Shadowing Practice: an honest conversation about sounding like a native - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
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Hey, what's up?
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Stephanie, the English coach here from EnglishFullTime .com.
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In this video, I want to have an honest conversation with you about wanting to sound like a native.
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I want to share my perspective, my opinions, what I've observed, what I've experienced over the years.
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And in general, I just want to share some insights that I think might help you along on your journey.
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Now to begin, I don't think that you have to sound like a native, but I do think
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that trying to sound like a native can be the very best thing you ever do for your English
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and I'm gonna explain why in this video the first thing I want to say is
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that I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to sound
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like a native in fact that's exactly what I wanted back
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when I was learning Spanish and it helped me
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so much where I went wrong though is I wanted to pass as a native
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and that played around with my confidence way too much
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and I made an entire video about
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that called the dark side of wanting to sound like a native speaker i highly recommend
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that you watch it as soon as you finish this video anyways back
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when i was learning spanish i 100 wanted to sound like
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a native i wanted to master the sounds the rhythm the
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intonation the linking i even wanted to use the vocabulary
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that native speakers use i wanted to use the sentence structures
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and patterns that native speakers use and i knew that native spanish speakers all over the world spoke spanish differently.
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I knew they had different accents.
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I couldn't quite hear the differences back then, although I was learning to hear the differences.
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I got a lot better at that later on.
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But anyhow, I remember this one time in college because I was studying Spanish at the university.
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That was my major.
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And I just remember this one time where our teacher who
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was from Spain was telling us about all the different ways we could say apricot in Spanish.
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And she was kind of sharing it like it was this fun, silly, cool little thing.
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And she's like, yeah, in Spain, we say al baricoque.
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In Argentina, they say damasco.
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In Mexico, they say chavacano.
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And she just presented the information to us like, oh, look how cool this is.
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And as the learner, I was so frustrated and so annoyed because I was like, that's fantastic.
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What am I supposed to say when I speak Spanish?
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I have three options.
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I don't know what to choose.
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And that is I think when I started realizing, hey, I have to choose an accent i have to choose a way of speaking
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that i can follow so i have something to model my spanish off of i need patterns
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that i can follow because if not there are no patterns
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and it's going to be very difficult for me to find
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my way of speaking anyhow choosing the accent was really easy for me
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because my mom was from argentina i didn't learn spanish growing up
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so i was on a mission to master the language
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that i felt i was missing out on
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so needless to say i chose argentinian spanish and then
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when i went to argentina because i studied abroad there
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and i ended up meeting my husband
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and his family i basically chose their accent as my way of speaking
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and they became my role models
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and being surrounded by one type of spanish day in
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and day out allowed me to finally absorb the patterns to notice the nuances to notice the sounds
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and to imitate and copy what I heard exactly as I heard it.
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Now, before you start thinking, Oh my goodness, Stephanie, I don't live in an English speaking country.
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There's no way I can do this.
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Hold your horses.
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We have the internet.
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You can absolutely choose an accent and surround yourself with
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that accent using online content so that you can allow your brain to absorb the patterns of that accent.
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And it will make it easier for you to start speaking English
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because you will have the framework you need to build your own language skills upon now some people say wait
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but your accent is your identity you can't hide it you
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shouldn't try to hide it you shouldn't want to hide it
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your accent is your identity that's who you are that's where you're from those are your roots etc etc etc
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and I say if that's how you feel you are absolutely entitled to feel
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that way but that is not how I feel
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or how I felt
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when I was learning Spanish I was not like yeah I'm
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american i want everyone to hear my american accent i want
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to speak spanish with this really thick american accent i'm
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so proud of being american i'm so proud of my accent
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and yet no way no not at all i was like oh i don't like the way spanish sounds
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when we're speaking it with a really thick strong american accent
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no like i want to learn the sounds of the actual language
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and i want to modify my sounds and my rhythm
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and my intonation so that I can imitate it
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so well I kind of see it as like honoring the language
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that you're learning it's like you're trying to do the best job
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that you can do now that's my opinion that's how I feel about it and
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so guess what I actually learned how to speak Spanish with
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a really good accent I'll demonstrate in just a second but basically I believed it was possible, and so I tried, and so I achieved.
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And what I want to say here is what you believe is possible for your English will determine
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so much of what you actually accomplish
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because you're definitely not going to try to do something if you don't even think it's possible.
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If you do think it's possible, you're going to try, and you might not pass as a native, but I don't even think that should be the goal, right?
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You might get really good at English.
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You might love the way that you sound you might love your pronunciation you might get
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so clear people never misunderstand you there are
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so many good things on the other side of wanting to
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sound like a native choosing an accent choosing a role model
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and trying so for example in Spanish I know not everyone here speaks Spanish
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but you'll be able to hear what I'm talking about in these examples
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if I wanted to say it's for me okay it's for me in Spanish
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if I said it with a very strong American accent I would say, es para mí, es para mí, okay?
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And I think that sounds awful.
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I would never want to speak Spanish like that.
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And sure, some people do speak Spanish like that, but they probably don't speak very well.
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They probably aren't very fluent.
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They probably don't have very big vocabulary.
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They're not very articulate.
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I didn't want that level for myself.
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So I went for something better, what I think is better.
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And I don't say es para mí, I say es para mí, es para mí.
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Okay, so much smoother, much more natural and easier.
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It just rolls off the tongue so much better.
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So actually, if you learn the sounds of the language, the way native speakers say the sounds,
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your language skills will actually be more fluent because native speakers are speaking quickly.
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They're speaking naturally and fluently
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because their mouths have already figured out it's already inside the
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language right how to get from one word to the next
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word the quickest way possible in English for example we use
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the flap a lot we are just flapping from one word into the next it's
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when the t at the end of a word stops being the t sound
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and it just becomes a flap like what if what
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if I'm not saying what if okay I'm saying what
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if what if what if right we just flap from one word into the next.
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It makes your speech so much more fluent.
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You have to learn the flap if you want your English to be smoother, more natural, more fluent, etc. And this isn't just about sounds because if you're trying to sound like a native speaker,
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you're going to care about the way native speakers construct their sentences and their phrases.
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You're going to care about their fixed phrases, their vocabulary, and saying things in a way that native speakers talk.
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And you'll stop translating directly from your language
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and you're gonna look for the most natural way to say something
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so for example in Spanish to say I had a good
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time I had a good time a lot of native English
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speakers would say tuve un buen tiempo right tuve un buen tiempo
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and that's not what native Spanish speakers say they say la pasé bien la pasé bien la pasé bien
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so you have to take the time to get
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that familiar with the language with the culture with the way
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that it's used around the world let's do another example I can't wait to see you right
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if I was just using an American accent to speak Spanish
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I would say no puedo esperar a verte okay that's a terrible accent
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and that's not even how native Spanish speakers would communicate
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that idea they would say que ganas de verte tengo muchas ganas de verte
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and maybe they would say no veo la hora de verte
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but definitely not no puedo esperar a verte
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or no I can even say it with a nice accent
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no puedo esperar a verte no puedo esperar a verte right it's like okay the accent is fine
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but I'm basically speaking English in Spanish now
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if that's what you have to do to get your point across absolutely go for it
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that is a tool in your toolbox
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and even I use it sometimes to this day
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but what I think is even better than
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that is just learning how the language is used around the world learning the phrases
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and the sentence constructions that people are already using every single day
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because once you get those patterns locked in your mind it's
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like boom boom boom you just move from one pattern to the next
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when you're expressing your ideas and it's actually so much easier to talk
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because you're just grabbing phrases one phrase at a time
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and then linking them together to communicate your ideas
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and then once in a while sure you're gonna say something that's expressive
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and all your own like something you've never heard anyone else say before, but language is just a bunch of patterns at the end of the day.
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At least that is what I have noticed.
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Now, the other thing about wanting to sound like a native speaker is you end up training your voice
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so much that you have so much control and you can choose how you sound.
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And I don't know about you, but I want to be able to choose how I sound in a language.
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I don't just want to be stuck with bad habits that I have by default.
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So, in learning how to master one accent, I actually learned a little bit about various different types of accents
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and sometimes I play around with accents when I speak Spanish.
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I also do this when I speak English for comedic effect.
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Sometimes I'll throw in a word in Australian English or an accent that sounds a little bit more British.
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It's really fun and it actually makes you sound more expressive.
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So for example, a phrase in Spanish that I could say is, Ya que estamos en el baile, bailemos, right?
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but I could also change the way that that sounds and I could say ya que estamos en el baile, bailemos, right?
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It's very subtle but I hear the difference
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and Spanish speakers will hear the difference and
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if I'm around someone who speaks with a certain type of accent I can grab onto that accent, I can use it, I can play around with it, I can imitate it, it's so much fun and I think
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that is part of the beauty of learning a language and just playing around with your voice and having fun.
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And it's not mocking another person to play around with accents from different places.
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It's just fun.
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You have permission.
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It's fine.
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Okay, believe it or not, we're just getting started.
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I have so much more that I want to say about this.
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I hope you're hanging in here with me.
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Basically, I think everyone is entitled to sound how they want to sound.
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And it's your choice.
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If you want to sound like a native, if you want to practice native like English speaking patterns, absolutely go for it.
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If you believe that your accent is your identity, and you really want to hold on to it
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and you don't want to sound like a native speaker
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and there are certain sounds in your accent
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that you want to hold on to like that French R for example
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or a Spanish R you're more than welcome to do it
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all you have to evaluate is do people understand you is it interfering with your clarity
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because if it is you might want to change it
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if you don't care about that or if you don't need to care about
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that then that's up to you at the end of the
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day each person should be able to do what they want
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and I also think that wanting to change your accent does not mean you're rejecting your identity.
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It's like I went after a very specific type of accent in Spanish.
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I achieved that.
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I didn't reject my identity in any way.
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I just don't make where I'm from part of my identity.
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My identity is built on other things.
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It's built on my character.
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It's built on my work.
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It's built on my values.
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It's not about, oh, I'm American
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and my entire identity is based on where i'm from like
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i don't really care where i'm from it's just like
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that was chance i happened to be born in california i had nothing to do with it
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so i put my identity in other things but at the same time
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if you're super proud of your roots
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and where you're from i don't want to take
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that away from you
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and i don't think anybody should i think there's room for
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all of it do you see what i mean do you
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see what i'm getting at like there's room for all of
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us at the same table we all have different desires we all have different backgrounds
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and we all want different things
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and we shouldn't be shamed for wanting what we want
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because sometimes you want to sound like a native speaker
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and then you get shamed for it like oh why are
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you trying to sound like a native speaker you sound fake you're trying too hard right
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and people pull you back or they bring you down
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and sometimes it's your own peers
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and that's not cool you have to figure out what is going to serve you in life
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and what is going to make you happy and go after
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that if you need a certain type of English to be successful in your work environment then go get
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that type of English go make it happen go train your
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voice actors train their voices all the time they learn different
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accents singers learn different singing styles you can sing with a
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jazz style you can sing opera pop all right your voice
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is an incredible instrument it is a bunch of muscles
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and you can train these muscles it's Like when you go to the gym and you go there for the first time, you have terrible form and your muscles are weak.
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What do you expect?
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But show up every single day and a few days later, you are going to have a rockin' body, all right?
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That is just how it works.
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Same thing with language practice.
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You can have the accent you have by default, okay?
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Or you can train it and you can make it into something else.
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It's up to you.
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Anyhow, part of the reason why I'm making this video is
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because I received a DM recently on Instagram from a guy and this is what he said.
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he said, I have very bad pronunciation with a strong Italian accent.
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I also speak much worse compared to how I understand written English.
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I have never really exercised pronunciation specifically.
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I only tried a bit while trying to take the certification.
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Not sure what certification he's talking about, but then he says, I have been told that accent is something you can hardly master and you can't hide.
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So basically he felt like, why try?
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Why even try?
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And yet at the same time he's clearly not satisfied with how he sounds in english
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and how he speaks and it's just crazy to me
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that these ideas are spreading like oh you can't change how
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you sound yes you can you can absolutely change how you sound i did it i am a living example
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and there are
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so many people out here in this world i mean even
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polyglots who learn how to sound like a native speaker in
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multiple different languages come on like yeah we can change how we sound
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but the thing is If you don't believe it's possible, you're not even going to try.
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If you don't try, you're not going to achieve anything.
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Do you see how it's all connected?
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So your beliefs around this are really important.
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And you can choose, again, what you believe.
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You can maintain your sense of identity in your native language and where you're from, and you can retain a bit of your accent, and you can also be clear in English and natural and fluent.
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A good example of this is Sofia Vergara.
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She is well known in the English -speaking world, and she has a very strong Colombian accent and she likes it and
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if you look back into her earlier career she was actually working really hard to get rid of her accent
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and sound more american and
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if you listen to interviews from her from a long time ago she definitely sounds more american
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and then she decided heck with this i don't want to do this
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and she reverted back to her stronger more colombian accent
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and she's happy
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and she's successful however eliza gonzalez did something completely different she is a mexican actress who also acts in English
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and she totally sounds American when she speaks, right?
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She worked for that.
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She wanted that.
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And that is how she likes speaking.
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Do you see what I mean?
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Like we get to choose.
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We get to choose and we get to do what we want.
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And we don't have to listen to what other people say we should or should not do.
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This is about you.
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This is about what you want.
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This is about your voice.
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It's about liking your voice.
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And it's about, you know, just being happy with how you sound in English okay
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so to wrap up this video a couple more things instead
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of asking will I ever pass as a native start asking yourself what would happen
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if I actually tried how good would I get
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if I actually tried I don't think you have to pass
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I don't think you even have to want to pass
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that was my big mistake but passing
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and wanting to pass was not necessarily the problem it's how I felt
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when I didn't achieve that that was the problem because wanting to pass as a native, if you don't have any like psychological complexes,
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the way I did, it could actually be a great goal because it causes you to work harder to try harder, right?
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Okay, that's it.
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I hope I explained myself well, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
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And if you want to learn pronunciation with me, if you want to work on your accent, if you want to really get confident in your voice as an English speaker,
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then I want to invite you to join my English life community
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because this is exactly what we work on every single day.
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I put all of the best training that I've ever made into this one place.
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So check the link in the description and come join us.
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And also I'm going to leave the link in the description to my seven day fluent pronunciation challenge.
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This challenge is phenomenal.
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It is a seven day challenge.
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It has over seven hours of pronunciation training that you're gonna get access to.
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And I think you're gonna love it and it's completely free
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so that's it
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and i will see you in the next video okay sorry
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dog is chasing a squirrel out there okay oh it's so distracting
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “an honest conversation about sounding like a native”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: sound, accent, native, spanish, english. Deze video bevat 300 zinnen en 3589 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 17:54. De spreker praat snel, ongeveer 201 woorden per minuut, dus reken op verbonden en ingeslikte klanken. 84% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| accent zelfstandig naamwoord | /ækˈsɛnt/ | accent, klemtoon |
| pronunciation zelfstandig naamwoord | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | uitspraak |
| fluent bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈfluənt/ | vloeiend |
| paragraph zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpæɹəɡɹæf/ | alinea, paragraaf |
| anyhow bijwoord | /ˈɛn.i.haʊ/ | hoe dan ook, in ieder geval |
| imitate werkwoord | /ˈɪmɪteɪt/ | nabootsen, imiteren |
| vocabulary zelfstandig naamwoord | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | woordenschat, vocabulaire |
| expressive bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ɪkˈspɹɛsɪv/ | uitdrukkend, zeggingskrachtig |
| intonation zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/ | intonatie, zinsmelodie |
| surround werkwoord | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | omgeven, omringen |
| absorb werkwoord | /æbˈsɔɹb/ | absorberen, (in zich) opnemen |
| certification zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ | attestering |
| bail zelfstandig naamwoord | /beɪl/ | borgtocht |
| rhythm zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɹɪð.əm/ | ritme |
| apricot zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈeɪ.pɹɪ.kɑt/ | abrikoos |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| end up werkwoord | belanden, terechtkomen |
| figure out werkwoord | uitvogelen, er achter komen |
| grow up werkwoord | opgroeien |
| show up werkwoord | tentoonstellen |
| wrap up werkwoord | inpakken, omhullen |
Zinnen om te herhalen
Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:
- I don't know what to choose.
- There's no way I can do this.
- I didn't want that level for myself.
- Do you see how it's all connected?
- Do you see what I mean?
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | being surrounded · be stuck · is entitled |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | I've observed · have already figured · you've never heard |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 96 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals don't, you're, I'm. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, certification /ˌsɜː.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, misunderstand /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als accent, pronunciation, fluent.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.