Hi guys and welcome back to love English I'm Leila and today I want to help YOU
sound more like a native. Now, I know many of you don't have much time to study.. so
these are the 7 secrets of sounding more native, almost instantly. I know that
like me you are very busy and don't have that much time to study hours on end so
these are some very basic and some more advanced tips to help you improve your
fluency, to help you sound more native and to help you understand us when we
talk. Now, some of these you can take on board instantly and hopefully some you
are already using. Shall we begin? Don't forget we are on social media, you
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Okay starting with number one. Hopefully a very simple thing for you to
do and I'm really hoping you already do it. Contractions, when we speak in a
informal conversational context we always use contractions, I'VE been to the shops.
she'S been out I'M doing my homework I'LL see you later.
Whether you're contracting the auxilary verb with the pronoun or even in past
modal's or third conditional. You need to use contractions they make the flow of
speech much easier, much smoother and it's how we speak guys1 We really do use
contractions so regularly. So, if you aren't sure try writing some sentences
down adding the contractions that where needed.(and saying them) They can also be with 'not' of
course, I wasn't she wasn't we weren't. So, let's do a little bit of practice just
to make sure you're using them. I haven't been out today I haven't been out today
I'm going to see you tomorrow I'm going to see you tomorrow I'll call her later
I'll call her later I haven't been working hard I haven't been working hard
can you see all those different tenses and how they all need to use
contractions now similar to contractions we have reductions again squeezing those
words together to improve the flow of speech to stop us slowing down and
saying every single word so some examples are reductions gonna wanna
gotta hafta dunno if you want to learn how to use reductions better that wait
till the end of this lesson for another that I recently did all about reductions
so quick practice I'm gonna go to the shops I'm going to go to the shops I
want to have some cake I want to have some cake I've gotta do my homework I've
gotta do my homework I have to do my homework I have to do my homework
there we go so so far contractions reductions I'm sure you use some of
these already okay and number three now I think this sounds easy but it can be
quite tricky depending what is your first language this might be something
that you're not so familiar with intonation so what is intonation
intonation is the pattern of sound in our voice when we speak it gives a real
idea of how you're feeling and it also means you're not too boring so this is
what it would be like if I spoke without intonation hello and welcome to love
English today I'm going to teach you a very exciting lesson all about how to
sound like a native yes that's right it's very exciting
Wow how boring would I be as a teacher it's so important that our intonation is
really engaging and clear because I don't want my students to fall asleep
so remember intonation with things like questions how are you today how are you
today what did you do last night what did you do last night are you tired
are you tired remember intonation it can be used with
even just one single word for example if you give me a present and I want to say
thank you sometimes the intonation doesn't hide how you really feel let's
imagine you've given me chocolate as a present
thank you thank you what about a pair of socks thank you a diamond ring thank you
information can express happiness sadness confusion so many different
things now if you're not sure how to improve your intonation instantly
sometimes your posture and your facial expressions will help you if you're
happy and you're smiling your information is automatically going to be
higher and happier if you're sad or stressed your intonation is
automatically going to come down a bit lower
and we'll show how worried you could be but facial expressions and body language
will help you express this if you're not sure okay number four this involves
knowing something about the schwa sound the schwa is the most common sound in
the English language we use it all the time even my name contains a schwa lela
lela the schwa is a weak sound very weak very lazy and that's why we often use it
with auxiliary verbs or even prepositions
for example the preposition two is often pronounced tup tup but we particularly
use it with auxiliary verbs for example have have there is the strong sound have
but when we use it in a sentence have you done your homework have you done
your homework it can be much weaker not just because of the contraction but
because we don't often pronounce auxiliary verbs in a strong way half
becomes hearth has becomes hers hers she has done her homework she has done her
homework was I was I was driving I was driving I was driving she was driving
it's not was but worse then of course we've got the verb being which actually
it's not to do with a schwa but it's still a week for beam that becomes bin
bin have you been in this case it's actually a main a verb but it still
becomes weak have you been to the shops have you been to the shops so make sure
that you learn which verbs are used in the weak forms okay number five a
fantastic and really easy way to help you sound more native sentence stress in
English when we're trying to emphasize something when we're trying to say how
important something is we stress the word or words in the sentence let's take
a really simple sentence I love using this as an example
I love chocolate I love chocolate now ordinarily you could say I love
chocolate you don't have to really stress any of the works but if I say
I love chocolate I love chocolate I mean me not you I love it more than you if I
say I love chocolate I love chocolate then I don't mean that I just like it
that it's okay but I enjoy it I mean I really love chocolate I like to eat it
all the time that's probably the word that I would stress in this sentence if
I say I love chocolate I love chocolate that it means it's chocolate I don't
want fruit I don't want vegetables I don't want
pasta or pizza I want chocolate I love chocolate so can you see how important
sentence stress can be and how simple it is to use I'm using it with you all the
time number six we are looking at intrusive sounds now in English in order
to connect words together when we speak we often add a sound particularly
between vowels this helps the flow of speech it helps you sound much more
fluent and it's quite bizarre when you break it down and listen very carefully
but you may find that you already do this a little bit the main intrusive
sounds we have in English are our yeah and what so let me give you some
examples go out the back way go out the back way go out go out so there between
the two vowel sounds we've added a whoop whoop go out go out you can't hear it
and it doesn't sound so strange when you speak fast but when we slow it down go
well it does sound a little bit strange you are you are you are 21 you are 21
you are again we wouldn't usually say you are or go out it doesn't sound very
natural and it certainly slows down the flow of speech so there's an example of
the intrusive W then we have the intrusive are for example my other
umbrella my other umbrella my other rum Brella we're actually saying rum Brella
or car engine car and we're connecting the sounds together
with an R a very good example would be Law & Order Law & Order
we don't actually say and order law and order we say law and order so there's
the intrusive are finally the intrusive yeah yeah so an example I always go out
I always go out I am slowing down a little bit here to really emphasize the
intrusive sound but when I speak naturally I always go out I always go
out I always ie always so there we have an i and a vow following it I ate the
last chocolate I ate the last chocolate slowing it down I ate the last chocolate
and intrusive yep there okay guys so the last tip it's kind of two in one it's
called Alishan and assimilation elision and assimilation what this means is that
we can have a sound that disappears or almost takes on another sound sounds a
bit complicated yes again I did say it was more advanced so if we look at the
word can't can't now that's British pronunciation in
American it's can't can't the our and the sound so in American
English the can can't the a remains the same in British English can can't can
can't it changes so let's listen carefully to this sentence I can't do
that I can't do that I can't do that I can't do that
did I pronounce that he knew I didn't very often when the tea goes between two
consonant sounds can't con with that sound and do very often in this case we
would have a disappearing tea so I can't do that
I can't do that so a disappearing tea this is not just for Kant but it could
be must I must do that I must do that in this case we'd probably just extend the
s I must do that I must do that the he I must do that becomes much weaker or
disappears completely so that is a lesion a disappearing T let me have a
simulation don't worry too much about the technical words so when we have a T
followed by a P the T often is assimilated so it becomes a piece ound
for example white paper when we speak clearly
slowly white paper but when we have a T followed by a P white paper white paper
white paper it disappears again this is about flow it means that we can speed up
when we talk otherwise we are saying every word exactly like this a note
English person really speaks like this now another example the only one I was
thinking of at the moment was fat pig okay so he was you don't call anybody a
fat pig is it let's imagine we've got a real fat pig yeah so fat pig fat pig
what I'm actually saying is fat fat fat pig I don't say fat pig so when we have
a tea followed by a pea the tea often is assimilated so it becomes a piece ound
fat pig fat pig there we go okay so let's just run through those
seven secrets to sounding like a native very quickly
contractions use them I've been you've been she's been got it reductions gonna
wanna shoulda coulda have to got up then I'm using your intonation to sound more
natural how are you today what have you done
remembering that there are weak forms of verbs I was working I was working have
you been out have you been out sentence stress I love learning English I love
learning English I love learning English I love learning English intrusive sounds
yes you are yes you are yes you are my other umbrella my other umbrella car
engine car engine intrusive sounds disappearing sounds I can't do that I
can't do that assimilation of tea what a fat cake
those were my seven secrets to sounding ornate
if now instantly have a go and see if you can improve your fluency and sound
like a real native speaker they forget to subscribe and share this lesson if
you thought it was useful thank you for watching