Name: THIS IS WHY IT’S SO DIFFICULT: How to Speak American English | Learn English with FRIENDS
Uploaded: 2022-04-19T14:33:04.000Z
Duration: 35 min 31 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Some people might say Americans butcher the  pronunciation of English. We certainly do  

Present continuous

our own thing with it. Today we're going to  study part of a scene from Friends to see:  

what are all the things that  Americans do with spoken English?  

How does Rachel Greene speak so fast? It's  all about rhythm and simplification. Studying  

spoken English this way helps my students a ton with their English listening comprehension and  

also helps them speak English that's more  smooth, natural, and easier to understand.  

Also, fresh off the press, click here or in the  video description to get a free cheat sheet, the  

sounds of American English, it's a great reference  tool and even I use it quite a bit. This is the  

scene we'll use for our analysis. Rachel has just  found out that Chandler and Monica are dating,  

Oh, well, your timing couldn't be better. I  am putting out fires all over the place today.

Okay, okay. Joey? I have  got to tell you something.

Oh my God. It's so huge. But you just have  to promise me – you can't tell anyone.

There's a little bit of stress in her voice  here. Oh. A little bit of that up-down shape, Oh,  

Joey, and then we have that very clear  up-down curve for a stressed syllable  

so the first syllable 'Jo' is what's stressed.  The second syllable which is just the e vowel,  

Joey, ee, it just comes on the way down  doesn't have it's own separate shape or feel,  

it's just falling away from that stressed  syllable so it's really smooth. Joey.

Normally, we would say problem. Really  clear first syllable stress and a very  

short second syllable but she's bringing a lot  of stress and energy to this word, 'problem'.  

And she really holds on to that second  syllable so it also feels stressed.

Problem. So, it would be  really common for um, to just  

be like the e in Joey and just come down  away from that stressed syllable pro,  

problem. But here it's got its own  separate shape for stress and emphasis.

Problem. The letter o makes the ah as in  father vowel here and the e is the schwa,  

problem, lem, lem. But she does put  a little bit more of a vowel in there  

because of holding it out. So I think we can think  of that as the u vowel like in butter. Probleem.

The other words definitely less stressed than our  noun here, I have such a, I have such a. But there  

is some on the word such, “I have such a”. And  notice the ch sound links right into the schwa,  

a nice smooth ending consonant to beginning  vowel link such a, such a, such a. I have such a.

So I in have said really quickly.  I have, I have, I have, I have.

You don't want to make more of it that.  We want the contrast of the short words,  

the short syllables with the long words  and long syllables. I have, I have, I have,  

I have such. I have such a. One down shape  of stress in those four words. I have such a.

Oh, well. Both of those are going up. Up, well.  

The word well not pronounced too clearly. Well,  well, well, well, uhuhuhl. A little bit of a w  

maybe a schwa or an f feel with a dark l  well well. But it's short, it's not stressed.

So let's just look at this part of  his phrase and I want you to think  

about what are the stressed syllables like we  had such and problem in this first sentence.  

Where do you find you want to move a little  bit? Maybe move your head a little bit.  

What do you think are the most stressed  syllables with that peak of stress?

I feel it. Your timing couldn't be better.  On this first syllable of time, your timing,  

the first syllable of timing, your timing couldn't  be better. But it's all smooth, we don't have any  

skips or break, everything's either leading up  to a stressed syllable or coming away from it.  

So the word your, that's not reduced. Said your,  your, your. Very fast, simplify as much as you  

can. Your, your, your, your timing. Now here  we have a stressed syllable it begins with a t,  

that is a true t. A lot of our t's in English  change to other sounds but this is a true t,  

your timing. And as I say that, do  you hear the melody of my voice?  

Ahh, ahh, your timing, your timing. With that up  down shape of stress for the stressed syllable.

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Couldn't be, couldn't be. So the  word l in the word could is silent,  

the vowel there is the same vowel that we  have in push, book, here it's spelled as 'ou'.  

In push, it's spelled with just the u,  

and in book it's spelled with 'oo'. But it's  the same sound on all of these words, uh, uh.  

Let's listen to just “couldn't be better.” You  

tell me what you think you're hearing with this  n't contraction. Are you hearing tt, a true t?

N't contractions, we have three possibilities  there. We have the least common true t, couldn't,  

couldn't be. That's not what we hear. Then we  couldn't be. Couldn't be with a little break,  

a little stop of air, that's the stop  t. That's fairly common. Couldn't be.  

But actually, what I'm hearing is the  third pronunciation which is no t at all,  

t dropped right from n smoothly into b  with no break. Couldn't be, couldn't be.

So keep that in mind when you're  looking at n apostrophe t words,  

the least common pronunciation by far is a true t.

couldn't be better. Ahuhuh. Two  up-down shapes of stress, the tt  

here is a flap t, the tongue just  flaps against the roof of the mouth  

Some students find it tricky to  go from flap t into the schwa r  

which is the ending of this word, better.  So the tongue bounces against the roof of  

the then the tip pulls back a little bit  so it's not touching anything. Be-tter.  