Hi.
I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to imitate the top 10 introductions in English?
Let's practice.
Today, we're going to practice the most important introduction sentences in English, at least
according to me.
Because you're going to say these natural sentences again and again in daily conversation,
this is a great opportunity to practice pronouncing them correctly each time that you use them.
Your challenge is to imitate me and speak out loud.
I don't care where you are, at work, in the car, at home by yourself.
Practice out loud.
And if you enjoy this video, make sure that you check out part one, Imitating the Top
10 Sentences in English right up here.
Number one: Hi, I'm Vanessa.
What's your name?
Of course you're not going to say Vanessa.
You're going to say your name, but let's slow this down so that you can say it naturally.
Hi, I'm plus your name.
Hi, I'm Vanessa.
What's ... Makes sure that you say ts, that TS here.
What's your name?
What's happening with the word your here?
Notice my lips when I say your compared to your.
A little bit different.
It kind of sounds like Y-E-R.
This is the most natural fast pronunciation for the word your.
So, let's say that quickly.
What's your name?
Hi, I'm Vanessa.
What's your name?
I'm kind of emphasizing what's your name.
Because I just said mine, so I want to know now what's your name.
Hi, I'm Vanessa.
What's your name?
Now, I'm going to pause and I want you to fill in your name.
I want you to say this sentence out loud.
Practice speaking.
Are you ready?
Hi, I'm ... What's your name?
Go ahead.
Excellent work.
Let's go on to the second sentence.
Sentence number two: Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on in this seemingly simple sentence?
Let's start at the beginning.
Nice.
Say it with me.
Nice to meet, to meet.
Here, the word to is being reduced to simply T, just the sound T. The vowel O is gone,
so we're going to link together to meet, to meet.
But do you hear that final T sound on the word to meet?
Not really.
Instead, your tongue is going to be at the top of your mouth ready to make the T sound,
but no air comes out.
So, we're going to say to meet.
My tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth.
To meet, to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Can you say that out loud with me?
Nice to meet you.
I'm going to pause, and I want to say it by yourself.
Nice to meet you.
Go ahead.
Excellent work.
Let's go on to the third one.
Sentence number three: I'm from the US, and you?
You're probably not from the US if you're watching this, so you can fill in the name
of your country.
I'm from Mexico, and you?
I'm from India, and you?
Let's break down this pronunciation.
I'm from, F-R-O-M.
Sounds like a U here, from.
I'm from plus your country.
Then, you want to reciprocate and ask the other person.
And you?
Did I say and you?
In this situation, the D is cut up.
It's gone.
It's on vacation somewhere.
So, we're just going to say an.
An you?
Where are you from?
An you?
Let's say this all together.
I'm from the US, and you?
I'm from the U.
S, and you?
I'm going to pause.
I want you to fill in your country and say it out loud.
Go ahead.
Great work.
Let's go to the next one.
When you first meet someone, it's common to talk about your surroundings.
Maybe you're both at the grocery store or you're both at a friend's birthday party.
You have this in common, so you're going to talk about it.
Let's imagine that you go to another country, and you're talking with someone, and they
ask you, "How long have you been here?"
You might say, "I've been here for two weeks.
I've been here for two weeks.
I've been here for two weeks."
You could also substitute if you're at a university or maybe if you're at a job.
I've worked here for two weeks.
I've studied here for two years.
You could change that verb, but we're just going to stick with I've been here for two
weeks.
Let's break this down.
I've been.
This sounds like a short I, B-I-N, been.
I've been here for.
Why does for change to for?
I don't know, but that's what happens.
So, this is gonna sound like F-E-R, fOr.
Kind of sounds like the fur of an animal, which is F-U-R, but same pronunciation.
For two weeks.
I've been here for two weeks.
I've been here for two years.
I've been here for five minutes.
I've been here for two weeks.
Let's say that quickly one time, and then I'm going to pause so that you can say it
yourself.
I've been here for two weeks.
Go ahead.
Great work.
Let's go onto the next one.
Common introduction number five is, what do you do?
This is asking what's your job.
This is the most common way to ask what someone's job is.
What do you do?
A lot of this is linked together, kind of mumbled together.
So, I want to help you pronounce it in the same way.
What do you?
Can you say that with me?
What do you?
The T in what is cut out, and instead it's replaced by the word do, which is linked together.
What do you do?
Notice my lips aren't really moving much here.
What do you do?
Inside my mouth, my tongue is moving, but on the outside, what do you do?
What do you do?
It's not moving that much.
So, I want you to say this with me.
Let's go slowly, and then we'll speed it up.
What do you do?
Why do you do?
What do you do?
All right, it's your turn.
Go ahead.
Excellent work.
Let's go on to the next one.
The sixth sentence is, I'm a designer.
I work for the marketing department.
If you don't know how to describe your job or what your job title is, you can check out
this video I made, 100 Job Titles.
Hopefully it will help you to be able to describe your job in these introductions situations.
You could say, "I'm a designer.
I work for ... " We're using that same pronunciation again, F-E-R.
I work for the marketing department.
Make sure that if you use this reduction, for, you're speaking a little bit quickly,
you're linking things together.
If you said, "I work for the," it's a little bit weird.
You need to link it together if you're going to use that reduction because the point of
a reduction is to reduce your speech to make it faster.
So, let's say that together.
I'm a designer.
I work for the marketing department.
You can link those two words together.
Work for, work for the marketing department.
I work for the marketing department.
I'm a designer.
I work for the marketing department.
All right, it's your turn.
Go ahead.
Great work.
Let's go to the next one.
The seventh introduction is for when you have a mutual friend.
Let's imagine that you're walking down the street and you see your friend James.
And James is walking with someone else, and he introduces that person to you.
So, you start to have a conversation with that person.
You could ask them, "So, how do you know James?"
This just means, where did you meet?
Do you work together?
Are you his brother?
What's the situation?
This is pretty common.
Maybe you're at a party and you're just making small talk with people.
If that person who's hosting the party is James, everyone at the party knows James,
so it's a good question to ask.
So, how do you know James?
Great.
You're just kind of figuring out each other's relationships.
Let's pronounce this together.
So, it's a good way to introduce a new topic.
So, how do you know James?
This similar to what do you do, that kind of lazy, not-moving-your-lips-very-much type
of pronunciation.
So, how do you know James?
How do you know James?
Can you say that with me?
So, how do you know James?
How do you know James?
So, how do you know James?
I'll say that one more time, and then met a pause so that you can say it yourself.
So, how do you know James?
Go ahead.
It's your turn.
Great work.
Let's go to the next one.
And continuing with the same idea, this person who knows James might say, "Oh, we used to
work together."
We used to work together.
Used to often gets reduced to used to.
We used to work together.
Let's break down this sentence.
We used to work.
This is a lovely word.
It has an O, but it sounds like W-E-R-K, work together, together.
It almost sounds like ta, T-A, together, together.
We used to, we used to work together.
We used to work together.
And when you link used to together, that means that you're reducing and you're sounding more
natural.
So, let's say this full sentence.
Then, I'm going to pause so that you can say it yourself.
We used to work together.
Go ahead.
It's your turn.
Excellent work.
Let's go to the next one.
The ninth introduction or common expression that's used the first time you meet someone
is, I don't want to hold you up.
I don't want to hold you up.
This is probably what you would say at the end of that quick conversation together when
you first meet someone, and it means, "Oh, I see that you probably have something else
that you want to do."
Maybe you want to go grocery shopping, and you see each other at the grocery store, or
maybe you're trying to talk to the host of the party, James, and you just quickly had
a quick conversation, so now you want to let that other person leave the conversation and
continue what they were doing previously.
So, you might say, "I don't want to hold you up."
This doesn't mean hold you physically, but here let's break down this sentence.
I don't.
The T here is cut out.
Your tongue is going to be at the top of your mouth, but you're not going to let the air
through.
I don't wanna hold you up.
Want to is linked together and makes wanna.
I don't wanna hold you up.
Great.
Let's say this all together.
I don't wanna hold you up.
I don't wanna to hold you up.
It's your turn.
Say it yourself.
I don't wanna to hold you up.
Go ahead.
Thanks so much.
Great work.
Let's go to the next one.
The final expression that's often used the first time you meet someone is, maybe see
you around sometime.
Maybe see you 'round sometime.
What does this mean?
It means that maybe you'll never see this person again or maybe you will.
I don't know.
But, it's just kind of a polite way instead of saying, "Okay, let's make plans to see
each other on Saturday 5:00."
No, you're just saying, "Okay.
It was nice to see you.
Maybe see you again sometime."
So, you might say, "Maybe see you roun sometime."
What's happening with the word around?
Well, we're cutting off the first letter.
We're cutting off the last letter, and we're just saying the middle part, roun, roun.
This means around town or just somewhere in general.
This is the common reduction when we're speaking quickly.
You'll probably hear people say this in movies, or TV shows, or in conversations, and now
you can say it, too.
Let's say it all together.
Maybe see you roun sometime.
Maybe see you roun some time.
Maybe see you roun sometime.
Maybe see you around sometime.
All right, I'm going to pause and it's your turn.
Go ahead.
Great work.
You worked really hard pronouncing all 10 of these important introduction expression.
So, I hope that the next time that you meet someone new you'll be able to use them and
also pronounce them naturally incorrectly.
Now I have a question for you.
In the comments, let me know what's a common question or conversation topic that you usually
have when you first meet someone.
Do you talk about their job, their family?
Maybe in your country you talk about their age or something else that's specific to your
culture.
Let me know in the comments what happens the first time that you meet someone, and I'll
see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.