English Conversation

In this American English pronunciation video, we’ll go for a hike in Colorado.

My dad and I discussed the hike and we’ll talk about interesting pronunciations and vocabulary words

that come up in real English conversation.

This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch.

Chihuahua.

Have you heard this word before? It’s a teeny tiny breed of dog.

The spelling is pretty strange in American English because this word comes to us from Spanish.

The breed originated in Mexico.

This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch and it’s about seven miles roundtrip.

Roundtrip.

The opposite of this phrase is one way.

So when you go somewhere and come back, that’s roundtrip.

Notice how the D is dropped.

Roundtrip.

We often drop the D when it comes between two other consonants.

Roundtrip.

Roundtrip.

It’s about seven miles roundtrip and it goes up about 1,900 feet.

So this hike ends at a lake?

Yeah. You go… you start off going uphill about thirty minutes, then you go through this long valley.

Notice how my dad really stretches out the word ‘long’.

Why does he do that?

When we want to really stress words, we make them longer,

and you might do that especially with the word ‘long’ making it longer for dramatic purposes.

Long Valley.

That took a long time.

That test was so long.

through this long valley with a lot of gorse and little lakes and—

Gorse.

Hmm…do you know that word? I didn’t either.

Let’s find out what it means.

With a lot of gorse and little lakes and little streams.

Gorse.

Gorse are these bushes.

Oh! I didn’t…didn’t know that.

And you sort of go to the end of the trees where the jeep road ends.

Did you understand what he said there?

He called this road ‘jeep road’.

So a jeep is a really rugged vehicle that has a high clearance.

That is a lot of room between the ground and the bottom of a car.

You would not be able to drive a regular car on this road.

Where the jeep road ends and then it’s just a single path.

And you end up at a mountain lake.

And you said that mountain lake: “Eh, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

You’ve seen one. You seen them all.

This is a phrase you might use to say that something isn’t special.

Now the full grammatically correct pronunciation of this phrase would be

‘If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.’

but that’s not how we pronounce it.

We like to reduce things in American English

especially familiar words and phrases

and this is a familiar known phrase.

You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

We dropped the word ‘if’, we reduce ‘you’ve’ to just ye– and we reduce ‘them’ to ‘um’.

You seen.

Seen um.

You’ve seen one. You seen them all.

Another scenario where you may use this:

do you want to visit Paris?

Nah, I’m not that into cities.

You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

Eh, You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

A lot of them are pretty similar.

A lot of them.

My dad also reduced ‘them’ to ‘um’.

This is a really common reduction just like in the phrase ‘you’ve seen one, you seen them all’.

A lot of them.

A lot of them.

Practice that with me out loud, smoothly connecting all the words.

A lot of them.

A lot of them.

A lot of them are pretty similar.

But you do have a great view? You can see a long way out over the… a couple of different mountain ranges.

A couple of different mountain ranges.

My dad reduced the word ‘of’ to just the schwa. Uh.

A couple of—

We do this so much in conversation especially with this phrase: a couple of—

A couple of different mountain ranges. And the lake itself is probably—

Probably— This is how we pronounce ‘probably’ most of the time in conversation.

You can do it too. It simplifies the word and makes it easier to say.

Try it now.

Probably.

Probably.

Probably.

Itself is probably hundred yards across and maybe 200 by 400.

Does anyone ever swim there?

I did see somebody swim in there once.

  • Very cold.
  • Ice cold. Really cold.

Listen to the different ways we describe how cold it is.

  • Very cold.
  • Ice cold. Really cold.

Really cold.

Ice cold.

Very cold.

‘Really’ and ‘very’ are words we use before adjectives to say there’s a lot of something.

Really cold.

Very cold.

A high amount of coldness.

Ice cold is another great way to describe something being very cold.

Now this lake is not ice, its water, it’s very cold water.

So describing it as ice cold is an exaggeration, a hyperbole.

I know it’s not actually ice.

I know it’s just extremely cold water.

  • Very cold.
  • Ice cold. Really cold.

I had no temptation to do that.

Yeah, I don’t think I will either.

This is just… you can’t design a better day.

There’s not much wind, hardly any clouds,

cool but not cold, and this time of year, you have a lot of aspens turning yellow.

This time of year.

Another example of reducing the word ‘of’ to just the schwa in natural conversation.

This time of year.

This time of year, you have a lot of aspens turning yellow and these bushes, I mean, they would be green

and in the summer.

Yeah it looks awesome. I mean, I love, I love the view.

Yeah.

Sweeping views.

And we have seen wildlife along here.

Yeah, just a couple hundred yards down. Once, there were four moose.

Moose.

These animals are fairly rare to see in the wild.

One other time when I was in Colorado, we saw one.

Click here or in the video description to see that video.

There were four moose grazing right by the path.

Further down yet, we saw heard of maybe 10 or 15 antelope.

  • Wow.
  • Galloping along. You often see deer.

You often see.

My dad reduced ‘you’ to ye, changing the vowel to the schwa.

This is also a common reduction.

Why do we do this?

Because in American English, the contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables is really important.

So if we can make unstressed syllables even shorter by changing something, then we do that.

You often see.

You often see deer up here and then on the rocks, you can see marmots

sometime and pike which are little tiny animals like and they squeak.

How many times have you done this hike?

Probably five or six.

Probably.

There’s another probably to probably reduction.

Probably five or six.

And to me, it’s the most scenic hike around here especially in September.

Scenic. This is a great word you can use to describe a beautiful landscape. Scenic.

Scenic.

To me it’s the most scenic hike around here especially in September

because the aspen are turning yellow and a lot of these bushes are turning red and in June, July,

it’s just the waters too high you’d have to take off your shoes and put on sandals and just wade through.

So usually, we wait till August or September to do this one.

Wade.

This is what you do when you’re walking through water.

So you’re not swimming. You’re walking like through a creek.

If the water is too deep, then you can’t wade. You have to swim.

Take off your shoes and put on sandals and just wade through.

Here is David walking over the creek that dad says you have to wade through when the water is higher.

We didn’t make it to the top.

Yeah but we got to a good turning around point

and we had a fantastic view, we had lunch looking out down the long valley.

Couldn’t have been better.

Couldn’t have been better.

A word here is being reduced to just the schwa.

What word is it?

We noticed before that the word ‘of’ reduces to just the schwa.

But here it’s the word ‘have’.

Yes, the word ‘have’ can be changed to just the schwa sound: uh in conversation

especially after could, couldn’t, should, shouldn’t, would, wouldn’t.

I’ve actually seen native speakers mess this up and write ‘should of’ instead of ‘should have’.

It makes sense because ‘of’ and ‘have’ can both produce the same single sound, the schwa.

Shoulda.

But if this sound is following could, couldn’t, should, shouldn’t, would, wouldn’t, the word is definitely ‘have’

and reducing ‘have’ to just the schwa after these words will help your English sound natural.

Practice.

Couldn’t have.

Couldn’t have.

Notice I’m dropping the T in the contraction. This is how native speakers will say this phrase.

Couldn’t have.

Couldn’t have.

Special thanks to my dad for being in yet another Rachel’s English video.

To see more videos that use real English conversation for teaching, check out my Real English playlist.

在这个美式英语发音视频中,我们将去科罗拉多州远足。

我爸爸和我讨论了徒步旅行,我们将讨论

在真正的英语对话中出现的有趣的发音和词汇。

这次徒步旅行被称为奇瓦瓦峡谷。

吉娃娃。

你以前听过这个词吗? 这是一种很小的狗。

美式英语的拼写很奇怪,因为这个词来自西班牙语。

该品种起源于墨西哥。

这次徒步旅行被称为奇瓦瓦峡谷,往返大约七英里。

往返。

这句话的反义词是一种方式。

所以当你去某个地方又回来的时候,那就是往返。

注意 D 是如何下降的。

往返。

当 D 出现在其他两个辅音之间时,我们经常去掉它。

往返。

往返。

往返约 7 英里,上升约 1,900 英尺。

所以这次徒步旅行在湖边结束?

是的。 你去……你开始上山大约三十分钟,然后你穿过这个长长的山谷。

注意我爸爸是如何真正延伸“长”这个词的。

他为什么这样做?

当我们想要真正强调单词时,我们会让它们变长

,你可能会这样做,特别是使用“long”这个词,为了戏剧性的目的让它变长。

长谷。

那花了很长时间。

那个考试太长了。

穿过这个长满金雀花和小湖泊的长谷,还有——

金雀花。

嗯……你认识那个词吗? 我也没有。

让我们找出它的含义。

有很多金雀花和小湖泊和小溪流。

金雀花。

金雀花是这些灌木丛。

哦! 我不……不知道。

你会走到吉普车路尽头的树的尽头。

你明白他在那里说的话吗?

他称这条路为“吉普路”。

因此,吉普车是一种非常坚固的车辆,具有很高的间隙。

地面和汽车底部之间有很大的空间。

您将无法在这条路上驾驶普通汽车。

吉普车路的尽头,然后它只是一条路。

你最终在一个高山湖泊。

而你对那个山湖说:“呃,你见过一个,你都见过。”

你见过一个。 你都看到了。

你可能会用这个短语来表示某事并不特别。

现在,这个短语在语法上正确的完整发音将是

“如果你见过一个,你已经见过他们了。”

但这不是我们的发音方式。

我们喜欢减少美式英语中的东西,

尤其是熟悉的单词和短语

,这是一个熟悉的已知短语。

你见过一个,你都见过。

我们去掉了“if”这个词,我们将“you’ve”简化为“ye”——我们将“them”简化为“um”。

你看到了。

见过嗯。

你见过一个。 你都看到了。

另一个你可能会用到的场景:

你想去巴黎吗?

不,我不喜欢城市。

你见过一个,你都见过。

呃,你见过一个,你都见过。

其中很多都非常相似。

很多。

我父亲还将“他们”简化为“嗯”。

这是一个非常常见的简化,就像“你见过一个,你见过他们所有人”一样。

很多。

很多。

和我一起大声练习,流畅地连接所有单词。

很多。

很多。

其中很多都非常相似。

但是你有很好的视野吗? 你可以看到很长的路在…几个不同的山脉。

几个不同的山脉。

我父亲将“of”这个词简化为 schwa。 呃。

几个——

我们在谈话中经常这样做,尤其是用这个短语:几个

——几个不同的山脉。 湖本身可能——

可能——这就是我们在谈话中大部分时间的“可能”发音方式。

你也可以这样做。 它简化了单词并使其更容易说出来。

现在就试试。

大概。

大概。

大概。

它本身可能有一百码宽,可能是 200 乘 400 码。

有人曾经在那里游泳吗?

我确实看到有人在那里游泳过一次。

  • 很冷。
  • 冰冷。 真的很冷。

听听我们描述天气有多冷的不同方式。

  • 很冷。
  • 冰冷。 真的很冷。

真的很冷。

冰冷。

很冷。

“真的”和“非常”是我们在形容词之前使用的词,表示有很多东西。

真的很冷。

很冷。

高冷度。

冰冷是描述非常冷的东西的另一种好方法。

现在这个湖不是冰,它的水,是非常冷的水。

因此,将其描述为冰冷是夸张的,夸张的。

我知道它实际上不是冰。

我知道这只是极冷的水。

  • 很冷。
  • 冰冷。 真的很冷。

我没有这样做的诱惑。

是的,我想我也不会。

这只是……你不能设计一个更好的一天。

风不大,几乎没有云,

凉爽但不冷,每年的这个时候,你有很多白杨变黄。

每年的这个时候。

在自然对话中将“of”一词简化为 schwa 的另一个示例。

每年的这个时候。

每年的这个时候,你会有很多白杨变黄,而这些灌木,我的意思是,它们会

在夏天变绿。

是的,它看起来很棒。 我的意思是,我喜欢,我喜欢这个景色。

是的。

一览无余的景色。

我们在这里看到了野生动物。

是的,就在几百码下。 曾经,有四只驼鹿。

驼鹿。

这些动物在野外相当罕见。

还有一次,当我在科罗拉多州时,我们看到了一个。

单击此处或在视频说明中查看该视频。

路边有四只驼鹿在吃草。

再往下走,我们听说可能有 10 或 15 只羚羊。

  • 哇。
  • 疾驰而过。 你经常看到鹿。

你经常看到。

我父亲将“你”简化为 ye,将元音变为 schwa。

这也是一种常见的减少。

我们为什么要做这个?

因为在美式英语中,重读音节和非重读音节之间的对比非常重要。

因此,如果我们可以通过改变某些东西来使非重读音节更短,那么我们就这样做。

你经常看到。

你经常在这里看到鹿,然后在岩石上,你有时可以看到土拨鼠

和梭子鱼,它们是像小动物一样,它们会发出吱吱声。

你做过多少次这样的徒步旅行?

大概五六个吧。

大概。

还有另一个可能减少。

大概五六个吧。

对我来说,这是这里风景最优美的徒步旅行,尤其是在 9 月。

风景优美。 这是一个很好的词,你可以用它来描述美丽的风景。 风景优美。

风景优美。

对我来说,这是这里风景最优美的徒步旅行,尤其是在 9

月,因为白杨变黄了,

很多灌木都变红了 穿凉鞋,只是涉水而过。

所以通常,我们等到八月或九月再做这个。

韦德。

这就是你在水中行走时所做的事情。

所以你不是在游泳。 你就像穿过一条小溪一样。

如果水太深,你就不能涉水。 你必须游泳。

脱下鞋子,穿上凉鞋,然后涉水而过。

这是大卫走过小溪,爸爸说当水位高时你必须涉水穿过。

我们没有登上顶峰。

是的,但是我们到达了一个很好的转折点

,我们看到了美妙的景色,我们吃了午餐,俯瞰着长长的山谷。

再好不过了。

再好不过了。

这里的一个词被简化为 schwa。

是什么词?

我们之前注意到“of”这个词简化为 schwa。

但这里是“拥有”这个词。

是的,“have”这个词可以改成 schwa 的声音:呃,在谈话中,

尤其是在 can、cant、should、shouldnot、would、wouldt 之后。

我实际上看到母语人士把这件事搞砸了,写“应该”而不是“应该有”。

这是有道理的,因为“of”和“have”都可以产生相同的单一声音,即 schwa。

应该。

但是,如果这个声音跟在 can、count、should、should、would、wouldnt 后面,那么这个词肯定是“have”

,在这些词之后将“have”简化为 schwa 会帮助你的英语听起来自然。

实践。

不可能。

不可能。

请注意,我在收缩中删除了 T。 母语人士就是这样说这句话的。

不可能。

不可能。

特别感谢我父亲出现在另一个 Rachel 的英文视频中。

要查看更多使用真实英语会话进行教学的视频,请查看我的真实英语播放列表。