#417 How to Stop Speaking English Slow, Like a Robot — Learn to Speak FAST, NATURAL English
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RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English
11-25 23:0099
全文概览
The podcast episode focuses on enhancing English speaking skills for a more natural flow, advocating for practical techniques and daily practice. The speaker underscores the importance of using clips from movies, songs, and familiar expressions to aid listeners in improving their speech. They recommend engaging with the content by speaking along and saving episodes for repeated listening to boost natural speaking abilities and comprehension of rapid native speech. Throughout the episode, several connected speech patterns, including the schwa sound and the flap 't' sound, are highlighted for their role in fluency and naturalness. The hosts encourage embracing a temporary feeling of foolishness as a crucial step towards improvement and recognizing one's current skill level. They also provide vocabulary resources, share personal experiences about the necessity of stepping out of one's comfort zone for learning, and wrap up with an inspiring quote about overcoming ego to foster growth and improvement.
The podcast episode focuses on enhancing English speaking skills for a more natural flow, advocating for practical techniques and daily practice. The speaker underscores the importance of using clips from movies, songs, and familiar expressions to aid listeners in improving their speech. They recommend engaging with the content by speaking along and saving episodes for repeated listening to boost natural speaking abilities and comprehension of rapid native speech. Throughout the episode, several connected speech patterns, including the schwa sound and the flap 't' sound, are highlighted for their role in fluency and naturalness. The hosts encourage embracing a temporary feeling of foolishness as a crucial step towards improvement and recognizing one's current skill level. They also provide vocabulary resources, share personal experiences about the necessity of stepping out of one's comfort zone for learning, and wrap up with an inspiring quote about overcoming ego to foster growth and improvement.
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Becoming a Fast and Natural English Speaker
This lesson focuses on enhancing your English speaking speed and fluency by practicing with clips from famous series, movies, songs, proverbs, and tongue twisters. It encourages daily practice with interactive transcripts and vocabulary flashcards, aiming for improved understanding of native English at a fast pace.
01:42
01:42
Mastering Connected Speech for Fluent English
This episode focuses on enhancing English pronunciation and fluency through understanding and practicing common connected speech patterns. Emphasizing the importance of mimicking native speakers, it provides insight into the mechanics of fast, natural speech. Key topics include the schwa sound, reduction of syllables, and the natural flow of language. Listeners are encouraged to follow along with real-life examples and practice exercises to improve their ability to both produce and understand connected speech patterns.
06:12
06:12
Understanding the Importance of the Schwa Sound in English
Explains the significance of the schwa sound in English pronunciation and rhythm, highlighting it as a foundational element for clear speech. Discusses how practicing this sound can improve the fluency of English pronunciation, using examples from movies.
07:41
07:41
Exploring Rhythm and Proverbs in English Language Practice
The dialogue discusses the pronunciation nuances of the word 'again' and its repetition, emphasizing the rhythmical effect in speech. It introduces the proverb 'birds of a feather flock together,' explaining its meaning and the schwa sounds within it, encouraging learners to practice these sounds for improved fluency. The discussion also touches on the adaptation of words and sounds in speech, including the simplification of 'of' to a schwa and the preposition 'to' to 'T', highlighting these as areas for practice.
10:22
10:22
Exploring English Proverbs: 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day' and Its Reduction
The dialogue discusses the proverb 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day' and its equivalent in Ukrainian. It delves into the phonetic nuances of the English version, noting the loss of the 't' in 'wasn't' and the reduction of the 'of' in 'jack of all trades, master of none.' The latter is further simplified to 'jack, all trades, master a nun,' highlighting the common phenomenon of word reduction in spoken English.
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12:22
Exploring Speech Reductions in American English
The dialogue focuses on various speech reductions found in American English, including the trend of reducing 'kind of' to 'kinda', the elimination of 'V' sounds, and the shortening of words like 'couple' and prepositions. It also touches on the morphing of certain sounds, exemplified by 'how to get away with murder', and uses Eminem's song 'Lose Yourself' to illustrate rapid speech patterns. The discussion aims to educate on common speech patterns and their implications for understanding.
15:09
15:09
Mastering English Pronunciation and Vocabulary
This dialogue focuses on enhancing English pronunciation, specifically the change of 'T' to 'D' sounds in certain words, known as the flap T phenomenon. It also emphasizes the importance of memorizing vocabulary through active engagement and the use of learning apps to aid in fluency. Real-life examples and practice exercises are suggested for better retention.
18:14
18:14
Explaining Rhotic Sounds and Using Flap T in Conversations
The dialogue provides guidance on pronouncing the flap R sound, often found in languages like Ukrainian, Spanish, and Portuguese, by comparing it to a soft D sound. It also offers practice by repeating phrases such as 'what are you talking about' from a TV show, highlighting its common use in questions starting with 'what.' This demonstrates how to use the flap T sound in context.
19:53
19:53
Exploring English Proverbs and Pronunciation Challenges
The dialogue focuses on teaching two English proverbs, 'better late than never' and 'out of sight, out of mind,' along with a tongue twister. It highlights pronunciation tips, such as the deletion of the 't' sound between words, and provides examples for practical usage.
22:47
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Eminem's Rap for Pronunciation Practice
The speaker suggests using Eminem's lyrics for pronunciation improvement, emphasizing the distinctive American English featured in rap music. By listening and mimicking lines from a song, learners can enhance their speech clarity and articulation.
23:50
23:50
Exploring English Pronunciation Patterns: Drop T and Schwa Sounds
This dialogue focuses on English pronunciation tips, specifically the removal of the letter 't' and the schwa sound in certain words, as demonstrated in phrases like 'I don't know' and words such as 'internet', 'international', '2020', and 'advantage'. It also covers the unique way 'Santa Claus' is pronounced in different English accents, highlighting the contrast between American and British English in handling this name. Through examples from a podcast about learning English, the speakers aim to improve listeners' understanding and pronunciation of common words and phrases.
26:53
26:53
Exploration of English Pronunciation Patterns and Expressions
This dialogue covers various pronunciation nuances in English, focusing on dropped H sounds, the American T sound, and contractions. It also delves into idiomatic expressions like 'love him or hate him' and 'shoulda', 'woulda', discussing their usage and relevance in conversational English. A practical lesson is provided through examples from different contexts, enhancing learners' understanding and pronunciation skills.
31:32
31:32
Exploring Sound Combinations in English Speech
The dialogue focuses on how specific letter combinations, such as d+y and t+y, produce unique sounds in English. It emphasizes the nuances of these sounds in everyday conversation and in song lyrics, using examples from various sources including a student interaction, the film 'Ingrid Goes West', a song by Justin Bieber, and a song by Jua Lipa. The discussion highlights the use of these sounds in auxiliary verbs like 'did', 'would', 'should', and explores their application in casual speech and singing.
35:42
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Exploring Music to Improve English Skills
The dialogue focuses on using various songs, including 'Don't You Wish Your Girlfriends Was Hot Like Me' and 'Bad Boys' by Inner Circle, to help students practice English pronunciation and connected speech. It also mentions the use of Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Give It Away' for similar practice. A learner of the week is acknowledged.
38:30
38:30
Overcoming Learning Barriers: Embracing Discomfort for Mastery
Rox zeu praised an app that transformed their intermediate-level English studies into an exciting journey by engaging with videos and a podcast, highlighting the importance of repetition and mimicry. The app's creators aim to assist those long-stuck at the intermediate level by fostering an environment where learning feels less daunting and more like an adventure. A motivational quote by James Clear encourages embracing discomfort and vulnerability as essential steps towards mastering any skill, comparing it to the learning experience of trying new activities, like roller skating.
42:15
42:15
Embracing Foolishness for Growth and Skill Development
The dialogue emphasizes the importance of stepping out of one's comfort zone and embracing feelings of foolishness as a means to grow and acquire new skills. It encourages trying activities that initially feel uncomfortable, such as roller skating or mimicking native speakers, to foster personal development and have fun. The metaphor of 'climbing down from your perch' serves as a reminder to remain humble and open to learning. Additionally, the speaker promotes engagement with their content by subscribing to their channel, liking videos, and leaving positive reviews, highlighting the benefits of consistent practice and the unity found in shared human experiences, like enjoying unique pizza toppings.
发言人 100:00
So if you feel like your English sounds slow and robotic, this lesson is going to help you to become a fast, natural English speaker. And this lesson is super practical. You're going to practice a lot with clips from great series movies, songs, common proverbs, and tongue twisters. So I highly recommend that you watch somewhere where you can speak out loud with us. And I also highly recommend that you add this one to your favorites and come back and mimic a few of the exercises every day. If you do this over a few weeks, you're going to find that you really are speaking more naturally. And you can even understand fast native speech much better.
发言人 100:42
By the way, every episode of this podcast comes with an interactive transcript and exclusive vocabulary flashcards featuring all of the most important expressions that we covered. So expressions like blog and Jack, of all the trades that you're going to hear in a little bit are already waiting for you. So as soon as you finish watching this episode, click the link in the description, which is going to take you over to the real life English app where you can start your vocabulary right away. And now let's get into episode 417 of the Real Life English podcast. Sossano I'm excited about today's lesson and in preparing for it, I had a throwback, my childhood. I was reminded of something, a very special word that every kid I think gets to know that's super caliraya, the Xb ao DOS, do you have this word in Ukrainian?
发言人 201:35
I've heard it, but I'm not sure we translated into Ukrainian. I think it comes from some movie, Mary Poppins or something, right.
发言人 101:42
Mary, pop-in that's it.
发言人 201:43
I would never be able to repeat that and I never tried to learn it, actually. Do you remember how much time it took you to learn to remember the word?
发言人 101:51
I'm sure as a kid it was really quick because there was the song and everything and you learn to sing it.
发言人 201:58
Fra? Even though the sound of it is something quite.
发言人 102:04
I thought about this because we're talking all about connected speech, about fast spoken English. And I imagine for a lot of English learners that when they listen to native English, a lot of times it sounds something like that, like supercali, fragi. This is like XBLA Dois. You hear an entire sentence and it just comes out to like one blob of a word.
发言人 202:22
I can relate when I listen to Spanish speakers, it sounds exactly like like that, just like a mixture of sounds.
发言人 102:31
Exactly, but Cassan, you speak very confidently and naturally in a way that's quite native like. So how did you learn to have this sort of quick, natural speech?
发言人 202:44
I think there were a couple things, but the pivotal role I would. Put on mimicking. Yeah, I use a lot of shadowing exercise, so I would just like listen to you some clips and repeating that. I was repeating those.
发言人 103:03
And I think a big part of it, it's not just the speed. I think a lot of it is actually how it flows together. So even though someone might sound like they're speaking fast, it might be more that the words are, which is what happens in English rights, we call it connected speech, that some syllables reduce. Some of them are more emphasized and they flow together, they connect. And so this flow of the language is natural flow that you can get, like you said, by shadowing, by mimicking, it can make it sound like we're speaking really fast. So although maybe you think that you need to speak faster, it might actually be that you're just needing to employ more this kind of speech. And I think that by learning some of the different elements of connected speech is also going to help you to then be able to perceive it and understand it better. When natives use this .
发言人 203:54
exactly, I think we were introduced to the basics of the connected speech in university. But as I said, most of it, it was just like from real clips from movies and interviews.
发言人 104:04
Yeah, I think a lot of schools never even teach this, and there are some mechanics, some rules that you can learn that will really help you to be able to, if you want to be able to use connected speech and to ultimately understand it better. And we're not going to go so much into the mechanics of connected speech in this lesson. We went to it in another lesson in depth that we'll link down in the description. But by the end of this episode, you are going to learn 5 very common connected speech patterns that once you learn them, you're going to see them everywhere. You'll actually get the chance to practice them, to do some mimicry with real life examples, just like hessen-nassau learned to flow more naturally. And finally, you'll learn why it can be a good thing to be a fool.
发言人 104:46
But before we get into today's a lesson, I want to let you know that if you are new here, every single week we make lessons like this that help you to become a confident, natural English speaker. So if that is part of your goal, then be sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell down below if you're on YouTube or if you are on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or listening to us on any other platform like that, be sure to follow us so you don't miss a single new episode, all Cassia. So what is the first pattern? I'm sure people are itching to know?
发言人 205:11
Yeah I'm so excited because today there is lots and lots of practice for listeners, viewers, the first sound is the schwa sound, how we would call it. It's that, sound. It's very unassuming like it's, it happens in unstressed syllables, right? So you may not even notice it, but I will illustrate it very quickly with just one word and it will be like really, really clear for you what this sound is about the word banana. It has three A's but you don't say banana. Banana, right? Say banana. So the really true A is only in the middle of the word banana. The rest A's in this world are schwa sounds. So you don't pronounce them fully, they're just like, this, sound banana. Banana .
发言人 106:06
made me think of this when Stefani song, you know, like the it's bananas BA NAS.
发言人 206:12
you remember that one? That I should listen to it now?
发言人 106:19
Adolescence, maybe? You said a really nice word there. You said it's unassuming. What does that mean if something is unassuming?
发言人 206:25
Yeah, so imagine like if, if you're a person and you don't seek attention, maybe you are shy, reserved, so you may be described as unassuming, it's something that you are not attracting attention.
发言人 106:38
right? Like humble, right?
发言人 206:40
A very nice alternative to that word, humble.
发言人 106:43
All right, so we have actually, like we mentioned, some different clips. So for each of the patterns we go through today, we will explain it like cassen you just has, then we'll go through some different clips and with each eclip, we will explain what the connected speech is, and then you'll have the opportunity to also repeat it. And if you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple podcast, you might want to head over to the Relay English app because there you'll get the video and that will really help you to know the cues for when you can repeat.
发言人 207:13
So the first clip you'll watch now is from Doctor Strange and try to catch the schwa sound there. By the way, before we watch it, just small comment here, why this sound comes first, why we started with that? Because it's like a really, really key ingredient and the rhythm of the English language. Yeah, it helps the language flow, this combination of stress and stress syllables. So it's really, really important for you try to catch it in this clip.
发言人 307:46
And again and again, forever.
发言人 207:48
I like that he repeats it several times, right? Like again and again and again. So first of all, this word has two pronunciations. You can say again, or you can say gain, both are correct, but what what happens here? A.
发言人 108:03
yeah, so it's the same as the article A, usually we don't pronounce a full A, we say it as a schwa sound A, and we have an A at the beginning, so it just becomes again or a gain, as you said. And we also have the word and that oftentimes we cut off the D, so we're having that A and that becomes an linking to the again. So you have again and again and again and again, it's very rhythmical, right? I think this would even be a great one for learners to repeat over and over again, but try to say it faster and faster and faster until you're saying again, again and again and again and again and again.
发言人 208:39
Yeah, that's a wonderful example to repeat. So we could play the clip one more time. And you guys, please repeat and practice this sound .
发言人 308:47
again and again and again. And again, forever again, again and again.
发言人 109:01
All right, the next one is a really nice proverb that goes, birds of a feather flock together. So here we have a couple schwa sounds. When we have of it often becomes a simple, and we have the article A, as we mentioned before, that often becomes a schwa sound. So it's also A, but we have the V from of that is linking to that. So we have birds of a feather. Birds of a feather flock together. And what does this mean, this proverb, cassen?
发言人 209:34
It's a very interesting proverb, and it basically means that people who are like, who have similar interests or hobbies, they stick together and reminds me of a new song, one of the newer songs from Billie Eilish. And it has the same name Birds of a Feather. She says she thinks birds of a feather, we should stick together, something like that.
发言人 109:58
Nice, it's a nice play with that proverb. We also have another schwa in the word together, so instead of saying a full together, it's a T together, and this is also interesting because the preposition to often becomes a T, so like I would like to see you, for example. So that can be a good one for people to practice saying after me. So birds of a feather flock together.
发言人 210:25
So the next proverb we want to share with you guys is Rome wasn't built in a day. You know, Ethan, what's interesting is that we have the same proverb in Ukrainian. So basically, we also took it to our language, but here in English, it would sound like that Rome wasn't built in a day. So let's explain the connection speed. Here.
发言人 210:45
We have schwa sound in the article day here. Built in a day, built in a day. And also what happens with wasn't it loses its tea, which we'll talk a little bit deeper more later, right? But that's why you don't hear it here. Wasn't wasn't with lose the T sound, Rome wasn't built in a day, guys. You may repeat it now after me. Rome wasn't built in a day.
发言人 111:16
All right, and another proverb here that you can use is jack of all trades, master of none. But we reduce it a lot. Jack, all trades, master of none.
发言人 211:26
would you define it first, what it means?
发言人 111:29
Yeah, so oftentimes we'll even just short it to a jack of all trades. It means someone who's good at many things, but they're not exceptional really, at any of them. So might be, you know, someone like that or you're like that yourself, that you have many different talents, but maybe you haven't had mastery over any of them. And what we're seeing happening here is that we have a linking like the of all, like it's really reduced, we have a schwa sound in the of so jack of all trades, master of none. So in that second of even we remove the sound altogether, master and nonen. So jack, all trades, master a nun.
发言人 212:11
So guys, as you've seen, a very often gets reduced to just V or schwa sound. So we got a clip for you where you can hear it and repeat after the character.
发言人 112:22
kind of like Barney kind of he. So this is interesting because we have this kind of, we hear that all the time, right? Kind of becoming kind of, but I think I even heard him reduce it even more so just kinda, which sometimes they do this, they remove the DS kind of, so you can have kind of kind of.
发言人 212:38
yeah, so there are possible reductions. Yeah, extreme way of reducing this would be kinda .
发言人 112:44
so listen and repeat again.
发言人 212:46
kind of like Barney.
发言人 312:47
kind of.
发言人 212:48
kind of like Barney kind .
发言人 312:50
of kind .
发言人 212:51
of like Barney .
发言人 312:52
kind .
发言人 112:53
all right? Because anyway, we have one final clip here from the wild, let's check it out top left.
发言人 312:58
couple of right, couple of left, couple of right.
发言人 213:02
couple of left, couple of right. So there is no V at all. So off gets reduced just to schwa sound. Yeah, cupola, couple of lefts, couple of rights, couple of lefts, couple of rights, what does it mean? Couple of lefts, couple of rights.
发言人 113:16
nice, it's when you're giving directions, you can tell someone, oh, you need to take a couple of lefts and then a couple of rights, and then you'll get there. I'm not sure if that's what it's referring to in the clip, but .
发言人 213:27
yeah, basically you should take couple of turns to the left, couple of turns to the right, right.
发言人 113:35
right. Let's watch it again and repeat after the character .
发言人 313:39
left couple right up, left couple, right?
发言人 113:45
And we mentioned briefly cassani that also two, the preposition two, can be reduced to two very often. So we have a very nice song that I used to use all the time with my students, which is from Eminem. It's the one from the movie 8 mi called Lose Yourself. And we may look at some different lines during during this podcast, but the first one is when he says back to reality, he actually says it back to reality. Back to reality. So that back to back to all right, now try to repeat with Eminem.
发言人 114:24
And then finally, Cassini, there's a show that I watched several years back that I thought would be really nice to bring here. It's called How to Get Away with Murder. It's a really great show that has like a mix of kind of like legal and mystery. But if we said it really fast, we'd have quite a bit of reductions there. So it's how to get away with murder, how to get away with murder so that we hear some morphing there, which we'll talk about later, of the Tap T or American T, but how to get away with murder. So repeat after me how to get away with murder.
发言人 115:02
All right, Cassan, so before we move on to the next pattern, I thought it'd be really nice to test our learners on some of the vocabulary that we've learned so far.
发言人 115:09
So first off, do you remember what unassuming means? That really nice word that Cassini used? Wait, how did you do? Did you completely remember it? Did you sort of remember it? Did you completely forget it? That's okay, let's try another one if you didn't get it. So the next one is birds of a feather flock together, Remember that proverb, what does it mean? How about that one? Did you remember it completely? Did you sort of get it? Did you not get it? Well, see how valuable it is to study vocabulary like this after you learn it so that you can test yourself and you can actually remember it, so it becomes a part of your active speech.
发言人 115:50
So I this for almost all the languages that I've learned and it was super important for me to actually build my fluency. So I had the right words right when I needed them.
发言人 115:59
I would use program an app like Anki here, and it's a really great program, a really great app because it's you can do all sorts of things. You can add photos to it. You can add different text examples and so on. But it's also a lot of work. Took me maybe five minutes. Anytime I want to create just one flashcards.
发言人 116:17
So on the real life English app, we take all the hard work out of it for you for these lessons, so you can enjoy listening to us there and you can test your vocabulary. We give you images, examples, and writing exercises for every single term. And all you have to do is enjoy the lesson and then study the vocabulary so it becomes part of your active vocabulary. And the next time that you're in a conversation, you have exactly the words you need, you'll never forget them again. So you can try it for free right now with this very lesson by clicking the link down in the description below. Or you can look for real life English in your favorite app store and just look for episode 417 of the podcast. We hope that you enjoyed a lot and let's get back to today's episode.
发言人 217:00
Okay, so the second pattern that we brought today for you is the flap tea. And if we were talking about an unassuming Swa sound, something very different happens to a flap T because it becomes the sound Du, which is a voiced counterpart of the T when it happens. So whenever the T sound is followed by a vowel, it would turn into a D sound. For example, you can remember such words as better. It would sound better with a fab tea or beautiful, which would sound like beautiful. And there is a real Litus test when somebody is asked to read water bottle the way you read it will, you know, define whether you are speaking with an American English or with a British English or British would say water bottle? How would you say that in American English?
发言人 117:57
I think water bottle.
发言人 217:59
Water bottle. That's the meme. That's like a very common joke that I would, you know, use the celebrities, even in interviews when they speak about their accents, right?
发言人 118:09
All right, so for our first example, we brought a clip from a Billie Eilish song.
发言人 118:20
All right, kinya, do you want to explain what is happening here?
发言人 218:22
Yeah, so we have two examples of the flap tea, which is happening here. So in the first line, I don't know how to feel. So these how to feel turns into how to feel, how, how to feel.
发言人 218:41
And but I because but is followed by I, which is vowel sound, right? It also turns into a D sound, but I, but I want to try nice.
发言人 118:51
I think a helpful tip here as well is that many languages have this tap R sound, right? I believe in Ukrainian, it exists in Spanish and Portuguese. It like rara sound. It's pretty much the same thing. So just practice saying some of these words instead of trying to think of it as a T, try to think of it as being like that R sound. If you do have that in your language.
发言人 219:12
Yeah, it's called like either a soft D or this, what you just said. Yeah.
发言人 119:17
all right, let's check out this next clip, which is a clip from how I Met Your Mother.
发言人 319:22
What are you talking about, what are you talking about?
发言人 119:25
Oh, that's such a great one to repeat like over and over again, right?
发言人 219:28
What are you talking about? First of all, it's very common question and by the way, guys, you'll, meet lots and lots of flappy in the questions that start with what? Because usually it is followed by either is what is or are what are. So it's very nice example to repeat.
发言人 119:45
All right, well, let's watch again and repeat.
发言人 319:48
what are you talking about? What are you talking about, what are you talking about? Alright.
发言人 119:53
so we have another proverb, better late than never, which I think is self-sexualization to. It means that, for example, if I said happy birthday, the day after your birthday, say, I might say, you know, sorry I'm late, but better late than never, even though, I'm a daylight, it's at least I remembered and it's a really nice one for the connected speech. So it's better late than never, better late than never. There's also something else We're not going to talk about this pattern, but the late ends with a T and the next word begins with t, so we actually drop that first T, this happens pretty much anytime you have a word that's ending in a T sound, and the following word begins with either a T sound, a T sound, or a Th sound. It's just kind of a hard mechanic in our mouth, so that's probably why we usually drop it there. So better late than never, better late than never repeat after me.
发言人 220:48
and I really like the next one, we have this pro out of sight out of mind because again, out of is such a common combination that you just like learn it one time and use it all the time. Out of out of sight, out of mind.
发言人 121:03
And what does that mean? Because .
发言人 221:04
you can use this phrase when, for example, I don't see a person like you just had a breakup, so you just want avoid that person because out of sight when you don't see it, it's out of mind, you don't think about this person.
发言人 121:19
Yeah, you might also have something at your home that's kind of triggering for you, maybe something that broke your new phone and you put it in the cupboard because you don't want to keep seeing it and remembering that it's broken so it's out of sight out of mind.
发言人 221:33
So guys, please repeat after me out of sight out of mind.
发言人 121:39
All right, cassani we have one of my favorite tongue twisters, I think, because it's also really fun to do in different accents. And it's Betty botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my .
发言人 221:59
batter better batty, but but .
发言人 322:02
the but but the bitter.
发言人 222:04
so I remember it from school time. We of course would read it as batty butter, butter, some butter, something like that, because we had to work on this aspiration in the letter T, yeah, it's how it's different from Ukrainian to, for example, we don't have that aspiration, so we really had to make sure we pronounce it with aspiration bety butter. So it's so much easier in American just bety butter, butter and butter.
发言人 122:30
so it's good for every accent, right? I'll repeat it again and you guys try to shadow repeat after me, Betty bought her bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of batter butter will make my batter better.
发言人 122:57
Alright, I promised to bring back Eminem, Louis yourself. So great line, great song. If you want to memorize this. I used to do this with all of my students is as a lesson we would learn to wrap the song. So even if you don't like rap I'm not a huge fan of rap, It's just so great for improving your pronunciation. So let's have a listen and see if you can catch all the American teas here.
发言人 323:20
Sweats, weak, vomit, sweat.
发言人 123:26
So we had a few lines here. Palms are sweaty, vomit on his sweater already, and mom spaghetti. So try again to listen and repeat mimic, just like Eminem says it.
发言人 323:37
Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, there's vomit on his sweater already. Mom's spaghetti, he's N?
发言人 123:48
And what is the next pattern?
发言人 223:50
Okay, so this one was, I think, the last one that I learned myself and was struggling to follow this pattern. But that really is helpful. So it happens in the combination of the letters and T, so t will be dropped, right? So only n will be left and you know, and probably you use it yourself when you say, I don't know, because most of the times you will say, I don't know, I don't know. No, no t here, I don't know, let's watch the clip.
发言人 324:24
I don't know, I don't know.
发言人 224:25
I don't know. And what's interesting, it happens both in American and English, in British English, right? Because that clip was from bridgerton, it's, I think it's Canadian actually, right? Series.
发言人 124:37
but I think the accents are British.
发言人 224:39
the accent is British.
发言人 124:41
The only thing that was different is, I would say, I don't know. And I noticed that he was saying, I don't know, I don't know. So you're saying like a true O there instead of a schwa sound? I don't know.
发言人 224:53
there are a couple of words that are common that you can come across that follow this pattern. So I might read a couple of them and we'll show you some clips so you could repeat after the characters. So these words are Internet International 2020 Identity Center interview advantage and Christmas is coming Santa Claus. So in this first clip, pay attention to how they say the number 20.
发言人 325:21
2022 years, 2022 years.
发言人 125:24
So because of this reminds me of another proverb that we say a lot, hindsight is 2020. Now we'll say this a lot of times when, you know, you're saying like, oh, you know, I wish I did this other thing or I wish things had turned out differently. I will say that, you know, hindsight is 2020, like, yeah, in when you're looking back in the past hindsight, that's what it means is like you're looking to the past, everything is 2020, meaning like you have perfect vision if you have 2020 vision. So when we look back, we're like, oh, if I'd done it this way, it would have been better. But when you were in that moment, you didn't know. So it's hindsight is 2020 and it has that really nice connected .
发言人 326:01
22, 22 years, 20.
发言人 226:05
Okay, so we have the next clip here and that's the word advantage. Listen to how they pronounce it.
发言人 126:12
My friend is taking advantage, my friend is taking advantage.
发言人 226:15
Now listen again and repeat .
发言人 126:17
my friend taking. And .
发言人 226:21
as I said, we're recording this podcast just weeks away from Christmas. Christmas is coming, let's learn how to pronounce Santa Claus.
发言人 126:29
Santa .
发言人 326:30
Claus.
发言人 126:31
this is funny too, because Brits don't even say Santa Claus with a true tea because they call him Father Christmas.
发言人 226:39
Yeah, Christmas is .
发言人 126:41
so no Santa Claus exists, it's always Santa .
发言人 226:45
for the Christmas, that is it. Or Santa Claus.
发言人 326:47
Santa Claus, the Claus.
发言人 126:51
All right, cassani, let's move on to the next pattern.
发言人 226:53
So we have only two left. So the next one is age dropping. It happens in pronouns like her, him, and them as well, right? And in the word have this H sound at the beginning will get dropped. So let's watch the clip from Welcome to Flesh and try to pay attention how they say see him and tell him if you see him.
发言人 127:13
can you tell him I'm sorry?
发言人 227:15
So what happens here is H in him is dropped. So what you hear is see him if you see him and the same happens to tell him, can you tell him, can you tell him? Now listen again and repeat.
发言人 127:28
If you see him, can you tell him I'm sorry? All right, let's watch a clip from Captain Fantastic and pay attention to the NT that we saw before in shouldn't, but also what happens to shouldn't and the word have here.
发言人 327:46
I shouldn't have told you.
发言人 127:47
I shouldn't have told you. And we can also do this one. It's a positive one, right? Like we have CTA, shoulda.
发言人 227:54
woulda this Kuta shoulda woulda? I believe Taylor Swift has this song with the same, I like kuda shoulda a right?
发言人 128:02
And that's another proverb. So a lot of times if someone's really complaining about like, oh, I wish I had done this, I should have done this, you can say kushida a, you know, it's already done, it's in the past, so just move on. So it's kind of tell someone, you know, that they made their mistakes and to move on. So let's watch the clip again and repeat after the character.
发言人 328:25
I shouldn't have told you, I shouldn't have told you.
发言人 128:29
all right, cassani a party classic, I got a feeling by the black eyed tees, let's check out a line here and pay attention to how they say her. Look at her dancing. So we had the her drop there and we have an American T, so it becomes look at her, look at her, look at her dancing. All right, so listen again and try to sing along. So because I believe we didn't mention that this happens with him and her, and it also happens with the pronoun them, even though it begins with a Th, oftentimes we drop that th and we just say, so you have, m, er, So a really nice proverb here is this one, for example, love him or hate him, and you can use this with any of the pronouns, love them or hate them, love her or hate her, love it or hate it, and this is to say it's something that's polarizing. So you might say, you know, crocs, those rubber shoes people either love them or hate them or Elon Musk, I think especially with the politics happening and everything, people are very polarized on what they think about Elon Musk. People either love him or they hate him.
发言人 229:46
Very nice expression, like example with zelan, right? And that's true .
发言人 129:52
and we can use it with it as well when you're talking about one of those things that people are very divided on like pineapple pizza, maybe so pineapple and pizza, people love it or they hate it, which camp you fall into, cassinia .
发言人 230:06
I know the whole country that hates it, right? Don't talk to Italian about pineapple pizza, I I'm guilty like I'm not with Italians in this 1, I really love pineapple and pizza.
发言人 130:21
That's amazing for me. I'm not so into the sweet things. And in Brazil, they commit all sorts of sins. With a pizza, you'll put goiabada, which is like a very like sweet sort of marmalade. That's a beautiful thing. I think pizza is such a symbol of a world beyond borders, you know, pizza beyond borders that every country has its variant, puts the toppings on that they want. You can repeat after me, love him or hate him, love it or hate it, love hater. So cassani, what is our final pattern?
发言人 230:53
Okay, so I think the last one is the most interesting one, and I have a story to share about that. So once I was teaching it students, I would come to their office and there was a boy whose level of English was pretty high, like Upper Intermediate. His vocabulary was so like diverse, very rich vocabulary. And I was surprised because once I asked some question that started with, did you, did you, did you notice this? Or I don't remember the question, but seems to me that he didn't understand the question because of the connected speech here.
发言人 231:32
So what happens here is when you have the combination of letters d plus y or t plus y, a totally new sound emerges, right? Like here, did you, it becomes, did you? Or when it's t plus y, it gives us the sound two like and right? And we have this first clip for you where you would be asked to listen to this sound that emerges in the combination of the letters d, NY, so please watch it. Pay attention to the sound.
发言人 232:06
Could you help me out? I'm a student here, could you help me out? I'm a student here, okay, so we have it, could you help me, could you help me?
发言人 132:14
Nice, so that's like what we saw before that we can have, could have, should have, would have become coulda, shoulda, woulda. And in the same way you can practice, could you, would you, would you become, could you, would you, would you .
发言人 232:28
smart?
发言人 132:30
So let's have another watch and repeat after her.
发言人 232:33
Could you help me out? I'm a student here.
发言人 132:37
All right, our next clip comes from Ingrid Goes West and pay attention to how he says the did and you combination.
发言人 332:44
Where did you find him? Where did you find him?
发言人 232:47
I think that was really hard to even hear where it was supposed to be, did you? Yeah.
发言人 132:52
because they just reduce how fragile the XBLA Dosha Ex.
发言人 232:57
right? They just is it all, So where did you could sound like, where did you, but it sounded like where'd you find them and there is this drop of the age that we've already covered. Yeah, were't you find him, why don't you listen to it again and try to now where, where's we've covered that this can happen with auxiliary?
发言人 133:25
Verbs like did, would, should, and so on, right? But this can also happen with a lot of other words that might end in a D, so for example, let's check out a clip from a song by Justin Bieber and pay attention to how he says around you. So he said around you, so listen again and try to sing along with him.
发言人 133:53
The next singer that we have, people often call her Jua Lipa in the UK. This is from her last album, which was just phenomenal. Like I have very good memories that we took a trip to the south of Spain and we were listening to that album on repeat. And one of my favorite songs from Illusion, which by the way Jua Lipa is a very big fan of Barcelona. And she did the music video for the song here in Barcelona, so didn't know that she uses some really nice connected speech in a couple of lines. So let's check out one of them.
发言人 234:27
Yeah, we're gonna make the lesson with Julie, put on our learning English with TV series.
发言人 134:32
Oh yeah, so as you probably heard, she says, what you doing? And then she also says. Don't know who you think? That's your confusing, that's sure. So what you're doing that you're confusing to try to listen again and sing along with her?
发言人 235:04
And if we remember some of the classic songs, right? And it was used in many movies, you might remember. You are So beautiful song by Joe Coker. And he sings, You are so beautiful to me, can't you see? Listen to how he sings here.
发言人 235:31
So again, the same happens here. There is a combination of t plus y, so it gives us, can you can choose C .
发言人 335:42
Can't see?
发言人 135:54
We used to have a very famous old clip here on the podcast as one of our transitions came from a series called Different Strokes. Let's listen to what that line is.
发言人 336:06
What you talking about .
发言人 236:07
Willis, What you talking about?
发言人 136:08
What you talking about Willis, what you talking about? So listen to that again and repeat.
发言人 236:18
And I remember from 2000 or 2010, something like that, that was a popular, again, song, those parties. So they were singing, don't you want a girlfriend?
发言人 136:30
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot? Maybe me? Yeah.
发言人 236:32
and the title of the song is don't you, don't you? Yeah, so let's listen to it.
发言人 336:37
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot?
发言人 136:41
Nice, so listen again and try to sing along with them.
发言人 336:44
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
发言人 136:51
All right, and then you, I have two more songs that also were ones that I used a lot with my students back in the days. So 1, I think everyone knows this song Bad Boys, even though they might not know the band's name Inner Circle. So let's take a listen. I'm sure you'll remember this.
发言人 337:09
so what you're going?
发言人 137:14
To do what you're going to do, you can repeat that. Sing this one over and over again. You're going to really get that pattern down. Listen again, try to sing along boys.
发言人 337:21
bad boys, what you gon na do do when they come for you?
发言人 137:31
So the next one is Red Hot Chili Peppers, and their music isn't exactly rap, but it has sort of similar elements. So they can also be really good to practice with this song. Give It Away now is just packed full of all sorts of different connected speech, so it's another one I'd really recommend you guys try studying with. So let's listen to a line of that.
发言人 138:01
What I got, you got to get to put it in you. Yeah, it's very, very good and fast to practice.
发言人 238:07
I used to listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I remember I didn't understand anything, almost anything.
发言人 138:15
It's like the super Cali fragile, this is the kexby alooshe. All right, guys, great job today mimicking, but we're not done yet. We're going to be doing some even more learning. But before we get into that, we have a very special shout out to our learner of the week.
发言人 238:34
So this week we got five stars from Rox zeu, and they wrote, I was stuck at the intermediate level due to boring English classes until I found your app. I'm incredibly excited to be obsessing over your videos and listening to your podcast. And oh yeah.
发言人 138:51
oh yeah Rana, and because it's really nice, I don't know if our learners noticed that you use some of the kind speech that we learned today. So you said found your as found your found your.
发言人 239:05
The power of mimicking and repeating, right? I've repeated it several times today. So, yeah, that's contagious.
发言人 139:14
And we built our app exactly for this to help those of you that feel like, you know, you've been studying for years, you're still stuck at intermediate, so you're not sure what else to try to help you to get past intermediates into advanced, confident, natural English. So you definitely should check it out. You can download it using the link down in the description below or searching for real life English in your favorite app store. And finally, let's wrap up today's podcast cassinia with the quote of the day. So this quote from James Clear popped up in my inbox last week, sennia and when we were preparing for today's lesson, I was like, oh man, this just, it's so perfect for today's topic because many people feel apprehensive about actually trying to speak like a native, about trying to actually employ connected speech because it makes them feel really uncomfortable. It's so foreign, it puts them back into feeling like a child. That's like having to work their muscles of articulation. So let me give it a read.
发言人 140:16
In many cases, you'll find that the only thing preventing you from learning is your ego. No one enjoys feeling foolish, but attempting something new requires that you climb down from your perch and struggle. As a beginner, you must ask questions that reveal your ignorance or attempt skills that make you look uncoordinated. Learning demands the willingness to live in a brief state of discomfort. You must believe that looking like a fool for an hour will not ruin your reputation for life.
发言人 240:41
Such an quote and so many great words to define, Probably we should define some of them. But before we do, let me just share that this quote actually also very relatable to me. Like last weekend, I took meta to the skating rink, to roller skating rink, and I thought, why don't I try to skate as well? Although I'm like, I don't know how to skate, but I tried. I was curious too, and like, yeah, it was a total out of my comfort zone. I almost like fell several times and it was so, so clumsy. So I'm coordinated, of course, I felt like a fool, but I felt so much better closer to the end of the evening, like, and I believe that's so cool when you know how to roller skate to do skate. Ethan, do you know how to skate?
发言人 141:38
Also was trying to learn because Jordy is quite good at roller skating, so it's an activity we can go out and do together, but I also feel like a fish out of water. That's another way you could say that with some really nice connected speech out of the out water, meaning that you don't feel like you're doing something that you're skilled at. You're out of your comfort zone, right? It's something we can get better at, right? It's part of the adventure. So that's what exactly this quote is saying is that it's okay to feel like a fool, to feel what does that mean if you're a fool by the way.
发言人 242:13
means like like a stupid person, right?
发言人 142:16
Or a silly person, maybe just someone who doesn't look so poised, so elegant, so sure of themselves.
发言人 242:26
Yeah, actually it was like here, like feeling foolish. Yeah, so foolish is like a stupid person, foolish to feel like a stupid person .
发言人 142:33
and it doesn't just have to do with intelligence necessarily, it's just anything where we don't feel like we're good at it, right? But everything that we want is on the other side of our comfort zone, on the other side of being able to embrace that foolishness. So here he's really just trying to encourage us to get past our ego, of needing to seem perfect and to seem like we know what we're doing to try things like roller skating or like mimicking, like trying to sound a little bit more like a native. These things that feel really weird and uncomfortable for us, but that can help us to grow skills or to maybe just have fun, right? With with our family.
发言人 243:14
There is this nice expression he used climbed down from your perch. So guys, if you have a pet, a parrot as a pet, usually in their cages, you have this perch where the parrot would sit to come climb down from your perch, just like to, you know, be simpler.
发言人 143:30
just like be humble.
发言人 243:31
come down to earth and be humble.
发言人 143:33
be unassuming that we saw earlier. And you mentioned uncoordinated, clumsy. These mean the same things that you're not so poised, not so .
发言人 243:44
out of balance. Yeah, exactly, so guys, I hope you're enjoying and having fun and also learning a lot with our lessons.
发言人 243:51
And if you want to support us, an easy way to do so if you are here on YouTube is to subscribe to our channel, hit the bell down below and by giving this video a like, this helps you understand that you found this lesson valuable. And so other learners like you could discover it. Also, if you are listening to this podcast on Spotify, Apple podcast or any other streaming platform, please follow us there as well and leave us a five star review. Again, it goes a long way to help other learners take their English to the next level with us. Finally, if you are not watching this lesson on the real life English app, what you're waiting for? That's the best way to gain confident and natural English. You can get access to this lesson for free by clicking on the link in the description below.
发言人 144:43
So guys, thanks again for joining us today. Hope you had a great time, hope that you've put your muscles of articulation to practice. Or maybe if you were listening to this outside of the home, then this is a really great lesson for you to watch different parts over and over again and practice that so that you can get better and better. And even if you don't care about something like a native, even if you don't want to use connected speech when you're speaking, practicing it can still help you to understand it better. So be sure to really digest this lesson. And remember that no matter what divides us, maybe even weird toppings on your pizza, that which unites us is far greater. One, 2, 3.
Listen with FREE Interactive Transcript only on the RealLife App.
If you feel like your English sounds slow and robotic, this lesson is going to help you to become a fast, natural English speaker. Also, this lesson is super practical. You're going to practice a lot with clips from great series, movies, songs, common proverbs, and tongue twisters.
By the end of this episode, you will:
- Master the most common patterns of connected speech through engaging movie clips.
- Improve your pronunciation and understanding of English sounds with songs by Billie Eilish, Joe Cocker, Eminem, and RHCP.
- Learn idioms and have fun with tongue twisters to challenge your fluency.
Plus:
- Expand your vocabulary with a ton of practical expressions.
- Get inspired by the Quote of the Day from Ethan.
- Celebrate the achievements of our Learner of the Week.
..........
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