Shadowing Practice: Fast Speech | How To Sound Like A Native English Speaker - Learn English Speaking with Video
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hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com in this video we are going to talk about fast speech and specifically the sounds that change and are eliminated when you start speaking quickly now when I say
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fast speech I'm not talking about speaking you know super super super fast I'm actually talking about speaking regularly the way native speakers speak so what happens is English is not a phonetic language okay words are not
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pronounced exactly the way that they're written and especially in everyday conversation and casual speech even when you're in a business meeting okay just because this is fast speech doesn't mean you can't use words like this in a
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business setting so if you want to learn how to sound more like a native English speaker this video is going to be really helpful it's also probably going to be frustrating because you're gonna learn and realize so many things you didn't
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learn before and you're gonna feel like oh my gosh I have so much more to learn don't worry you'll get there anyhow before I begin I want to say a couple things one I'm from California so I speak with an American
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accent this video is gonna be really helpful to you if you're trying to learn how to speak more with an American accent if you're trying to learn British English or Australian English I honestly don't think a lot of the things that I'm
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gonna say will apply to the kind of English that you're trying to learn okay so bear that in mind if you decide to watch this video and last thing before we get started I just want to let you guys know that you can also find me on
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Instagram Facebook and of course my website so I'll put all those links in the description with that said let's get into it okay so fast speech what is it it's not speaking quickly it's not speaking super
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fast okay fast speech when I say fast speech I'm literally just referring to the way native speakers speak English it's not necessarily fast it's just that
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we tend to run words together and by doing that we end up eliminating sounds and changing sounds so I want to go over some examples of that in this video so
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that you guys can be more aware of it when you're hearing English the problem is that you probably started learning English with textbooks and grammar books so you see how a word is written and then you think okay that's
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how it should be pronounced but that's not the case because English is not a phonetic language so words are not usually pronounced the way that they're written and then when you include fast speech into this everything gets more
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complicated on top of that so let me give you some examples of what fast speech is and how we do it so for example the question what are you doing later I never asked like that when I'm talking to my friends I do not say what
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are you doing later because I have to put so much effort into that entire sentence it's exhausting right so what will I say I'll say hey what you're doing later okay that is an example of fast speech
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and you can learn how to do this just by imitating me right so instead of saying what are you it reduces down to what ya what ya okay and even that ya
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like that's not even how we say it I'm over pronouncing it just so you can hear that it's not you but it's so reduced okay it's so reduced that it doesn't
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even sound like ya in the sentence what you're doing later whatcha whatcha do you hear that okay it's crazy right and then doing becomes duing and then
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later what you're doing later what you doing later hey what you doing later okay another example that I have for you the question where is he at hey where is he at where's he at it sounds like where's he at right where's he at
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where's he at and that's because in fast speech we often eliminate the h's where's he at or did you give it to him did you give it to him I'm eliminating
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the H there did you give it to him did you give it to him did you give it to him and then the you I'm not even saying you I could say did you did you give it to him did you okay so this is one of the reasons why English gets so
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complicated for people we reduce things down so much that we eliminate sounds and sounds change completely so that what we're saying is not even what you're reading or what you think you're hearing so in this lesson I just
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want to encourage you guys to really pay attention to what you hear if you want to sound like a native speaker you're gonna have to learn how to do all of these reductions that we do and eliminations but here's the thing there
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are patterns for everything so if you really wanted to you could study the patterns like okay when do native speakers eliminate the h's and why when does did and you change to did you and when does it not okay you can really get
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into the nitty-gritty of all of this or you could just listen and listen for the patterns hear them and then incorporate them into your own speech okay let's go over some more examples okay another question we can ask is how did it go how
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did it go but I never say how did it go I say hey how'd it go how'd it go now this is crazy because I'm not even saying how I'm saying ha ha had it had
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it go alright no now I'm getting a little bit crazy with the pronunciation there but seriously I really just ask people I say hey how'd it go how'd it go how'd it go if I try to break that apart for you and show you each individual
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piece the actual sound becomes contorted right because if I say first we start by saying ha and then dee and then go all of the sounds are now contorted because
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I lengthened them in order to slow it down and show you and then here's what happens that's no longer the true sound that's still not what I'm saying so by extending it and trying to slow it down for you to understand it more it's still
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not what I'm saying so you really have to just listen and train your ear to hear the fast speech and then to incorporate it okay and your tongue will learn how to do this quickly but just listen and repeat right how'd
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it go hey how'd it go hey you went to an interview yesterday how'd it go alright another question what do you mean I never asked it like that hey what do you mean that's just too complicated right so I say no what do you mean what do you
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mean okay again I'm I struggled to slow this down because then it's no longer authentic Hey what do you mean what do you mean what do you mean what do you mean another one can I go can I go
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we don't usually ask it like that the can gets reduced and it becomes Kuhn something like that okay listen can I go can I go hey can I go with you hey where
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you guys going can I go I'm not saying can I'm totally eliminating the vowel sound altogether it becomes khnn khnn the C sound and then the
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nn khnn okay again when I slow it down it's not gonna sound like it usually sounds so I just have to say it fast hey can I go can I go alright how are you guys doing are you hanging in there with me because I have several more examples for
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you right I know these aren't easy the next one how is it going okay I don't say how is it going I say hey how's it going how's it going
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now you can think of it like how's it going but with the pattern of the speech it actually sounds like how sit going hey how's it going okay
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or with the going I can also eliminate the G and say hey how's it going how's it how's it how's it going another one is when we say give it to me give it a me I can just say it like that hey will you we go
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to me give it I can't oh my gosh I'm trying to give the example and I can't even do it because I I start thinking about it too much that's the other thing with fast speech it's like something you don't even think about right but you will have to think about it to practice it and
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then to get it okay so let's say my sister has something and I say hey where is that thing and she says oh it's over here and then I can say oh would you give it to me would you give it to me so now would you instead of would you it
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becomes would would you would you give it to me okay and then the you gets reduced also you guys I just had to take a moment to say that this is complicated isn't it would you give it to me it does it like
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does it sound like a completely different language does it still sound like English because this is how I talk like this is how I speak with native english-speakers right anyhow let me give you another example of an H that
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gets eliminated okay I have to go to the store I have to okay so we can say hafta but we also eliminate the H a lot of times I'll just say yeah I have to go to
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the store later I have to go I have to go I have to go to the store later okay I'm literally saying I afta I have to go to the store later
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I'm not saying to also did you notice that the to in English gets reduced almost every time to a ta right I have to go to the store later and then go to
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becomes goda goda I have to go to the store later so at this point you might be feeling overwhelmed like oh my gosh Stefanie there are just so many
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different ways that English speakers reduce sounds what do we do how can we learn this well a lot of you are gonna want to break this down study each sound individually and learn how the speech is connected and learn all the rules for
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this but I'm telling you that there are hundreds of rules and it's gonna take you a very long time to learn them unless you're some kind of genius or something what I recommend is that you just listen more to English and repeat
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things as you hear them close your eyes don't think about how things are spelled just close your eyes and listen to what you're truly hearing because if you really listen you'll notice that we eliminate sounds you'll notice that we
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change sounds completely and then if you want to sound like a native speaker you have to incorporate those changes as well don't stick to pronouncing things exactly as you read them in a textbook because then you will sound like a
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textbook okay and people just don't talk like that that's not natural alright I have a few more examples for you the next one is where did you get them where did you get them I actually said this the other day to my nephew but
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I didn't say like that I say Oh where'd you get'em where'd you get'em so listen where did you became where'd you where'd you and then get them
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became get'em get'em where'd you get'em so I'm not even saying them it's crazy right now the word of a lot of the time reduces to ah right so I just said
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a lot of the time I said it well but that's not usually what I say I'll say a lot of the time a lot of the time a lotta a lot of the time all right now I have another sentence with how I could say I don't know how to
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do it but instead of saying that I just say I don't know how to do it I don't know how to do it how to do it how to do it and I don't know is I don't know it's
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not even I it's ah like I don't know how to do it I don't know I don't know do you know and then there were I said do you know I didn't say do I said da did do
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you know do you know do you know and my final tips about reducing sounds changing them eliminating them is for individual words you'll notice that in
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American English we don't say for a lot like it's for her we say fur hey yeah it's fur her it's for her and we also don't say the word well we don't say well I
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could call you later we say well I could call you later wol wol wol I could call you later and then other words like all right we don't really say all right we just say a'right a'right a'right
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basically we eliminate the L all right you guys that's it I gave you a ton of examples in this video again I know it can be really frustrating but the point of this video was not to teach you every single reduction and deletion that we
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make in fast speech it was just to make you more aware of certain changes that you will hear so you can start listening better learning them and incorporating them into your own speech so you can sound more like a native English speaker
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anyhow that's it for this video if you guys want a free guide on 79 words that you still say wrong these are words that are very very simple everyday common
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words but a lot of non-native English speakers mess them up if you guys want this guide go ahead and in the description of this video you'll get the link you'll be able to download it and listen to the audio file right
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away and hopefully you're not making any of these mistakes with these simple words are you guys that's it and I'll see you in another video bye
Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with this video on fast speech is essential for anyone looking to improve their English fluency. The speaker dives into how native English conversations naturally blend words and eliminate sounds, which mirrors the authentic manner in which native speakers communicate. By practicing shadow speech alongside this video, learners can develop the ability to recognize and imitate these patterns, enhancing their conversational skills significantly. This approach not only helps in sounding more like a native speaker but also reduces the chances of misunderstanding in casual interactions. Whether you're preparing for a business meeting or a social gathering, this skill set is invaluable.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
- What ya doing later? - The contraction and reduction of "what are you" to "whatcha" demonstrates how native speakers frequently streamline their phrases.
- How'd it go? - This phrase replaces "how did it" and shows how auxiliary verbs can be contracted for ease in conversation.
- Can I go? - Here, "can" transforms into "khn" in fast speech, illustrating the importance of understanding sound reductions in spoken English.
By integrating these patterns into your practice, you can better prepare yourself to respond naturally in conversations. Using platforms like a shadowing site can provide additional resources for mimicking these expressions in context.
Common Pronunciation Traps
A significant challenge for learners is navigating the tricky pronunciations characteristic of fast English speech. For instance, the phrase have to can transform into hafta, losing clarity in conversation. Other tricky examples include:
- Where's he at? often pronounced quickly as where's he at, eliminating unnecessary sounds.
- Would you reduces to wouldja, making it essential to listen closely to grasp the real-time spoken language.
By actively practicing these pronunciation aspects, you will find that you can significantly improve English pronunciation and comprehension. Listening to content like this video allows learners to better tune their ears and mouths to the sounds of natural English!
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.