How to stop feeling FAKE and start sounding NATURAL in English

163,514 views ・ 2018-09-05

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey, it's Hadar and this is the Accent's Way.
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And today we are going to talk about how to sound natural in English.
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I hear my students complain all the time that when they practice their English or when they
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try to apply the things that we learn about American sounds and intonation and rhythm, they always
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feel fake, and they always feel like they're not natural.
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Something's missing that prevents them from having this nice flow and freedom in English, even though
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they know exactly what they need to do. So today I'd like to share with you the five tips
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I give them to help them sound more natural and effortless in English.
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Number one: It's okay to feel fake at first.
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Here's the thing, when you're learning a new sound you're using different muscles.
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You're doing things that you're not used to doing.
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Considering you don't have the sound in your native tongue.
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So it's going to feel unnatural. It's going to feel fake and it's going to feel effortful.
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However, the more you practice, and yes it always comes down to practice, the more you practice
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the more you make it your own, the more comfortable and natural you feel with the new sounds
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and new melody patterns and new rhythm.
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Number two: You're mispronouncing important sounds.
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Now English is a very efficient language. Sometimes there is a lot of tension
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but only in one part of the mouth.
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When we pronounce all those tense, sounds like the 'r' and the 'l' and the 'th' sound
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we don't need to use too many muscles. Let me give you an example.
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Let's say you don't have the 'th' sound in your native tongue
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so you need to get used to sticking your tongue out when you pronounce the 'th'.
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However, I see a lot of my students, because they're not used to the 'th', they're compensating
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for this weird sound with tensing up everything around your tongue.
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So they'll do something like this
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'TH'
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They'll tense up their lips.
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'TH'
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'TH'
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Or stick the tongue out too much.
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'TH'
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'TH'
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Tense up the cheek muscles.
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'TH'
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Instead of just sticking the tongue out
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'th'
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and relaxing everything else.
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'think'
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'authentic'
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'theory'
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and not
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'THeory'
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Right? When I'm engaging a lot of muscles and when I'm tense, when some of my muscles
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are tense when they don't need to be, that creates tension.
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And that sounds full of effort. And this is exactly the opposite of what we're trying to achieve.
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Let's take the 'r' for example, if your tongue is not in the right place, you'll invest a lot more energy than needed.
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The tongue needs to be in that perfect place to create that nice tense strong sound.
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'r'
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It is strong, not because I'm investing a lot of energy, just because my tongue has clicked to the right position.
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'r'
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If my tongue is not in the right position
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'uuu'
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It's gonna sound hollow and I'm probably gonna try and compensate for it by investing more energy.
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'UUU'
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I haven't changed the tongue position. I'm just saying it a little louder.
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'UUU'
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I'm tensing the lips more.
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'UUU'
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Which doesn't help me with getting the right sound and it definitely doesn't help me with sounding natural
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because I'm investing way too much energy.
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It's okay when you're learning the sound, it's okay when you're trying to find it, to discover it and then
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you need to practice it and gradually reduce tension in your lips.
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And it's important to remember that it's not about those people who listen to you and say
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'Oh he or she sounds so full of effort'. No, it's not about that. It's about you.
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It's about you feeling that you're investing way too much energy, that you're not natural, right?
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And then we become self-conscious.
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And most importantly you'll be exhausted after speaking because as I said English should be more efficient
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and if you're not being efficient when you speak you will invest too much energy, way too much energy
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and feel exhausted at the end.
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And that's not the purpose we want you speaking for hours and hours on end
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Number three: You're pronouncing all words the same.
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So I already talked about it in my intonation video and I will post a link to it in the description below.
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Not every word is pronounced the same and not every word is pronounced with the same amount of energy.
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So words that carry content, words that are more important, words that deliver the message
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are going to be longer and higher in pitch.
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Words that are less important, that are there just to connect the important words are soft.
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The consonants are soft and the vowel is reduced.
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So all the 'am, is, are, could, would, should' right? They are not
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'COULD, WOULD'
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They're
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'could, would, should'
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Right? I'm investing very little energy in those words and let me tell you this even more than that
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parts, longer parts not just words, but long parts in a phrase or a sentence are
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delivered with less energy if they're less important.
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So parts that are a little less important, that are just there to get you to
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your main point, that is usually at the end. Those parts are quicker, those parts are more effortless.
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Those parts are softer.
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And to illustrate that, let me read you a sentence or two from a book.
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The first time all stressed, all words the same.
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Both content words and function words, both the more important parts and the less important parts.
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And the second time I'll do it with putting the right emphasis on the right words and parts of speech.
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'Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start.'
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'I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes'
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'with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepare themselves for the performance.'
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Now let's try it again, with investing less energy in parts that are a little less important.
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Investing less energy and reducing the vowels.
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'Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start.'
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'I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes
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'with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepare themselves for the performance.'
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So as you can see, I reduce a lot of words for example instead of
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'Caroline And I'
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'Caroline-an-I'
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Instead of
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'In the darkened auditorium'
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'in the darkened auditorium'
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'in the'
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'in the'
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'in the darkened auditorium'
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'WAITING FOR THE MUSIC TO START'
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'WAITING for the music to START'
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So here, I reduce the
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'for the'
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'for the'
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and I stress the 'WAITING' and 'START'.
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'music' is a content word, but I also set it softer and lower in pitch.
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I invested a lot less energy in the word 'music' than the word 'start', because 'start' is the important word, right?
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It's not about just the music. It's about when it's going to start.
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'WAITING for the music to START.' Right
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So I only invest more energy in the words that help me carry the message across.
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Number four: You're trying to be clear.
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You are pronouncing everything perfectly, your consonants are very strong and sharp.
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You are enunciating every single sound and maybe you are separating words to be clear
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because you've spent all this time practicing your pronunciation.
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Okay, so it's a great stage to be at.
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Okay, Don't get me wrong, at some point you do need to be at a stage where you're fully
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articulating all the sounds, that you're super accurate because you're teaching your tongue
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to reach those new places, going back to tip number one, right.
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It's okay to feel artificial and tense at the beginning.
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But at some point, once you created those new habits, you need to take it down a notch.
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Dial it down, my friend! Invest less energy in the pronunciation of the sounds.
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That means your consonants need to be a lot softer, so you are not supposed to say something like
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'PAY THE PRICE'
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'Pay the PRICE '
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The 'p' is softer, the 'a' is with less energy, 'the' is really really soft, not
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'The'
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'The'
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'the price'
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'price'
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'pay the price'
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Now if you're investing a lot of energy in your consonants it will be harder for you
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to connect words together. For example
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'What Did You Do Today?'
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If I'm pronouncing every sound clearly and perfectly.
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'What Did You Do Today?'
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Maybe my pronunciation is accurate, but I won't sound natural.
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Right? Because the consonants, especially consonants of words that need to be reduced
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should be super soft, almost like you're mumbling them.
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'What did you...'
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'What did you...' 'What did you do today?' 'What did you do today?'
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Like I just got out of the dentist, and my mouth is a little numb.
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And I'm I don't have the energy to invest in it or like I just had a glass of wine.
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'What did you...' 'What did you do today?'
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In English, there are so many sounds, so many consonants in one phrase or sentence
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we cannot try and pronounce everything perfectly because then as I said, it's not going to feel natural.
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Invest less energy, especially, especially in words that are less important.
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Number five: Use your pitch, not your volume.
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A lot of speakers in order for them to stress words or parts of speech, they will just go a little louder.
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'So I TOLD HER that THIS is what she needs TO DO'
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In English when you stress words, you go higher in pitch.
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'So I told her this is what you need to do'
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So a lot of English learners know that, so they go higher in pitch, but they still keep their habits
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from their native tongue and also say those words a little stronger.
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So all of a sudden they're both going higher in pitch and pronouncing the word a lot louder.
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'So I TOLD HER THIS is what she needs TO DO'
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'So I TOLD HER THIS is what she needs TO DO'
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Instead of
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'So I told her this is what she needs to do'
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I'm almost whispering the stressed words. I'm not saying them louder
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I'm just saying them higher in pitch and that's enough to stress a word.
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You don't need to go both louder and higher in pitch, you do go a little louder and that's okay.
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But if your tendency is to go louder anyway for stress words, don't focus on that, focus only on
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raising your pitch and in fact, I want you to focus on reducing your volume rather than saying it a little louder.
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Okay, that's it! Thank you so much for watching
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If you liked this video, consider sharing it with your friends and let me know in the comments below
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what are the things that you find yourself doing, when speaking English, that prevent you
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from sounding natural and effortless in English.
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Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video.
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