In this lesson I’ll teach you FAST native speaker pronunciation. We’ll look at how when native speakers are relaxed and talking fast, individual sounds in a sentence may change completely. This happens because our tongues naturally want to say everything the laziest way possible! I’ll give you plenty of examples of the sounds in words changing when spoken quickly and I’ll also teach you some IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). We’ll also practice speaking with the right intonation when asking questions, as this is really important not only to convey the right meaning, but also to get the correct rhythm in your speech. In under 15 minutes, you will be able to start sounding more like a native English speaker.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi, everyone. In this lesson I’m going to teach you how to speak like a native speaker. When native speakers are speaking, everything flows so it sounds like it’s really, really fast and it’s hard to understand; but in this lesson I’m going to show you how native speakers connect their words, and for that reason when they speak it sounds really fast. So, based on this lesson, you’ll be able to speak faster like a native speaker, but also understand native speakers better when they’re just speaking in a relaxed way.
Let me explain the columns I’ve got here. Here we have the question phrases, and here this is written in sentences that you can understand, normal English sentences – this is what we write, but this column is what we say. This is the difference between the sounds that we make in the sentences and what we write. And this column here is the best we can get to and the closest we can get to describing the sounds, still using the English alphabet, but we could only get so close to it because the English alphabet doesn’t have letters for every sound in English when we’re speaking, so that’s why we have this column which is IPA transcription. Now, this might be completely new to you and you won’t understand the symbols here. It can be hard to learn at first, but I’m going to point out the most important things you need to know here. And as you learn this, slowly, slowly, this is a way for you to understand the exact pronunciation of words, but also when words are together in a sentence.
Let’s have a look at the first example. The question phrase is: „When’s he coming? When’s he coming?” Now, if I’m saying that slowly, perhaps as a beginner, I would say: „When is he coming?”; „When’s he coming?” is when I speed it up. So, look here at „sounds like”: „Wen-zi kumin? Wen-zi kumin?” What’s…? What’s changed about the question? Well, the first thing to notice is that the „g” is gone: „kumin, kumin”. That happens a lot in words that end in „ing”, like: „going”, „coming”. We don’t say the „g” when we’re speaking in a really relaxed, informal way at all times, in all… In all situations. So, „coming” becomes „kumin”, and there’s another change. „When’s he…? When is he” changes to: „Wen-zi, wen-zi. Wen-zi kumin?” Why does this change? Where has the letter „h” gone? Well, it becomes silent: „Wen-zi kumin?” And the „s” changes to a „z” sound. „Wen-zi kumin?”
Next example: „When did you meet?” Beginner: „When did you meet?” but that doesn’t sound very natural, so instead we say: „Wen-jew meet? Wen-jew meet?” What’s changed here is where… Where’s the „d” for „did” gone? „Wen-jew meet?” This happens because the sounds blend into one another. If we go back here as well: „When did you meet?” – four sounds, four syllables; but here: „Wen-jew meet?” – only three syllables. „Wen-jew meet?” „e”, „e”, this is long „i” sound – „e” in „meet”. „Wen-jew meet?”
There’s another way we can say this: „Wen di-jah meet? Wen di-jah meet?” Let’s compare. Listen closely because it’s a small difference. „Wen-jew meet? Wen di-jah meet? Wen di-jah meet?” Just depends on the speaker and whether they’re feeling very relaxed, how informal the situation is what pronunciation they would use. „Wen di-jah meet? Wen di-jah meet?” This is the schwa. „Wen di-jah meet?”
Next example: „When do you go home? When do you go home?” I’m speaking slowly like a robot, so let’s speed it up: „Wen-jew go home? Wen-jew go home? What time? Wen-jew go home? Wen-jew go home?” Dipthong, „o”, „home”, „o”, home”. „Wen-jew go home?” I can say that one in a different way: „Wen-juh go home? Wen-juh go home?” Let’s look at the IPA. „When…” Oh, there’s a mistake here; I’ve written: „Wen-ya go home”. That’s an easy mistake to make. So let’s… Let’s change this. „Wen-juh? Wen-juh go home?” Why did I make that mistake there? Because when I’ve written it how to say it, I’m using the letter „j”. „Wen-juh”, so I can read that – that’s easy, but in IPA the „j” is a different sound; it’s „yuh”, not „juh”; it’s „yuh”, so it’s an easy mistake to make and a common mistake to make, something you have to learn. „Wen-juh go home?” […]
