An American speaking English looks like this.
And a French person speaking English looks like this.
You see the difference?
Is it important to accentuate the syllables correctly?
Absolutely!
I’m Christina from Speak Better, Feel Great TV
The place to boost your English and boost your career.
In this video, I’m gonna show you one thing that can improve your pronunciation in English.
Ya ready?
First
a little linguistic secret. French and English
are totally different types of language.
English is a stress-timed language.
That means that the different syllables have
different stress. Some are louder and stronger,
and some are softer and weaker.
French is a syllable-timed language.
That means every syllable has approximately
the same sound and volume.
The difference is important, because
if you stress the wrong syllables,
people
might not understand you.
I like your Toy-o-ta.
Sorry?
I like your Toy-o-ta.
Oh! To-YO-ta!
You like my To-YO-ta
Yes
That’s what I said!
I like your TOY-O-TA!
French and English share a lot of words,
but the syllable stress makes
all the difference.
Listen to these words and repeat them
Really exaggerate the stress,
like me!
So, you have to stress some syllables
and not stress other syllables,
but
be sure it’s the right syllable!
Christina this is for you
Oh, a PRESent! Thanks!
You're very welcome.
Let me preSENT our monthly budget.
I’m happy to work with you on this PROject.
We want to proJECT a positive image of our company.
The PROduce department at the supermarket
Our company proDUces cell phones
Some syllables aren't even stressed at all.
They simply disappear!
Let’s play a game.
You’ll see a word on the screen.
Say it to yourself
and count the number of syllables that you say
and then we'll check.
comfortable
interesting
Wednesday
evening
different
probably
That’s in-te-rest-ing but I’m not com-for-ta-ble.
Can we work on it on Wed-nes-day ev-e-ning?
Ah, its int'resting.
but you're not comf'table
so We'n'sday evening? Yeah, prob’ly.
Here's the recap
Syllable stress is important if you want people to understand you
There’s always a strong syllable
Syllable stress can change the meaning of the word:
and some syllables disappear completely:
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I'm Christina from Speak Better, Feel Great TV
See ya next time!