Vanessa: Have you ever been watching an
American movie or TV show and you heard someone say, "Your guess is as good as mine." And you
thought, "Oh my goodness, they were speaking so fast." Maybe you understand the general idea,
but how are they saying it so quickly? Are there some secrets that I don't know? Well,
I have some good news. In today's lesson, you are going to learn five secrets to American English
pronunciation, and you're going to level up your vocabulary at the same time. And like always,
I've created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's American English pronunciation tips,
idioms, and concepts that you're going to learn in this lesson. You can download this
free PDF worksheet, my gift to you, with the link in the description. Click on that
link and instantly in your email inbox, you will have this free worksheet. All right,
are you ready to get started with the first secret of American English pronunciation?
Let's start. Have you heard this phrase before? The early bird catches the worm. This means that
if you wake up early or you get started now, well, you will succeed. Only the birds that wake
up early in the morning get the best worms. If you wait, if you procrastinate, well, too bad for you,
you won't be able to succeed. But this wonderful phrase uses an important American English
pronunciation point. There are three words, early, bird, and worm that use a colored 'R'.
So in American English, this 'R' is a strong hard sound. Early. Bird. Word. Do you see how that's
almost like an angry dog? Worm. Bird. Early. Make sure that when you're using American English
pronunciation, this colored 'R' sound is hard. Phrase number two that uses key American English
pronunciation is this one. Have you ever heard someone say, "Your guess is as good as
mine. Your guess is as good as mine." This means that the other person has no clue.
Maybe you could say, "I don't know how to get to the beach. Your guess is as good as mine." But
there is something important happening with the pronunciation of this phrase. At the end of the
word guess and at the end of the word is, there is an 'S'. But in American English pronunciation,
we often link the 'S' with the vowel next to make a 'Z' sound. So listen carefully when I say this
phrase, "Your guess is as good as mine." It sounds a lot like [inaudible 00:02:45], and that's what's
happening here. We are linking together the 'S' plus a vowel from the next word. Try to
say it with me. Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue, your guess is as good as mine.
Key phrase number three that uses American English pronunciation is this fun one,
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Have you ever been trying to help someone and then they
complain about how you're helping them? You can use this phrase and say, "Hey, don't bite
the hand that feeds you. I'm just trying to help you." Well, it's the same idea. If you
argue with your boss, if you yell at your boss, ugh, he's the one that gives you your paycheck,
so don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there is important American English pronunciation here
that happens three times. Don't, bite, and then a little later in the sentence is the
word 'that'. What is similar between all three of these words? It's the letter 'T'.
Listen when I say this contraction, don't. Don't. Do you hear don't with that puff of
air coming out? Nope. In American English, oftentimes a 'T' at the end of words will be
cut off. We call this a stopped 'T' because your mouth is making that shape. Don't. My tongue is
at the top of my mouth trying to make that 'T' shape, but there's no puff of air that comes
out. Listen carefully as I say this and I want you to hear that stopped 'T'. Don't bite the hand that
feeds you. You think you can say that with me? You can do it. Let's say this phrase together,
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you." All right, let's go to our next phrase.
Has this ever happened to you before? You invite a lot of people over to your house and you think
it's going to be a fun party, it's great, and then it just becomes so many people in your house,
so much chaos, and you have to say this, "Oh no, I think it's going to get out of hand."
This doesn't mean that anything is really in your hand and it's getting out of your hand. Instead,
this means it's getting out of control. But this phrase, get out of hand, uses an important
American English pronunciation tip, which is that the 'T' at the end of words, another 'T' tip,
that has a vowel next often changes to a 'D' sound. So listen when I say this, "The party
will get out of hand." The word get is surrounded by vowels, there's a vow on either side. G-E-T,
and then the next word starts with an 'O'. So that 'T' is surrounded by vows, and that means
that it's going to change to a 'D' sound. Get out, and then it's going to happen with out and of.
Out of. In fact, the word 'of' changes to just a. Get outta hand. Can you say it with me? The party
will get outta hand. The party will get outta hand if you invite 50 people over to your house.
All right, let's go to our last American English pronunciation tip. Has it ever happened to you
that you travel abroad and then you realize that you're just meeting people from your own home
country? It's like you're magnetic towards each other. Well, we could use this phrase,
"Birds of a feather flock together." And this means that common things are attracted to each
other, for better or for worse. So there is a key American English pronunciation point we can talk
about with this phrase. We already talked about the word bird and how it uses that colored 'R',
that hard 'R' sound. Bird. And there is another 'R' tip in this phrase as well. Look at the end
of the word feather, and together. Here is an E-R, and it's going to be a strong 'R' sound. Feather.
Together. Again, pretend that you are an angry dog and try to make that hard 'R' sound. Feather.
Together. Can you say this wonderful idiom with me? Birds of a feather flock together. Wonderful.
So if you can use all five of these American English pronunciation points, you will sound more
American and it will also help you to understand American English speakers when they're talking,
which is wonderful when you're watching a movie or TV show. So I guarantee the next time you
hear these wonderful idioms, you will think, "Oh, I learned that in Vanessa's lesson. Yes.
Now I understand it and I know how they're pronouncing it and I can do it too." Don't
forget to download the free PDF worksheet for today's American English pronunciation lesson.
I've included all the pronunciation points, the idioms, the ideas, to help you be able to speak
American English the way that you'd like. And now I have a question for you. That first
phrase that we talked about, the early bird catches the worm. I want to know,
are you an early bird who catches the worm? This doesn't mean that you wake up early,
it just means that you don't procrastinate. Are you someone who procrastinates and waits
too long? Or are you someone who has a task and you do it? Well, even if you don't, there's never
a time like the present to get started. Well, thank you so much for learning English with me,
and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next. There are almost
four million people who have watched this video, including Nikki, who said,
"I love how she smiles while talking. She's sm-alking." Smile plus talking. Well,
if you want to see some sm-alking, I recommend watching this video and I'll see you there.