3 tips for sounding like a native speaker

TRANSCRIPT

So we're looking at pronunciation. Let me start with this word: "pronunciation". Not: "pronounciation". It is not a pronoun. A pronoun is: "I", "me", "my", "mine". Pronunciation is how we speak English. So I'm going to give you three tips that will help you sound a little bit more like a native speaker. We're going to start with connecting words. Now, think about your own language, whether you're speaking Spanish or Polish or Chinese, you do this in your language as well. When you're speaking fast, you're taking words and you're squeezing them together; you're connecting them, so one word flows into the next word. That's what we're going to do here.

You can connect consonants to consonants. What this means: when a word ends in a consonant... A consonant is "b", "c", "d", "f", "g", etc. A vowel is "a", "e", "i", "o", "u". When a word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with the same consonant, drop the first one. So for example: we do not say: "black coffee", we don't say: "ke, ke". There's only one "k": "bla coffee", "bla coffee." Okay? Practice that. Now, "t" and "d", these are two different consonants, but according to the tongue and the mouth, they almost sound the same so we do the same thing. "Wha do you do?", "Wha do you do?" But again, another thing you have to keep in mind is when we say it fast, we also don't really say "e", we say like a... Sort of like a small... We don't say "o" - sorry -, we say sort of a small "e". "Wha do ye do?" Practice that. "Wha do ye do?" Strange, huh? No "t", "wha", "de ye do?", "Wha de ye do?" That's how a native speaker would say it naturally.

Now, another thing is when a word ends in a consonant and the next word begins in a vowel, make sure you roll it in. Right? Roll the consonant into the vowel and separate the syllable before. A syllable is the vowel sounds in a word. Okay? So nobody, like native speakers don't say: "Not at all. Oh no, not at all." We don't say it like that. We say: "Oh, not-at-all.", "Not-at-all.", "Not-at-all." Right? The "t", so this becomes: "No-ta-tall", "No-ta-tall", "Not at all". Okay? Say it quickly, blend the letters one into the next. But again, practice it.

Now, for those of you who are going to be taking a test, an English test that involves listening; IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, if you're in Canada you're maybe doing a CELPIP test. Okay? This is going to help you on the listening section as well. This is one of the things they're testing. Somebody on the recording will say: "Not-at-all", and you need to cut: "Not at all", you need to understand the separate words, that's part of the test. So practice speaking it, practice listening to it. Another thing we do is we squeeze some words. Okay? Certain words, we don't say all the syllables, we don't even say all the letters. I've heard many students say: "Com-fort-able", "com-fort-able", but native speakers, we don't say this part, we don't say the "or". We say: "Comf-ta-bil", and notice the last sound is like a small tiny, tiny little "i" in there. "Comftabil", "comf-ta-bil", "comftabil". Okay? We don't pronounce the "or": "Comfortable". Nope, don't do that.

Another word like that: "Interesting". "In-chre-sting". Find out what the syllables are so: "In-ter" - sorry, my mistake -, "In-ter-rest-ing". If you want to emphasize something, we have a word called: "enunciate". When someone wants to emphasize a word, then they enunciate each syllable; they say each syllable separately. "Oh, that is very in-ter-est-ing." Right? Because I want you to understand that the word is interesting, but in every day speech: "Intresting", "in-tre-sting". "In-ter-est-ing", I have four syllables, when I actually say it naturally, it becomes three syllables and the "t" and the "r" become like a "ch", but that's... We'll talk about that next. Another word: "every". "E-vry". I don't say: "Ev-er-y", I don't say this letter "e", "ev-er-y". "E-vry", "evryone", "evrything", "evry".

[jordylont]

this is way more interesting than school

[GoodVibrations]

I love how he explains, he's confident as well as humble and funny and explains things very well, not like other youtubers who have that air of...I'm a native I'm better. This is fantastic and very well explained. Congratulations. When people are sure of what they know, they don't need to brag

[ifonlyhappinesscouldlast]

After 7 years, this videos more useful than my expensive book

[strelov]

Thanks a lot. I’ve started learning of English 6 years ago, partially discovering your content, and it helped me enormously! Now I speak almost freely and work using my new skill everyday

[sujitaditya]

Now I’ll walk into a Starbucks and order blacoffee like a pro.

[emilyclai]

Even as a native English speaker, this was really interesting!

[typhoonofideas]

Your videos are fantastically helpful... I've been watching you guys for about 4 years and I started my EngVid journey with Adam.

[pal]

Thank you so much, Adam. You’re great on what you do. Please keep recording more videos. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[BwantleyBoo]

I am a native American English speaker and these are good tips !

[Roero]

Adam, certainly the best teacher on YouTube. Incredibly useful lessons taught in a hyper clear spoken English. What else? Thanks.

[kevbarriosg]

Great video! I just discovered it a few days ago and now I love your channel. It allows me to learn lots of new stuff related to native accent and phrasal verbs, sometimes it turns out to be very helpful to analyze what native speakers do instead of just listening to them talk... thank you very much for sharing this content Adam! You really rock at this lessons, greetings from Bolivia

[lynx]

love you man, you made my day. At school we didnt learn anything even close to that tips

[coachgabriel]

That is so true, to become fluent it takes time, passion, love and practice. Good work on the phonics!

[joannah]

The way you teach is easy to understand and your pronunciation is really easy to catch. I really appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time to make this video for who are in the process of learning English.

[pennnavarro]

Thank you Adam, I appreciate the simple lessons you shared. Very clear and easy to follow . Love it ! 😊💜

[ma.eugenialujan]

I just love your videos, Adam! They're so useful, simply and they last what a video must last!! Thanks for sharing and best regards from Argentina!

[mohidkhan]

thank you for these "in chre sting" lesson

[nikmorgan]

Why am I watching this?! I'm already a native English speaker.... I don't even know anymore.

[elvibeg]

You have such a beautiful English! What a pleasure to listen to! Thanks!

[cosmesouza]

Good morning Adam. Your classes are helping me a lot. Keep going you definitely rock.