A great movie to learn English with -- the pace is good, the conversation is frank.

Today, we’re going to take a scene from this movie and do a full, in-depth analysis of everything that’s said,

looking at how it’s pronounced, why it sounds American, and go over idioms too.

Studying English this way will help your listening comprehension,

and it will also help you understand how to sound more natural speaking English.

First, let’s watch the whole scene.

Then we’ll do our in-depth analysis.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

Can you, uh, answer the email so we can set a time?

Yeah. I've been distracted.

I understand. I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just think he's a little over-anxious. I think he wants it too much.

He's off the charts in Math.

He quits too easily when things aren't easy for him. You know, he's like us. He's stubborn.

He's still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

And now, the analysis.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

What are our most stressed syllables in this phrase?

Everything links together really smoothly, but we have some peaks where the melody goes up.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry's teacher-- I'm feeling a lot of stress there.

Teacher wants to meet with us.

Listen again and notice how every word slides right into the next word with no breaks.

This linking is really important to the character of American English.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry's teacher wants to meet with us.

So after the peak of stress on 'teach' we have three syllables, cher wants to--,

that are flatter in pitch, said more quickly,

wants to--, the word 'to' reduces, it's not 'to' it's 'tuh' with the schwa.

Wants to-- wants to-- wants to-- wants to--

Cher wants--

Teacher wants to meet with us.

Then we have a stop T in 'meet' that's because the next word begins with the W.

So it's not, meet with, but it's meet with, meet with, that tiny little break, little lift, is what we feel as the T.

Meet with us. Meet with us.

Meet with us.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

What about this next question? What happens with the melody?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his-- a little bit of up-down shape there. You mean his L.A. teacher?

Then we have most of our stress on A. Whenever we have an acronym like this,

where we're saying the letters, LA, JFK, etcetera, it's always the last letter that gets the most stress.

L.A. teacher? We're going up in pitch, it's a yes/no question, and those usually go up in pitch,

but since it's going up in pitch rather than feeling the stress as an up-down shape, it's sort of the opposite.

L.A. teacher? It's a scoop down and then up.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh-- Can you, uh--

That little utterance, very smooth, no breaks in the voice. Can you, uh--

And we have that peak on 'you', the word 'can' is not 'can' it's kuhn.

I would write that with the schwa, said very quickly, can, can, can, can you, can you, can you, uh...

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh--

Quick request. If you're not subscribed to my channel, please click the subscribe button, with notifications,

I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday.

Also, take a second to click that LIKE button. It does help. Ready? 1, 2, 3, click it!

Okay, back to the analysis.

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh--

Uh-- This is the UH as in butter vowel,

and it's the sound that Americans make when we're thinking. Uh, uhm, for example.

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh--

Can you, uh, answer the--

Answer the-- Then she does a little break here, either because she's drinking, or while she's thinking.

Answer the-- So 'an' is the most stressed syllable, and the two unstressed syllables, swer, the,

just sort of fall down in pitch from that peak. The letter W, there's no W sound here.

Answer the-- answer the--

Answer the--

The word 'answer' will be written phonetically with the AA vowel, and then N,

but when AA is followed by N, it's not quite pure.

That would be AA, An--, an--, answer.

And that's not how we say it, we say answer. So the back of the tongue relaxes,

we move through a sound that's sort of like the UH as in butter sound, aauhh-- aauhh-- aauhh--

answer, answer the--

Answer the--

answer the--

answer the email.

Email, email. Going up, stress on E. Email.

So we can set a time, and then intonation goes up.

It's almost like this is a question, and then the second half is also a question.

Email, email, so we can set a time.

Email so we can set a time?

Email so we can set a time?

Email so we can set a time?

The L in 'email' is a dark L. It comes after the diphthong in that syllable,

and you don't need to lift your tongue tip for this dark L.

Email, uhl, uhl, uhl.

Keep your tongue tip down, that will help you focus on the tongue position,

it's the back of the tongue that makes that dark sound.

Don't round your lips.

A lot of people want to make something sort of like: email, where the front part of the mouth makes

the sound, and then it sounds sort of like O or a W sound, but it should be: uhl, uhl,

a dark sound to the dark L. Email, email, email.

Email--

so we can set a time?

Now, let's look at this word 'can'. We just had it up here,

and it was pronounced: kuhn,

how is it pronounced the second time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

Can, can, can. So fast, so unclear. So we can, so we can, so we can, so we can, so we can set a time?

I guess I'll write it with all of those sounds, but it's just so fast, none of it's very clear, is it?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

Set a time? A flap T links these two words together.

We pronounce the T as a flap T when it comes between two vowels,

and that's what happens when we link these words. Set a time?

Set a time?

Set a time?

Set a time?

Yeah. I've been distracted.

Yeah-- Stress on 'yeah' up down. Yeah. I've been distracted.

Couple peaks of stress there.

Yeah. I've been distracted.

Yeah. I've been distracted.

Yeah. I've been distracted.

'I have' or 'I've', 'I've' is not pronounced that way, he doesn't really say the V sound.

I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

I have noticed we do this sometimes when we're saying that word 'been' next. I have been--

one of the shortcuts is just to drop that V sound. I've been distracted. I've been, I've been, I've been.

So see if you can make that with no V sound at all, just linking the AI diphthong into the B.

That will help this transition be more smooth, it will help you make this less important word, less long.

And we need it to be short for that rhythmic contrast. That's so important in American English.

I've been distracted. Now here, we have EE, two E's but that makes the IH as in sit vowel, not the EE vowel.

I've been, I've been, I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

I've been distracted.

The ED ending is pronounced as an extra syllable, IH plus D, when the sound before is a T or D.

So it's a whole extra syllable here, because it comes after a T.

Distracted. Distracted.

Distracted.

Distracted.

Distracted.

I understand.

I understand.

What are our most stressed syllables there?

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand. 'I' and 'un' and 'der', are all going towards the main stress there, 'stand'. I understand. I understand.

And this is lower in pitch, less energy in the voice.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

'I' and 'uh', these two sounds here linked together really smoothly.

I under, I under-- Don't try to make any kind of distinction.

The words should slide together. That's okay. That smoothness is important in American English.

I under-- I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.