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  • In today's video you're going to learn English with movies, and when we study this way,

  • you'll be able to understand American movies and TV effortlessly, without subtitles.

  • Today's video uses the trailer for the movie Top Gun: Maverick.

  • You know, this movie was supposed to be out this month for a summer blockbuster, but because

  • of the coronavirus, it got pushed back to December. We'll see what happens.

  • We're going to go as in-depth as we can on the way Americans speak, how they speak,

  • so you'll not only be able to understand everything, but you're going to understand what Americans do

  • with English, in a way that will allow you to imitate perfectly. You might be the next Tom Cruise.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • We're going to be doing this all summer.

  • June 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 speak and understand English.

  • And as always, if you like this video or you learn something, 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 analysis. Okay, here's the scene.

  • Thirty plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Yet you can' get a promotion, you won't retire.

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • You should be at least a two-star admiral by now.

  • Yet you are here.

  • Captain.

  • Why is that?

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • But not today.

  • And now the analysis.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Okay to start, let's go ahead and write out thirty and plus. It would almost always be written this way

  • with the digit and then the plus sign, but as we talked about the sounds, we'll write it out.

  • Now you probably noticed that the T in thirty is a flap T.

  • This follows the rules in that it comes after an R before a vowel. Like in dirty, this is a T that we would flap.

  • So rather than being ttt, a true T, the tongue simply flaps against the roof of the mouth. Thirty da-da-da thirty.

  • Thirty. Thirty. Thirty plus--

  • Thirty plus--

  • Thirty plus--

  • And we have first syllable stress on thirty.

  • Thirty, so stressed, then unstressed, the ending unstressed EE sound. Thirty plus--

  • Thirty plus-- thirty plus-- thirty plus years of service.

  • Some stress on plus, then we also have stress on years, and ser--vice.

  • So of and --vice, are both unstressed. Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service. So those are our longer syllables with the up-down shape of stress.

  • The other syllables are going to be shorter, but everything links together we don't want to feel

  • any separation between the words. Thirty plus years of service, would not be natural sounding American English.

  • We need this contrast and then we also need the linking. Thirty plus years of service. No breaks there.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Thirty plus years of service.

  • Combat medals.

  • Okay, now in this little two-word phrase, you tell me what are the most stressed syllables?

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals. The most stress probably on combat, the adjective here describing the kind of medal.

  • Combat medals. And then also some stress on the noun. Combat medals. The second syllable of combat

  • is unstressed, it has a stop T, bat bat bat, because the next word begins with a consonant.

  • So again, the T is not released. Combat medals. Medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • This D can also be a flap just like thirty, medals, rararara, because it comes between two vowel sounds.

  • Here, it's the EH as in bed vowel and then the schwa L combination. Medals, medals, medals. Combat medals.

  • The vowel here in the unstressed syllable is AH, but we don't want it to be AA,

  • that would be stressed, we want it to be ah, ah, combat, combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals.

  • Combat medals. Citations.

  • Citations. Do you feel how it's that middle syllable that's stressed? Citations.

  • The letter A here is TAY, the AY as in say diphthong. That letter A can have several different pronunciations.

  • Here it's: ay, ay, citations. The letter C makes the S sound.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • The letter I makes the AI diphthong. The letter I, so many of the letters, almost all of the letters in American English

  • can have various different pronunciations, which makes English so hard you can't necessarily tell

  • the pronunciation by looking at it. Citations. SH schwa N, and then Z, a weak ending Z sound.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • The stress is really important in American English. We want to know what stressed, and what's unstressed,

  • so that we can feel that we make a peak on that stressed syllable. We definitely don't want all syllables

  • to feel the same. Citations. That would have the right pitch, but not the right rhythm.

  • It's not DA-DA-DA but it's da-DA-da. The first one is very short and the last one is very short. Citations. Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Also I should point out this T in ta-- is a true T because it starts a stressed syllable.

  • So if a T starts a stressed syllable, and it's not part of the TR cluster, then it will be a true T. Tay, tay, citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Citations.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Okay, now we have a much longer phrase. I want you to listen to it a few times and see

  • what you think is the most stressed word.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • I hear it is the last word. In the last forty years-- years-- he sort of holds on to the beginning Y consonant a little bit.

  • Years. Draws out the length and it definitely has that up-down shape. Now certainly, we have other syllables

  • that are stressed in the sentence, but I think this is the most stressed in the phrase.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Let's look at our other stressed syllables and do we have any reductions?

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Everything links together really smoothly. So let's take it bit by bit.

  • Only man to shoot down--

  • Only man to shoot down--

  • Only man to shoot down--

  • Only man to shoot down-- So we have stress on OH. Only man-- not on the word 'to', that's a preposition,

  • usually not going to be stressed. Shoot and down, both have some stress and length.

  • Did you notice that the word 'to' wasn't pronounced 'to' it was reduced. Man to-- man to--

  • Flap T or a D sound and the schwa. Man to-- man to-- only man to--

  • Only man to--

  • shoot down--

  • I have a friend named Amanda, and we often as a nickname, as a way to shorten it, call her just 'Manda'.

  • Manda. And it sounds just like these two words together: man to-- Manda, Manda, Manda,

  • when you make that a flap T.

  • Only man to--

  • shoot down--

  • Only man to shoot down--

  • Only man to shoot down--

  • So we have two letters T here. The first one is a flap T, or it's sort of like a D sound, and then the second T

  • is a stop T. Shoot down. Which means we stop the air, but we don't release the T, that would be shoot down.

  • We definitely don't hear that. It's just shoot down, shoot down.

  • Shoot down--

  • Now a word of caution with the word down, a lot of my students, especially students whose native language is

  • Chinese, but not just those students, have a hard time with the word down. It's the OW diphthong,

  • OW, plus the N consonant. And they kind of mix the N into the diphthong and nasalize it. Down.

  • We don't want that at all. We want it to be completely un-nasal in the diphthong.

  • Dow-- Dow-- Dow-- nnn-- Dow-- nnn--

  • And then you can practice it that way splitting off the N, make sure you're not going down,

  • and mixing the two into a nasal diphthong sound. Down, down, shoot down.

  • Shoot down-- shoot down-- shoot down three enemy planes.

  • Then we have three words, and they're all stressed, so we have quite a few words and syllables that are

  • stressed in this sentence. Three enemy planes. I want to point out that even in a stressed word,

  • if it has more than one syllable, it will have unstressed syllables. So the only syllable stressed here is EH.

  • Enemy. Nemy. Nemy. Nemy. Then the rest of the syllables are unstressed and said very quickly.

  • Three enemy.

  • Three enemy.

  • Three enemy.

  • Three enemy.

  • Now, we have a vowel to vowel link here. We have the EE vowel in three and the EH vowel in enemy.

  • Some students feel like they need to split that up a little bit to make it clear, the change between words,

  • you don't need to do that in English. And we don't want you to do that. We want it to glide together smoothly.

  • Three enemy. Three enemy.

  • If you have a hard time linking them together, it can help to think of, in this particular case, with this particular link,

  • a Y consonant. So you could think of the word as being yenemy, three enemy, three enemy, three enemy.

  • If you link it together, that might help you smooth it out you don't want to make a very big heavy Y,

  • but a little light Y glide consonant to link those two words together,

  • might help you make a smooth transition.

  • Three enemy.

  • Let's talk a little bit about the consonant cluster here. It's TH unvoiced and R consonant.

  • Thr, thr, thr, thr, thr, thr. His TH almost has like a T quality in it. I think when I listen to it on repeat.

  • But it's definitely not: three, three, three, that's something that a lot of non-native speakers do, they substitute in TR

  • instead of THR and then it sounds like a tree, you know, like, oh, a tree. But we don't want to be saying tree.

  • We want to be saying three , three , three. So let your tongue tip come lightly through your teeth,

  • don't build up the air, don't put pressure there, don't bite on the tongue at all, that will make it sound more like a T.

  • We want th-- the easy passage of air. Three, three, three enemy planes.

  • Three enemy planes-

  • in the last forty years.

  • In the last forty years. So in and the, both said so incredibly quickly.

  • Let's just listen to: in the last--

  • in the last--

  • I actually think it sounds like the TH is dropped. In the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the.

  • It's just IH as in sit, N linking right into the schwa. In the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the.

  • You can only do this if you do it very, very quickly. It's low in pitch, it's low in volume, try that.

  • In the, in the, in the, in the. You should be able to do it without moving your jaw at all.

  • Your lips, your face, should be totally relaxed, the only thing moving is the tongue inside the mouth.

  • You want to take away all the extra movement that

  • you don't need so that you can say this as quickly as you need to. In the, in the, in the, in the last forty years.

  • The last forty years.

  • The last forty years.

  • The last forty years.

  • Okay, again, we're going to write out the word 'forty'.

  • Our T again is a flap T because it comes after an R and before a vowel.

  • The vowel is the EE as in she vowel. Forty, forty, forty. Thirty, thirty, thirty.

  • These all have a flap T which can sound like a D. Dadadada forty forty.

  • Forty--

  • years.

  • Now we have some stressed words other than years, let's listen to the phrase again:

  • In the last forty years--

  • In the, in the, last forty, and then we've already marked years. So the unstressed syllable of forty is unstressed.

  • We have stress in the word last with the AA vowel. Notice the T is dropped there.

  • It's very common to drop the T in an ending cluster like ST when the next word begins with a consonant,

  • the next word begins with F, so we're gonna drop that T to smoothly connect. Last forty, last forty.

  • Last forty--

  • So out of all of our letters T here on this page, we have a flap T, in we have a stop T in combat,

  • we have a true T in citations, because it begins a stressed syllable, but then the next T is actually

  • part of the TION ending, and that's an SH sound. In the word to, the reduction is da, flap T, not a true T.

  • In the word shoot, it's a stop T. And in the word last, its dropped.

  • So out of all of the T sounds in this particular part of this conversation, there's only one true T.

  • And then we even have as the T and the TH, it's fully pronounced in one case and then dropped in another.

  • So you really need to study how Americans speak and what happens with reductions and linking

  • and dropping sounds, in order to figure out how they do things so smoothly.

  • But after you study this, and you look at this part of the video several times, you'll be able to go back

  • and imitate that audio, and that's when it really gets fun,

  • when you can not only understand what's happening with American English, but when

  • you can imitate it yourself in a way that sounds natural. It really can feel freeing to do that.

  • And that's what this video series is all about this summer.

  • Last forty years. Last forty years. Last forty years. Yet you can't get a promotion--

  • Okay in this next phrase, what's the most stressed word do you think?

  • Yet you can't get a promotion--

  • Yet you can't get a promotion--

  • Yet you can't get a promotion--

  • I'm feeling can't, and promotion, as being really stressed. Yet you, really low in volume, low in energy,

  • harder to hear, right? Let's listen to just those two words together.

  • Yet you--

  • Yet you--

  • Not very clear, but that's what we need. We need that less clear to provide contrast with our more

  • clear syllables. That's what makes up the character of American English. So we have yet, with the stop T,

  • yet, yet, yet, yet, Yet you-- Yet you-- Yet you-- Yet you--

  • Yet you--

  • can't get a promotion--

  • Can't get a promotion-- Okay we have an N apostrophe T ending in the word can't.

  • That can be pronounced three ways. One of them is can't, with a true T, one of them is can't, with a stop T,

  • and one of them is can with the T totally dropped. I'm having a hard time deciding if I think it's a stop T,

  • or a dropped T, because if I listen to it three times thinking it's a stop T, that's what I hear.

  • If I listen to it three times thinking it's dropped, that's what I hear. So at any rate, it's not a true T.

  • We'll call it a stop T, very subtle, very quick, can't get, can't get, can't get, can't get, can't get, can't get.

  • Not a big lift but just a tiny little break there before the G: can't get, can't get.

  • Can't get--

  • The vowel is the AA vowel. When it's followed by N it's not really a pure AA anymore, it's not ca-- ca--

  • but cauh-- it starts with a little less jaw drop and the back of the tongue relaxes, which brings in a sound

  • sort of like UH. Ca-uh, ca-uh, can't can't can't can't can't.

  • And we know that this is different than the word can, because if the word was you can get a promotion,

  • then we wouldn't stress it, we would say, you can get, you can get, you can get.

  • That would be reduced to the schwa. The word can't never reduces, always has this AA vowel in it.

  • Can't get,

  • a promotion.

  • Now we have get and a, not stressed, along with the first syllable of promotion, that's a schwa there.

  • Pro--

  • So we have get a pro-- but that's not how it's pronounced, it's pronounced: get a, get a, get a, get a,

  • flap T linking into the schwa, and the schwa links right into the PR. That's what helps us link everything together,

  • is we just don't stop the sounds. Get a, get a, get a, get a pro, get a pro, get a pro, get a promotion.

  • Get a promotion--

  • Again we have a TION ending and that is SH schwa N. Tion, tion, tion. It's not: shen, shon, it's shun, shun.

  • Try to make it with a no vowel at all. N absorbs the schwa, so just try to make SHN and say that quickly.

  • SHN SHN promotion.

  • Promotion--

  • Get a promotion.

  • Get a promotion--

  • you won't retire.

  • I wrote the word you here, but it is so, so subtle. You, you, you, you.

  • I almost just hear it as a superlight weak Y sound in the throat, but

  • I could even see someone saying it's totally dropped.

  • You won't retire--

  • You won't retire. So we have two stressed syllables there, and again, I feel like I'm hearing this

  • N apostrophe T as a stop T. Won't, won't , won't , won't. Won't retire.

  • Be careful here, some people say something more like: won-- wo, oh, oh, won-- but it's woah--

  • So your lips start in a circle for the W, then they loosen up a little bit for the first half of the OH diphthong,

  • then they have to round again. Woah-- If you miss that second rounding, then you're not gonna get the

  • correct sound there. Won't, won't, won't retire.

  • You won't retire.

  • You won't retire.

  • You won't retire.

  • Again, this T is a True T, why? Because it starts a stressed syllable. Tire, retire. Retire.

  • Retire--

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • What do you hear as the most stressed syllables in that phrase there?

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Despite your best-- A little bit of stress on best. A little bit of stress on efforts. But more on refuse and die.

  • Okay, let's look at the rest of the words, the rest of the syllables, do we have any T's that change from a true T?

  • Do we have any reductions? How do we link all of this together and provide the rhythmic contrast we need?

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • Let's just look at the first two words: despite-- despite your-- so this T is a stop T because the next sound

  • is a consonant sound, the Y consonant. Also we want this to be a schwa in DE, and a schwa in RE,

  • retire, so don't say re-- retire, say ruh-- retire. Duh-- despite, despite, the letter I here makes the AI diphthong.

  • Despite. Stop T. So it's different from dropped T because that would be despie-- the sound would be the same,

  • AI but it would change shape, AI, it would go up and then come down. Despie--

  • but when we cut it off, despite, despite.

  • Despite--

  • your best--

  • That cutoff is a stop of air, and that signifies the T. Now the word your, is reduced it becomes the schwa R.

  • Those two sounds blend together. The R absorbs the schwa.

  • So you don't even need to try to make a vowel there. It's just yy--rr-- yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr, yrr.

  • Say that as quickly as you can. Your, despite your, despite your.

  • Despite your--

  • best efforts.

  • Best efforts. So we have an ST cluster. If the next word began with the consonant, we would drop that T,

  • but it doesn't, it begins with the EH as in bed vowel. So we will link that with a light true T.

  • Best efforts, best, best efforts.

  • Best efforts--

  • We don't want to say efforts. We see a letter O here, maybe you want to do some lip rounding,

  • but it's not, it's a schwa. Effor--

  • And remember just like we said here, schwa is absorbed by the R so you don't even need to try to make a vowel

  • right from F into R. Effor-- for for for. Efforts. Efforts.

  • Efforts--

  • you refuse to die.

  • Efforts, you re--

  • So we have three unstressed syllables here. We have the unstressed syllable of efforts, the word you,

  • which doesn't reduce. He could have said yuh, but he said you, but he said it low and unstressed.

  • You, you, you. You re-- you re--

  • Then again just like retire, we have refuse, with a schwa, not refuse, but re re refuse,

  • Refuse--

  • to die--

  • You refuse to die. Now, I listen to this quite a few times to decide, do I think this is a true T in to or a flap T?

  • I think it's a true T. Refused to. But it's got the schwa. It's not to it's to to to, it's low in pitch, it's said very quickly.

  • Refuse to die, before the stressed word die. Now I want to talk about this word, refuse, so it can be pronounced

  • two different ways, it can be unstressed, re, R schwa, actually, you know what, it's not the schwa,

  • it's the IH as in sit vowel, which brings up something interesting. This is actually an IH as well,

  • as is despite, if I look it up, I see it's an IH, refuse is an IH, so why am I saying it's a schwa?

  • I've always said to me, the IH as in sit, unstressed sounds just like the schwa.

  • Re re re re re refuse. Retire. Re re re re refuse. Retire.

  • In the word themselves, they pretty much sound the same to me. So I always tell students, don't worry

  • about an unstressed syllable like this, do whichever one helps you say it more quickly.

  • But I love this, when I look something up and I find, oh man I'm wrong.

  • The official pronunciation does show an IH,

  • if you say it with a schwa that doesn't really matter. What matters is that it's said very quickly.

  • With this word, we actually have two different pronunciations.

  • Two different meanings but same spelling. So the first one is how it's used here, it's a verb.

  • We have the R consonant, IH vowel, unstressed. And then in a stressed syllable, we have the F consonant,

  • the JU as in few diphthong, and the Z. Refuse, refuse. That's the verb.

  • And it means no way will this person do something.

  • Refuse--

  • The other pronunciation of it is a noun, and it's refuse. So now, the first syllable is stressed,

  • we have the EH as in bed syllable there and then in our unstressed syllable, we still have the JU diphthong

  • but we have an S at the end instead, and this is the noun and this is just another word for trash.

  • So two different words, two different meanings, same spelling, but different pronunciation.

  • Refuse. Refuse.

  • Refuse--

  • to die.

  • You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

  • You should be at least-- some stress there. You should be at least a two star Admiral by not by now.

  • Two star Admiral by now.

  • You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

  • You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

  • You should be at least a two star Admiral by now.

  • Let's look at our first four words here. You should be at--

  • You should be at--

  • You should-- The D, the letter L is always silent in this word, the D is very subtle and actually, you can drop it,

  • you can think of it as being dropped, before a word that begins to the consonant: shuh-- shuh-- shuh--

  • So it's SH and schwa,

  • you should be, you should be, you should be, you should be at-- you should be at-- you should be at--

  • Be linking right into at which reduces, at at at, I would write that with the schwa and a stop T.

  • Be at, be at, be at, be at, be at, you should be at, you should be at, you should be at.

  • You should be at--

  • least a two star Admiral by now.

  • Four less clear words before we have some of our words with stressed syllables.

  • You should be at least a two star--

  • You should be at least a two star--

  • You should be at least a two star--

  • At least a-- Now, here, T in an ST cluster but the next sound is the schwa.

  • So we do hear a true T linking into that. Least a, least a. At least a two star.

  • Now this is a T starting a stressed syllable, so that will be a True T. Two star, two star, two star Admiral by now.

  • AA. There we have that AA vowel again. Hope you feel pretty good about it because it's in this sentence,

  • it's in this conversation quite a bit. Two star Admiral by now.

  • At least a two star Admiral by now.

  • At least a two star Admiral by now.

  • At least a two star Admiral by now.

  • Admiral, Admiral. I love that word. It really is clear that the first syllable is stressed,

  • and the second two are unstressed. Miral, miral, miral. Don't say MEERAL or anything like that.

  • Miral, miral, miral.

  • Admiral--

  • Both unstressed syllables have the schwa. Schwa followed by R. It gets absorbed by the R.

  • Schwa followed by L, it gets absorbed by the L. M, N, R, L. All absorb the schwa.

  • So they're called syllabic consonants. You don't need to try to make a schwa there. It's just

  • Mm, rr, ll. M right into the R sound, and then a dark L. Miral, miral, miral, miral. Admiral.

  • Admiral--

  • by now.

  • By now, by now. A little bit of stress on now, but it's the end of the phrase, his voice has lost some of the energy,

  • it's lower in pitch.

  • By now--

  • Yet here you are.

  • Okay in this little four-word sentence, what is the stress?

  • Yet here you are--

  • Yet here you are.

  • Here and are, more stressed, everything links together very smoothly. We have a stop T in yet,

  • because the next word begins with a consonant, the H consonant. Yet here you are.

  • Yet here you are.

  • Yet here you are.

  • Yet here you are.

  • Captain.

  • Captain. Ca-- again, that AH vowel in our stressed syllable. Captain.

  • Captain--

  • A light true T here. Now why would this one be a true T? The rule is if it's part of a consonant cluster, like in PT,

  • that it's a True T, although we've definitely seen exceptions to that, haven't we?

  • ST followed by a constant, it's dropped, but here, part of the PT cluster, it is a light true T.

  • And again, captain, tain, tain, captain. Don't try to make a vowel there. Schwa N. Captain.

  • Captain--

  • Actually, I just looked it up because I was curious. Dictionary.com shows both schwa N or IH,

  • N, as an ending and as i've said before, to me, they sound the same.

  • Captain--

  • Why is that?

  • Why is that? Why is that? Most stress on the question word. Why is that?

  • And then the pitch sort of falls down from that. Why is-- really link that AI diphthong, why is,

  • into the IH as in sit vowel.

  • You might need to feel like you go through the glide consonant Y to help you link them.

  • Why is that? Then a weak Z.

  • TH, AH as in bat vowel, stop T. Now why is this a stop T? It's not followed by a consonant.

  • It's a stop T because T is a stop T if it's followed by a consonant,

  • or it's the end of a thought group, like it is here.

  • Why is that?

  • Why is that?

  • Why is that?

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's-- more stress there, mysteries, sir. One has a little bit of stress, sir has a little bit of stress.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • Let's look at the other words the word its. Vowel is dropped. It's just the TS cluster before the W of one.

  • It's one, it's one, it's one, it's one. It's not uncommon to pronounce it's that way.

  • You can even do that with what's and let's. Like if I was going to say let's go, I might say:

  • let's go, let's go I'm ready to go. Let's go. That's can also be reduced to just the TS cluster. It's one.

  • It's one of--

  • life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of-- the word of, I would write that with the schwa and the V.

  • You can drop the V sound but he doesn't. It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • The word mysteries can be pronounced as three or two syllables, mys-ter-ies or mys-teries.

  • I actually think he's doing it as three but this middle syllable is so fast.

  • Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries.

  • Mysteries--

  • sir.

  • And there's not really a break between mysteries and sir. Mysteries, sir.

  • So even though an IPA, this would be written with the Z.

  • It's more like an S that just keeps going into the stressed sound sir, into the stressed word, sir. Mysteries, sir.

  • Mysteries, sir.

  • Everything in this phrase really smoothly connected.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • Okay, our stress here. The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • End has the most stress, I would say. Now, the word the, here is pronounced the.

  • The rule is that's what we do when the next word begins with a vowel, and here the next word begins with EH,

  • the EH vowel. Usually it would be the, but here it's the, the end, the end.

  • Now do Americans always follow this rule? No. But if you noticed it, that's what's going on.

  • The end. The end is inevitable. Inevi--dadadadada Do you hear that?

  • That's a flap T because it comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds. Inevitable.

  • So it's a four syllable word with second syllable stress. Inevitable. Five syllable word with second syllable stress.

  • Unstressed, then stressed, then three unstressed. Inevitable.

  • Inevitable.

  • And everything links together really smoothly. D into beginning IH, Z into beginning IH.

  • The end is inevitable.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick.

  • Maverick. This is another word that can be pronounced as three or two syllables

  • depending on if you drop the middle. Ma-ver-ick. Just like mys-ter-y. Or Mave-rick.

  • Maverick.

  • Dropped, the feeling of the vowel, and make this like, feel like a cluster. Rick, Rick, maverick.

  • And that's what he did. He does not release the K. K is a stop sound just like T and we can skip the release at the

  • end of a thought group like he does here. Or when the next word begins with a consonant.

  • It's a little bit less of a strong rule. The T is almost always a stop T in these cases.

  • K it's a little bit more likely to release it, but he doesn't. Maverick. Maverick.

  • Maverick.

  • Sort of an abrupt stop of air there, signifies the K.

  • Maverick.

  • Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Now let's look at our next sentence. The word your. The last time we saw that, it was reduced.

  • It wasn't your, it was your, your, does that happen again? Listen.

  • Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Honestly, I almost don't even really hear an R sound. Ye ye ye ye ye kind.

  • Your kind--

  • is headed for extinction.

  • Your kind is headed-- Stress on kind, head, headed for extinction.

  • So the word your, definitely reduced. We have stress on kind, it's the AI diphthong, and your links right into kind ,

  • then the D links right into the IH vowel for our unstressed syllable is.

  • Weak Z sound links right into the H.

  • Kind is headed--

  • Kind is headed. The ED ending after a D is schwa D. Headed. Headed. Could you think of that?

  • I'm sorry I said schwa, but I wrote IH because you can also think of it as schwa D. Headed. Headed. Headed.

  • Headed--

  • for extinction.

  • The word for, now I know this word usually reduces, is it for? Let's listen.

  • Headed for--

  • Headed for, headed for. It's not for. It is fur fur fur. I would write that with a schwa.

  • Fur fur, reduced, headed for extinction.

  • Headed for extinction.

  • Headed for extinction.

  • Headed for extinction.

  • T here starting a stressed syllable, that's a true T. Unstressed IH, K sound, the letter X here is interesting,

  • it makes KS and the syllable break actually happens between K and S so it's actually IK, and then ST cluster.

  • Extinction.

  • So in the stressed syllable, STING, I'm just gonna write this over here, we're getting crowded there. Extinction.

  • Extinction.

  • Extinction.

  • Extinction.

  • In the stressed syllable, we have the IH as in sit vowel but that's followed by the NG consonant.

  • Now here, it's the letter N. But it's not made at the front of the mouth, like N, it's made at the back,

  • with the back of the tongue like NG and that's because it's followed by a K sound.

  • Exting---, that's the back of the tongue lifting to the soft palate.

  • When IH is followed by an NG sound, it's not really IH, it's more like EE,

  • you'll notice this in the word sing, or ring, it's not IH, sing, but sing, sing.

  • Extinct, extinction. Extinction. Sort of a tricky word. You might want to slow it down as you practice it. Extinction.

  • Extinction.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • Maybe so, sir. A little bit of stress on may-- much more on so, a little bit of stress on sir.

  • And everything links together really smoothly, doesn't it? Maybe so, sir.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • But not today.

  • But not today. Okay, so I think this T is actually dropped, I don't really hear it as a stop, but

  • I hear the UH going right into the N. But not, but not, but not. But not today.

  • But not today. Stress on not. But not today.

  • But not today.

  • But not today.

  • But not today.

  • But not today. Not today. So we have two Ts here. These words will link together with the true T.

  • But not, but not today. But not today. And it's not to, today. It's to, to, schwa. To to today.

  • But not today. But not today.

  • But not today.

  • But not today.

  • But not today.

  • Listen to this whole conversation one more time.

  • Thirty plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations.

  • Only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last forty years.

  • Yet you can' get a promotion, you won't retire. Despite your best efforts, you refuse to die.

  • You should be at least a two-star admiral by now.

  • Yet you are here.

  • Captain.

  • Why is that?

  • It's one of life's mysteries, sir.

  • The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.

  • Maybe so, sir.

  • But not today.

  • 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.

  • 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 from 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.

In today's video you're going to learn English with movies, and when we study this way,

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