Best English Pronunciation Lesson Speak Fluent English
Hi. I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
How can you improve your pronunciation so
that you sound like a native speaker? Let’s
talk about it.
Today’s pronunciation lesson is sponsored
by my course, the Fearless Fluency Club. Can
I sponsor my own video? Why not? I wanted
to bring you this technique because this is
the same technique that I use every month
in my monthly pronunciation lessons for members
of the Fearless Fluency Club. Today you get
a sneak preview in this special pronunciation
lesson. I hope it will be useful to you. Are
you ready to get started? Warm up those muscles.
You might be wondering what this is. Don’t
worry. We’ll talk about it in just a second.
First we need to talk about this special pronunciation
technique, and it is shadowing, or imitation.
This means that you’re copying, you’re repeating
directly after me. You’re repeating exactly
what I’m saying or what another native speaker
is saying.
There are two kinds of imitation or shadowing.
The first one is imitating words or phrases.
This means that you’re focusing on emphasis,
you’re focusing on making sure that your intonation
for the sentence is correct. The second kind
of imitation or shadowing is shadowing specific
sounds. This means that you focus on linking,
on reducing, on vowel sounds. You’re focusing
on more specific parts of the word. Today
I have good news. We’re going to practice
both of these techniques.
I’m going to tell you a quick story in three
sentences about what happened to my wrist.
I want you to listen carefully. I’m going
to be speaking quickly as if I were speaking
to a friend. Are you ready? Let’s listen.
“A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because
my wrist hurt really bad. It turns out that
I have this kind of tendonitis from picking
up my baby too much. He told me that I should
wear this brace for a couple of weeks and
then it’ll get better.”
Whew. That was a little bit fast, wasn’t it?
Let’s go back and I want to help you, sentence
by sentence, pronounce exactly the same way
that I do. Are you ready? Let’s start with
the first sentence. What we’re going to do
is we’re going to listen to that first sentence
a couple of times. “A few weeks ago I went
to the doctor because my wrist hurt really
bad.” “A few weeks ago I went to the doctor
because my wrist hurt really bad.” “A few
weeks ago I went to the doctor because my
wrist hurt really bad.” I’m going to repeat
this sentence a couple of times. We’re going
to talk about the words that are emphasized,
the words that were de-emphasized, or the
words that were not stressed, and we’re also
going to talk about an important linking that
often happens in English and that you saw
in this sentence.
I said, “A few weeks ago I went to the doctor”,
“I went to the doctor”, “I went to the doctor”.
Which word in this part is emphasized? What’s
the important word here? It’s probably not
“to”. It’s probably not “the”. It is “doctor”.
“I went to the doctor”. “I went to the doctor”.
What about in the second part of this sentence?
What is the emphasized word? “because my wrist
hurt really bad”, “because my wrist hurt really
bad”, “because my wrist hurt really bad”.
Can you emphasize those words with me? Try
to repeat with me. “Because my wrist hurt
really bad”. Those three words are important
and they’re emphasized.
Now that you know which words are stressed,
let’s talk about which words are not stressed,
the opposite of stressed, un-emphasized, de-stressed.
You can probably guess in that middle section
of the sentence. “I went to the … to the
… to the …” “I went to the doctor”. Phew.
How can you say that? How can you say that
middle part the same way that I am? Well,
take a look at the screen and you’re going
to see that “to” becomes “t”, “t”. The “o”
is completely gone. We often link together
“to” plus the next word, especially when we’re
speaking quickly, so you can say “t the”,
“t the”, “t the”, “t the” “t the”. Can you
say that? “t the doctor”, “t the doctor”.
Make sure that your mouth is not making an
“o” sound. “to the doctor”. It’s only “t”,
“t”, “t”. “t the”, “t the”, “t the doctor”.
All right. Let’s go back to say this full
sentence all together. I think you can do
it. Make sure that you emphasize the right
words. Make sure that you link the right words.
Make sure that you de-stress the right words.
You can take a look at the screen here and
follow along. I want you to speak out loud
if you are ready. I think you’re ready. Let’s
do it. “A few weeks ago I went to the doctor
because my wrist hurt really bad.” “A few
weeks ago I went to the doctor because my
wrist hurt really bad.”
I’m going to pause and I want you to say this
yourself. Ready? Go ahead. Great work. Let’s
listen to the original sentence a couple of
times. “A few weeks ago I went to the doctor
because my wrist hurt really bad.” “A few
weeks ago I went to the doctor because my
wrist hurt really bad.” “A few weeks ago I
went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really
bad.”
In the second sentence, we’re going to also
be talking about emphasized words, de-stressed
words and linking together phrases. Let’s
listen to that second sentence a couple of
times. “It turns out that I have this kind
of tendonitis from picking up my baby too
much.” “It turns out that I have this kind
of tendonitis from picking up my baby too
much.” “It turns out that I have this kind
of tendonitis from picking up my baby too
much.” As we listen to this sentence, I want
you to be thinking about a wave. Here there
are parts that are emphasized and then not
emphasized. Emphasized and not emphasized.
Let’s say the sentence altogether a little
bit slowly. I want you to read on the screen
and I want you to try to follow those emphasized
words. Are you ready? “It turns out that I
have a kind of tendonitis from picking up
my baby too much.” Did you follow that wave?
Let’s talk about which words you’re going
to link together. The middle part of the sentence,
you might have heard I spoke pretty quickly.
I said, “that I have a kind of”, “that I have
a kind of”, “that I have a kind of”. How can
we say this linking in the same way? Let’s
break it down into individual sounds. This
is shadowing sounds. I want you to repeat
exactly what I say. Are you ready? “thet I”,
“thet I”. Am I saying “that I”? No. I’m using
an “e” sound here instead of an “a”. “thet
I”, “the … e … e”, “thet I”, “thet I have
a”, “thet I have a”. Can you say that with
me? “thet I have a kind of”, “thet I have
a kind of”, “thet I have a kind of”, “thet
I have a kind of”. Can you say that quickly
with me? Ready? I want you to follow exactly
what I’m saying and repeat with me. “thet
I have a kind of”, “thet I have a kind of”.
All right. Let’s try to say this full second
sentence, emphasizing those important words
and linking that middle part together. “It
turns out that I have a kind of tendonitis
from picking up my baby too much.” Can you
say that yourself? I’m going to pause and
I want you to use those speaking muscles.
Don’t get tendonitis in your muscles. You
can do it. Ready? Go ahead. Great work.
Let’s listen to the original second sentence
a couple of times. “It turns out that I have
this kind of tendonitis from picking up my
baby too much.” “It turns out that I have
this kind of tendonitis from picking up my
baby too much.” “It turns out that I have
this kind of tendonitis from picking up my
baby too much.”
Let’s move on to the final sentence, the third
sentence. Let’s listen to it a couple of times.
“He told me that I should wear this brace
for a couple of weeks and then it’ll get better.”
“He told me that I should wear this brace
for a couple of weeks and then it’ll get better.”
“He told me that I should wear this brace
for a couple of weeks and then it’ll get better.”
Okay. I want you to repeat this sentence with
me following on the screen, and again thinking
about that wave, the wave of emphasized words
and de-emphasized words. Ready? Let’s read
it together. “He told me that I should wear
this brace for a few weeks and then it’ll
get better.” “He told me that I should wear
this brace for a few weeks and then it’ll
get better.” Did you emphasize those bold
words?
Now let’s talk about how you can link together
that de-emphasized part. The middle section
of this sentence has two un-emphasized parts.
Let’s talk about the first one. “that I should”,
“that I should”, “that I should”. Do you hear
a similar sound that we just talked about?
“That I should”. Is it “that”? If you were
listening before, you’ll know, no, it is “the
… e … e”, “thet”, kind of like an “e”
sound. That’s when we’re speaking quickly
and linking words together in a natural way.
“Thet I should”, “thet I should”, “thet I
should”. Can you say that? Say it with me.
Repeat with me, imitate, shadow my pronunciation.
Ready? Let’s say it together. “Thet I should”,
“thet I should”.
The end of this middle section also has another
linked together phrase. It is “for a few weeks”,
“for a few weeks”, “for a few weeks”. Am I
saying “for” with an “o” sound? “For” like
the number four? No. Here, “fer” sounds, again,
like an “e” sound. “Fer … er … er”. “Fer
a few weeks”. This is really common when native
speakers are talking quickly. We’re going
to change vowel sounds like we already saw
with “that”, like we already saw with “to”.
Here you’re going to see “for” being reduced
and changed to “fer”. “Fer a few weeks”, “fer
a few weeks.”
Can you say this with me? Make sure that you
emphasize these words in the correct way and
that you’re using the vowels accurately. Ready?
Speak with me. “Fer a few weeks”, “fer a few
weeks”, “fer a few weeks”, “fer a few weeks”,
“fer a few weeks”.
In the final part of this sentence, I said,
“and then it’ll get better”, “and then it’ll
get better”. What is happening here with this
contraction? “It’ll”, “it’ll”. Why is there
a “d” sound when really it’s “it”? Well, this
is pretty common in American English. The
“t"s will change to close to “d” sounds. You’re
going to say, “idul”. It sounds like “idul”.
“Idul”, “idul”. We need to say it quickly.
If you’re going to use this type of pronunciation,
you need to say it quickly and link together.
Are you ready? “And then idul get better”,
“and then idul get better”, “and then idul
get better”. Can you say it with me? Repeat
with me. “And then idul get better”, “and
then idul get better”.
Let’s go back and say this full third sentence
together and then I’m going to pause and you
can say it yourself. “He told me that I should
wear this brace for a few weeks and then it’ll
get better.” Okay. I’m going to pause and
I want you to say the sentence all by yourself.
Remember those bold, emphasized words. Remember
linking together. Remember the vowels that
change. Take a deep breath. Ready? Go ahead.
Wonderful work.
Let’s listen to this sentence a couple of
times. “He told me that I should wear this
brace for a couple of weeks and then it’ll
get better.” “He told me that I should wear
this brace for a couple of weeks and then
it’ll get better.” “He told me that I should
wear this brace for a couple of weeks and
then it’ll get better.”
To conclude this pronunciation shadow imitation
lesson, we’re going to go back and read all
three sentences together. I want you to remember
the emphasized bold parts, the un-stressed
de-emphasized parts, the linked together phrases,
the vowels that change. Take a deep breath.
You can do it. We’re going to start with the
first sentence. I’m going to speak not too
fast, not too slow, and I want you to repeat
exactly with my voice. Are you ready? Get
those muscles going. Let’s start.
“A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because
my wrist hurt really bad. It turns out that
I have a kind of tendonitis from picking up
my baby too much. He told me that I should
wear this brace for a few weeks and then it’ll
get better.” How did you do? Did your pronunciation
improve in this lesson? Do you see that there
are a lot of specific pronunciation tips that
you can learn just from normal sentences like
this? This is something that you learn every
month in the Fearless Fluency Club. You’ll
have the chance to imitate sentences from
me and also from another native English speaker,
because I think it’s important to learn different
accents, different intonation, different styles
of speaking.
If you’d like to get pronunciation lessons
like this every month, you can join the Fearless
Fluency Club for only $5 for the first month
with the coupon code “NEW”. I would love to
help you improve your pronunciation to be
beautiful, natural and easy to understand.
Thanks so much for learning with me. Keep
up the good work with your pronunciation,
and I’ll see you the next time. Bye.
Are you ready to speak English confidently
and fluently? Click the link to join the Fearless
Fluency Club for only $5 for your first month.
Learn with real, fast English and speak with
friends from around the world. Thanks so much
for learning English with me. Bye.