In order to improve your intonation when speaking English, you need to develop sensitivity to
the emotions and attitudes that native English speakers express through their tone of voice.
A deeper awareness of how we communicate meaning through intonation will help you become more
socially and emotionally intelligent in conversations with native English speakers.
Once you're able to identify the different emotions and attitudes expressed through tone,
you'll be able to start working on them in your own voice.
The challenge for many people is increasing the variety of tones that you express through
your pitch and inflection.
That's what we're going to practice today with these intonation exercises.
Welcome back to the English with Kim YouTube channel where you'll learn what to say, how
to say it, and why it matters.
If you're interested in learning how to change your tone of voice to express yourself better
in English, please be sure to hit subscribe.
To get started with intonation, you need to have an awareness of the pitch variation in
your own voice.
After all, when we speak, we change our pitch consistently throughout our sentences.
If you're completely new to pitch, please be sure to check out my video on the power of pitch.
In that video, I give you a simple exercise that you can do in order to see what's available
to you in your own voice.
To change your intonation, you need to be able to use your pitch consciously and thoughtfully.
Depending on how pitch works in your native language, this can take some practice.
In my video on pitch exercises, we practice rising and falling intonation on a number
of vowel sounds as well as short words.
These common pitch glides are often used to confirm whether you're asking a question or
making a statement.
At this point, you may be comfortable with basic rising and falling tones, but in order
to be more expressive in English, you'll need to master a wider variety of emotions through
your tone of voice.
If you're not used to expressing a wide variety of emotions through your voice due to your
cultural background, your personality, or your native language, this can feel challenging at first.
That's why we practice.
Remember, this is about understanding what emotions are coming across in your speech,
whether you intend them to or not. If you want to sound more like a native English speaker,
you need to be aware of what you're communicating through your intonation.
Just remember, it may feel awkward or uncomfortable when we're practicing, but it'll definitely
sound natural when you're interacting with native speakers.
After all, that's why we practice.
We're trying to get more comfortable expressing these emotions through our voice on a regular basis.
Let's get started.
In these intonation exercises, we're going to look at extremely common words that you
will use all the time when speaking English.
We'll start by saying a word neutrally, so that they're clear and easy to understand
without any particular rising or falling tone.
Then we'll practice these words with normal rising and falling intonation.
From there, we'll increase the rise or the fall in order to express more intense emotions.
At the end, we'll practice them all together so that you can hear the difference.
On the screen, I'll give you a few more clues, such as punctuation, the emotion I'm expressing,
and whether your tone should be rising or falling.
Remember, as we move into more intense emotions, we tend to exaggerate the pitch rise or the pitch fall.
You may choose to pause the video in order to repeat the exercises a few more times or
come back and rewatch the video in order to continue to practice.
Ready?
Let's go.
First, we're going to start with the word "yeah."
It's a little more common in everyday speech than the word "yes."
Yeah.
Please note that there are more emotions you can show here, like annoyance, doubt, disbelief, or uncertainty.
These are just a few examples to get started.
Next, let's move on to "no."
No.
Next, let's move on to the word "okay."
As in many languages, we use this all the time.
Let's practice different emotions you can show through your intonation on the word "okay."
Okay.
As you're probably noticing as I go through the examples, your facial expressions and body language
can also help you produce the right emotion.
Next, let's move on to "right."
Right.
Next, let's move on to the word "hey," another word we use all the time in everyday speech.
Hey.
Moving on, let's talk about the word "maybe."
Maybe.
Last but not least, let's talk about the word "please."
Please.
Now that you've practiced different intonation patterns with the words yeah, no, okay, right, maybe,
please, and hey, how do you feel?
Personally, I found it challenging to really isolate those emotions,
but it's really good practice to show more emotional variety when speaking.
Now that you've been able to practice with my intonation exercises, keep going.
You can choose other words or just practice these different intonation patterns
using different vowel sounds like we did in the pitch exercises video.
Be sure to check out the link to my playlist on intonation patterns in American English.
I've also included links to my videos on the power of pitch and pitch exercises.
If you want to work on your intonation with me, be sure to check out the links to
my programs and resources below the video.
As you've seen with these practice exercises, intonation can take work
and it's helpful to get feedback to make sure you're expressing exactly what it is you want to say.
Once again, I'm Kim from englishwithkim.com.
I'm your guide to the essential conversation skills you need to sound more natural in English.
If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and share it with a friend.
Don't forget to hit subscribe if you haven't already.
I'll see you in the next video.
Have a good one. Goodbye.