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Shadowing practice: American Dad: Rogu Gives Roger a Hand (Clip) | TBS

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Yo, neckbeard.0:00
  2. You seen a kid?0:01
  3. We're looking for Steve Smith.0:02
  4. Oh, thank god you're here for him.0:03
  5. That's been non -stop.0:08
  6. Oh, that?0:10
  7. The boy's a bit of a giggle -puss.0:11
  8. A true chuckle -nut.0:13
  9. Gaforhound, really.0:15
  10. Probably just tickle...0:16
  11. fighting?0:17
  12. I feel so alive!0:21
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  1. Oh, hey, Dad.0:26
  2. Lose the shirt and hop in the ring.0:28
  3. Snot's been dying to fight you for years.0:29
  4. Oh, Snot will get his, but he will not see it coming.0:31
  5. I'm worried about you, son.0:34
  6. Why?0:36
  7. I'm on top of the world!0:36
  8. Roger, could you give me a...0:38
  9. hand?0:39
  10. What the hell is going on inside you?0:48
  11. Is that...0:50
  12. my arm?0:52
  13. Steve, Roger and I staged the entire attack.0:53
  14. I was the shark!0:56
  15. So...0:58
  16. I never confronted anything?0:58
  17. All my confidence is based on a lie?1:01
  18. Oh, my god, is this my blood?1:04
  19. We got our Steve back.1:10
  20. I haven't changed at all.1:12
  21. Chin up, buddy.1:14
  22. There, there.1:16
  23. Mark, Mark, Mark!1:17
  24. Hey, Poison, you angry?1:19
  25. Then why don't you tell me to fun you?1:21
  26. Do you want in on this?1:23
  27. Uh...1:27
  28. oh, look what I caught Steve doing!1:27

American accent training with a fast animated scene from American Dad

This clip is from American Dad, a scene where a stranger asks about a kid, gets pointed toward Steve, and the joke unravels into a staged prank confession. It sits at B2 and runs at 207 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, so it is good english speaking practice for someone who already handles slower dialogue and wants their ear pushed.

Several characters talk over and past each other in quick bursts, which is closer to daily english conversation practice than a single narrator ever gets you. The voices swing from confused to panicked to smug in a handful of lines, so besides pace this clip is also american accent training for the shifts in tone that a flat reading never shows you.

The lines worth slowing down for

Three lines carry most of the difficulty in this clip, and none of them are hard because of a single word.

  • "Snot's been dying to fight you for years." is said fast and offhand, the kind of line a native speaker throws away without stress on any one word. Shadow this line a few times to feel how little emphasis it actually needs.
  • "What the hell is going on inside you?" is a real question shouted mid scene, and the rise on "you" at the end is the whole meaning of the line. Miss that rise and it reads flat instead of alarmed.
  • "Steve, Roger and I staged the entire attack." is the reveal line, said almost casually, which is what makes it funny. Match that flatness rather than reading it like a dramatic confession, that mismatch is the joke.

How to work through this B2 clip

Forty lines at 207 words per minute is too much to take on in one pass, so break it up rather than running it start to finish.

  • Start with "Yo, neckbeard." and "You seen a kid?", two short opening lines, and get the stranger's clipped tone before anything else.
  • Move to "I feel so alive!" and "I'm on top of the world!", both short and both said at a peak of energy, good for practising a rising, excited pitch.
  • Work the reveal on "Steve, Roger and I staged the entire attack." and "I never confronted anything?" back to back, since the second line only makes sense as a reaction to the first.
  • Close with "oh, look what I caught Steve doing!", the final line of the clip, and try it at the same speed as the recording before slowing down to check the words.
  • Once those four pairs feel steady, run the full clip once and let the app score where the pace still trips you up rather than guessing.
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