Shadowing Practice: Say These 200 DAILY WORDS in a British Accent! (MODERN RP) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Today, I want you to do one thing, copy my accent.
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We are going to practice hundreds of essential words together, and we're going to focus on clear,
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natural pronunciation in my accent, modern received pronunciation.
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You will have the chance to shadow me,
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repeat after me, and really train your mouth and and ears to get comfortable with the sounds of British English.
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This training video is perfect to save and come back to regularly.
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To help you even further, I have created a free pronunciation ebook to go with this video.
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You can use it for further practice.
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It contains all of the words we'll cover today, plus where the stress is on each word
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and extra notes i don't have time to cover in the lesson
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if you would like to download this huge pronunciation ebook for free click on the link in the description box
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or scan the qr code there you sign up to my mailing list
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and i'll send you the ebook directly to your inbox okay
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let's get started with the training program is your pronunciation british or american let's see read these words.
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Number one, if you said vitamin, you're British.
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Vitamin, American.
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What about this one?
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If you said aluminium, you're British.
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Aluminum, American.
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This one then.
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Herb, in British English.
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Herb, American English.
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Okay, this one's the decider.
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Basil.
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British.
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Basil.
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American. And finally, tomato.
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British.
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Tomato.
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American.
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Can you understand fast British English?
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You're right with that.
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Are you alright with that?
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What's up with that?
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What is up with that?
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Are you having me on?
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Are you having me on?
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Don't know about that.
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I don't know about that.
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Where'd you say it was?
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Where did you say it was?
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Can you understand fast British English?
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What do you mean?
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What do you mean?
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Who's that?
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Who is that?
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The hell you do that for?
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What the hell did you do that for?
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How'd you find my house?
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How did you find my house.
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I got to go.
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I have got to go.
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Americans never say this sound.
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Yep, most Americans don't use the O vowel sound.
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Knowledge in British English.
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Knowledge American English.
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Lobby.
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Larby.
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Rock.
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Rark.
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Isn't that curious?
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Can you pronounce these super hard words in English?
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We'll start easy.
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Squirrel.
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Squirrel.
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Next.
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Archipelago.
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Archipelago.
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Next.
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Flabbergasted.
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Flabbergasted.
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Isn't that one great?
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And, gorgeous word.
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Soporific.
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Soporific.
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Stop pronouncing the R sound in British English, trust me.
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Yes, you can pronounce it after consonants and at the beginning of words like rest,
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crooked, recycle, grasp, but we don't pronounce R sounds after a vowel sound.
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This includes at the end of words year, girl, her, world, tour.
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One exception if the word ends in an R and the next word begins with a vowel sound.
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Here is, there are.
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Don't pronounce the P in these three words.
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Psychology, psychology.
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Pneumonia, pneumonia.
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And one of my most used words, pterodactyl, pterodactyl.
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Do not pronounce the letter B in these
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words debt climb comb tomb thumb doubt crumb don't say
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it don't pronounce the t in these words listen Castle.
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Buffet.
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Soften.
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Ballet.
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See, no T.
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Do not pronounce the D in these words.
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Words with ND.
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Sometimes when we have ND together, the D is silent.
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For example, handsome.
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Sandwich.
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When you see D -G -E in a word, it typically becomes the J sound.
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Edge, badge.
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Can you pronounce these difficult words in English?
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They all end with Lee.
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Literally, literally.
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Particularly, particularly.
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Usually.
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Usually.
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You will hear some people saying usually, but more commonly, usually.
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Rarely.
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Rarely.
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We don't pronounce that second r sound.
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Rarely.
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Popularly.
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Popularly.
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Temporarily.
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Temporarily.
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Five syllables and regularly, regularly.
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How many did you pronounce correctly?
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Let me know.
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Can you pronounce these English city names?
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We'll start easy but trust me, it gets really difficult.
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Number one.
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London.
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London.
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Two.
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Oxford.
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Oxford.
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Three.
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Birmingham.
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Birmingham.
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Four.
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Leicester.
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Number five, like the sauce.
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Worcester, Worcester.
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Number six, Marlebone, Marlebone.
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Number seven, Loughborough, Loughborough.
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Eight, Gloucester, Gloucester.
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Can you pronounce these super hard words.
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Duet this and see how you do.
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Number one, this word.
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Genuine.
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Genuine.
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What about this one?
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Thoroughly.
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Thoroughly.
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Let's try number three.
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This one.
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Adjective.
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Adjective.
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How about this word?
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Brewery.
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Brewery.
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Brewery.
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Number Number five, this word, womb, womb.
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The B is silent.
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Repeat after me and keep practising until you perfect the pronunciation. Though.
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Thought.
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Tough.
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Through.
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Thorough.
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Let's practice your British English pronunciation.
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We have the E long sound and I short sound leave,
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live, seen, sin, seat, sit,
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keel, kill, reap, rip, and beach.
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When you speak, do you sound American or do you sound British?
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Duet this video to find out.
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First up, how do you pronounce this word? word?
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Did you say herb or did you say herb?
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Next one.
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We borrowed this from the Italians.
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How do you say this word?
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Did you say pasta or did you say pasta?
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What about this word?
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Did you say raspberry or did you say raspberry?
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And finally, how would you say this one? one.
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Did you say progress or did you say progress?
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Okay, let's find out if you speak English the American way or the British way.
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Duet this to find out.
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How would you say this word?
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Did you say yoghurt or did you say yoghurt?
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What about this one, this letter?
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Did you say zed or did you say zee?
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A to zed or a to zee?
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Let's try this one.
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How would you say it?
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Did you say root or did you say route?
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And the last one, how would you say this word?
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Did you say bald or did you say bald?
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Do you sound British or American?
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Duet this and see how you sound.
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How do you say this word?
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Did you say either or did you say either?
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What about this word?
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Did you say leisure or did you say leisure?
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Let's try this one.
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How would you say this word?
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Did you say mobile or did you say mobile?
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And finally, how do you say this one?
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Did you say niche or did you say niche?
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When you speak, do you sound American or do you sound British?
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Duet this and find out.
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How do you say this word?
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Did you say vase or did you say vase?
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What about this word?
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Do you say schedule or do you say schedule?
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How do you say this word?
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Did you say missile or did you say missile?
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Okay, this one is the decider.
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What do you say for this word?
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Do you say tomato or do you say tomato?
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Can you pronounce these difficult words in English?
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I'll show you the word, you say it and then I'll tell you how it's pronounced.
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First up kernel, kernel.
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Next squirrel, squirrel.
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Then we have this one turtle, turtle.
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What about this one?
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Rural, rural.
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How about this?
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Yacht, yacht.
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Ignore that CH.
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And finally, we have this one.
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Choir, choir.
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Same spelling.
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Different pronunciation.
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Nouns versus verbs.
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Attribute, attribute.
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Conduct, conduct.
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Contract, contract.
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Contest, contest.
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Decrease, decrease.
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Escort, escort. but really it's comfortable.
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The next word we have is not vegetable, vegetable.
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Okay number three, I hear many people saying chocolate but we say chocolate.
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It's just two syllables and I understand it's quite hard for many people to pronounce
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but you want to speak English well you've got to practice.
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Now on to number four, not one of my favourite days of the week but it's very important to pronounce it correctly.
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I always hear tueste, tueste
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When in reality, it's Tuesday.
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Choose, like I want to choose what I'm having for breakfast this morning.
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Tuesday, not Tuesday.
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And then the last one, not Wednesday, Wednesday.
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We're going to focus first on one key feature of my and many other British accents.
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I don't pronounce the letter R at the end of a word or before consonant sounds.
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So the letters
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Those er at the end of words usually sound like uh.
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Uh.
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This sound is called the schwa sound and it's the most common sound in English.
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In most American accents, these letters would sound more like er.
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Can you hear the difference?
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Let's practice with 10 common words with er at the end.
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Remember to repeat after me.
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I'll go slow first, then fast.
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One, weather, weather.
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Two, shower, shower.
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Three, shopper, shopper.
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Four, driver, driver fiver, five,
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lager, lager, six, natter, natter,
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seven, quieter, quieter, eight, whisper, whisper.
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Nine.
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Deliver.
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Deliver. And ten.
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Offer.
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Offer.
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How did you find that?
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Here's something interesting.
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I do usually pronounce the letter R when it comes before a vowel sound.
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Listen and compare.
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The weather was awful.
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The weather is awful.
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Did you hear the difference there?
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Let's practice some of these words in full sentences.
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Shadow me.
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I'll mark where I pronounce the R sound to help you.
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The weather was awful, so the shopper asked the taxi driver to take her to the pub for a lager.
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While she was having a natter on the phone,
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the room suddenly grew quieter and some people began to whisper about the heavy snow shower that was forecast.
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Pause and replay that if you want to practice again.
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The next sound we will focus on is in the final word of our last list, offer, offer, oh, oh.
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So pull your tongue to the back of your mouth, open the jaw slightly and round the lips, oh, oh.
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In many North American accents,
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this short o sounds more like a long o, o, ar, o, ar.
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So, if you want to speak with modern RP, keep this sound as a short burst, o, o, offer.
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Here are 10 everyday words with this sound.
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Repeat after me.
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Often, often.
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Remember, you can also say often.
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October, October.
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Opportunity, opportunity.
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Want, want.
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Stop, stop.
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Clock, clock.
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Knowledge, knowledge.
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Hospital, hospital.
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Impossible, impossible and apology.
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Apology.
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Let's practice the sound in some full sentences.
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Shadow me now.
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In October, she had the opportunity to fix the broken clock, but said it was impossible without the right knowledge.
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Instead, she stopped and offered her apologies.
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Rewind and replay that if you'd like to practice again
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if not let's move on to our next sound which is super super
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british can you guess what it is it's the glottal stop we make this sound by quickly closing the throat
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and then releasing the air it's like a tiny light cough it often replaces the sound sound in the middle
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and at the end of a word, but it can also appear in place of some other consonant sounds too.
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We can represent this sound with this symbol.
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Now, the use of the glottal stop is really irregular.
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I don't tend to use it in the middle of words.
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This is more a feature of other accents, but there are a few.
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where I do use it.
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Let's practice ten glottal words.
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Repeat these words after me.
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But, but, about, about, football,
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football, Scotland, Scotland, hot, hot, backpack,
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Backpack.
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Seatbelt.
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Seatbelt.
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Unfortunately.
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Unfortunately.
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Flight.
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Flight. And might. Might.
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Now, in most of these words, I would only use the glottal stop in fast informal speech.
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Let's practice with a short text now.
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Shadow me.
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Unfortunately, the flight was hot, but I might make it to the football game.
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I actually inserted another glottal stop there in it.
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I might make it.
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Again, I just want to reiterate, this is very relaxed, casual speech with my friends.
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There is so much more to say about the glottal stop and when we use it in modern RP.
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Let me know if you'd like another video on that.
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I could go into a lot of detail.
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Now let's look at y as in yes.
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In British English we often insert a soft y sound before the vowel sound in words like new.
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Many speakers from North America and other British dialects drop this sound, so new sounds more like new.
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We can hear another important difference when the sounds and appear together as they can combine to make a sound.
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So Tuesday becomes comes Tuesday, Tuesday.
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Similarly, when d and y combine, they can become j, as in June.
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Let's practise some daily words with you, chew, and June.
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Repeat after me.
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The tube, the tube.
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Stupid, stupid.
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Student, student.
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Jew, Jew.
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Duty, duty beauty, news, news,
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enthusiastic, enthusiastic, assume, assume, costume,
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costume, and attitude, And now,
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shadow me as I say some of these words in full sentences.
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The enthusiastic student waited for the next tube, feeling a bit stupid in his Halloween costume.
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He'd heard on the news of possible delays due to upgrade works,
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but felt a duty to keep a positive attitude now let's look at another sound
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which changes a lot depending on the region you're from it's o as in home
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if you want to pronounce
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this sound like i do start with the schwa sound the one
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we practiced at the beginning of the lesson then smoothly glide to an sound sound, as in good.
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Oh, oh.
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When I make the oh sound, I often round my lips slightly at the end.
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Oh, oh, home.
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Let's practise oh in ten common words.
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We have snow, snow.
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Hope, Hope.
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Hope.
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Gross.
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Gross.
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Photo.
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Photo.
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Two there.
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Alone.
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Alone.
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Suppose.
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Suppose.
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Remote.
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Remote.
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Shadow.
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shadow, borrow, borrow.
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And although, although.
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Shadow me now.
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Although she usually enjoyed working remotely,
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I suppose the winter shadows and snow made her feel more alone.
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Okay, we're halfway through our 100 words and next we're going to practice the R sound as in car.
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Now I use this sound a lot
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but it's less common in the north of England and North America
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and that's because many words which have the R sound
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and aren't spelt with the letter R can be pronounced with a short a, as in apple, instead.
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For example, plant, plant.
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Do you know which one you tend to use?
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Let's practice 10 words that I pronounce with the long R sound, but you might often hear with the short a sound.
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We have task, task.
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Laugh, laugh.
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After, after.
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nasty, nasty.
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Chance, chance.
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Answer, answer.
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Example, example.
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Advantage, advantage advantage.
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Master.
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Master.
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Contrast.
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Contrast.
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Ready to shadow me?
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It was not by chance that they mastered the task quickly.
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She laughed.
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In contrast, it was mastered after carefully examining answers and examples.
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Let's move on to the next section.
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Shortening a word by dropping a syllable is common in many accents, but here are ten words that the Brits would tend to shorten,
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which many North Americans might not.
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Repeat after me.
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Ordinary.
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Ordinary.
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Praps, praps.
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Restaurant, restaurant.
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Library, library.
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Secretary, secretary laboratory, secondary, secondary,
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police, police, medicine, medicine, cemetery, cemetery. And category, category.
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Now, note, I'm not saying that we always shorten these words.
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I'm saying that we sometimes do, especially in fast speech.
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Call the police.
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Call the police.
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I could say either.
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Now, because it's more common to drop syllables in full sentences when speaking very fast,
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I'm going to read the next text a little bit faster to practice.
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See if you can shadow me.
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You might need to rewind and try a couple of times.
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The library is between the secondary school and the police station,
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opposite the Indian restaurant perhaps they'll have a section on ordinary medicine okay our next section gets really tricky
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we're going to focus on some of the most commonly mispronounced words again
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i'm going to model these in my modern rp accent first
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we have half half receipt receipt biscuit biscuit colleague Colleague.
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Wednesday.
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Wednesday.
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Suit.
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Suit.
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Cue.
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Cue.
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Crisps.
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Crisps.
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Village.
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Village. And draw.
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Draw.
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Just one syllable there.
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Let's practice in a mini text.
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Shadow Show me now.
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I found the receipt for the suit, biscuits and crisps I bought in the village in a drawer in the kitchen.
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I went with a colleague to return them all on Wednesday, but we had to wait in a massive queue for half an hour.
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Okay, for our penultimate category, let's have a go at some words which we often shorten when chatting to friends and family.
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We have holes, holes.
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footy, footy.
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Cuppa, cuppa.
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Loo, loo.
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Prezzy, prezzy.
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Telly, telly.
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Brekkie, brekkie.
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uni uni agro agro
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and defo defo now they are pretty slang do you want to try in some full sentences shadow me
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i love watching the footy on the telly with a cuppa my uni mates think i'm boring
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but they defo love it too
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and we're going to finish today's lesson with 10 words
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that can sound very different in my British accent and North American English.
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For this final category, I've enlisted the help of one of my fabulous teachers, Joel, who speaks English with a general American accent.
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He speaks beautifully.
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I always try to get Joel to record things for our courses.
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So, I'll say the word first and then you'll hear Joel's very different pronunciation.
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We have...
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Root.
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Route.
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Vase.
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Vase.
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Privacy.
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Privacy.
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Data.
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Data.
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Vitamin.
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Leisure.
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Leisure.
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Yoghurt.
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Premiere.
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Hostile.
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Hostile. And enquiry.
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Inquiry.
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OK, shadow me now.
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En route to the film premiere we discovered that our data had been shared and our privacy intruded upon.
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The inquiry concluded it was a hostile act.
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Shall we hear Joel?
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En route to the film premiere, we discovered that our data had been shared and our privacy intruded upon.
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The inquiry concluded it was a hostile act.
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Fantastic.
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Okay, that brings us to the end of today's lesson.
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Were there any big surprises for you?
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Which were your favourite, least favourite words to pronounce?
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Let me know in the comments.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Say These 200 DAILY WORDS in a British Accent!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, sound, pronounce, british, English. This video has 486 sentences and 2967 words to shadow. The speech runs for 32:00. The speaker talks slowly, about 93 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 73 of its 486 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| shadow noun | /ˈʃædəʊ̯/ | A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. |
| 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… |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| privacy noun | /ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/ | The state of being secluded from the presence, sight, or knowledge of others. |
| inquiry noun | /ɪnˈkwaɪ(ə)ɹi/ | The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning. |
| hostile adjective | /ˈhɑstəl/ | Not friendly; appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence or a desire to thwart and injure. |
| leisure noun | /ˈlɛʒə(ɹ)/ | Freedom provided by the cessation of activities. |
| tomato noun | /təˈmeɪ.toʊ/ | A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit. |
| herb noun | /hɜːb/ | A plant whose stem is not woody and does not persist beyond each growing season. |
| squirrel noun | /ˈskwɪ.ɹ(ə)l/ | Any of the rodents of the family Sciuridae. |
| vase noun | /veɪ̯s/ | An upright open container used mainly for displaying fresh, dried, or artificial flowers. |
| awful adjective | /ˈɔːfʊl/ | Very bad. |
| contrast noun | /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/ | The degree of this difference. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Are you alright with that?
- Are you having me on?
- Where'd you say it was?
- Where did you say it was?
- How'd you find my house?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called · can be pronounced · was mastered |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have created · I've enlisted |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | sound which is · words which have |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 48 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/, thoroughly /ˈθʌɹ.ə.li/, throat /ˈθɹoʊt/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, thorough /ˈθʌɹoʊ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, leisure /ˈlɛʒə(ɹ)/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, inquiry /ɪnˈkwaɪ(ə)ɹi/, ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, apology /əˈpɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pronounce, shadow, accent.
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.