Shadowing Practice: Component Focus #4 - “How Do I Control My Soft Palate?” - Voice Breakdown - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi everyone, my name is Brendan Hodek and I am an instructor here at New York Speech Coaching in New York City.
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Welcome to another one of our component focus videos.
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Our component focus videos are different than our typical voice breakdown videos.
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We will not be teaching a specific voice today.
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In order to imitate any voice, you simply need to figure out six components.
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But many of you have mentioned how certain components give you a bit of a hard time.
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So we thought it would be best to make videos that specifically focus on one component, giving you some exercises to gain more control over that component.
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Today's episode will be focused on the soft palate.
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The soft palate is that mushy feeling place at the back of your mouth.
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Let's get familiar with the soft palate and all of the other landmarks in the mouth.
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Begin by touching the tip of your tongue to the top front teeth like this.
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Then, we are going to slide the tongue backwards slowly, always maintaining contact with the top of the mouth.
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The first things you feel, as we said, are the front teeth.
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Slide that tongue back a little more and you will feel a bumpy area known as the alveolar ridge.
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If you're not sure where that is, it's that place where you burn your mouth on pizza.
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Keep that tongue touching the top of the mouth and slide it back a little more.
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You will feel the tongue all of a sudden go drastically upward, touching something that is very hard.
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We call that the hard palette.
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Then if you keep sliding the tongue backward, you will eventually feel it turn all mushy.
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That is your soft palate.
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If you look in your mouth, you can see your soft palate.
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The uvula, or the punching bag in the back of the throat, hangs down from our soft palate.
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The soft palate can rise and lower.
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When it does, it acts as a trap door, controlling whether air and sound are directed through the nose or the mouth.
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Sending sound into the nose will give the voice a brighter quality
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while sending it into the mouth will give it a darker and more rounded quality.
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This component can be difficult to control.
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We have heard lots of feedback that it is hard to get a sensation of the palate moving.
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We have some exercises today to help you with that.
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This exercise we call "In and Out".
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There are four steps to this exercise.
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For all four steps, keep your jaw relaxedly open.
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Do not let your mouth close.
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Step one, with your jaw relaxedly open, breathe in through your mouth and out through your mouth.
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Ah.
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Ah.
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I Step two, with your jaw relaxedly open, breathe in through your nose and out through your nose.
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- - Thank you.
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Thank you.
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- Thank you.
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Step three, again with your jaw relaxedly open, breathe in through your nose, but then out through your mouth.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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And finally, step four, with your jaw still relaxedly open, breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose.
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Ah.
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- Thank you.
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Ah.
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Yeah.
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After this, you can repeat this process, but on the exhale, make sound.
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Hmm...
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Thank you.
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Haaaaaa Hmm...
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These are all of the different combinations of the ways you can breathe.
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But the big question is, How in the world are you doing that?
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How did you control which way the air or sound went?
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You did this by manipulating the soft palate and the back of the tongue you just didn't even notice.
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Do the exercise again, but this time while looking into a mirror.
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You will see when breathing through the mouth how the soft palate naturally goes upward and the back of the tongue lowers.
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This blocks air or sound from going into the nose.
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Then, as you breathe through the nose, you will see how the soft palate lowers and touches the back of the tongue,
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forming a blockade, so that air or sound cannot go through the mouth, but is forced to go into the nose.
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Practice this exercise and start to become mindful of what muscles you feel activating as you do this.
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Your entire life you have done this passively, but as you focus you'll be able to get a sense of the muscles that are at work.
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Exercise number two is the "ung -ah".
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Our last exercise taught you how to manipulate the soft palate, but it pretty much only told you how to put it all the way up or all the way down.
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For many of our voices, you have heard me give you percentages of nasal resonance, lowered soft palate versus oral resonance raised soft palate.
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We need to learn how to gradually move between complete nasal
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and oral resonance so that we can fine tune this and create the brightness or darkness we are looking for.
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Bring in the "NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN Start out on the NG sound.
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Let's be clear that NG is not N or G, but is its own sound, NG or Mm -hmm.
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You made this sound before when you were exhaling through the nose and making sound.
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If you can't find it, simply say the word sing and hold out the last sound.
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Sing!
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Make sure the front tip of your tongue is downward and not upward, but that the back of your tongue is upward, touching the soft palate.
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Mmm.
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Mmm.
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Then try to very slowly transition from the /ŋ / sound to the /ɑ / sound.
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If you do it too quickly, you will hear the tongue and soft palate moving away from each other, causing a little click pop or abrupt transition.
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Ngaa...
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Nga.
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Mmm...ga...
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That popping sound is your indicator that you are not going gradually enough.
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The goal is to be able to go back and forth between ㄴ and ㄴ without hearing any abrupt transitions.
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*Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Notice the change in sound quality over the course of the exercise.
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The only change physically is the coordination of the soft palate and the back of the tongue.
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Exercise number three we call "Speaking Through the Nose".
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As a matter of habit, we tend to make our sounds with a certain amount of nasal resonance.
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There are three sounds in English that have their sound 100 % in the nose.
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These are the M, Mm.
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n, n, and ng sounds.
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But for the rest of our sounds, we send them primarily through the mouth with some nasal resonance at times.
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Thus, it can be tricky to add some nasal resonance to specific sounds while doing one of our voices.
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The best way to do this is to first learn how to speak entirely through the nose, not allowing any sound to go through the mouth.
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That sounds like this.
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To do this, you will need to first hold out an NG sound.
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Aaaaaaaaaa Then see if you can articulate while keeping the back of the tongue and the soft palate fixed.
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You'll find that on some sounds you will want to raise the palate and drop the tongue a bit, but try not to.
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Exercise number four: Voice imitation for a raised palate.
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To speak with a raised palate, there are certain voices we can imitate to help us.
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Speaking like your nose is clogged, Bob.
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Man, I'm sick.
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"Mom, my nose is stuffed !" will give you a mouth -only sound.
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If you think about when you are sick, your nose is full of junk.
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Therefore, sound cannot resonate in the nasal cavity.
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Also, doing a stereotypical opera voice can help to raise the palate.
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One more exercise.
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Exercise number five we call plosive buildup.
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There are a few sounds in the English language that we call plosives.
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These are B T.
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the "K" and "G".
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In order to make these sounds, air pressure needs to build up and then explode.
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In order to get that air pressure to build up, however, the soft palate has to raise up all the way.
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If that soft palate did not raise up, sound or air could escape through the nose, and we wouldn't be able to make these sounds.
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Huh.
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What?
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Huh?
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Therefore, one great way to feel the palate raising is to build up air pressure like you're going to do a plosive.
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Let's use the sound "b" for example.
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And as you build up that air pressure beforehand, you'll actually feel your palate go up.
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Ooh.
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Buh! or Bah!
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If you don't release the explosion, you'll feel the palette raise up and then drop back down.
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Mm.
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Mm -hmm.
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Hopefully these exercises have given you better control over lowering and raising the soft palate.
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Use a mirror often to see if you can see the palette moving.
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Raising your eyebrows
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or doing a gasp like you are scared will help to cause the palette to move
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and you'll be able to see this in your reflection.
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Be sure to focus and be as mindful as possible to gain better awareness of
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when the muscles activate to move the soft palate.
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Over time, you will be very aware and have complete control.
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Be sure to check out future episodes of Voice Breakdown, the show where we teach you how to imitate some of the most iconic voices.
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See you next time.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Understanding how to control your soft palate is essential for achieving clarity and expressiveness in your speech. By focusing on this component, you will enhance your ability to modulate sound, allowing for a brighter or darker vocal quality depending on your needs. This skill is particularly beneficial for those preparing for tasks like the IELTS speaking practice, where clarity and dynamic expression can greatly impact scoring. The exercises in this video will not only improve your voice quality but also enable you to communicate more effectively and confidently.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, several key structures and phrases stand out:
- "Let's get familiar with..." – This phrase invites learners to engage actively, which is essential in shadow speak. It emphasizes the importance of familiarity in mastering new skills.
- "Keep your jaw relaxedly open." – This structure highlights the importance of physical relaxation in vocal exercises. It serves as a reminder that speaking requires both mental and physical readiness.
- "This component can be difficult to control." – Acknowledging difficulties can motivate learners to engage with challenging aspects of speaking, making it easier to overcome barriers in their shadowspeak journey.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you watch the video, you may notice specific pronunciation challenges associated with the soft palate and its control:
- Bumpy area – The term "bumpy" may be tricky to pronounce due to the blending of sounds. Practice this word in context to enhance clarity.
- Uvula – This anatomical term can pose a challenge, as it requires control over the back of the tongue. Focus on articulating this word slowly to develop better pronunciation.
- Relaxedly – The adverb form can be difficult to pronounce quickly. Pay attention to the rhythm and stress of this word, and practice saying it in full sentences for better fluency.
Using these tips in your daily speaking practice can significantly enhance your pronunciation and overall speaking ability. Whether through shadowspeaks or other shadowing app techniques, integrating these exercises into your routine will pay off in improved communication skills.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If you don't release the explosion, you'll feel |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have mentioned · have heard · have done |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be focused · are directed · is forced |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.