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You can understand Americans effortlessly and speak very natural English
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when you study the way we're going to today.
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We're going to study English with the movie Molly's Game.
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And we're going to study an argument.
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There are two different ways that people tend to speak in an argument.
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Louder and more intense, and quieter and more intentional.
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And in this scene, we have both.
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We're going to look at all the things that make spoken English difficult—linking, reductions,
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changing the sounds of a word. When you study these things and you know them,
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you're going to be so much more comfortable and confident speaking English.
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Study like this and you're going to be able to watch American movies and TV without subtitles.
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That is my business literally.
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We're doing this all summer we started in June and we're going through August,
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stick with me every Tuesday, they're all great scenes and there's going to be so much to learn
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that can transform the way you understand and speak English.
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And as always, if you like this video or you learned something new,
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please like and subscribe with notifications.
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You're going to watch the clip then we're going to do a full pronunciation analysis together.
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This is going to help so much with your listening comprehension
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when it comes to watching English movies in TV.
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But there's going to be a training section.
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You're going to take what you've just learned and practice repeating it,
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doing a reduction, flapping a T, just like you learned in the analysis.
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Okay, here's the scene.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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Be that as may…
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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It's you.
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You know who the second biggest winner is?
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>> Look. >> It's you.
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What are you taking home? 10,000 a night now?
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That is my business, literally.
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Between you, the dealers, and the servers, you're taking a lot of money out of this game.
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And now, the analysis.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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Okay, so these people are arguing.
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His voice is higher, it's louder.
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These guys-- it's a little bit more intense, has a little bit more of an edge to it.
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What do you think are the most stressed syllables here?
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys-- a little bit of stress there.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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So me and you get the most stress. He's comparing the two of them.
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But even guys, even all of the words other than me and you, are said pretty quickly.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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These guys, These guys, These guys, These guys. These, said quickly, unstressed.
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These guys--
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These, These, These, These. That S is a Z sound.
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It's weak. Just make sure you're not saying: these.
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These, These, These, These, These, these guys.
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These guys—
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These guys want to play cards with me, not you.
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What about: want to play cards with--?
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What about this string of unstressed words before our next stressed syllable, me?
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Want to play cards with—
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Want to play cards with—
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Want to play cards with—
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Want to play cards with--
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want to play cards with—So, pretty fast. The words 'want to' are combined into the reduction: wanna, wanna.
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Wanna play cards with—
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Want to play cards with—
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Want to play cards with—
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Want to play cards with—
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And actually in the word with, I hear that TH being dropped. With me, with me, with me.
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Just a super fast W, IH sound linking into the word me. With me.
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With me.
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So let's listen to that whole string of unstressed, less stressed words.
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Want to play cards with me--
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Want to play cards with me--
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Want to play cards with me, not you.
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Me, not you. Me, not—stop T in not. And actually, now that I'm focused on just these three words,
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I hear that the word you is stressed but it doesn't have the stress that goes up and down.
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It has a stress that goes up. You—me, not you.
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Me, not you.
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Me, not you.
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Me, not you.
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Be that as it may…
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Her voice is much quieter.
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Each word is more clear and separate.
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More so than it would be in normal conversational English.
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Be that as it may. Stress on be, be that as it may.
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Be that as it may…
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Be that as it may…
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Be that as it may…
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And she makes her stress go up, so that she can signal that she's going to continue, she's not done,
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but he goes ahead and talks over her anyway, doesn't he? Be that as it may…
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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Be that-- So even though she's being clearer than you would in normal conversational English,
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she still doesn't release that as a true T.
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Be that as it-- that's a stop T, she stops the air.
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Be that as it may… she doesn't link it together with the flap T.
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Be that as it may… Be that as it may…
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That would be the way that you would probably pronounce that in conversational English,
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you would reduce the vowel in as, you would make a flap T to link,
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but she doesn't do that. Be that as it—
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She does link here, the Z sound links right into the beginning IH vowel.
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As it may-- another stop T in it. Be that as it may…
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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So this is very careful English.
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He's speaking much more quickly, his is more conversational.
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So even though we think: oh, this is so clear, this one has to be right. It's actually not.
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I mean, it's fine that she does it here, but if you spoke everything you said this clearly, this slowly,
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that would no longer be natural English.
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It's this kind of English with the reductions and the linking, words like wanna, dropped sounds,
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that's the kind of English that's normal conversational English.
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Okay, let's keep going.
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know—
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>> Be that as it may… >> You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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You know-- A lot of stress there.
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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I think those are our most stressed words.
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Let's look at the rest. How does it all link together smoothly?
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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So the word you, I don't think that's a reduction. I do think it's you instead of ye, ye, ye. You know--
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that's a common way to pronounce it, with the schwa. Ye-- you know.
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But I do hear that that as the OO vowel. You, you, you, you, you. You know-- you know--
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but it's said incredibly quickly. It's not: you know, it's you know, you, you, you. You know who the—
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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The word 'who' pronounced with the H consonant and the OO vowel.
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I barely hear an H consonant. You know who the-- You know who the--
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You could even do that dropped, I think. You know who the-- You know who the--
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because I'm not even sure if I hear the H.
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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Wow, that's not very clear, is it? But that's what we do in normal conversational English.
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The, also said very quickly, unstressed. The-- the-- the-- the-- the—
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You know who the--
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You know who the--
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You know who the biggest winner in this game is?
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Now we have two words with a stressed syllable.
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Biggest winner so even though the word biggest is stressed, the T is dropped.
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We drop this T in an ending cluster like ST cluster when the next word begins with a consonant.
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Biggest winner. That helps us link more smoothly.
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Biggest winner—
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Biggest winner--
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Biggest winner--
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Now this vowel is the IH vowel like in sit.
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Make sure you're not making the EE vowel like in seat.
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Biggest, biggest, bih—ih-- it's more relaxed. Bih-- biggest. Biggest.
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I'm saying it now with the T, but no, when we link in, we drop the T.
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Biggest winner. Another IH vowel.
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Winner. Biggest winner.
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Biggest winner--
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Biggest winner--
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Biggest winner in this game is?
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In this game is? In this game is?
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So the R links right into the IH vowel. Winner in this--
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So the unstressed syllable of winner,
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the word in, and the word this, this is three unstressed syllables together.
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Ner in this-- ner in this-- ner in this-- ner in this-- and they're flatter in pitch.
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In this game. Then for the stressed word game, we have that up down shape,
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all linked together smoothly.
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Ner in this game— ner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Now in this, you're going to have to really simplify the mouth movements, especially here,
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the TH in this is voiced, same with hearing the word the, voiced TH.
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When you have a voiced TH beginning an unstressed word like the, or this, you don't actually say: the or this.
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To do that, I'm making my tongue tip come through the teeth.
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Well, that's too much and too long of a sound for a little unstressed word like the, or this.
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So we actually do a shortcut with that TH in these situations, voiced sound, beginning a stressed word.
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That, this, the, these, up here as well.
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So rather than a full TH sound, it's, the, the, the, the.
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The TH is made with the tongue, not coming through the teeth, but
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pushing forward, it moves forward and it's right towards the backs of the teeth,
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but it's not at the roof of the mouth, that would probably end up sounding like a d,
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Ddd—it's the, the, the, and you pull the tongue tip back.
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So for here, the word the, you pull it back and you just make the schwa.
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The, the, the. Here, for the word these, these, these, these, these. You pull it back, you make the EE vowel.
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For the word this, this, this, this, this, this, this. You pull it back and you make the IH quickly before the S.
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This, this, this, this. So it's not this, this this, this, this,
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it's this, this, this, this. Winner in this game is?
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You really have to simplify that TH in order to get that sound right,
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in order to get that word said quickly enough as an unstressed word.
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Winner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Winner in this game is?
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Game is, game is. The word 'is' is pronounced IH as in sit, Z.
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So don't make it 'is' but: is, is, is. This is weak, you don't have to go izzz--
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and really put a lot of energy into that sound, just make sure it's not a strong S, is, is, is.
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Game is.
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It's you.
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It's you. It's you. More stress on you. It's you.
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Than on its. But both words pretty clearly pronounced. It's you. It's you. Nice and smooth.
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It's you.
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It's you.
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It's you.
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You know who the second biggest winner is?
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You know who the second biggest winner is?
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So we have a few more syllables here with this length. Let's look at the word you.
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I think I hear a reduction. Let's listen.
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You know--
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You know, you know. It is a reduction. So it's not you,
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with the OO vowel, but it's: ye ye ye, you know, you know, you know.
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Here where it was stressed, it was definitely you, but here, unstressed, it can either be the same sounds but
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with an unstressed feeling, or it can be reduced, and he reduces it. Ye ye ye ye you know, you know.
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You know--
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who the second biggest winner is?
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You know who the— who the— who the— who the—
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Again, low in pitch, flat, simplify this voiced TH, You know who the— You know who the—
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You know who the—
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second biggest winner is?
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Second biggest winner is?
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Okay so we have four words, they all have a little bit of an up down shape feeling in their stressed syllable.
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We have a couple dropped sounds. Second biggest.
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The D is dropped here.
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So we dropped the T in biggest, we already know that,
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because it's part of an ST cluster and the next word begins with a consonant.
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So biggest winner, we already looked at that, but second biggest.
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We also dropped that for the same reason. It comes between two consonants, especially if the consonant before was an N,
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very likely we're going to drop that. Like in the phrase:
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grand piano, grand piano, it's very common to drop a D in that situation, after an N,
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before another consonant, grand piano.
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Second biggest winner is?
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Second biggest winner is?
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Second biggest winner is?
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Second biggest winner is? Uuhhh.
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That up down shape. Really practice that when you're working with the audio. Second biggest winner is?