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Hey guys, I’m on my way to take a look at my wedding venue. You’re going to come along
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and study American English pronunciation in this real life English video.
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In today’s video, we’re going to do a listening comprehension quiz on two-syllable
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words. Can you identify which syllable is stressed? Why does it matter? Even if all
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of the sounds in a word are correct, one must speak with long vs. short syllables in order
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to sound American. One of the main things I work on with advanced students is shortening
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short syllables. It has an amazing impact on reducing their accent. Let’s get started.
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>> So, the space that we’re getting married in used to be a chocolate factory, about a
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century ago.
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>> Getting. What syllable is stressed, is longer? Does it sound like DA-da or da-DA?
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Getting, DA-da.
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>> The space that we’re getting married in [3x]
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Married. DA-da or da-DA? Married, DA-da.
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>> The space that we’re getting married in [3x] used to be a chocolate factory.
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Chocolate. Wait, is this a two-syllable or a three-syllable word? Choc-late, choc-o-late.
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There are many words in English with first syllable stress that can be pronounced with
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either 2 or 3 syllables, I tend to pronounce them with 2. Chocolate. Other examples: family,
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restaurant. Chocolate, DA-da.
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>> Used to be a chocolate [3x] factory about a century ago.
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About. DA-da or da-DA? About, da-DA.
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>> Used to be a chocolate factory about a century [3x] ago.
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Ago. DA-da or da-DA? Ago, da-DA.
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>> Used to be a chocolate factory about a century ago [3x].
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>> So, the space that we’re getting married in used to be a chocolate factory, about a
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century ago. And now …
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And now it’s a photography studio, painted all white with hardwood floors.
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Painted. DA-da or da-DA? Painted, DA-da.
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>> …painted all [3x] white with hardwood floors.
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Hardwood. DA-da or da-DA? Hardwood, DA-da.
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This is a compound word. Most compound words have stress on the first word. Compound words
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are words made by putting two other words together. Other examples: bedroom, keyboard.
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>> With hardwood floors [3x]. It’s a little industrial, as you can see.
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Little. DA-da or da-DA? Little, DA-da.
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>> It’s a little industrial [3x], as you can see. Exposed brick up there.
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Exposed. DA-da or da-DA? Exposed, da-DA.
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>> Exposed brick [3x] up there. Wa—um. Metal rafters.
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Metal. DA-da or da-DA? Metal, DA-da.
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>> Wa—um. Metal rafters [3x].
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Rafters. DA-da or da-DA? Rafters, DA-da.
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>> Metal rafters [3x].
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>> And now it’s a photography studio, painted all white with hardwood floors. It’s a little
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industrial as you can see. Exposed brick up there. Wa—um. Metal rafters.
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This used to be the smokestack of the factory. Smokestack: another compound word. What does
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that mean? Stress is probably on the first syllable.
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Smokestack, DA-da.
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>> This used to be the smokestack [3x]. And yeah, this is where we’re going to do it.
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Where we’re going to get married.
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Gonna. DA-da or da-DA? Gonna, DA-da.
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>> And yeah. This is where we’re gonna [3x] do it, where we’re gonna get married.
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So we came back today…
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Today. DA-da or da-DA? Today, da-DA.
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>> So we came back today [3x] so that we could, sort of, think about decorations and layout.
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Layout. Another compound word. DA-da or da-DA? Layout, DA-da.
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>> …sort of, think about decorations and layout [3x]. But I’m really excited about
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the space.
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Really. DA-da or da-DA? Really, DA-da.
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>> But I’m really [3x] excited about the space.
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>> This used to be the smokestack of the factory. And, yeah, this is where we’re gonna do
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it. Where we’re gonna get married. So we came back today so that we could, sort of,
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think about decorations and layout. But I’m really excited about the space.
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Now it gets harder. You won’t hear the word on its own, slowly, outside of the sentence.
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You’ll only hear the word in the sentence. Can you still tell which syllable is stressed?
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>> I think, I think these tables come with the space. These high tables.
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DA-da.
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>> I think these tables come with the space. These high tables. Yeah. Exciting.
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Another three-syllable word that I’ve turned into a two-syllable word.
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>> So, I think the tables are gonna go here. And the bar is probably going to be somewhere
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else.
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DA-da.
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>> And the bar is probably going to be somewhere else.
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>> And the bar is probably going to be somewhere else.
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DA-da.
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>> Is probably going to be somewhere else.
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>> We are having alcohol at our wedding.
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DA-da. The –ing ending will never be stressed.
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>> We are having alcohol at our wedding.
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>> We are having alcohol at our wedding. DA-da.
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>> We are having alcohol at our wedding. Some people choose not to.
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DA-da.
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>> Some people choose not to...
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>> although most people do.
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da-DA.
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>> Although most people do. And we’re getting married, and having the reception all here
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in this same space. It used to be really typical to get married in a church, less so now.
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>> Most of my cousins have gotten married outside.
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DA-da.
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>> Most of my cousins have gotten married outside.
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DA-da.
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>> Most of my cousins have gotten married outside.
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DA-da. Outside can actually have stress on either the first or the second syllable, depending
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on how you’re using it.
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>> Most of my cousins have gotten married outside. A lot of my friends as well. We can’t
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do that because it’s going to be January in Philadelphia.
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da-DA. I could have reduced this further to just ‘cuz’.
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>> We can’t do that because it’s going to be January in Philadelphia.
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>> Um, but hopefully this will be just as lovely!
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DA-da.
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>> Um, but hopefully this will be just as lovely! We’re going to have lots of candles.
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Everywhere, candles, candles, candles.
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DA-da. >> We’re going to have lots of candles. Everywhere, candles, candles, candles. And,
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um, the chocolate that used to be made in this factory.
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>> It was the precursor to the Hershey’s kiss.
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DA-da.
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>> It was the precursor to the Hershey’s kiss. It’s shaped the same, it’s called
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a Wilburbud.
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>> And we’re gonna have a lot of those for our guests to enjoy as well.
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da-DA.
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>> And we’re gonna have a lot of those for our guests to enjoy as well.
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>> Unless we eat them all before the wedding.
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da-DA.
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>> Unless we eat them all before the wedding.
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da-DA.
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>> Unless we eat them all before the wedding. Which might happen.
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DA-da.
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>> Which might happen.
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>> Um, we are going to have a full dinner for our guests.
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DA-da.
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>> Um, we are going to have a full dinner for our guests.
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>> That’s pretty typical as well.
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DA-da.
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>> That’s pretty typical as well.
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>> So, I guess I’m curious about, if you’ve been married before, what was your wedding
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like? What was the space like? The venue. Was it outdoors, indoors, was it in a church?
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So let me know in the comments below.
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>> So, I guess I’m curious about, if you’ve been married before, what was your wedding
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like? What was the space like? The venue. Was it outdoors, indoors, was it in a church?
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So let me know in the comments below.
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>> The venue. Was it outdoors, indoors, was it in a church? So let me know in the comments
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below.
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Let’s review all the words with stress on the first syllable. DA-da. Getting, married,
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chocolate, painted, hardwood, little, metal, rafters, smokestack, gonna, layout, really,
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tables, probably, having, wedding, people, cousins, gotten, lovely, candles, Hershey’s,
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happen, dinner, pretty, venue, comments, outdoors, indoors
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Now let’s review all the words with stress on the second syllable. da-DA. About, ago,
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exposed, today, although, outside, because, enjoy, unless, before.
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Many more two-syllable words in English have stress on the first syllable than the second.
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Was there anything about the pronunciation of a word or a phrase in this video that you
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found interesting? Next week I’ll release a bonus video with other topics from this
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trip to the venue!
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>> Alright guys, that’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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