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  • Do you want to watch American TV and movies without subtitles?

  • Today you're studying fast English, conversational English, with the movie Shazam.

  • All the linking and reductions that Americans do can make it pretty hard to understand them.

  • When you study American English the way we will in this video,

  • your listening comprehension and your ability to sound natural speaking English

  • is going to improve dramatically.

  • Study like this and you're going to be able to understand American movies and TV without subtitles.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • We're doing this all summer. We started in June and we're going through August. Stick with me

  • every Tuesday, they're all great scenes, and there's going to be so much to learn

  • that can transform the way you understand and speak English.

  • And as always, if you like this video or you learned something new, please like and subscribe with notifications.

  • You're going to watch the clip, then we're going to do a full pronunciation analysis together.

  • This is going to help so much with your listening comprehension

  • when it comes to watching English movies and TV.

  • But there's going to be a training section.

  • You're going to take what you've just learned and practice repeating it, doing a reduction, flapping a T,

  • just like you learned in the analysis.

  • Okay, here's the scene.

  • Foster home in Pittsburgh reported you missing two weeks ago.

  • You're sending me back?

  • No, they don't want you.

  • Harsh.

  • You laugh, but you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • From good people who want you.

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • And now, the analysis.

  • Foster home in Pittsburgh reported you missing two weeks ago.

  • You're sending me back?

  • In this scene, they're discussing how this boy keeps running away from foster homes.

  • And his first question for her is, are they going to make him go back to the foster home?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • So we start out with an unstressed word, You're becomes: yer yer yer, don't put a vowel in there.

  • Yer yer yer, you're sending me-- sending me--

  • We have a stressed syllable on sen-- and then the unstressed syllables, --ding me,

  • all come down in pitch after that peak. Sending me back?

  • And then this word is stressed but it goes down and up, because he's making it a question, a yes no question.

  • Back? Back? You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • He's really making this unstressed word very quiet, isn't he?

  • Make sure you're imitating that. We want it to feel unstressed. Yer yer yer yer yer you're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • You're sending me back?

  • Back? This has the aa vowel.

  • Ah ah-- might help you to make this sound if you just raise your upper lip a little bit: back, back.

  • Back?

  • No.

  • No. No. I love this very clear, up down shape statement. No. No.

  • No.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you. They and want, are two most stressed words there.

  • They don't-- what happens with our two T's here?

  • They don't want you. That's not what we hear. What do we hear?

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you. Nt. Nt. Nt.

  • That sound is an NT ending, stop.

  • So the T is a stop consonant usually when the next word begins with a consonant.

  • Here, it's W, here, it's the Y consonant,

  • don't want-- do you hear that little nasal squeak, and then I stop?

  • Don't want, don't want, they don't want you, they don't want you.

  • I'm exaggerating those breaks a little bit, those stops, but that's the feeling.

  • Don't want. Don't want. It's certainly not don't want, don't want.

  • Very often in American English, our Ts do not have that full release.

  • This helps us make things more smooth, and we really like smooth, linked together speech in American English.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • See if you can do that and move your hand up and down on 'they don't want you', on they, and don't,

  • and see if that can help you get that feeling of stress.

  • I think it's always a good thing to bring in our bodies to help with this. They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • They don't want you.

  • You coming down in pitch off of the peak of stress. You, you, you, you.

  • You.

  • It's quiet, it's subtle, don't make it more than that. We want it to have that unstressed feeling.

  • You.

  • Harsh.

  • Harsh. Harsh. Harsh. Up down shape. Harsh means wow, that's a little bit hurtful

  • that someone doesn't want him back.

  • Of course, he doesn't seem hurt by it. He didn't want to be there, he ran away.

  • But it's still a bit harsh for the family not to want him.

  • Harsh.

  • You laugh--

  • You laugh-- And then she puts a little break here.

  • Breaking it up into a different thought group. So for you and laugh, which word is more stressed?

  • You laugh--

  • You laugh-- you has a little bit of its own up down shape.

  • You laugh-- but laugh definitely has more.

  • Laugh, pronounced with a light L, the AA as in bat vowel, just like back, and an F consonant.

  • Laugh. You laugh-- you laugh--

  • You laugh--

  • You laugh, but you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • Okay now a little bit of a longer thought group. What are her most stressed syllables?

  • But you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • But you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • But you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • But you've run-- a lot of stress there. But you've run from foster-- a little bit of stress there.

  • Foster homes, a little bit of stress there.

  • But you've run from foster homes--

  • But you've run from foster homes--

  • But you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • In six counties, and then that word, six counties, gets a lot of stress, she really holds on to that S, in six counties.

  • In six counties--

  • Mr. Batson.

  • Mr. Batson. Mr. Batson. His name, gets a little bit of stress. Stress is on the first syllable there.

  • Mr. Batson.

  • But you've run-- we have a stop T in but, next word begins with a consonant, but you've run--

  • But you've run-

  • from foster homes

  • Run from-- both lower in pitch, you've run from-from-what? From, yes, from, not from,

  • that word is reduced, F consonant, R consonant, schwa M. From, from, not from, that's stressed.

  • This word is unstressed, it's: from, from, from, from foster, from foster.

  • O letter there makes the AH as in father vowel.

  • From foster--

  • From foster homes in six counties--

  • Foster homes-- foster homes in six counties--

  • Make sure everything's linking together. We don't want breaks. Foster homes. Right from the R into the H.

  • Foster homes in-- homes in-- homes in--

  • that ending Z sound links right into the IH vowel for in.

  • Homes in six counties-- and then I love how she holds that out.

  • Holding out a beginning consonant can really stress a word. I mean, these are a lot of homes,

  • a lot of places that he's run away from. Six counties.

  • Foster homes in six counties--

  • Foster homes in six counties--

  • Foster homes in six counties--

  • The letter X makes the KS sounds. Six counties.

  • Six counties--

  • Counties. Counties. What's happening with this word?

  • Counties. Well, she's dropping the T, isn't she?

  • This is pretty common in NT words like: internet, interview, and so on. Counties.

  • Very often pronounced counties with no T.

  • Counties.

  • Counties--

  • Mr. Batson.

  • Mr. Batson. Batson. Stop T, next sound is an S. Batson.

  • And this also has the AA vowel. I hope you're comfortable with that vowel because

  • we've run into it a couple times, haven't we? Mr. Batson.

  • Mr. Batson.

  • We have a lot of names that end in s-o-n,

  • but it's not pronounced like the word sun.

  • They're pronounced sun, sun, you can think of it as being a schwa, or an IH.

  • Either sound is okay. Just make sure you're thinking of it being very unstressed.

  • Son, son, son, son, Batson.

  • Batson.

  • From--

  • Okay this is great. She breaks out the word from while she's thinking and even though it's by itself,

  • not in the context of a whole sentence, even though she doesn't stress it, it's not: from, it's: from from from.

  • from--

  • good people--

  • Good people. Another little break. So she's breaking this up in two thought groups while she's thinking,

  • she can't believe that this boy would continue to run away

  • from homes of people who want to take care of him.

  • from good people--

  • good people--

  • from good people--

  • from good people--

  • from good people-

  • The D is not released, that would be: good people, good people, but it's good people.

  • I do make the D sound in my vocal cords.

  • Good. But I don't release it, it's a stop.

  • Good people. I just go right into the P sound. Good people.

  • Good people--

  • Now, I know this word is tricky. People. People.

  • So it's P consonant, EE vowel in the stressed syllable. People.

  • And then we have P, schwa, L. This is going to be a dark L.

  • And a lot of people confuse that with a sound that's sort of like OH

  • and a lot of my non-native speakers will say peepo.

  • A lot of my students will say that: pepo, pepo, or something like that.

  • OH is made with the front of the mouth,

  • OHL is made at the back of the mouth. And that's what we want. People ohl ohl.

  • Don't lift your tongue tip for this. Keep your tongue tip down. People ohl ohl.

  • The way to make that sound is tongue tip down, back of the tongue presses down and back a little bit.

  • Try that now. Ohl ohl.

  • It's a strange feeling, but we just touch it really briefly. People ohl ohl ohl ohl.

  • It's very short, so not: people people people people.

  • People.

  • People who want you.

  • Who want you. Who want you. Again, peak of stress,

  • and the words that are not stressed lead up to that peak or fall away from it.

  • Who want you.

  • Another stop there. Who want you. Who want you.

  • Who want you.

  • Who want you.

  • Who want you all in pursuit--

  • All in pursuit-- she stresses that by really drawing it out, all in pursuit-- pursuit--

  • A little bit of stress there with a stop T. All in pursuit.

  • All in pursuit--

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • All in pursuit of someone-- a little bit of stress there, who arguably does not.

  • Does not want him. This would be his birth mother.

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • All in pursuit- all in pursuit- Try that. Just that little phrase.

  • All in pursuit--

  • All in pursuit-- Everything links together pretty smoothly, doesn't it?

  • There's a little bit, all in pursuit,

  • a little bit of a feeling of separation here to help bring even more stress to the word all.

  • All in pursuit-- pursuit-- per per per-- make that P, schwa, R, per per per pursuit, pursuit.

  • All in pursuit--

  • of someone who arguably does not.

  • Of someone, of someone, of of of.

  • This is not ov, it's of of of.

  • It's the unstressed pronunciation. She doesn't drop the V sound that can happen,

  • but it's still very unstressed, very quick: of of of, of someone, of someone, of someone.

  • Of someone, of someone.

  • Of someone who arguably does not.

  • Someone who arguably--

  • So everything very smooth, right from N into W, oh sorry, into H. Who, who, in IPA, it's just H consonant, OO vowel.

  • Someone who arguably-- guably-- unstressed syllables. Ar-- guably-- guably-- guably-- guably--

  • Try to make those quickly,

  • and without a lot of mouth movement, really simplify. Guably-- guably-- guably-- guably--

  • because they're unstressed, they're gonna have that easier, faster, less work feeling.

  • Ar-- we have more jaw drop, we put more length into it, guably-- guably-- guably--

  • we say those quickly. We need to simplify. Arguably. Arguably.

  • Of someone who arguably--

  • Of someone who arguably--

  • Of someone who arguably--

  • I'll write out the IPA here. Ar-- first syllable stress, gu-- JU diphthong there, argu-a-bly. Arguably.

  • Arguably--

  • does not.

  • Our last two words, we have one that's unstressed, and one that's stressed. Does not.

  • Does not--

  • Not. She does release that with a light true T. That brings more emphasis to that word,

  • it's very common to make an ending to a stop T when it's at the end of a thought group, but she does release it.

  • So we have an unstressed word does. But it's not does, because that's stressed, it's does does,

  • that is the same word with an unstressed feeling, lower in pitch, flatter, much faster. Does, does, does not.

  • Does not.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • Okay she's going to get serious here. So we have a couple of things here.

  • It's time-- first, let's look at our stress. It's time someone--

  • time has quite a bit of stress there, and that has a true T because it starts a stressed word, a stressed syllable.

  • It's time someone.

  • What are our other stressed syllables?

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye-- Looked and eye, get some stress there.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • And told it to you straight. Told, straight, also get some stress there.

  • Again, told, that does have a true T because it begins a stressed syllable.

  • Told it to you straight.

  • Told it to you straight.

  • Told it to you straight.

  • Told it-- all right, let's look at the unstressed words and any reductions that we have.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • It's, flatter in pitch, but no reductions.

  • We still have all the sounds, IH, TS cluster: it's, it's, it's, it's, it's time, it's time someone.

  • M right into S. Again, no reductions with someone, none of the sounds change,

  • but it's not: someone, it's: someone, someone, someone, flatter, lower in pitch.

  • It's time someone--

  • It's time someone--

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye--

  • Looked you in the-- okay, so we have: you in the--

  • all unstressed, but before we talk about that string of unstressed words,

  • let's look at what's happening with the ED ending in looked.

  • So the rule is when the ED ending comes after an unvoiced sound like K,

  • that this will be a T, looked, looked, looked, but that's not what I hear, what do you hear?

  • Looked you--

  • I hear a CH. So when a word ends in T, and the next word is you or your,

  • that T can get changed into a CH like in the phrase: that's what you said. That's what you said.

  • What you, what you, what you. Or here, looked you, becomes: looked you, looked you, looked you.

  • Looked you--

  • It doesn't have to, but it does happen pretty regularly in conversational English. Looked you in the eye.

  • Looked you in the eye--

  • Looked you in the eye--

  • Looked you in the eye--

  • Looked you in the-- this is actually not the schwa, it's the EE vowel. Looked you in the- the, the, the.

  • The rule is it's an EE sound if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong. This does, its eye.

  • Otherwise, it would be the schwa. However, I've noticed that not all Americans really follow this rule.

  • She does here. I do hear the EE, it's very fast.

  • You in the-- lower in pitch, flatter, certainly not pronounced: you in the--

  • but: you in the, you in the, you in the, you in the.

  • And because of that, we can simplify this TH sound. The tongue tip does not have to go through the teeth.

  • And this is actually true of all of these unstressed words that begin with a voiced TH like: the, these, this.

  • In conversational English, we usually simplify that so we can make the word more quickly.

  • And rather than bringing the tongue tip through the teeth, to make a bigger, more prominent sound,

  • we just bring the tongue tip forward within the mouth to behind the teeth, the, the, the, the, and pull it away.

  • So my tongue tip isn't pressing against the roof of the mouth and releasing, that would be a D.

  • We don't want that. It's not da, it's de de de de.

  • Very subtle difference, but native speakers and native ears definitely pick up on that.

  • In the, in the, in the, in the, or in this case: in the, in the, in the, you in the, you in the, you in the, you in the eye.

  • You in the eye-

  • You in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • And told, and told, and-- so the D is dropped there,

  • the vowel isn't reduced, it can, it can be: nnn-and told, and told- but she says: and told, and told it, it,

  • everything links together really smoothly, ending d into beginning IH. Told it, told it, told it to--

  • So we have two words together, linked with a single true T,

  • and then the word to reduces to the schwa, the vowel changes as it so often does.

  • It to, it to, it to, told it to, told it to.

  • And told it to--

  • you straight.

  • And then you, also unstressed, not reduced, but unstressed before the next stressed word, so we have:

  • it to you, it to you, it do you, it to you, it to you, for these three unstressed words.

  • And told it to you--

  • straight.

  • Told it to you straight. Straight. Straight.

  • You know what, I hear another CH there. Straight.

  • That can happen with the TR cluster, like train, try. Very common when it's just the TR cluster for it to be a CH.

  • And it can even happen like it does here, so it sounds like SCH, sch, sch, sch. Straight, straight, straight.

  • And she does release that true T. So our T gets changed to a CH sound. Straight.

  • Straight.

  • Don't drop the R. Sometimes I have students who will take a word like train,

  • which we would maybe say train, with the CH, and they would drop the R. Chain, or try would become chai.

  • But we do need the r, the CH is replacing just the t, the r still stays. Straight. Straight. Straight.

  • Straight.

  • The word told, this can be tricky. In IPA, we would write that out with the T consonant, OH diphthong, L, D.

  • This is a single syllable, and the L comes after the vowel or diphthong, that makes it a dark L.

  • And the dark L does change that OH diphthong, it's not tow, towld, towld, but it's: told.

  • The dark L kind of takes over, doesn't it? Tohl-- the lips round, the tongue tip stays down,

  • but the back of the tongue pushes down and back a little bit. Tohld--

  • and then make the D sound. You don't need to lift your tongue tip for the L, just leave that lift out,

  • because you're going to lift your tongue tip for the D. Told. Told. Told it. Told it.

  • Told it.

  • Let's listen to the whole conversation one more time.

  • You're sending me back?

  • No, they don't want you.

  • Harsh.

  • You laugh, but you've run from foster homes in six counties, Mr. Batson.

  • From good people who want you.

  • All in pursuit of someone who arguably does not.

  • It's time someone looked you in the eye and told it to you straight.

  • Now for the fun part, you'll look at the notes we took together and you'll hear a part of the conversation

  • on a loop three times. Then there's a space for you to repeat.

  • For example, you'll hear this:

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • Then you'll repeat it: maybe so, sir. Try to imitate everything about this exactly so when you see this,

  • then you'll repeat it. Maybe so, sir.

  • That's from Top Gun: Maverick, which was the first movie we studied in this summer series.

  • You'll also have the opportunity to listen and repeat in slow motion.

  • This will be important for you if you're more of a beginner,

  • or if you're having a hard time focusing on linking or the melody.

  • Maybe you'll want to do it both ways, but the important thing is here is your opportunity

  • to take what you learned and put it into your body and your own habit.

  • That's what's going to transform your speaking.

  • You might do well to work with the audio section of this video every day for a week.

  • Imitating the rhythm and the simplifications will get easier each time you do it.

  • If you can't keep up with the native speaker, do the slow-motion imitation.

  • Okay, here's our audio training section.

  • Don't forget to come back and do this audio again tomorrow and the next day.

  • You want to build habits here so you don't need to think about it so much when you're speaking in conversation.

  • You can focus on the words and not the expression or pronunciation.

  • Don't forget this is part of a series all summer long, 13 videos, 13 scenes for movies

  • check out each one, learn something new each time.

  • I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday and I'd love to have you back here again.

  • Please subscribe with notifications and continue your studies right now with this video.

  • And if you love this video, share it with a friend.

  • That's it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

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