シャドーイング練習: The Rhythm of English: Function Words, Weak Forms & Sounding Natural - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ
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In my previous video, I talked about the most important sound in English, the schwa sound.
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But there was something in that video I mentioned, which I said we'd talk about later.
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Weak forms.
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Well, now it is later, and I'm a man of my word.
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So let's talk about weak forms.
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Every sentence in English has two kinds of words.
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Words we call content words nouns verbs adjectives these are words
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which provide content they tell the story they are the meat of your sentence
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if you rush these words
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if you say them too quickly people might not understand what
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you're saying then we also have what we call function words
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function words are the boring words grammar words they're just there
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to fill gaps kind of like stepping stones these are not normally pronounced in their strong form
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so for example a word like two is hardly ever pronounced as two it's listen to this sentence
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and tell me what you think sounds better I'm just waiting for the bus
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or I'm just waiting for the bus for the for the I'm pronouncing for
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and the very very quickly and that's because nobody cares about the words for
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and the I mean yes they are important
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but they don't need to be emphasized we know that they're there
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and the listener is only really listening for those important words waiting bus these kinds of words
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that provide content the thing we're doing and the thing that we're waiting for, right?
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For has been pronounced as and that's using the schwa sound.
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Now, if you're not familiar with how to pronounce the schwa sound, go and watch the video which I made a couple of weeks ago about the schwa.
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But if you want a really quick example, the sound is very relaxed, very lazy.
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We don't do much with the mouth.
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It's just so add an F before that.
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Instead of for, it becomes fh, fh, for the bus.
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Waiting for the bus.
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Fh, fh.
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Now I have a list of what I would call the most common weak forms and some example sentences.
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So try to copy me if you can.
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An, n, n, schwa then n, n.
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I have an umbrella, n, umbrella.
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I have an umbrella.
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And can reduce to for example fish and chips fish
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and chips fish and chips fish and chips but but
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but it's nice but it's pricey but it's pricey it's nice
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but it's pricey that that that i think that it's fine that it's fine. As. As.
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Instead of as soon as you can.
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As soon as you can.
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As soon as you can.
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Notice how those stressed words are becoming more obvious now, and we don't need to shout them now because we're relaxing the weak words. Than.
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Thn.
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Thn.
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It's later than I thought.
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Thn.
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I it's later than I thought. To.
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The most common one I would say.
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I'm heading to the shops becomes I'm heading to the, to the, get used to that,
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to the, to the, to the, to the shops.
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I'm heading to the shops.
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And this is what creates the rhythm of English when we speak.
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That rhythm that everybody tells me they feel like they're missing if they're a non -native English speaker.
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For, th, th.
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Notice how that schwa is barely there.
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It's so lazy.
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This is for you.
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This is for you.
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For, for you.
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This is for you. From, from, from.
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She just got back from her holiday becomes, she just got back from her holiday.
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From her holiday.
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From her holiday.
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she just got back from her holiday of of another super
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common one a couple of minutes a couple of of of a couple of minutes a couple of minutes at
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I'll see you at the station.
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I'll see you at the station.
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Ah, another really common one.
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Just a schwa.
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How are things?
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How are things?
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How are you?
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How are you?
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How are things?
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we were just talking we were just talking we were just
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talking we were just talking we were just talking you don't
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need to memorize the list you just need to become familiar with them they're those short everyday words
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that just come up in loads of different sentences and you'll find moments where they can be relaxed.
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Can, can, I can pick it up becomes I can, I can, can, I can pick it up, I can pick it up.
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Shall, shall, shall, shall we head off, shall we head off? have,
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have, have, I have seen it, I have, have, I have seen it, I have seen it, has,
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she has had lunch, she has, she has, she has had lunch,
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she has had lunch, had, had,
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had, we had just arrived we had we had
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just arrived we had just arrived do do you fancy a walk do you practice
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that one do you do you fancy a walk Do you fancy a walk? Does. Does. Does. Does.
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Does she know yet? Does she. Does she. Does she.
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Does she know yet?
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Them.
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Them.
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I'll ask them tomorrow.
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I'll ask them tomorrow.
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I'll ask them tomorrow.
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For now, just get comfortable with how they're pronounced.
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Maybe create some practice sentences of your own.
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However, I do have to make things, as always, a little bit more complicated because sometimes we might pronounce these words in their strong forms.
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I'm sorry.
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Let's talk about some strong form triggers.
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Triggers which make the function words sound important.
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Trigger number one.
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When a function word is the very last word in a sentence, it's very likely it's going to be stressed that's
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because there's nothing after it to carry the rhythm to keep the rhythm going
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so we're going to emphasize the ending of
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that sentence picture it as a full stop a way to finish a thought
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or a thing
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that we're saying for example someone could ask me with the
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weak form do you want to go there to go there right
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so two gets pronounced in its weak form
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because it's in the middle of a sentence
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and then i might respond maybe
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and say something like yes i want to two is the end
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so i'm going to pronounce it as to let's practice this
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do you want to go there do you want to go
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there yes i want to yes i want to who are
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you talking to i'm not going to say who are you talking to just sounds a bit weird
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because it's like there's no final ending here
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so it needs to be who are you talking to who
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are you talking to now we could pronounce you as yeah
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because it's in the middle of a sentence who are you talking to
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so let's say somebody asks me where are you from
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from is going to be pronounced in its strong form
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because it's at the end of the sentence where are you from sounds weird right
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but if i answered that question and said i'm from bristol in England.
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I'm from.
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I'm from Bristol.
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Because the next word is a stressed word, I can carry that rhythm and pronounce from in its weak form. From.
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I'm from Bristol.
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Where are you from?
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I'm from Bristol. From.
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I might say, don't look at me.
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Look at me.
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Don't look at me but let's say somebody asks me this question What are you looking at?
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What are you looking at?
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It's now pronounced in its strong form
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because it's at the end of the question and trigger two
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when you're emphasizing a word correcting someone a moment where you need this word to be stressed Well, then you might stress it.
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Oh, I can't remember if Elliot said, can he do it or can't he?
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I can't remember.
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What did he say?
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I would say, I said I can do it.
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I said I can do it.
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Because I want to emphasize that word, can now.
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Now, let's take a look at this long paragraph.
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Listen to all of the weak forms I pronounce.
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I'm going to have to read it from the screen, so I'm going to stop looking at you for a second.
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I was going to call you, but I thought you might be at work so I sent a message instead.
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I know you've got a lot of things to do this week and I didn't want to add to it.
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If you've got a minute later, let me know.
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I'd love to hear how things are going.
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And if you can't that's fine too.
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I just wanted to check in with you.
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I was going to call you but I thought you might be at work so I sent a message instead.
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I know you've got a lot of things to do this week
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and i didn't want to add to it
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if you've got a minute later please let me know i'd love to hear how things are going
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and if you can't that's fine too i just wanted to check in with you
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so lots of in there instead of two
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but one thing i wanted to mention was
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when i said i didn't want to add to it one exception here we're connecting our speech
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to ends with a vowel sound, add begins with a vowel sound.
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Vowels hate each other.
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So we usually create a consonant in between them to connect our speech.
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So instead of saying to add with the weak form, we're actually going to pronounce to in its strong form,
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create a w sound to join to the word add. To add.
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So this is just one more exception where the weak form becomes strong.
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To add, to educate, to eat, I want to eat, right?
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So we're going to pronounce it in its strong form when we connect our speech, but that's it.
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And of course, notice that's fine too.
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T -double -O will always be pronounced in its strong form.
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It's not a weak form word.
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So take a random text, read a book, anything you can do where you read out loud and start highlighting those function words.
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Look for those words that could be relaxed.
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But remember those stress triggers.
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One of the hardest things though is just knowing if you're doing it right or wrong.
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Is your rhythm actually good?
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Do you sound comfortable when you speak?
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Are the weak forms in the right places?
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Are you overthinking it?
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I can help you with this.
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I have a course where I can give corrections along the way on whatsapp
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and i do private coaching so you're welcome to work with me
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so we can improve your rhythm your pronunciation
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or build towards even a british accent if you wanted to
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but thank you very much for watching everybody i hope you enjoyed this
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and i hope you found it useful i'll see you next time take care cheers guys bye
この動画で話す練習をする理由
英語の発音を良くするためには、単語の発音だけでなくリズムを理解することが不可欠です。この動画では、「コンテンツワード」と「機能語」の違い、弱い形の発音法を徹底的に解説しています。機能語を適切に弱く発音することで、会話が自然に聞こえるだけでなく、重要な単語がより明確に伝わります。動画で英語学習をする際、shadowspeak（シャドーイング）の技術を使って模倣練習すると、リズム感を身につけるのに最適です。
文脈の中の文法と表現
動画では、日常会話で頻繁に使われる構造がいくつか紹介されています。代表的なものを3つ挙げます。
- 機能語の弱い形：「for」が「fə」、「to」が「tə」と発音される例があります。「I'm waiting for the bus」は「I'm waiting fə the bus」、「heading to the shops」は「heading tə the shops」となります。
- 接続詞の省略：「and」が「ən」に短縮され、「fish and chips」が「fish ən chips」となる例です。
- 比較級の構文：「than」が「ðən」と弱く発音され、「It's later than I thought」が「It's later ðən I thought」となります。
よくある発音の罠
初心者が陥りやすい発音の問題点として、以下のようなものがあります。
- 機能語を強く発音しすぎる：「the」を「ðiː」ではなく「ðə」と発音することが重要です。強く発音すると、会話がぎこちなく聞こえます。
- シュワ音の誤用：シュワ音（ə）は「リラックスした口の形」で発音します。「a」や「an」も弱い形では「ə」や「ən」となり、「I have an umbrella」は「I have ən umbrella」となります。
- リズムの崩れ：コンテンツワード（名詞、動詞、形容詞）を速く発音しすぎないこと。これらは「肉」のような存在で、ゆっくりはっきり発音することで意味が伝わります。
これらの罠を避けるためには、動画を何度も見てshadow speakの練習を重ねることが効果的です。繰り返し模倣することで、自然なリズムと発音が身につきます。
シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由
シャドーイング（Shadowing）は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的：ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影（shadow）」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。