Whats a BURRITO American English Pronunciation
I recently did a Word of the Week on the word
‘burrito’. And I had some people ask me, what
is a burrito? So today,
we’re going to eat one.
Let’s go eat our burritos!
First, a quick stop to pick up laundry.
You don’t do your laundry at all anymore?
I don’t because I don’t have a washer/dryer
in my building. [2x]
Let’s take a look at this sentence. Can you
hear how Lynne doesn’t pronounce the T in
‘don’t’ as a True T? Often with these N’T
contractions like don’t, can’t, and won’t,
that’s the case. Instead, we mix the N and
Stop T to make a nasally Stop sound: nn, nn.
Don’t, won’t, can’t. nnn. Don’t.
I don’t [3x]. I don’t because I don’t have
a washer/dryer in my building.
Lynne takes all of these less important words:
because, I, don’t, have, and a, and says them
very quickly, all linked together.
because I don’t have a [6x]
This is what we do with the words that aren’t
as important to the meaning, the function
words. The nouns ‘washer’ and ‘dryer’ are
stressed, so they’re longer and more clear.
washer/dryer [3x]
In this sentence, the words ‘washer’ and ‘dryer’
take about 50% longer to say than all of the
words ‘because I don’t have a’. So always
remember, function words will generally be
very fast, even if there are a lot of them to-
gether. With content words, take a bit more time.
I don’t because I don’t have a washer/dryer
in my building. [3x]
That’s true.
So.
Thank you. There it is. Bye. Have a good day.
Bye!
That’s a huge burrito, Beads.
It’s huge! So big. I think I’m going to
eat half now and half later.
That’s very smart.
I think so.
I think I’m gonna eat: what are the stressed
syllables there? da-DA-da-da-da-DA. ‘Think’
and ‘eat’ are just a bit longer. ‘Going to’
is reduced to ‘gonna’. Also, do you notice
the Stop T in ‘eat’? it’s not ‘eat’, with
a released, True T. Eat, eat. You must stop
the air to make the stop T. Otherwise it sounds
like ‘eaaaa’. Too long, and the voice comes
down in pitch. We don’t want that. It will
be a little more abrupt and straighter in
pitch when you stop the air, eat, eat. That’s
how we hear it as a Stop T.
I think I’m gonna eat [3x] half now and half
later.
I think I’m gonna eat half now and half later.
That’s very smart.
I think so.
Now people were asking, what is a burrito?
So, as you can see, it’s a big flour tortilla
with good things inside.
What did you get?
I got a beef burrito.
I got just the vegetable. I’ve been feeling
vegetarian lately. But I think I’m going to
be like you and cut mine in half.
I think that’s a good plan.
Right at the beginning.
Mm. Yummy. So it looks like this has rice,
beans, guacamole, and I think sour cream and
lettuce. You know what, the peas must be in
the rice.
Probably, yeah.
Yeah. I think you’re right.
Mm. That is very good guacamole.
Guacamole is made with, the main ingredient
is avocado. It looks like they also have cilantro,
tomato, probably some lime juice, don’t you think?
Did you hear how I combined the T with the
Y sound of YOU to make the CH sound? Lots
of native speakers will do this when the word
‘you’ is preceded by the T. Don-chew. [2x]
Listen again.
Don’t you think? [3x]
Yes, probably.
And…
Onion.
Onion.
I’m going to zoom the guacamole directly
to the camera.
So, when I posted my video about burrito,
I got a couple comments about ‘Well, that’s
not how it’s actually pronounced’, because
we do borrow it from Spanish. And of course,
in Spanish, they might roll their R, and they
certainly don’t make a Flap T like we do.
Yeah.
And I thought it was a really interesting
discussion that happened online. When one
language absorbs the word of another language,
is it ok to, in our case, Americanize it,
use your own speech habits, or is that an
insult, is that wrong? I mean, I think it’s
really a matter of opinion.
Um, yeah, I think it’s a matter of opinion.
Sometimes I think that when you try… In
my experience, when I’ve tried to pronounce
words as if they were in the other language,
like an Italian word, or a Spanish word, sometimes
other Americans think it’s funny.
It’s true.
Yeah, they think that I’m, they make fun
of me a little bit.
Right. Well, Lynne has studied a lot of
foreign language, as have I, both being singers
of, you know, Italian, French, German, etc.
So it comes more naturally probably, to us,
to pronounce things in their native language.
But, you’re very right. It’s not uncommon
to say ‘Bach’, for example, and have someone
think you’re being a little snooty.
Yeah. A little bit pretentious.
Right. That’s a good word. Because the
truth is, in American English, it is burrito.
Yes!
And a lot of people eat burritos. It’s
not like, I mean, it’s almost as ubiquitous
as the hamburger. Not quite, but, it’s getting
there.
Yes. It’s a common food that Americans
eat often.
Well, yeah. I appreciate your perspective.
Thank you.
And I appreciate all the conversation about
the pronunciation of that word that happened
on Facebook.
Yeah.
Ok, we’re going to finish our burritos.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.