Shadowing Practice: SPEAK LIKE AN AMERICAN! 🇺🇸 1-Hour Deep-Dive into the American Accent & Pronunciation - Learn English Speaking with Video

this is the most important lesson of your life maybe i guess it really depends on what your goals are

but i want to focus this master class on developing your speaking fluency

and we're really going to do a deep dive into the

american accent now quick disclaimer you should never feel like you

need to speak english with any particular accent there are many varieties out there, and I think we can appreciate all of them.

That being said, I get many requests because people either live in the U .S or they work with people from the United States,

and they want to learn and understand more about the American accent.

And because I'm from the U .S., I want to share my knowledge with you

and help give you a better understanding as to why people speak the way they do.

And if you are someone who enjoys learning more about the American accent, pronunciation, U .S culture, please subscribe, turn on notifications.

That way I can become your teacher.

My name is Wes.

The channel is Interactive English.

It is all about helping you reach your fluency goals.

Now, I want to start with just some, I think, helpful pronunciation tips.

This is a good place to begin.

And as we go through the different parts, we're going to build on top of this because like I said,

it is all about helping you develop your speaking fluency.

Today, I have 10 pronunciation tips to help you improve your speaking fluency.

And yes, I am from the United States, so some of these tips are more related to the American accent.

Let's begin with number one, and we're talking about elision in which you are removing sounds.

So, number one, you may not pronounce the T when it comes between two consonants.

And I'm sure you hear this when I say words like exactly, or mortgage, or Christmas.

And this also goes for phrases as well.

If I were to say last night, or mashed potatoes, you don't hear that T at all.

Number two, let's stay with elision.

You may not pronounce the D when it comes between two consonants.

And again, you hear this in words like sandwich, or lands.

This also applies to phrases like use car or

sandcastle and Notice that T is also gone in castle

because it comes between two consonants So a couple of things going on with

that one number three also part of elision You're gonna drop that G in those ing words,

so it's really a difference between ing and in taking taken Normally,

I would say something like yeah I'm taking the day off.

And I think this is pretty common in just casual conversation with those verbs in the continuous tense.

Playing, watching, dancing.

I hope that you are hitting that like button and subscribing to the channel so that I can become your teacher.

My name is Wes, and that's what Interactive English is all about, trying to help you reach your fluency goals.

Number four, and this one is definitely more American English.

You're going to use a flap T when the T comes between two vowels.

And a flap T sounds more like a soft D, and I'm sure you hear it when I say words like water or beautiful.

And this also goes for phrases as well, when the T comes at the end of the word, and it's linked with another word that begins with a vowel.

So instead of saying something like, we're going to meet at the office, meet at, we can link those together,

and now the T comes between those two vowels.

I can use a flap T.

We're gonna meet at the office.

Number five, be sure to pronounce those R's.

Now, this is a difference between American English and British English, which is known for dropping those R's.

But in the U .S., you want to pronounce those R's in words like father, or weather, or better.

And notice that flap T when I say better.

Now, some regional accents in the U .S., such as, like, well, the Boston accent in the Northeast, they may drop some of those R's,

but in general, just go ahead, pronounce those R's.

I have one quick announcement before we continue, because if you are someone who would like to improve your speaking fluency, well, then you can join my speaking course.

Just click on the link down in the description, and when you do, you will find a special discount code just for you.

The course is all about helping you speak confidently, speak clearly, and speak naturally.

To help you speak confidently, each week there is a different speaking topic.

You get a bit of variety.

We do engaging speaking activities, help you build your vocabulary.

all of it to give you more confidence when you're having a conversation.

To help you speak clearly, we always warm up each lesson with something related to pronunciation or connected speech,

and there are also pronunciation video lessons included in the course.

And this not only helps you speak clearly, but I really do think it helps with your listening comprehension as well.

And speaking naturally, you will learn some of the language nuances, when to use certain words and phrases,

practice idioms, as well as use a variety of ways to express some very common ideas.

So click on the link in the description if you'd like to join or learn more about the course, and I just hope to speak to you soon.

Now let's get back to those pronunciation tips.

Number six, don't be afraid to use the schwa sound, especially with some very common words.

So the schwa sound, it is an unstressed vowel sound.

It just sounds like a you hear it in in words like banana banana you hear it in

that first and last syllable now we can use the schwa in very common words like you

which has two different pronunciations both are accepted when it's stressed you

when it's unstressed and we say it with the schwa yeah

so if I were to say like look at you okay you can hear

that stress you if I were to ask something like are you gonna write to me in the comments?

Okay.

Are you gonna write to me in the comments?

I say it with the schwa and I'm also making a suggestion as well.

Are you gonna write to me in the comments?

Number seven, don't be afraid to use reductions.

There are certain phrases like going to and want to that often get reduced to gonna and wanna.

Again, you hear that schwa at the end.

So this is something that I think I end up doing like 99 % of the time.

So if you want to speak like they do in your favorite tv show

or movie then you're going to start using reductions number eight

and this is a syllable stress rule so words

that end in tion or sion it's pronounced as shun

but the stress is going to come on the syllable before pronunciation comprehension all right i'm emphasizing a little bit

so you can easily hear it pronunciation comprehension the stress is on the syllable before.

Number nine, another syllable stress rule.

Words that end in TY, CY, PHY, GY, and AL,

the stress is going to be on the third to last syllable.

So, electricity, photography, biology, okay?

Again, I'm trying to overemphasize it so you can easily hear it, but stress is on the third to last syllable.

Number 10, keep an eye out for loanwords.

So these are words that are borrowed from other languages, and English has borrowed many, many words.

And often the word may keep its spelling and pronunciation, and this is why sometimes you see a word in English and you think, wow, the spelling and the pronunciation, they just don't match.

So to share with you a few loanwords that English has borrowed from languages like French, champagne, Spanish,

marijuana, Hindi pajamas Japanese samurai the the list goes on

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and on there are many many loan words just just keep in mind

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that the spelling and the pronunciation are not always going to match up

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so as I said at the very beginning we are going

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to build on top of this as we go through the different parts

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and what I would like to look at now are some specific words that you can use to practice the American accent.

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This is going to reinforce a lot of what you just learned.

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And the key word that I really want to emphasize right now is practice.

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I want you to practice right now.

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Say these words out loud.

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Try to imitate my accent as you hear me say the words.

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So, let's get the ball rolling with nine words to help you master the American accent.

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Let's talk about some words to help you master the American accent.

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Now, as someone who is learning English as a second language, you should never feel like you need to speak with any particular accent.

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The most important thing is that we understand each other.

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However, I know that this topic interests many people.

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We all have different speaking goals, and if one of your goals is to try to emulate the American accent and learn more about it,

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then I think this lesson will really help.

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So in general, I'm going to talk about the pronunciation of certain words, which falls under the umbrella of the American accent.

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And pronunciation and accent, they're not necessarily the same.

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They're not always interchangeable.

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Pronunciation is how words are pronounced.

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You're just making those sounds.

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Whereas accent is the way in which someone pronounces words and it's influenced by the country or area they come from.

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To give you an example of what I'm talking about, let's look at our first word, to.

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This is a very common and useful word, and the word to actually has two different pronunciations, a strong form and a weak form.

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The strong form to sounds just like the number to.

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The weak form is when the word is unstressed, it's going to get reduced, and the vowel sounds going to change, and it's going to sound more like it has a schwa sound, t.

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It's much softer.

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And this is what I'm talking about when changing t to t is more about accent reduction.

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Because t is really a function word.

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These are words that are not really emphasized.

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Because function words are words that have a grammatical purpose.

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And Americans often reduce function words in everyday speech.

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In other words, they often say function words more quietly

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and quickly and that is why to may often get reduced

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and sound like to let's look at the following

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and practice I'm going to the mall can you hear

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that weak form I'll say it slowly I'm going to the

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mall I'm going to the mall later now I want you

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to practice say it with me I'm going to the mall

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I'm going to the mall here's another one I'd like to

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take advantage of the situation I'd like to take advantage of the situation.

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I'd like to take advantage of the situation.

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Now let's say it together.

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I'd like to take advantage of the situation.

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I'd like to take advantage of the situation.

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So hopefully it was easy for you to identify and hear that weaker unstressed to, not only when I was saying it,

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but when listening to those videos as well.

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So I just want you to be mindful and understand that this occurs.

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It's not something that you have to start using.

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You could practice this if you want to, and I think shadowing is a great way to do that, and trying to say something in the exact same way,

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because this is not really something that you'll just be able to turn on and off.

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It may take a little bit of time

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if you would like to reduce your accent and start using some of these weaker unstressed words and sounds. For.

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Except I'm not really going to pronounce it. For.

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Again, when it's unstressed, the word's going to get reduced.

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That vowel sound's going to change from for to fur.

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So for, that or, it's a low back vowel.

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You can really feel it coming from the back of your

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mouth for to a fur it's much softer it is gonna sound more like a front vowel

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and very similar to fur except in

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that case the vowel sounds gonna be a little longer

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but let's practice with this question right here what are you gonna do for dinner can you hear

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that softer sound and it does get reduced what are you gonna do for dinner

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so uh what are you guys doing for dinner tonight?

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So, what do you think we should do for dinner?

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This pronunciation is easy for me.

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I hope it's easy for you.

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Again, listen to how the word is unstressed.

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Easy for you, easy for M, not for me.

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You make it easy for me, I'll make it easy for you.

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And we can practice with some tricky sentences, so repeat after me.

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I have four brushes for my four cats because they have a lot of fur.

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Let's say that one more time.

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I have four brushes for my four cats because they have a lot of fur.

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And now give this next one a try.

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We waited for the bus for four hours.

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Once again, we waited for the bus for four hours.

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And yeah, that can be a little tricky, especially with that for four hours,

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for four hours, but this is something you will definitely hear in spoken English, and people are going to reduce for to for.

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The next word is one that I really enjoy, water.

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Okay, so there are two things that I want to focus on, the flap T and the final R.

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So the flap T is a really distinct part of the American accent.

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This is when the T is going to sound like a soft D.

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And it often occurs when the T comes between two vowel sounds and is part of an unstressed syllable.

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So here are some words, and just repeat after me and try to use that flap T.

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Water.

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City.

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Political.

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Meeting.

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Quality.

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critical.

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All of those words have T's that I would pronounce as a flap T.

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Now the final R is something else that Americans often pronounce when the R comes at the end of a word.

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So again, just repeat after me, really pronounce that R, and I'll probably emphasize it a little bit, water.

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car weather chair now if we want to practice with other words

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that are just like water that have a flap T

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and final are we can use these words right here

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again repeat after me better voter later butter writer these are great words to practice both of those things,

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the flat T and final R.

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Mountain.

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This word is all about the glottal T, or glottal stop.

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So what is that?

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This is when you stop the flow of air through the glottis in your throat.

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So the sound is coming from down here, and you can practice a glottal stop with uh -oh, uh -oh.

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The glottal stop is coming after uh and before oh.

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You can really feel the tightness in your throat

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when you say now with the American accent

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when the T is followed by an sound it may get

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pronounced as a glottal T like in the word mountain

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so see if you can hear the difference

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when I say the word with a true T

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and a glottal T mountain mountain versus mountain mountain one thing

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that I want to point out is that this is not a fixed rule

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that any T that's followed by an sound is going to be pronounced as a glottal T

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if you are living in the US

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or you visit the US you may hear both

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so here are some examples of the word mountain i'm going to keep pronouncing it with a glottal t

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but here are some examples of it being pronounced with more of a true t yeah

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and the mountains they're not like mountains on earth

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and now i want you to listen for that glottal stop oh that sounds fun i'm mountain biking on sunday

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montage mountain but because we're talking about the american accent i want to practice with some words

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and i want you to try to use a glottal t

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because i think a lot of people do this i i actually do it all the time

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so i'm gonna do this to get you thinking about

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that tightness in your throat

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but let's say these words repeat after me mountain kitten

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written gotten bitten those last three were actually the the past participle of those verbs

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and whenever you know you say the past participle of well

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quite a few different verbs you may use a glottal T

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so let's practice with this sentence and there of course there are many glottal stops

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when saying this I have written a story about a kitten

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that walked up a mountain and was bitten by a spider

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so I want you to repeat after me and

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and we're gonna say the sentence in chunks I have written a story about a kitten

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that walked up a mountain and was bitten by a spider.

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So, when saying that sentence, with many of those words, you should feel that tightness in your throat with those glottal stops.

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Mountain.

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The next word, center.

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Easy enough to pronounce, but I would like to point out that when the T follows an N sound,

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it may elide elision is when sounds

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or syllables get removed you don't really hear that T

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when I say center wanted interview 20 entertain in each of those words you don't hear that T

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because it elides once again this is not an established rule

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I I'm just trying to share with you how I think

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most people will say this word center you may hear somebody

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say it with the T center either one just listen

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but we all know you put your biggest talent front

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and center oh I'll be there front

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and center I would like to point out that

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when the T follows an sound

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but it comes at the beginning of a stress syllable then

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you will pronounce it as a more of a true T in words like internship

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or anticipate or intensive If you would like to practice, then start with the words that I have already showed you.

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And again, they're pretty common and we can do so with this sentence.

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I was watching an entertaining interview with 20 people who all wanted to be the center of attention.

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Say it with me.

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I was watching an entertaining interview with 20 people who all wanted to be the center of attention.

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Excellent.

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Let's practice this word right here.

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Can't.

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And I want to start with the vowel sound

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because this is also a difference between British and American English because you're going to pronounce the vowel sound differently.

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And I will make some comparisons between those two English varieties because I think when people are learning the language,

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these are the two varieties that most people reference.

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So in the US, can't.

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And in the UK, can't.

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Can't, can't.

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We can't do that.

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You can't do this.

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I can't just do that tomorrow?

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We can't do that.

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Now, so many people tell me they struggle with this word, not only when listening and trying to identify the word, but also when speaking and trying to say it.

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And I think probably one of the more challenging things about this word is the NT, that consonant cluster at the end.

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The final NT, consonant cluster, your tongue is actually going to be curled down and the tip is going to be behind your bottom front teeth.

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Can't.

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And we're really going to end with a glottal stop.

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And we can practice this with the word ant, which is really the last three letters in the word can't.

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So who the hell are you?

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I'm Ant -Man.

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Ant -Man.

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What, you haven't heard of me?

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Can't.

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Can't.

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It's an incredibly common word and it can be a little tricky, which is why I thought it deserved a little attention,

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but let's practice and we can even review some of the other things we've talked about with this short sentence right here.

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Just repeat after me.

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I can't find any water in town, so I have to go to the mountain.

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Good job.

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Now I want to practice this word, schedule.

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I have already told you that we're gonna practice some of the differences between American English and British English.

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We did that with the previous word, that vowel sound is different when pronouncing can't versus can't.

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And there are many other words that are pronounced differently when comparing American English versus British English, and it's important to know some of these words,

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especially if you are trying to emulate the American accent.

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So let's play a little game.

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I'm gonna give you a word, I'm gonna say both pronunciations, and then I just want you to think about,

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well, which one is the American pronunciation so here's your first one

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and I think you know it

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because I've already said the word you have schedule versus schedule

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and in the US people are going to say schedule here's the next one advertisement

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advertisement in the United States people are going to say advertisement Here's another one, Zebra, Zebra.

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I am going to say Zebra.

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How about this word, Dynasty, Dynasty.

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I hope that you chose Dynasty as the US pronunciation because that is correct.

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Now you get the idea.

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There are many words that are pronounced differently between American and British English.

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I just want to get you thinking about some of these pronunciation differences.

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So if this is something you want to practice, just be aware of this, the words that we just looked at, as well as these words right here.

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I'll give you a moment to look at them, but we need to move on.

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So let's move on to our next word, entrepreneur.

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This is one of many words that have been borrowed from French.

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And the pronunciation is the same -ish, but not really.

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The pronunciation is really an Americanized version of this French word.

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I'll let you listen to the difference.

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They're kind of close, but if you are a French speaker,

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then you need to be careful and understand that these words have been Americanized.

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Here are some other words that have been borrowed from French, and I want you to think about what they have in common.

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Fiancé, connoisseur, café, sorbet.

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Just listening to me say those words, perhaps you notice that the stressed syllable is at the end.

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And in English, this is something that is not very common, and perhaps even a little bit of a hint that the word has been borrowed from French.

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But I often hear second language speakers make a slight pronunciation mistake with some of these words

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that have been borrowed because they end up stressing the wrong syllable instead of that final syllable.

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Something to keep in mind, whenever words are borrowed from other languages, they may sound similar, but not always the same.

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Just food for thought.

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And then we have a fun and very long word, which is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

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And it's silly, but the reason I chose this is to get you thinking about rhythm

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and flow and trying to develop that rhythm and flow, because English is a stress time language.

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It's a language where the stress syllables are said at approximately regular intervals,

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and the unstressed words or syllables are shortened in order to fit that rhythm.

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So here is a very short and simple sentence, three different intervals, and then as I add to the sentence, those intervals are going to stay the same.

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Cats chase mice.

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The cats chase mice.

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The cats chase the mice.

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The cats will chase the mice.

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And as I'm saying this, you can hear those stressed words and syllables and it does sound a little musical,

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and again, it's really a good example of English as a stress time language.

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Now, let's go back to our ridiculously long word, and we can say this word keeping in mind those stressed intervals.

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In total, the word has 14 syllables, and I'll say it again, and I want you to think about that stress.

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I could even clap and say it again, and every time I clap, that is a stress sound.

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So let's break it apart into those different intervals.

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You can see the stress, and now I want you to practice this word with me.

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Ready?

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supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

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Let's try it one more time.

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Again, we're developing that rhythm and flow.

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It's going to sound a little bit like a song.

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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

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Excellent.

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This is something that you can practice because when it comes to speaking with an American an accent, well, rhythm and flow are a part of that.

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And I think it's useful to practice and develop your speaking skills.

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And you could really do this with any sentence, like the very first one that we practice with.

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I'm going to the mall later.

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I'm going to the mall later.

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And you can really hear that rhythm and flow if I want to emphasize it just like this.

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Okay.

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Of course, people aren't gonna speak that way but it does help you hear that melody and that rhythm and flow.

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So far I've been trying to present to you what I

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guess I would consider to be the standard American accent

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but throughout the United States there are many different regional accents and some of them are incredibly iconic.

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Now to be perfectly honest I think the most iconic accent in the United States is the southern accent.

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Perhaps this is just a little near and dear to my heart

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because my family is from the south mostly north carolina i

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spent a fair amount of my childhood living in the state of georgia

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so right now i want to share with you my views

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on the southern accent talk about what's going on give you

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a better understanding as to why people may sound the way they do

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and i think this is just going to add a little

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flavor to the class enjoy welcome to today's lesson we're talking about the southern accent

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so the first thing that i want to say is that this is a very well -known and distinct accent.

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I'm sure you may have heard it before.

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My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates.

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Now, before we begin, I'd like to ask you, please hit that like button,

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subscribe to the channel, turn on notifications so that I get to be your teacher.

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Throughout the lesson, I'm going to try to break down the Southern accent a little bit at a time.

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And not all Southern accents are the same.

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Most notably, I think the South is known for either the Southern drawl, that deep South accent.

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There's also a Southern twang, which is a bit more nasally, but I'm going to be talking more about that deep South, that Southern drawl.

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And it's not like you either have the accent or you don't.

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There is a sliding scale.

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The first thing that I think people think of when they think of that Southern accent, that southern drawl is how slow it is that it's a bit slower

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because that drawl is kind of

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when you drag out some of those sounds especially those vowel sounds all right there's really two things

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that are going on you're taking a pure vowel sound and you're turning it into a diphthong

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And you may also be prolonging some of those stressed syllables.

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So let's first talk about diphthongs, because I think this is very important in understanding why the southern accent is a bit slower.

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If you do not know what a diphthong is, it is a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable.

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So I do not want to go into the weeds talking to you about diphthongs, but here is an example of a diphthong and it's going to create

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that ow sound

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so you might see it with the combination of vowels like

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o u in sound now in the south it's common to create diphthongs with the short vowel sounds ah eh

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and it and you're going to follow it with an off glide schwa sound

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so schwa is that uh sound if we start with ah

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and we have the word hat in the south i would say hat i'm going to follow it with

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that off -glide schwa.

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If I have the word pet, pet, sit, sit.

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So again, listen for that diphthong, that short vowel sound followed by that slight schwa sound.

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Hat, pet, sit.

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So I think this becomes, well, really noticeable when you hear people say like some very common in words.

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Let's take the verb have.

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It's a verb that you're going to use quite often just in everyday conversation.

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But instead of saying have, I would say have.

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And you might hear somebody say y 'all have a great day.

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And it's part of Southern hospitality.

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And notice that I used y 'all, which is the contracted form of you all, which is kind of like saying like you guys, you're talking to a group of people.

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Now, this is more Southern dialect as opposed to accent.

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And throughout the lesson, I am going to throw in some Southern dialect

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because I think it'll help give you a better overall understanding of the Southern accent.

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Now let's go back to talking about diphthongs

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because not all diphthongs in the South are going to be followed by that off -glide schwa sound.

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So let's have a look at this word right here, dog.

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Instead, we're going to have a diphthong that's going to sound more like aw.

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Dog.

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Dog.

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Dog.

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You can kind of hear it stretching out a little bit with that diphthong.

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Dog.

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Dog.

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In Georgia, there is a famous university, the University of Georgia.

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Their mascot is the Bulldog.

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And when talking about the university, especially like the sports teams.

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They'll refer to them as the dogs.

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And they'll even spell it D -A -W -G, kind of capturing that southern accent, that southern drawl.

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Dog.

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So let's use some of these diphthongs in a sentence.

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If I were to say, I can't believe you guys have a dog.

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I'll use that off -glide schwa in words like can't and have.

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I'm going to change you guys to y 'all and dog to dog.

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And it's going to sound like, I can't believe y 'all have a dog.

428

I can't believe y 'all have a dog.

429

The other thing that you may have noticed is that when I said believe, I'm kind of prolonging that stress syllable, that second syllable, believe.

430

This is not something that's going to happen with every word.

431

I think it may happen more often with like two syllable words.

432

When the stress is on that first syllable, you're going to prolong it.

433

And then you're even going to weaken the unstressed syllable

434

if you have the word like mama all right the stress is on the first syllable

435

but if i were to say this with the southern accent prolong

436

that first syllable mama mama all right it's much stronger than

437

that second syllable now i think something that's even more important

438

when talking about syllable stress which really doesn't have to do with making it sound slower

439

but this is just something that that people do with the southern accent is

440

that they will switch the stress to the first syllable i think there are some words

441

that are fairly well known that that people do this with

442

but if you were to spend time there

443

and just listen to the accent i think this is something you might pick up on

444

so let's let's talk about some of those words that i think are a bit more well known So instead of July, people say July.

445

I want to see my daddy for the first time ever on July 14th.

446

Insurance, insurance, umbrella, umbrella, police,

447

police, guitar, guitar, Halloween, Halloween.

448

And then to give you a sentence, Halloween ain't in July.

449

And I use the contraction ain't, which is another part of Southern dialect.

450

This is something that you will hear.

451

And it's a contracted form of, well, has a lot of forms.

452

Is not, are not, am not, has not, have not.

453

It could be any of those.

454

halloween ain't in july something else

455

that changes with the southern accent is the mixing of vowel sounds

456

and i think this especially happens with e and i so instead of saying get

457

people would say get instead of pen pin 10 10.

458

i have 10 dogs 10 dogs can you believe it and I ain't got one guitar, but I plan to get a guitar.

459

Maybe I'll get a guitar for Halloween.

460

Now, that doesn't make much sense, but you get the idea.

461

You could hear those diphthongs, you could hear the syllable stress change to the first syllable, and you could hear the mixing of some of those vowel sounds.

462

Something else which you may have heard, which is also very common with the southern accent, is the way I was pronouncing I.

463

So, when you're pronouncing words like I

464

and my you're not really going to use the long i

465

sound it's going to sound more like ah i have an umbrella

466

but my umbrella ain't opening so of course i

467

and my are very common words

468

so this might be something that's a little more easily noticeable

469

another difference with the southern accent is the soft r

470

that you might find at the end of some words especially

471

when it follows a vowel sound like the word fire becomes fire.

472

Last night my house was on fire.

473

Thankfully we have insurance.

474

Then I want to talk to you about words that end with L -L -O -W.

475

There are not a lot of words out there but

476

when you do have words like this instead of pronouncing it low you're going to hear people say la.

477

So yellow becomes yella.

478

Fellow becomes fella.

479

And fellow is an informal word talking about like a man or a boy.

480

But it is a little more common in the South and people would pronounce it fella.

481

That fella's got a yellow hat.

482

That fella's got a yellow hat.

483

Another thing I want to point out is I've used that reduction gotta.

484

Instead of got a, I just said gotta.

485

This is something else that I think is pretty common throughout the South.

486

Gonna, wanna, have to, gotta, let me, oughta.

487

People are going to use reductions in spoken English, and it's something that's pretty common throughout the United States in general, but just, yeah, keep that in mind.

488

You're definitely going to hear this in the South.

489

And then I want to talk to you about something else that I think is well known in the South, the way people speak, part of that accent,

490

and that is they're going to drop the G at the end of ING words, like those words in the continuous tense.

491

Again, this is something that I think is pretty common throughout the United States in all US accents, but in the South, it is definitely something that people will do.

492

So I could say, I was pitching a fit when the police came.

493

I was pitching a fit when the police came.

494

Now, to pitch a fit is a phrase that means to complain.

495

This is actually something that I use, and I still use it.

496

I didn't even realize it was part of Southern dialect, but I guess it is.

497

I was pitching a fit when the police came.

498

I realize some of these example sentences are quite ridiculous.

499

I really just wanted you to hear the different parts of the Southern accent

500

so you can better understand why it is the way it is, And I hope you could hear the difference

501

when I would say the sentence more with a standard American accent and versus the southern accent, that southern drawl.

502

Right now, I want to switch gears and talk about something that's a little more casual, brand names.

503

Because in the United States, there are many well -known brands.

504

And some of them, the pronunciation can be a little tricky.

505

And I want to share with you how to pronounce some common brand names because if you are in the US,

506

you want to make sure that you are saying them correctly, pronouncing them the same way an American would so people understand what you're saying, what you're asking for.

507

But I also would like to point out that people in the US routinely mispronounce many international brands.

508

And this can be helpful because I guess if you're there, maybe you would want to mispronounce them as well.

509

That way people will still understand what you're saying or what you're asking for.

510

So let's have some fun and learn how people in the US pronounce 25 common brand names.

511

Today we're going to talk about brand names and how to pronounce them.

512

So before we begin today's lesson we'd like to remind you

513

to subscribe to our channel for more video lessons on how you can practice and improve your English.

514

So a while back we received a comment from somebody who asked, I hope you guys can create a video that will teach us how to say some brands correctly.

515

And that is exactly what we're going to do today.

516

Yay!

517

As always, we appreciate your feedback and if you have any questions, we'll do our best to answer them, hopefully with a video.

518

So what we're going to do today is we're going to go over 25 words, 25 brands that we're going to pronounce for you.

519

But this pronunciation that we're doing is the American or English pronunciation of the brand.

520

That's how native English speakers would say it.

521

Keep in mind that a lot of these brands are not from English -speaking countries.

522

And that means that Americans like me will take the name

523

and the pronunciation that it is intended to be

524

and we will bastardize it and mispronounce it and then it just becomes mainstream.

525

It's important to know that even though we might not say the pronunciation the way it is intended to be said,

526

People need to be able to understand and hear you and recognize what you're saying.

527

So that's why this is valuable So we'll explain a little more as we go along, but right now Let's begin

528

number one

529

Ikea I think that anybody who is not from Sweden

530

Possibly pronounces this wrong because in Sweden they they say if I Ikea And maybe I still might be mispronouncing it,

531

but if you're in the US or Britain, I think most people pronounce it IKEA and that's what they understand.

532

IKEA.

533

Yeah, get you some end tables and some of the $5 lamps, man.

534

So if you were to say, I'm going shopping today, I got this new stuff from IKEA, people in America would be like, where is that?

535

Okay, number two, Nutella.

536

Correctly, it's Nutella, and that's how I say it because I love it and it's my favorite, but Americans like Wes will say...

537

Nutella.

538

It's similar, but there's a little.

539

Nutella is my favorite brand so far because of all the chocolate, of course.

540

She even has a shirt.

541

Number three, Coke.

542

Now, this is perhaps one of the most famous brands in the world, and most of us, I think, know how to pronounce it,

543

but make sure that you are saying it with the long O sound, coke.

544

We had a student a while back who pronounced it with the short O and kept saying cock.

545

All right, that means something different.

546

It is slang in English for...

547

I remember he was telling us a story that he went out to a restaurant and the waitress asked him, what would you like to drink? and he said I would like some cock

548

and it it just yeah in the end he eventually did get his coke

549

so everything worked out

550

and I'm pretty sure he's pronouncing it correctly now this is you know it's very innocent mistake but

551

and this is how pronunciation can cause a lot of confusion

552

among different people give me cock oh please give me cock

553

I want a cock it's coke number four Tommy Hilfiger

554

because this is a name I think people may mispronounce the

555

last the last name the first name I think it's easy Tommy everyone knows

556

that but Hilfiger might be a little bit more confusing

557

so that's how you pronounce it Tommy Hilfiger number five Hyundai

558

or as I think a lot of Americans say Hyundai

559

and this one it's Hyundai or Honda Hyundai it's this is a Korean brand

560

so again it takes on a very different pronunciation I'm not really sure why

561

but that's just the way it is number six Nike now

562

I've heard people say Nike before they drop the e which kind of makes sense if you think about it.

563

It's what it looks like.

564

It looks like, but it's not.

565

It's actually Nike from the old Greek goddess, actually.

566

Nike.

567

And because it's an American company, I guess this is the correct pronunciation.

568

Looks like Nike, but we say Nike.

569

Number seven, Adidas.

570

This is a German company, and it's actually a portmanteau, which is the combination of two words.

571

So you have Adi, which is the nickname of Adolf, and Das from Dassler.

572

Adolf Dassler, who is the person who started all of this.

573

Adidas.

574

So if you're looking for this shoe, it's Adidas.

575

Number eight, Sephora.

576

With this word, just make sure you know that the PH makes an F sound.

577

Sephora.

578

This is one of Ioana's favorite brands.

579

Oh yeah, I could live there.

580

Number nine, Porsche.

581

So in the US, a lot of people either say Porsche or even shorten it and say Porsche.

582

But apparently the company even made a video as to how to pronounce this a while back.

583

Porsche.

584

I think in the US, if you said you want to buy a Porsche, people would probably ask you what that is.

585

Again, I think a lot of native English speakers would say Porsche

586

or Porsche we don't drive a Porsche or a Porsche

587

or a Porsche number 10 Louie Vuitton

588

and in French it's Louie Vuitton but I would say Louie Vuitton

589

because but I I don't know American I'm not French either some Louie Vuitton anyway it's Louie Vuitton Yeah, many native English speakers would say Louis Vuitton.

590

My very own Louis Vuitton!

591

Number 11, Samsung.

592

It's a Korean company, so I think the correct pronunciation technically would be Samsung, but a lot of people,

593

English, native English speakers would say, pronounce it Sam and not Sam.

594

So they'd say Samsung.

595

But if you did say Samsung, people will still know what you're talking about.

596

What kind of phone do you have?

597

I have a Samsung.

598

What kind of phone do you have?

599

I have an iPhone.

600

Number 12.

601

Versace.

602

Now, the correct pronunciation in Italian is Versace, but if you're talking to somebody who is a native English speaker and you want them to understand you,

603

you'd say Versace.

604

There you go.

605

The E at the end.

606

Versace.

607

Do you have a Versace?

608

No. Too expensive.

609

number 13 is a car company

610

and it is pronounced Chevrolet I'm not really sure the history

611

behind this word the spelling is not necessarily like it sounds especially the T at the end it's not pronounced

612

so we just say Chevrolet or Chevy yeah or you could say Chevy for for short not Chevrolet

613

number 14 stella artois uh or you can just yeah it's it's pretty good you can just say stella

614

um but i mean i think it's pretty close to the actual french pronunciation stella artois yeah

615

so stella stella yeah so if you want a beer it's a stella artois or a stella Some, you know what I mean, don't you know?

616

Number 15, Adobe.

617

So, this is a word that many of you might know from computers, and it's pronounced Adobe.

618

So, the first A is the schwa, uh, sound, and the E at the end is the long E sound.

619

It's not A -dob, it's not A -dob, it's Adobe. Or Adobe.

620

Adobe?

621

Not Bay, just Adobe.

622

i can see people say that okay please don't ignore me like i was just some update from adobe

623

number 16 abercrombie and fitch uh now this is a really long name

624

so it's uh mispronounced many times uh but that's the correct pronunciation actually wes i think says finch but it's not

625

abercrombie and fitch i used to

626

but from now on no more uh the t silence

627

so keep that in mind and in Fitch Abercrombie

628

and Fitch number 17 Volkswagen this is a German car company

629

so I think in German they would pronounce it Volkswagen is

630

that pretty good yeah in the US a lot of native English speakers would say Volkswagen

631

so you'd hear that

632

that W sound in there Volkswagen Volkswagen is what like the

633

back of a Volkswagen Volkswagen have you ever had one no

634

I like the buggies the old like 60s number 18 anthropology now this is French sounding

635

so I've heard people say anthropology but it's anthropology it's an American company

636

so it's anthropology it just looks fancy it's do you shop there no it's

637

so expensive like one thing is like $400 number 19 Huawei

638

this is a company from China whose pronunciation again not like

639

it sounds I think a lot of people would say Huawei

640

they would pronounce the the H even though I think it might just be Huawei

641

and I should probably know this

642

because boom I have a Huawei he's very proud of it

643

I am very proud of my Huawei now let's see

644

if they'll be able to pronounce it how would you pronounce

645

this word howie away who I why this was okay this was it was it it does the job

646

most of the time number 20 levi's um this is actually another one of my favorite brands um

647

because they're classic um jeans and it's just they fit really well uh

648

but it's not a levy or levy strauss or it's just levi's

649

number 21 for all you beer lovers out there Budweiser you can find it all over the world

650

but the correct pronunciation is Budweiser or I guess you could shorten it

651

and say bud can I help you yes I'd like a

652

Budweiser please number 22 H &M uh now H &M is different in each country i think

653

so i know in romania for example some people say h &m um

654

because yeah yeah h &m in english so

655

if you want to find the store and we all know we love h &m because it's cheap and trendy

656

there you go that's where you go h &m just pronouncing the two letters as they are in the English alphabet.

657

Yep.

658

Number 23, Jack Daniels.

659

This is a whiskey brand, so if you're out and you want to get some whiskey, it is pronounced Jack Daniels.

660

I know I've heard some people, depending on where they are, like in East Asia, Daniel, but Daniel, Jack Daniels.

661

Or you could just say Jack.

662

Jack and Coke.

663

Yeah, Jack and Coke.

664

Or if you would like it.

665

Jack and Cock.

666

Jack and Cock, no. you don't want to say jack

667

and cock or

668

if you like ice in the drink you could say I'd like some jack on the rocks

669

which is another expression for you ice on the rocks two Jack Daniels one on the rocks

670

and a Heineken number 24 Nestle now this is another European company

671

and I think correctly it's Nestle but um Americas will pronounce it Nestle Nestle yeah Nestle again you don't pronounce the tea.

672

Nestle.

673

Nestle.

674

Nestle.

675

Good chocolate stuff.

676

Win this one and there's Nestle Quick for everyone.

677

Quick?

678

Nestle Quick?

679

I gotta have you Nestle Quick!

680

Number 25.

681

Corona.

682

This is a beer from Mexico so the pronunciation Corona.

683

A lot of native English speakers would just say corona corona corona corona corona so

684

if you'd like to try a Mexican beer you can order

685

a corona more corona man myself now what we'd like you to do is write

686

and tell us your favorite brand in the comments below tell

687

us why you like it how often you use it try to write as much as possible

688

because that's another way of practicing your English also we'd like you to share this video especially

689

if you have heard others mispronounce any of these brands.

690

Let's discuss and share.

691

I know that we covered a lot in this masterclass

692

and I hope that you have a better understanding of the American accent.

693

And if this is one of your speaking goals, you would like to imitate the American accent,

694

I would recommend that you continue getting exposure to the language but also use shadowing to practice.

695

Try to say things in the exact same way.

696

And I'm not just talking about words or phrases

697

but actual sentences I think it's a great way to practice fine -tune your speaking fluency

698

if you enjoyed this lesson and learn something new you can let me know by hitting

699

that like button there it is that's that that glottal

700

that glottal T that stop button button all right anyway I hope you enjoyed the lesson

701

and I will see you next time so long

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Gölgeleme, başlangıçta profesyonel tercüman eğitimi için geliştirilen ve çok dilli Dr. Alexander Arguelles tarafından popüler hale getirilen, bilim destekli bir dil öğrenme tekniğidir. Yöntem basit ama güçlüdür: ana dili İngilizce olan bir sesi dinler ve hemen yüksek sesle tekrar edersiniz — konuşmacıyı 1-2 saniye gecikmeyle takip eden bir gölge gibi. Pasif dinleme veya dilbilgisi alıştırmalarının aksine, gölgeleme beyninizi ve ağız kaslarınızı gerçek konuşma kalıplarını eşzamanlı olarak işlemeye ve yeniden üretmeye zorlar. Araştırmalar, telaffuz doğruluğu, tonlama, ritim, bağlı konuşma, dinleme anlama ve konuşma akıcılığını önemli ölçüde geliştirdiğini göstermektedir — bu da onu IELTS Konuşma hazırlığı ve gerçek dünya İngilizce iletişimi için en etkili yöntemlerden biri yapar.

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