An alternative to stolen" and "A disaster", and say them immediately after the phrase they follow, that pairing is the whole structure of the clip.
  • Practise "And then, Bob's your uncle" separately from its neighbours, the flat delivery is easy to overshoot if you rush it.
  • Once the first fifteen lines feel comfortable, run the section straight through at the recording's own pace rather than slowing it down, that is the closest you get to real conversational speed from a native speaker.
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