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  • You can understand Americans effortlessly and speak very natural English

  • when you study the way we're going to today.

  • We're going to study English with the movie Molly's Game.

  • And we're going to study an argument.

  • There are two different ways that people tend to speak in an argument.

  • Louder and more intense, and quieter and more intentional.

  • And in this scene, we have both.

  • We're going to look at all the things that make spoken English difficultlinking, reductions,

  • changing the sounds of a word. When you study these things and you know them,

  • you're going to be so much more comfortable and confident speaking English.

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

  • That is my business literally.

  • 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 in 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.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • Be that as may

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • It's you.

  • You know who the second biggest winner is?

  • >> Look. >> It's you.

  • What are you taking home? 10,000 a night now?

  • That is my business, literally.

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers, you're taking a lot of money out of this game.

  • And now, the analysis.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • Okay, so these people are arguing.

  • His voice is higher, it's louder.

  • These guys-- it's a little bit more intense, has a little bit more of an edge to it.

  • What do you think are the most stressed syllables here?

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys-- a little bit of stress there.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • So me and you get the most stress. He's comparing the two of them.

  • But even guys, even all of the words other than me and you, are said pretty quickly.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • These guys, These guys, These guys, These guys. These, said quickly, unstressed.

  • These guys--

  • These, These, These, These. That S is a Z sound.

  • It's weak. Just make sure you're not saying: these.

  • These, These, These, These, These, these guys.

  • These guys

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • What about: want to play cards with--?

  • What about this string of unstressed words before our next stressed syllable, me?

  • Want to play cards with

  • Want to play cards with

  • Want to play cards with

  • Want to play cards with--

  • want to play cards withSo, pretty fast. The words 'want to' are combined into the reduction: wanna, wanna.

  • Wanna play cards with

  • Want to play cards with

  • Want to play cards with

  • Want to play cards with

  • And actually in the word with, I hear that TH being dropped. With me, with me, with me.

  • Just a super fast W, IH sound linking into the word me. With me.

  • With me.

  • So let's listen to that whole string of unstressed, less stressed words.

  • Want to play cards with me--

  • Want to play cards with me--

  • Want to play cards with me, not you.

  • Me, not you. Me, notstop T in not. And actually, now that I'm focused on just these three words,

  • I hear that the word you is stressed but it doesn't have the stress that goes up and down.

  • It has a stress that goes up. Youme, not you.

  • Me, not you.

  • Me, not you.

  • Me, not you.

  • Be that as it may

  • Her voice is much quieter.

  • Each word is more clear and separate.

  • More so than it would be in normal conversational English.

  • Be that as it may. Stress on be, be that as it may.

  • Be that as it may

  • Be that as it may

  • Be that as it may

  • And she makes her stress go up, so that she can signal that she's going to continue, she's not done,

  • but he goes ahead and talks over her anyway, doesn't he? Be that as it may

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • Be that-- So even though she's being clearer than you would in normal conversational English,

  • she still doesn't release that as a true T.

  • Be that as it-- that's a stop T, she stops the air.

  • Be that as it mayshe doesn't link it together with the flap T.

  • Be that as it mayBe that as it may

  • That would be the way that you would probably pronounce that in conversational English,

  • you would reduce the vowel in as, you would make a flap T to link,

  • but she doesn't do that. Be that as it

  • She does link here, the Z sound links right into the beginning IH vowel.

  • As it may-- another stop T in it. Be that as it may

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • So this is very careful English.

  • He's speaking much more quickly, his is more conversational.

  • So even though we think: oh, this is so clear, this one has to be right. It's actually not.

  • I mean, it's fine that she does it here, but if you spoke everything you said this clearly, this slowly,

  • that would no longer be natural English.

  • It's this kind of English with the reductions and the linking, words like wanna, dropped sounds,

  • that's the kind of English that's normal conversational English.

  • Okay, let's keep going.

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know

  • >> Be that as it may… >> You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • You know-- A lot of stress there.

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • I think those are our most stressed words.

  • Let's look at the rest. How does it all link together smoothly?

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • 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--

  • that's a common way to pronounce it, with the schwa. Ye-- you know.

  • But I do hear that that as the OO vowel. You, you, you, you, you. You know-- you know--

  • but it's said incredibly quickly. It's not: you know, it's you know, you, you, you. You know who the

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • The word 'who' pronounced with the H consonant and the OO vowel.

  • I barely hear an H consonant. You know who the-- You know who the--

  • You could even do that dropped, I think. You know who the-- You know who the--

  • because I'm not even sure if I hear the H.

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • Wow, that's not very clear, is it? But that's what we do in normal conversational English.

  • The, also said very quickly, unstressed. The-- the-- the-- the-- the

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the--

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • Now we have two words with a stressed syllable.

  • Biggest winner so even though the word biggest is stressed, the T is dropped.

  • We drop this T in an ending cluster like ST cluster when the next word begins with a consonant.

  • Biggest winner. That helps us link more smoothly.

  • Biggest winner

  • Biggest winner--

  • Biggest winner--

  • Now this vowel is the IH vowel like in sit.

  • Make sure you're not making the EE vowel like in seat.

  • Biggest, biggest, bihih-- it's more relaxed. Bih-- biggest. Biggest.

  • I'm saying it now with the T, but no, when we link in, we drop the T.

  • Biggest winner. Another IH vowel.

  • Winner. Biggest winner.

  • Biggest winner--

  • Biggest winner--

  • Biggest winner in this game is?

  • In this game is? In this game is?

  • So the R links right into the IH vowel. Winner in this--

  • So the unstressed syllable of winner,

  • the word in, and the word this, this is three unstressed syllables together.

  • Ner in this-- ner in this-- ner in this-- ner in this-- and they're flatter in pitch.

  • In this game. Then for the stressed word game, we have that up down shape,

  • all linked together smoothly.

  • Ner in this gamener in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Now in this, you're going to have to really simplify the mouth movements, especially here,

  • the TH in this is voiced, same with hearing the word the, voiced TH.

  • When you have a voiced TH beginning an unstressed word like the, or this, you don't actually say: the or this.

  • To do that, I'm making my tongue tip come through the teeth.

  • Well, that's too much and too long of a sound for a little unstressed word like the, or this.

  • So we actually do a shortcut with that TH in these situations, voiced sound, beginning a stressed word.

  • That, this, the, these, up here as well.

  • So rather than a full TH sound, it's, the, the, the, the.

  • The TH is made with the tongue, not coming through the teeth, but

  • pushing forward, it moves forward and it's right towards the backs of the teeth,

  • but it's not at the roof of the mouth, that would probably end up sounding like a d,

  • Dddit's the, the, the, and you pull the tongue tip back.

  • So for here, the word the, you pull it back and you just make the schwa.

  • The, the, the. Here, for the word these, these, these, these, these. You pull it back, you make the EE vowel.

  • For the word this, this, this, this, this, this, this. You pull it back and you make the IH quickly before the S.

  • This, this, this, this. So it's not this, this this, this, this,

  • it's this, this, this, this. Winner in this game is?

  • You really have to simplify that TH in order to get that sound right,

  • in order to get that word said quickly enough as an unstressed word.

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Winner in this game is?

  • Game is, game is. The word 'is' is pronounced IH as in sit, Z.

  • So don't make it 'is' but: is, is, is. This is weak, you don't have to go izzz--

  • and really put a lot of energy into that sound, just make sure it's not a strong S, is, is, is.

  • Game is.

  • It's you.

  • It's you. It's you. More stress on you. It's you.

  • Than on its. But both words pretty clearly pronounced. It's you. It's you. Nice and smooth.

  • It's you.

  • It's you.

  • It's you.

  • You know who the second biggest winner is?

  • You know who the second biggest winner is?

  • So we have a few more syllables here with this length. Let's look at the word you.

  • I think I hear a reduction. Let's listen.

  • You know--

  • You know, you know. It is a reduction. So it's not you,

  • with the OO vowel, but it's: ye ye ye, you know, you know, you know.

  • Here where it was stressed, it was definitely you, but here, unstressed, it can either be the same sounds but

  • with an unstressed feeling, or it can be reduced, and he reduces it. Ye ye ye ye you know, you know.

  • You know--

  • who the second biggest winner is?

  • You know who thewho thewho thewho the

  • Again, low in pitch, flat, simplify this voiced TH, You know who theYou know who the

  • You know who the

  • second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Okay so we have four words, they all have a little bit of an up down shape feeling in their stressed syllable.

  • We have a couple dropped sounds. Second biggest.

  • The D is dropped here.

  • So we dropped the T in biggest, we already know that,

  • because it's part of an ST cluster and the next word begins with a consonant.

  • So biggest winner, we already looked at that, but second biggest.

  • We also dropped that for the same reason. It comes between two consonants, especially if the consonant before was an N,

  • very likely we're going to drop that. Like in the phrase:

  • grand piano, grand piano, it's very common to drop a D in that situation, after an N,

  • before another consonant, grand piano.

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is? Uuhhh.

  • That up down shape. Really practice that when you're working with the audio. Second biggest winner is?

  • It's just the smooth pulse up, uhhhh, gliding together very smoothly.

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • Second biggest winner is?

  • >> Look. >> It's you.

  • Look. Look.

  • She doesn't want to answer that question, look, look, up down shape,

  • two O's here. Don't say OO, it's UH like in the word push, or in the word sugar. Look, look.

  • Look--

  • And she lightly releases the K. And again she's just started talking and he butts in.

  • He doesn't let her finish her sentence her word before he starts talking again.

  • Look--

  • It's you.

  • It's you. So just like up here,

  • we've got it's, on the way up, and the stress on you.

  • It's you. It's you. Again you, not reduced. You, you, you. It's you.

  • It's you.

  • It's you.

  • It's you.

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • Lots of stress. Stress on the question word.

  • What are you taking-- a little bit of stress there, home?

  • And then quite a bit more stress there on the word home.

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home? Now, let's look at how these two words are linking together.

  • It's not what are, so that's maybe what you learned. The pronunciation of this is what, the pronunciation of this is are,

  • but that's not actually how it is.

  • What rr-- What rr--they're linking together with the flap T. The vowel here is the UH as in butter.

  • The word 'are' is reducing to just schwa R. What rr-- What rr-- What rr--

  • And then there's a single flap of the tongue against the roof of the mouth for the T.

  • What rr-- What rr-- what are you

  • What are you

  • taking home?

  • What are you taking home? Taking, taking, taking.

  • This is a true T because it starts a stressed syllable. What are you taking home?

  • Home? And then a lot more stress there, up down shape on that OH diphthong. What are you taking home?

  • Dadadadadada. What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home?

  • What are you taking home? Ten thousand--

  • Ten thousand-- let's write this out.

  • Ten thousand a--

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • And now here, we have the word now stressed, but it's going up because this is a yes no question.

  • So the first question, you can't answer it with yes or no. It's a number, it's an amount.

  • So if a question is not a yes/no question, it usually goes down in pitch,

  • and if it is a yes/no question, it usually goes up in pitch at the end.

  • Ten thousand--

  • Ten thousand--

  • a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now? I'd put a little bit of length on night as well.

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a--

  • Now what's happening to this D in thousand?

  • It's getting dropped, isn't it? The word 'a' becomes the schwa.

  • And we just link those together with no d. Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • So this is different, before, we said we would drop a D after an N if the next sound was a consonant.

  • But here, it's not, it's a vowel and we're still dropping it.

  • D after N is a case where we do sometimes drop that even if the next word is a vowel.

  • And this is also true of T, we drop T after N a lot like in the word 'internet',

  • that word just becomes: internet.

  • So this is just one of those things, the N makes it possible

  • that we're going to drop the D or a T after, and that's what happens here: Ten thousand a night now?

  • Night, night, do you hear that stop T?

  • Night now? So it's not released, just a little break in the line, night now, night now,

  • to signify the stop quality of that T, and our ears hear that as a T.

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • Ten thousand a night now?

  • That is my business.

  • That is my business.

  • And then she puts a little break there, two thought groups.

  • That is my business.

  • Everything links together smoothly. She uses a flap T here to link the two words, just like we did with 'what are'.

  • That is my business.

  • That is my business.

  • That is my business.

  • Here, the vowels are the AH vowel and the IH vowel.

  • D comes between two vowels, sorry, T comes between two vowels make that a flap.

  • That is my-- that is my

  • That is my

  • That is my

  • That is my

  • Business. Now this is a word that kind of looks like it should be three syllables.

  • Business, business, but it's not, there is no middle syllable there.

  • Bus-- B consonant, IH vowel, Z consonant: busness-- and then N,

  • IH and S in the unstressed syllable.

  • So here the S is a Z. Make sure you're making that a Z sound: bizbiz

  • Business, business.

  • Business--

  • Business, literally.

  • Literally. First syllable stress and the other syllables just come in on the way down.

  • Literally.

  • Flap T because it comes between two vowels and it does not start a stressed syllable.

  • Literally. Literally.

  • Literally.

  • Literally.

  • Literally.

  • So why does she say literally? We do use: 'That is my business' as a phrase to mean

  • it doesn't concern you. For example, if someone said:

  • Rachel, you shouldn't let Stoney eat ice cream every night.

  • I might say: That's my business. Or: Mind your own business. Or: Whatever.

  • And that means this doesn't concern you. I don't want your input on it.

  • But she's talking about how she makes her money, her business,

  • and so she says: That is my business, literally.

  • So she's saying it in two ways. One, this doesn't concern you how much I make a night, and two,

  • this is literally my income, how I make my money, how I run my business. That is my business, literally.

  • That is my business, literally.

  • That is my business, literally.

  • That is my business, literally.

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers--

  • Okay, so now he lists three things. Between you, pitch goes up, between you,

  • the dealers, and the servers.

  • So when we list, we tend to make the pitch go up

  • for each item, until we get to the end and then the pitch goes down.

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers

  • Notice the T in between is a true T. That's because it starts a stressed syllable. Between you.

  • Between you--

  • the dealers.

  • The dealers-- now we're going to want that simplified TH, not the, but the, the, the.

  • The dealers, the dealers.

  • The dealers,

  • and the servers

  • And the serversand the serversAnd, and, dropped D there.

  • And the servers. There's a little bit of a, and the, a little bit of an up down shape there.

  • And is something that we don't usually stress but he's stressing that because he wants to really

  • emphasize the fact that there are multiple ways that he is losing money in this game.

  • You, the dealers, and the servers.

  • And the servers

  • You're taking a lot of money out of this game.

  • Okay, then he keeps going, no break, this Z sound links right into the Y sound. We have a reduction here.

  • It's not your, it's yer. Servers you're-- servers you'reservers you're

  • Servers you're--

  • taking a lot of money out of this game.

  • Servers, you're taking a lot of money out of this game.

  • Those are our longer, more stressed words. The T in taking is a true T because it starts a stressed syllable.

  • Taking a-- So we have two unstressed syllables here, everything links together.

  • Taking a, taking a, taking a lot, taking a lot.

  • Taking a lot

  • of money out of this game.

  • A lot of-- So we have another T between vowels, so that's going to be a flap T.

  • The word of is reduced, it's just the schwa.

  • A lot of-- A lot of-- A lot of

  • Taking a lot of--

  • money out of this game.

  • Then we have the word money, stressed, first syllable stress,

  • money, and that vowel in the stress syllable is the UH as in butter vowel.

  • Money. Money. A lot of money.

  • Linking together smoothly, no breaks, a lot of money.

  • A lot of money--

  • out of this game.

  • A lot of money out of this game. So then we have three more unstressed words,

  • plus the unstressed syllable here: ney out of this-- ney out of this-- ney out of this

  • ney out of this game, money out of this game.

  • How are 'out of this' pronounced?

  • Out of this game.

  • Out of this game, out of this, out of this, out of this.

  • The word of again is reduced entirely to the schwa. Out of, out of, out of.

  • So this becomes a flap T linking together two vowel diphthong sounds here, it's the OW diphthong.

  • Out of, out of, out of. Out of this, out of this. Again, don't try to say: this, this, that's too much TH, simplify it.

  • This, this, this, this. Out of this, out of this, out of this, out of this game.

  • Out of this game.

  • Intense conversation. Let's listen to it one more time.

  • These guys want to play cards with me, not you.

  • Be that as may

  • You know who the biggest winner in this game is?

  • It's you.

  • You know who the second biggest winner is?

  • >> Look. >> It's you.

  • What are you taking home? 10,000 a night now?

  • That is my business, literally.

  • Between you, the dealers, and the servers, you're taking a lot of money out of this game.

  • 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.

You can understand Americans effortlessly and speak very natural English

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