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Shadowing practice: The Lazy Prince and The Hardworking Princess

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

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  1. The Lazy Prince and the Hardworking Princess In the kingdom of Mabel lived a very, very busy king, King Bodin.0:03
  2. It's time to complete the yearly goat tax paperwork, sire.0:15
  3. The kitchen is requesting your opinion on turducken versus deuterchen, king.0:20
  4. Your aunt has decided to come stay the weekend every weekend for the next two years, Your Majesty.0:26
  5. Ah!0:32
  6. The king had had enough.0:33
  7. I'm retiring.0:36
  8. But who will tax the goats?0:39
  9. Who will pick which bird we're eating for dinner?0:43
  10. Who will entertain your aunt?0:46
  11. It certainly won't be me.0:48
  12. Luckily, the king had a backup plan.0:50
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  1. King Baudin had twin children who were ready, willing and able to take over the throne.0:53
  2. Fetch my children.1:00
  3. It's time for them to step up.1:01
  4. Uh, hello?1:24
  5. Honestly, Oliver, can your snoring be any louder?1:34
  6. Honestly, Olivia, can your voice be any more annoying?1:37
  7. I'm telling Dad you said that.1:42
  8. No, don't.1:44
  9. Last time he made me clean the throne room with a toothbrush, and I couldn't even use magic to do1:46
  10. it.1:52
  11. Serves you right.1:52
  12. Although you're probably the laziest person I've ever met, so I doubt you even served out that punishment.1:53
  13. I might have magicked one of the maids to do it on my behalf.1:59
  14. When Daddy retires and you try to take the throne, he's going to laugh in your face.2:04
  15. No one as unmotivated as you should be appointed an authority over the kingdom.2:08
  16. Like you'd be any better, Miss Perfectionist.2:14
  17. The fork is slightly tilted to the right.2:17
  18. It's ruined the whole meal.2:20
  19. Real mature.2:24
  20. It's not like Dad's going to retire anyways.2:26
  21. He loves being king.2:29
  22. Prince Oliver, Princess Olivia, your father requests your presence in the throne room.2:32
  23. He has decided to retire.2:38
  24. Father, Your Majesty.2:59
  25. Your High Majesty, Sir Father the Great.3:02
  26. Enough.3:06
  27. You're already pushing it.3:07
  28. So, you've heard I'm retiring then?3:09
  29. Yes, Father.3:12
  30. I am ready to take your place.3:13
  31. Yes, Father.3:15
  32. I am ready to take your place.3:16
  33. That's good to hear, but I cannot choose either of you until you prove your worth.3:19
  34. I'm hosting a ceremonial competition of magic to appoint one of you to the throne.3:24
  35. Whosoever proves their worth in that competition will become the next king of Mabel.3:30
  36. We'll play by competition rules.3:35
  37. One round of questions, one round of challenges.3:38
  38. But Daddy, Oliver's magic has always been stronger than mine.3:41
  39. I suppose that means you will need to practice.3:45
  40. And that means I won't.3:50
  41. You're both dismissed.3:53
  42. Here.4:07
  43. What's this for?4:08
  44. Consolation prize.4:10
  45. You know, for the magic competition.4:11
  46. Show off.4:14
  47. You're just jealous my magic is stronger than yours.4:16
  48. I can do that too.4:19
  49. Can you?4:21
  50. Prove it.4:22
  51. Thank you for making my point for me.4:30
  52. I'll see you at my coronation.4:33
  53. I'm off to take a nap.4:35
  54. Advanced magic for spellcasters.4:46
  55. Well, this ought to do the trick.4:49
  56. A lounge of lizards?5:05
  57. What are you doing here?5:07
  58. Wait a second.5:09
  59. Were you reading this book?5:10
  60. Look, lizards can read?5:12
  61. They can if I cast a spell on them.5:16
  62. I should have known you'd try to get out of studying for the competition.5:19
  63. I didn't get out of it.5:23
  64. I'm just having someone else do it for me.5:25
  65. I'd hardly call this someone else.5:27
  66. Besides, you don't speak lizard.5:29
  67. Maybe I do.5:32
  68. You don't know.5:33
  69. I do too know.5:35
  70. You're my twin.5:36
  71. We grew up together.5:38
  72. You don't speak lizard.5:40
  73. Yeah, well, come on, lizards.5:41
  74. You act like you don't have to study at all.6:24
  75. I don't.6:27
  76. You won't feel that way when I beat you in the magic competition tonight.6:29
  77. Whatever.6:33
  78. You're so lazy.6:34
  79. You drive me crazy.6:36
  80. And you do way too much.6:37
  81. You don't deserve the throne.6:40
  82. That's not for you to decide.6:43
  83. Dad gets to pick.6:45
  84. Thank you, sirs and madams, for attending our evening of magical competition.6:47
  85. The winner of tonight's festivities will become the new King or Queen of Mabel.6:53
  86. Huzzah!6:58
  87. I trust you've both studied and practiced in preparation for this evening?7:04
  88. Absolutely, my king.7:10
  89. It was something like that.7:12
  90. The competition rules are simple.7:14
  91. The first round features questions about the art of magic.7:16
  92. The second round puts that knowledge to the test.7:19
  93. Should we see a tie, we'll enter into a third round.7:22
  94. Shall we begin?7:26
  95. Yeah!7:27
  96. Yeah!7:29
  97. Yeah!7:30
  98. Woo -hoo!7:31
  99. Woo -hoo!7:32
  100. Woo -hoo!7:32
  101. Woo -hoo!7:33
  102. Woo -hoo!7:33
  103. Woo -hoo!7:34
  104. Woo -hoo!7:37
  105. Which type of magic is Merlin typically associated?7:38
  106. Prophecy and shapeshifting.7:44
  107. Correct.7:47
  108. Come on, that was an easy one.7:52
  109. If it was so easy, why didn't you answer it?7:55
  110. Question two.7:59
  111. Thistle is used in what common spell?8:00
  112. A protection spell.8:06
  113. Correct!8:07
  114. Final question.8:10
  115. What must one consider when levitating an object over a body of water?8:11
  116. The object's weight and the water's buoyancy.8:18
  117. Correct!8:21
  118. Huzzah!8:22
  119. Hooray!8:24
  120. Hip hip hooray!8:25
  121. Round two begins with a duel.8:27
  122. Your goal is to render your opponent unable to perform magic without injuring them.8:30
  123. You're no fun And you're going down Begin Tornare in dietro Long live Queen Olivia Long live Queen Olivia Long8:37
  124. live Queen Olivia Long live Queen Olivia There will be no third round We have a clear winner I'm so8:57
  125. proud of you, my daughter.9:11
  126. Congratulations.9:13
  127. Thank you, Daddy.9:14
  128. I knew all the hard work would pay off.9:16
  129. Hey, what about my hard work?9:19
  130. What hard work?9:22
  131. I worked.9:24
  132. Brother, you were nothing but lazy this entire week.9:25
  133. You could have studied, but instead you sent lizards to try to read and memorize text.9:29
  134. You could have practiced spells, but you slept all day and night.9:34
  135. I prepared for everything.9:40
  136. Look at where it got me, and look at where your laziness got you.9:42
  137. You're right.9:47
  138. I should have tried harder.9:48
  139. Even so, I'm the stronger magician.9:50
  140. But you are not the stronger student, nor the new king of Mabel.9:52
  141. I need to admit something.9:57
  142. I didn't want to be king.10:00
  143. What?10:03
  144. I threw the competition in order to avoid the responsibility of the crown.10:04
  145. Your laziness is far worse than I could have ever imagined.10:09
  146. You should have told us.10:13
  147. I agree.10:15
  148. I made a mistake.10:16
  149. Can you forgive me?10:17
  150. I should punish you for fibbing and for throwing the competition.10:19
  151. But instead, I will grant you grace so long as you promise to find your passion in life and serve10:23
  152. this kingdom through that alone.10:30
  153. I promise, I will.10:32
  154. Olivia, father, I'm sorry.10:35
  155. As your new queen, you are forgiven.10:40
  156. And so, Olivia became Queen Olivia, ruler of the kingdom of Mabel.10:44
  157. Her brother Oliver chose to dedicate himself to the study of lizards, sorology, and the use of magic to inspire10:55
  158. the creation of lizard communities across the kingdom.11:04
  159. He learned that his laziness stemmed from a lack of direction in his life and not from his inability to11:08
  160. do the things he had to do.11:16
  161. The kingdom of Mabel thrived under Queen Olivia's rule, and everyone lived happily ever after.11:18

British english pronunciation practice with an A2 fairy tale about twin rivals

This clip is english speaking practice built around a narrated fairy tale, set at an A2 level and paced at 157 words per minute. It opens with a king buried in paperwork about goat tax and dinner, deciding he has had enough, and it moves fast into a rivalry between his twin children, Oliver and Olivia, who trade insults over which of them deserves the throne. Because the recording is narration threaded with short back and forth lines, you get one clear reading voice carrying both a formal court register and quick sibling bickering, so it works well if you want to improve your english accent on a single, consistent voice.

The lines are short, often a single sentence, so nothing forces you into a long breath group before you can reset. That suits early speaking practice: you can shadow this line by line without running out of air halfway through, and the tone swings from formal command, as in "Fetch my children.", to childish taunt, as in "Honestly, Oliver, can your snoring be any louder?", within a few lines of each other.

The insults and mock titles in the twins' argument

Qualify any shadowing session on this clip around its dialogue rather than the narration, since that is where the accent and rhythm do the most work.

  • "Honestly, Oliver, can your snoring be any louder?" is answered a beat later by "Honestly, Olivia, can your voice be any more annoying?". The two lines mirror each other word for word except the name and the insult, so run them back to back and you can hear how stress falls on the same syllables in both.
  • "I might have magicked one of the maids to do it on my behalf." is the longest line in the exchange, and the phrase "on my behalf" is worth isolating on its own before you try the full sentence, since it carries three unstressed syllables in a row.
  • "Your High Majesty, Sir Father the Great." is Oliver mocking the king's title, and it only works if you exaggerate the stress on every capitalised word, which makes it a useful line for practising how emphasis changes meaning, not just pronunciation.

A shadowing english practice route through the throne room scene

Work this clip in three short passes rather than one long one, since the lines are short enough to isolate.

  • First pass: listen only, from the king's line "I'm retiring." through to "Fetch my children.", and just track how the narrator's pace changes between plain narration and the king's spoken lines.
  • Second pass: shadow the mirrored insult pair, "Honestly, Oliver, can your snoring be any louder?" and "Honestly, Olivia, can your voice be any more annoying?", back to back, aiming to match the rhythm of the first line exactly on the second.
  • Third pass: take "I might have magicked one of the maids to do it on my behalf." on its own and repeat it five times before moving on, since it is the one line in this stretch long enough to test whether you can speak english fluently through a full clause without pausing.
  • Finish on "Your High Majesty, Sir Father the Great." and try it twice: once flat, once with the exaggerated royal stress it actually needs, so you can hear the difference emphasis makes on the same words.
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