Shadowing Practice: How To Do An American Accent FAST - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Welcome everybody to the Actors Academy.
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So today we're going to be talking about how to do the American accent.
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And specifically this is going to be how to do a general American accent.
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That's how we have to specifically categorize this topic.
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Because there are a lot of different, you may call them accents or dialects, whatever wording you like to use.
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People will interchange them differently.
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But if you're from New York or you're from Texas or you're from California, you're going to sound a little bit different depending on where you're from.
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Today though we're going to be talking about the general American accent.
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This is what people think of most when they think of the American accent.
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This is when you're going and you're watching movies and you're hearing an American.
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This is what you're usually hearing.
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So that's why we call this the general American accent.
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So the first sound that we're going to be starting with are the R sounds.
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And words like car, bar, far.
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We have a strong R sound.
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Far, car, bar.
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Whereas with a British accent, you might go car.
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Where's the car at?
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Or the bar.
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You want to go and hit those R's hard.
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Car, bar, far.
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You're hearing those R sounds.
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But now, if you go overboard with this, of course it's going to sound a little bit weird.
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Car, bar, far.
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You're just going to sound weird.
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With any accent that you're learning, you can go too far.
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You can always bring it back a little bit, but it's always very easy to go too far, especially when you're first learning.
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When you're learning that first, go ahead and make those mistakes.
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That's fine.
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But bring it back.
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Don't just keep going car, bar, far.
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You have to roll into those R's car, bar, far.
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Some people think it helps to think about the R sound being a little bit more back in the throat.
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If that helps you, you can use that.
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But really, hear the sounds.
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Car, bar, far.
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You're basically saying car, and then you're hearing that R sound.
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As if you're just saying R.
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Car, far, bar and then when you don't have those weird pauses like I'm doing, it'll sound like car, far, and bar.
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Same is going to go with our ER sounds.
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So with ER in words, say like better, or father, or mother, we have those ER sounds.
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Father, mother, better.
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With the American accent, you hear those R's.
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It's something that you're going to really notice when it comes to the American accent.
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So it'll be father, mother, not father, mother, ER.
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We hear those R sounds in there, father, mother.
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So if you can get those R's, that'll really start to help you sound a little bit more American because we're really strong when it comes to those R's.
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Again, you can go overboard, though.
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You can go mother, father, better, and that will make you sound like a really weird person.
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So if you want to avoid sounding weird and you just want to sound normal, tone it back a little bit.
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As you're learning these accents and as you're going through, you can decide how strong you want to go, how soft you want to go because you can, you have that ability.
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There are some people who are stronger with their Rs and there are some people here who are lighter with their Rs.
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But in general, you're still gonna hear those Rs in there, whether that be with ARs or ERs.
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So now we're going to be talking about the medial Ts and words like say little.
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When we say little here in America, we change our Ts into Ds.
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If you're a British speaker, there are two things that you would do with those Ts.
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Sometimes you may leave the Ts out.
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You may go little, you may not even hear the Ts.
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Or you go a little bit stronger with the Ts and you go little.
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But in America here, what we do is we change those Ts into to d's, little.
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This of course is not going to apply to all words because there are words that will not change those sounds,
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but for the most part medial t's are going to be changing from t's into d's.
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That's what you're going to be getting most of.
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So the next one we're going to be talking about are the words the and the.
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You spell them the same way but we say them differently depending on the context of what we're talking in.
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Sometimes we may say the animal or sometimes we may say the park.
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When do we use the, when do we use the?
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A good rule of thumb that will really help you with this is thinking the.
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We say the when we have a vowel come afterwards.
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So the animal because a comes next.
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Or as we have a consonant comes next, then it will be the.
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So for example, the park.
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So anytime you're trying to find out when to use the or when to use the, this is the process you have to go through.
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If we say the park, it sounds a little bit weird.
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Where like the park, it doesn't sound right in our ears when we hear it.
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So if you're trying to have an American accent and you say, where is the park?
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People are going to be like, what?
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The park?
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No, it's the park.
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Where is the park?
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The same could also be said a little bit for the word the animal.
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You could go and say the animal.
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It's not as weird, but most likely you're gonna hear us say the animal because it flows more, it rolls off the tongue.
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So a general rule of thumb is make sure if a vowel comes next, you say the.
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If a consonant comes next, you say the.
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So I hope this all makes sense for you guys.
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This is a really quick video in order to have an American accent fast.
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I hope you guys liked this video.
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Make sure you subscribe to the channel so you can be up to date with everything.
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There's always new videos coming out every single week.
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If you're an actor, this channel really helps you out because if you have different accents, this is, I believe it's our fourth one that we've now put out.
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When it comes to accents, the more tools that you have in your pocket, your arsenal when you're an actor, the better that you have a chance of maybe booking a part.
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So hey, if you can do four different accents, well, there may be a role one day where you have to have a different accent
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and you can audition for that part.
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If you just wanna learn an accent for fun and you're not trying to be an actor, just want to know accents well then this is also great for you too.
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I'm also going to be leaving our 10 hour acting master class down in the comment section
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and in the description if you're interested in that if you're an actor and I'll see you guys all next time.
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Thank you guys.
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Bye Thank
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you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Do An American Accent FAST”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sound, accent, bar, park, weird. This video has 100 sentences and 1223 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:57. The speaker talks fast, about 205 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| accent noun | /ækˈsɛnt/ | A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to… |
| consonant noun | /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/ | A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant… |
| medial adjective | /ˈmiː.di.əl/ | Of or pertaining to a mean or average. |
| overboard adverb | /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌbɔː(ɹ)d/ | Over the edge; especially, off or outside of a boat. |
| vowel noun | /ˈvaʊ.əl/ | A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable. |
| thumb noun | /ˈθʌm/ | The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| differently adverb | /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/ | In a different way. |
| categorize verb | /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/ | To assign a category; to divide into classes. |
| interchange noun | /ˈɪntɚt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/ | An act of interchanging. |
| audition noun | /ɑˈdɪʃən/ | A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
| anytime adverb | At any time. | |
| throat noun | /ˈθɹoʊt/ | The front part of the neck. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| put out verb | To blind (eyes). | |
| roll off verb | /ˈɹol ˈɔf/ | To spontaneously roll suddenly and rapidly to one side or the other upon entering a stall (due to one wing stalling slightly before the other does, combined… |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's how we have to specifically categorize this topic.
- This is what you're usually hearing.
- You're just going to sound weird.
- That's what you're going to be getting most of.
- When do we use the, when do we use the?
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 can get those R's, that'll really · if you're an actor and I'll see |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | may call · might go · may leave |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | you're going · you're usually hearing · You're hearing |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | we're going to be · is going to be · you're going to sound |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 51 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, we're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, throat /ˈθɹoʊt/
- Long words — get the stress right: differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, categorize /ˈkætɪɡəˌɹaɪz/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like accent, consonant, medial.
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.