In the US, summer is for sand, sun, and blockbuster movies. And this summer, we're going to use
those movies to learn English and study how to sound American.
Every video this summer is going to be a study English with movies video.
We'll pull scenes from the summer's hottest movies, as well as favorite movies from years past.
It's amazing what we can discover by studying even a small bit of English dialogue.
We'll study how to understand movies,
what makes Americans sound American, and of course, any interesting vocabulary phrasal
verbs or idioms that come up in the scenes we study.
I call this kind of exercise a Ben Franklin Exercise.
First, we'll watch the scene. Then we'll do an in-depth analysis
of what we hear together. This is going to be so much fun! Be sure to tell your friends
and spread the word that all summer long, every tuesday, we're studying English with
movies here at Rachel's English.
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Let's get started. First, the scene.
You want to get personal.
Where were you born?
Huntsville, Alabama. But technically, I don't remember that part.
>> First job? >> Soldier. Straight out of high school.
>> Left the ranks a full bird colonel. >> Then?
>> Spy. >> Where?
>> It was the Cold War, we were everywhere. >> Now?
Been riding a desk for the past six years, trying to figure out where future enemies
are coming from. Never occurred to me they would be coming from above.
Now the analysis.
You want to get personal.
I love this sentence because there's such
contrast between the stressed and unstressed syllables and words. He really stresses the
word 'you' at the beginning.
You want to get personal.
You want to get personal. And in the stressed syllable of 'per', the first syllable is also
stressed, but the three words 'want to get' are all much lower in pitch, much less clear,
flatter than the 'you', up-down shape, higher pitch of the stressed word 'you'.
You want to get personal.
Listen to just 'want to get'.
Want to get--
Want to get-- want to get-- want to get-- Much less clear than 'you'. Now listen to
the word 'you' with 'want to get' together, stressed and then unstressed.
You want to get--
A big difference there in the quality of those stressed versus unstressed syllables. We have
a reduction. 'want to' becomes 'wanna'.
Want to get-- want to get-- want to get--
And the word 'get' has a Stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.
Get, get, get, get, want to get, want to get.
Want to get-- want to get-- want to get personal.
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Okay, let's get back to the analysis.
You want to get personal.
Then the unstressed syllables, son--, al--, both said really quickly, those both have
the schwa, and in both of these cases, they're followed by a syllabic consonant, that means
the consonant takes over the schwa. We don't make a separate vowel sound. So we go right
from S into N. Sn, sn, sn-- person, person. And then right from N into L, without making
any kind of vowel sound. Nal, nal, nal, nal.
Now, this is a Dark L, which does have a vowel-like quality.
You want to get personal.
Whoa! Different day, different outfit, important announcement. Did you know that with this
video, I made a free audio lesson that you can download? In fact, I'm doing this for
each one of the youtube videos I'm making this summer, all 11 of the learn English with
movies videos. So follow this link, or find the link in the video description to get your
free downloadable audio lesson. It's where you're going to train all of the things that
you've learned about pronunciation in this video. Back to the lesson.
Now, here is how Americans make the L in this case. It's a Dark L, it's at the end of a
thought group, it doesn't link into anything. We make that without lifting the tongue tip.
Can you do that too? We make the Dark L with the back part of the tongue. Uhl, uhl. Back
part of the tongue presses down a little bit, uhl, uhl, while the tongue tip stays forward.
I find that most of my students are so heavily trained in lifting their tongue tip, that it's
a very difficult habit to break. I want to challenge you to do this. Per-so-nal--
uhl-- your tongue is lifted for the N, bring it back down, nal-- uhl-- and use the back
of the tongue to make the dark sound for the Dark L.
Personal.
Where were you born?
She's speaking quickly here without much emotion, very straight faced. Where were you born?
Where and born, both are stressed words there.
Where were you born?
Where were you born? They both have that up-down shape, were you--
on the other hand, are much flatter, much faster. Were you, were you, were you.
The word 'born' this would be written with the AW as in law vowel, followed by R. When these
two sounds come together in the same syllable, like here, the AW as in law vowel is not pure.
It's not AW but it's owh. My lips round more, the tongue pulls back a little bit, born,
born. Where were you born?
Where were you born?
Huntsville, Alabama but technically, I don't remember that part.
So this is a longer thought group. He says: Huntsville, Alabama but technically, I don't
remember that part. No brakes. If it's no brakes, then that means it's one thought group.
So I've written in here with Huntsville Alabama, on this slide, and on the next slide, is the
second half of the thought group, but he didn't actually put a break there.
Huntsville, Alabama but technically, I don't remember that part.
The stress of these multi-syllable words, we have huntsville, first syllable stress,
Alabama, so the most stressed syllable is bam--, and the first level has a little secondary
stress, so I would put the primary stress marker there, secondary stress marker there.
The other two A's are schwas. Actually, just a few weeks ago on the channel, I made a video
of how to go over the pronunciation of the 50 states and their capitals, we talked about
the four A's in this word. Click here or in the video description to check out that video
that goes over the pronunciation of the 50 states.
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama but technically, I don't remember that part.
But technically, I don't remember that part. Our stressed syllables, very clear, but tech--
but technically, I don't remember that part. Those have higher pitch, they have the up-down
shape, that curve. The rest is a little bit flatter. It's either leading up to a peak,
or falling away from a peak.
But tech-- but, but--
But technically, I don't remember that part.
Now we have an ending T, and a beginning T. Those will combine into a single sound, one
true T, but technically, but technically.
But technically, but technically, but technically.
He's pronouncing this word as three syllables, first syllable stress, tech-- and the ch here
makes a hard K sound. Tech-nic-- the C here makes a hard K sound. Tech-nic-lly-- and then
he's not pronouncing this at all, just an LY ending then. Tech-nic-lly-- technically.
Technically.
Technically, I don't remember that part.
And all of these words linked together really smoothly. Technically, I don't re--
Okay what's happening with the N apostrophe T contraction? We have lots of different ways
we pronounce that. And in this particular case, I think I'm actually hearing the whole
thing dropped. Doh remember-- doh, doh. So we have the D consonant, oh diphthong, and
then I hear that linking right on to the next sound, which is the R.
I don't remember that part.
Now, it doesn't sound like 'do' because 'do' has different sounds. It has the D consonant,
and the oo vowel. So the fact that we have this oh diphthong, that's how we know it's
the negative. Doh-- don't remember. Don't remember. But I actually, I definitely don't
hear the T. For a second, I listened to it on a loop, I was asking myself: do I hear
a light quick N? I don't think I really do. I think it's just dropped. Don't remember.
Don't remember. Don't remember. Don't remember. Doh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Just the OH diphthong
right into the R. Isn't it crazy? We can pronounce this contraction without the N apostrophe
T at all, without the part that makes it a negative. But I still hear it as that word
because of the OH diphthong.
I don't remember that part.
Are you pronouncing this word? Remember? Try to pronounce it with the schwa. Remember, re-re-re,
remember
remember,
I want you to listen to just the last three words. Remember that part.
Remember that part.
Kind of mumbly, it's at the end of the thought group, it's losing the vocal energy, and when
I'm listening to the word 'that', which would have a Stop T in most cases because it's followed
by the P here, I actually think I am also not hearing that. That part, that part, that
part, that part, that part. I think he drops it. TH, quick AA vowel, and then right into
the P. That part, that part, that part, that part.
The ending T, he's also not really pronouncing that too clearly. I would still write that
as a Stop T, I don't think it's dropped, that would sound like par-- and I don't hear that.
I hear: part, part, and that more abrupt end is the Stop T. But let's listen to these last
three words on a loop again and think about how you have to simplify everything in your
mouth to be able to say this this quickly and this unclearly. It's a little bit mumbled.
This is pretty common for how words come out at the end of a thought group.
They're definitely less clear.
Remember that part.
First job?
First job? First job? Two stressed words. They're both a little bit longer. First job?
And pitch goes up at the end because she's asking the question. She wants to know what
was his first job. Notice how we're pronouncing the T here. This T is dropped because it comes
between two consonants. That's really common to do that when we have an ending cluster
like the ST cluster in 'first' or 'just' or 'must'. When it's followed by a word that
begins with a consonant, you'll hear that T dropped. That helps to link the two words
together more smoothly. So right from the S into the J sound. First job. Also note we
have the letter O here. I know my students see that and they want to do some lip rounding.
No lip rounding in this sound. It's the AH as in father vowel. It is not job, actually,
this reminds me of Tom who's a Rachel's English teacher. His name is the same, single syllable
has the letter O. It makes the AH as in father vowel. And even so, almost all of his students
say something like: Tom, Tom, instead of Tom, ah-ah, with no lip rounding, even though he
reminds them it's not an OH sound, it's the AH vowel.
We see the letter O, we have such a strong association. But in English, one of the challenges
is to break your association between what you see on the page, and the actual natural
American pronunciation. Because as you can see, we change things quite a bit.
We drop sounds, vowels are not what we think they are, so the vowel in 'job' and in the word
'Tom' is the AH as in father vowel. Oh--
First job?
>> First job? >> Soldier.
Soldier. Soldier. Two-syllable word, first syllable stress, soldier.
DI here is pronounced as a J sound, which we would write in IPA: dj-- soldier, soldier.
Soldier. Soldier. Soldier.
And the L here, this is the break of the syllable. Soldier. So the L comes after the vowel. That
makes it a Dark L. He made it without lifting his tongue tip. I make it without lifting
my tongue tip. Soldier. Soldier. I'm not lifting my tongue tip at all there, I'm using the
back of my tongue for a more dark sound, for the Dark L. I challenge you to do the same
thing. Do not lift your tongue tip. An L is a Dark L when it comes after the vowel or
diphthong in a syllable. Soldier.
Soldier. Soldier. Soldier.
Straight out of high school.
Five-word thought group, the word 'straight' and 'high', most stressed. School also has
some length, but it's at the end of the thought group, the pitch isn't as high. Straight out
of high school. Straight out of high school.
Straight out of high school.
We have an STR beginning cluster, strai-- strai-- the T can come out as a CH there.
Stch-- strai-- strai-- straight out of-- straight out of--
Just make sure you make it light. Don't put too much ch-- air in it. Strai-- strai--
then these four letters, a-I-g-h, all make the AY diphthong.
Straight out of high school.
All of the words in this thought group are really smoothly connected. We have a couple
Flap T's linking words together, like connecting 'straight out'. Straight out, straight out,
dadadada.
Straight out ah-- straight out ah-- Another Flap T connecting here.Straight outta--
The word 'of' reduced, it's just the schwa. Straight outta-- straight outta-- straight
outta-- straight outta-- dadadadada-- two flaps linking those words.
Straight out of high school.
High school. High school. High school.
And again, we have a Dark L. I guarantee you he is not lifting his tongue tip. Don't lift
your tongue tip as you practice this.
High school.
Left the ranks a full bird colonel.
So, the word 'left' stressed, 'ranks' also sort of stressed, but also not totally clear.
We'll talk about that in a second. Then the last three words, even more clear, even longer.
Full bird colonel.
Left the ranks a full bird colonel.
So the rhythm pattern of these first four words, I would say, is still: da-da-da-da.
Stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed. Even though 'left' and 'ranks' are said more
quickly, it really slows down then on 'full bird colonel'. He's really stressing all three
of those words.
Left the ranks a full bird colonel.
Left the ranks, left the ranks. T is dropped, it comes between two other consonants.
Left the, left the. So a quick F goes right into the voiced TH, which doesn't come through
the teeth here, because it's beginning an unstressed word. Left the, the, the, the--
I make that sound by just pressing my tongue on the backs of the teeth. It's not at the
roof of the mouth, that would make it sound like a d, but the tongue tip doesn't come
through the teeth either. Left the, left the, left the ranks. Left the ranks a--
Left the ranks--
The N here is the NG sound because it's followed by the letter k. Ranks, ranks, ranks. And
I really feel like it's very subtle here. He says this word quickly, a little unclearly.
It almost sounds like 'rakes' without the ng to me.
Left the ranks-- left the ranks-- left the ranks a full bird colonel.
Full-- we have a Dark L. Don't lift your tongue tip. Try it: full, full, full bird. 'bird'
has the UR vowel, and that's overtaken by the R so you don't actually need to try to
make a vowel at all. Make the B sound, the R sound, the D sound. Bird, bird.
Now the word 'colonel'. Okay, that's obviously...
This is one of the weirdest words in American English as far as letters and sounds.
Full bird colonel. Full bird colonel. Full bird colonel.
We have the K sound, which we get from the letter C, then we have the same sound combination
as in 'bird', the ur vowel and the R consonant. Where's the R, exactly? So where's the O?
Don't know. Where's this O? Don't know. It's just very strange. I don't know how this word
evolved, it'd be interesting to look into that. Colonel. Two-syllable word, first syllable
stress, K sound, R sound: ker-- ker--, and then a very quick: nl, nl, nl. And Dark L
sound at the end. Colonel.
Colonel.
Then?
Voice goes up in pitch, she's asking a question,
it's not a statement. She's saying what's next? Then?
Then?
Spy.
Spy. So his voice has a little bit of popcorn quality. There's not a full engagement of
the air. Quick up-down shape of a stressed syllable. That is a statement. It comes down.
Spy.
Where?
Now this one also comes down and she also
has a popcorn quality of her voice. Uhhhh-- where? Where? Instead of: where? Where?
Which has more volume, more air.
Where?
Now, why does this one go down in pitch, where the other question statement went up in pitch?
That's a great question. The general rule is for the most part, if it's a yes/no question,
it goes up in pitch, if not, it goes down in pitch. But there are always exceptions
when she said 'then?' going up here, that was not a yes/no question, but going up made
us know it was a question. Here, the pitch of 'where' it goes down. We still know it's
a question.
Where?
The word 'where' as a statement wouldn't exist, wouldn't really make sense. And I'm trying
to think: would I ever make the intonation of 'where' go up? And I would. I would if
someone had told me where something was, and I didn't hear them, and I needed them to say
it again, then I would say: where? But this is her first time asking the question: where?
She's making it a statement.
Where?
It was the cold war, we were everywhere.
Okay, this is interesting. We have: it was the cold war. It was the cold war. Stress
on 'cold'. It was the-- those three words, hmm, how are they pronounced?
It was the cold war--
I'm hearing a Z sound, I'm hearing a schwa. It was the cold war-- it was the cold war--
Now, I know that the phrase grammatically would be 'it was the cold war.' but he says
those three words really quickly, just combines them into two sounds. It was the cold war--
it was the cold war--
It was the cold war--
We were everywhere.
Then the words: we were everywhere. We were-- pitch goes up, energy goes up. We were eh--
we have the peak on the EH vowel, everywhere. And then the pitch comes down. We were everywhere.
We were everywhere. All connected, smoothly together.
We were everywhere.
>> We were everywhere. >> Now?
Now? Now? Again, her pitch goes up, showing it's a question. Now, this is a word that
we could make as a statement. Now? Like if someone said: hey rachel! When are you leaving?
Now. So by making the intonation go up, now? It's inviting that question by a conversation.
Now?
Now? Now? Now?
Been riding a desk for the past six years,
trying to figure out where future enemies are coming from.
Then he has a really long thought group. Actually, let's add the end of this thought group here
to this slide. So we have lots of words that are a little bit longer, a little bit clearer.
Been riding a desk for the past six years--
Been riding a desk for the past six years,
trying to figure out where our future enemies are coming from.
Trying to figure out where our future enemies are coming from.
Future. A little bit of length on 'enemies co--', but we have some reductions,
what are you noticing? First let's look at the first word.
Been riding,
EE is pronounced as the letter IH, that's actually not a reduction, but it's just the
pronunciation, but it's said very quickly.
Been, been, been, been. Been riding, been riding--
Been riding, been riding, been riding a desk--
Riding a desk-- riding a-- riding a--
NG sound is changed to just an N sound.
Ridin a--
And that links right into the schwa. Ridin a-- ridin a--
Been riding a,
Now, we have 'desk for the'.
I want you to listen to those three words, and listen especially for the K.
Been riding a desk for the--
Desk for the-- desk for the-- desk for the-- K is dropped.
Comes between two consonant sounds,
we sometimes do that when we're linking things together. Desk for the--
Been riding a desk for the--
Desk for the-- desk for the--
'for the', both said really quickly, we have a for reduction, the word 'the',
tongue tip does not need to come through the teeth for that TH, you can just touch it at the back
of the teeth, the back of the front teeth. For the, for the, for the, for the.
How fast can you say that? For the, for the, for the. Desk for the, desk for the.
Desk for the-- desk for the-- desk for the past six years.
Now look, let's look ahead.
We have STS, a cluster, the T comes between two other constant sounds.
Do you think it's dropped? I think it is. Let's hear.
The past six years. The past six years. The past six years.
Past six years. Past six years. Past six years.
Okay, yup. It is dropped. Past six.
Those two words connected with the single S and actually, I'm gonna write a little bit of
length on that word too. Past six years, past six years.
I think they all have a little bit of length to them.
The past six years. The past six years. The past six years, trying to figure out where
future enemies are coming from.
Trying to figure out-- okay, that has... That's not how it's pronounced.
The TR, I am hearing a CHR, trying, trying, that's really common.
Now the ING, again, he's dropping the G sound.
He's making that an N sound. Tryin, tryin, tryin. The word 'to' this word is reduced
to just the schwa. We don't usually drop the beginning sound, we do make that a Flap T
sometimes. But I have noticed we do sometimes drop that altogether when the sound before
is an N, and that's what's happening here. Tryna-- tryna-- tryna--
Trying to figure out,
Trying to figure out, trying to figure out, trying to figure out. Figure out. Figure out.
Figure out. Figure out.
Also said pretty quickly, out, we have a Stop T here, figure out, figure out, figure out.
Because the next word begins with a consonant, the W sound.
Trying to figure out,
where our future enemies--
WH word but he makes just a clean W sound. There's no wh, wh, wh, where in front, it's
just: where, where. The word 'our' pretty unclear. I would probably write that schwa R,
it's reduced. Where our, where our, where our, where our.
Where our future enemies-- where our future enemies-- where our future enemies--
You know, I would normally write this schwa R, but I actually almost think I'm just hearing
it like a schwa. Where our-- where our future-- where our future enemies are--
That's not too common, but I do think that's what he's doing here. Where our future-- where
our future enemies are--
He's just speaking so quickly. This particular word is said so quickly. Now, when it's all
linked together, I totally get it. It would sound weird to pronounce 'our' that way if
it wasn't linked in as part of the sentence.
Where our future enemies--
This word 'our' and this word 'are', both often reduced to something that sounds pretty
much the same, schwa R. Of course, over here, I said the R was dropped but here, I do hear it.
Enemies are-- enemies are-- enemies are-- ending Z sound linking right into the next sound.
Zar, zar-- enemies are--
Enemies are--
coming from--
Are coming from-- are coming from-- are coming from-- so he has three ING verbs here, and
for each one of them, he's changed the NG sound into an end N sound.
I do tell my students not to do this all the time.
It just doesn't sound quite right, mixed in with other things
that students tend to do. There will be some native speakers that do it all the time, that
will definitely sound like an accent, a regional accent in the us, and that's fine. Especially,
you know, if you live there, you might want to pick that up. Although people in the US
move around so much, I can't say that, you know, everyone in a particular region speaks
that way. A lot of people would speak with a more standard accent. And that's what I teach.
So I just want to talk about that here, he's done it three times, a student watching this
might think: oh, it's... We should be doing this all the time. I wouldn't say that.
The last word 'from', not reduced. Sometimes, we reduce this word to: from, from, but the
vowel is not reduced. It is the UH as in butter vowel. We generally don't reduce the last
word in a sentence, or a thought group.
Coming from,
Never occurred to me they would be coming from above.
So let's talk about stress. Never occurred to me they would be coming from above.
And the most stress on that last word because this is what is unusual.
The enemies are coming from above.
Never occurred to me they would be coming from above.
Also, grammatically, we would have the word 'it' here. The word 'it' is implied. It never
occurred to me. But he doesn't say that, he just says: never occurred to me--
Never occurred to me--
So in the stressed syllable of occur, we have that R vowel again.
Occur-- ur-- occured--
So you don't need to try to make a vowel there.
It's really the R sound. Occurred. Occurred.
Occurred.
A little bit of stress on the first syllable of ne-- never uh-- then the R links into the
schwa. Never uh, never uh, never occurred--
Never occurred--
to me--
Never occurred to me-- occurred to me-- so the ED ending here is a little light D sound,
not released. Then he makes the word 'to' with a true T, and the vowel is reduced to
the schwa. Occurred to-- occurred to-- do you hear that D sound in my vocal cords before
I make the T? Occurred to-- occurred to me-- occurred to me--
Occurred to me-- occurred to me-- occurred to me
they would be coming from above.
So we have the stressed syllable: occurred-- then we have 'to me they would be', all of
these words before the next stressed word.
To me they would be coming--
To me they would be, to me they would be,
to me they would be, to me they would be.
A little bit flatter in pitch but you don't have much of that up-down shape.
To me they would be, to me they would be, to me they would be. Now, I hope you're noticing the
L in 'would' is always silent. To me they would be, to me they would be.
A very light D sound in the vocal cords here, again, not released. That would be: they would be.
They would be. They would be.
We don't hear that. They would be, they would be, they would be. That's what we hear.
They would be. Little D sound, the vocal cords are vibrating, that's a voiced sound, but
it's not released, I go right into the B sound.
To me they would be--
coming from above.
Coming from above. We have interesting stress here. He's playing
with it a little bit because of the surprise of the enemies coming from above, from outer space.
Coming from above. Da-da-da-da-da. Really stressing that last syllable.
Now, here we have an ING word, he does pronounce that as an ING word. He makes the NG sound
instead of an N sound. Coming, coming, coming, coming, coming from, coming from.
Now, here I probably would write this as the from reduction with a schwa instead of the
UH as in butter vowel. Coming from, coming from above. Coming from above.
Coming from above.
The last thing I want to talk about is he does do a little lift here: from above.
When I was practicing it one time, I did it with the link: from a, from a, from a, from above,
from above. But no, it's not how he does it. He says: from above, from above, from-- little
break, above. Putting that little break there makes that word even more stressed. If we
linked it into the word before, it would sound a little bit more conversational. But by putting
a little lift there, a little break in the sound, it brings more stress to that word.
Wow. The enemies are coming from above.
Coming from above.
Let's listen to this whole conversation one more time
You want to get personal.
Where were you born?
Huntsville, Alabama. But technically, I don't remember that part.
>> First job? >> Soldier. Straight out of high school.
>> Left the ranks a full bird colonel. >> Then?
>> Spy. >> Where?
>> It was the cold war, we were everywhere. >> Now?
Been riding a desk for the past six years, trying to figure out where future enemies
are coming from. Never occurred to me they would be coming from above.
We're going to be doing a lot more of this kind of analysis together. What movie scenes
would you like to see analyzed like this? Let me know in the comments! And if you want
to see all my Ben Franklin videos, click here!
You'll also find the link in the video description.
That's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.