How to stop feeling FAKE and start sounding NATURAL in English

163,313 views ・ 2018-09-05

Accent's Way English with Hadar


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

00:00
Hey, it's Hadar and this is the Accent's Way.
0
0
2760
00:02
And today we are going to talk about how to sound natural in English.
1
2760
5760
00:08
I hear my students complain all the time that when they practice their English or when they
2
8520
5180
00:13
try to apply the things that we learn about American sounds and intonation and rhythm, they always
3
13700
5000
00:18
feel fake, and they always feel like they're not natural.
4
18700
3200
00:22
Something's missing that prevents them from having this nice flow and freedom in English, even though
5
22340
6060
00:28
they know exactly what they need to do. So today I'd like to share with you the five tips
6
28400
4680
00:33
I give them to help them sound more natural and effortless in English.
7
33080
3720
00:37
Number one: It's okay to feel fake at first.
8
37600
4420
00:42
Here's the thing, when you're learning a new sound you're using different muscles.
9
42020
3680
00:45
You're doing things that you're not used to doing.
10
45700
2320
00:48
Considering you don't have the sound in your native tongue.
11
48720
3040
00:51
So it's going to feel unnatural. It's going to feel fake and it's going to feel effortful.
12
51900
7260
00:59
However, the more you practice, and yes it always comes down to practice, the more you practice
13
59160
5880
01:05
the more you make it your own, the more comfortable and natural you feel with the new sounds
14
65040
5840
01:10
and new melody patterns and new rhythm.
15
70920
2900
01:13
Number two: You're mispronouncing important sounds.
16
73820
3700
01:17
Now English is a very efficient language. Sometimes there is a lot of tension
17
77520
4340
01:21
but only in one part of the mouth.
18
81860
2340
01:24
When we pronounce all those tense, sounds like the 'r' and the 'l' and the 'th' sound
19
84200
6540
01:30
we don't need to use too many muscles. Let me give you an example.
20
90740
5220
01:35
Let's say you don't have the 'th' sound in your native tongue
21
95960
2680
01:38
so you need to get used to sticking your tongue out when you pronounce the 'th'.
22
98640
5560
01:44
However, I see a lot of my students, because they're not used to the 'th', they're compensating
23
104200
5960
01:50
for this weird sound with tensing up everything around your tongue.
24
110160
5420
01:55
So they'll do something like this
25
115580
1820
01:57
'TH'
26
117480
1060
01:58
They'll tense up their lips.
27
118540
1900
02:00
'TH'
28
120460
560
02:01
'TH'
29
121200
500
02:01
Or stick the tongue out too much.
30
121700
1880
02:03
'TH'
31
123680
500
02:04
'TH'
32
124420
520
02:05
Tense up the cheek muscles.
33
125120
1560
02:06
'TH'
34
126840
760
02:08
Instead of just sticking the tongue out
35
128160
2840
02:11
'th'
36
131000
1020
02:12
and relaxing everything else.
37
132020
2240
02:14
'think'
38
134260
1240
02:15
'authentic'
39
135500
2040
02:17
'theory'
40
137540
1040
02:18
and not
41
138580
1080
02:19
'THeory'
42
139660
700
02:20
Right? When I'm engaging a lot of muscles and when I'm tense, when some of my muscles
43
140520
5220
02:25
are tense when they don't need to be, that creates tension.
44
145740
3660
02:29
And that sounds full of effort. And this is exactly the opposite of what we're trying to achieve.
45
149400
6340
02:35
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.
46
155740
6480
02:42
The tongue needs to be in that perfect place to create that nice tense strong sound.
47
162380
5880
02:48
'r'
48
168360
940
02:49
It is strong, not because I'm investing a lot of energy, just because my tongue has clicked to the right position.
49
169300
6720
02:56
'r'
50
176220
880
02:57
If my tongue is not in the right position
51
177140
2840
02:59
'uuu'
52
179980
620
03:00
It's gonna sound hollow and I'm probably gonna try and compensate for it by investing more energy.
53
180600
6340
03:07
'UUU'
54
187120
560
03:07
I haven't changed the tongue position. I'm just saying it a little louder.
55
187680
3780
03:11
'UUU'
56
191860
800
03:12
I'm tensing the lips more.
57
192660
1860
03:14
'UUU'
58
194560
980
03:15
Which doesn't help me with getting the right sound and it definitely doesn't help me with sounding natural
59
195540
6280
03:21
because I'm investing way too much energy.
60
201820
3160
03:24
It's okay when you're learning the sound, it's okay when you're trying to find it, to discover it and then
61
204980
7260
03:32
you need to practice it and gradually reduce tension in your lips.
62
212240
4000
03:36
And it's important to remember that it's not about those people who listen to you and say
63
216240
4280
03:40
'Oh he or she sounds so full of effort'. No, it's not about that. It's about you.
64
220520
4840
03:45
It's about you feeling that you're investing way too much energy, that you're not natural, right?
65
225360
5160
03:50
And then we become self-conscious.
66
230520
2100
03:52
And most importantly you'll be exhausted after speaking because as I said English should be more efficient
67
232620
7340
03:59
and if you're not being efficient when you speak you will invest too much energy, way too much energy
68
239960
6100
04:06
and feel exhausted at the end.
69
246060
2040
04:08
And that's not the purpose we want you speaking for hours and hours on end
70
248100
4560
04:12
Number three: You're pronouncing all words the same.
71
252660
3500
04:16
So I already talked about it in my intonation video and I will post a link to it in the description below.
72
256160
6480
04:22
Not every word is pronounced the same and not every word is pronounced with the same amount of energy.
73
262640
7020
04:29
So words that carry content, words that are more important, words that deliver the message
74
269740
5520
04:35
are going to be longer and higher in pitch.
75
275260
3460
04:38
Words that are less important, that are there just to connect the important words are soft.
76
278720
5920
04:44
The consonants are soft and the vowel is reduced.
77
284640
3100
04:47
So all the 'am, is, are, could, would, should' right? They are not
78
287740
4320
04:52
'COULD, WOULD'
79
292060
1420
04:53
They're
80
293480
640
04:54
'could, would, should'
81
294120
1900
04:56
Right? I'm investing very little energy in those words and let me tell you this even more than that
82
296020
5960
05:02
parts, longer parts not just words, but long parts in a phrase or a sentence are
83
302600
7560
05:10
delivered with less energy if they're less important.
84
310360
3320
05:13
So parts that are a little less important, that are just there to get you to
85
313680
5140
05:18
your main point, that is usually at the end. Those parts are quicker, those parts are more effortless.
86
318820
8140
05:26
Those parts are softer.
87
326960
2540
05:29
And to illustrate that, let me read you a sentence or two from a book.
88
329500
3320
05:33
The first time all stressed, all words the same.
89
333620
3340
05:37
Both content words and function words, both the more important parts and the less important parts.
90
337040
5640
05:42
And the second time I'll do it with putting the right emphasis on the right words and parts of speech.
91
342680
6700
05:50
'Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start.'
92
350780
7200
05:57
'I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes'
93
357980
4840
06:02
'with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepare themselves for the performance.'
94
362820
7080
06:10
Now let's try it again, with investing less energy in parts that are a little less important.
95
370760
5700
06:16
Investing less energy and reducing the vowels.
96
376460
2980
06:19
'Caroline and I sat side by side in the darkened auditorium, waiting for the music to start.'
97
379740
6160
06:26
'I've always loved that hush, the hush of nerves and excitement that comes
98
386320
4680
06:31
'with the dimming of the lights, the last few coughs as people prepare themselves for the performance.'
99
391000
5780
06:37
So as you can see, I reduce a lot of words for example instead of
100
397220
3680
06:40
'Caroline And I'
101
400900
1880
06:42
'Caroline-an-I'
102
402780
1470
06:44
Instead of
103
404250
1170
06:45
'In the darkened auditorium'
104
405420
2160
06:47
'in the darkened auditorium'
105
407580
1940
06:49
'in the'
106
409700
580
06:50
'in the'
107
410300
600
06:50
'in the darkened auditorium'
108
410900
2040
06:53
'WAITING FOR THE MUSIC TO START'
109
413360
2280
06:55
'WAITING for the music to START'
110
415940
2840
06:58
So here, I reduce the
111
418780
2080
07:00
'for the'
112
420860
860
07:01
'for the'
113
421760
920
07:02
and I stress the 'WAITING' and 'START'.
114
422680
2220
07:04
'music' is a content word, but I also set it softer and lower in pitch.
115
424920
4940
07:09
I invested a lot less energy in the word 'music' than the word 'start', because 'start' is the important word, right?
116
429860
6280
07:16
It's not about just the music. It's about when it's going to start.
117
436140
4400
07:20
'WAITING for the music to START.' Right
118
440760
3200
07:23
So I only invest more energy in the words that help me carry the message across.
119
443960
6300
07:30
Number four: You're trying to be clear.
120
450760
3200
07:34
You are pronouncing everything perfectly, your consonants are very strong and sharp.
121
454000
7160
07:41
You are enunciating every single sound and maybe you are separating words to be clear
122
461160
7540
07:48
because you've spent all this time practicing your pronunciation.
123
468700
5200
07:54
Okay, so it's a great stage to be at.
124
474240
4220
07:58
Okay, Don't get me wrong, at some point you do need to be at a stage where you're fully
125
478480
5480
08:03
articulating all the sounds, that you're super accurate because you're teaching your tongue
126
483960
5240
08:09
to reach those new places, going back to tip number one, right.
127
489200
3800
08:13
It's okay to feel artificial and tense at the beginning.
128
493000
4340
08:17
But at some point, once you created those new habits, you need to take it down a notch.
129
497340
6760
08:24
Dial it down, my friend! Invest less energy in the pronunciation of the sounds.
130
504400
5720
08:30
That means your consonants need to be a lot softer, so you are not supposed to say something like
131
510120
6720
08:36
'PAY THE PRICE'
132
516840
1820
08:38
'Pay the PRICE '
133
518740
1140
08:39
The 'p' is softer, the 'a' is with less energy, 'the' is really really soft, not
134
519880
8220
08:48
'The'
135
528240
740
08:49
'The'
136
529140
780
08:50
'the price'
137
530260
2540
08:53
'price'
138
533160
680
08:53
'pay the price'
139
533840
1360
08:55
Now if you're investing a lot of energy in your consonants it will be harder for you
140
535200
3700
08:58
to connect words together. For example
141
538900
2940
09:01
'What Did You Do Today?'
142
541840
1580
09:03
If I'm pronouncing every sound clearly and perfectly.
143
543420
4720
09:08
'What Did You Do Today?'
144
548140
1660
09:09
Maybe my pronunciation is accurate, but I won't sound natural.
145
549800
4940
09:14
Right? Because the consonants, especially consonants of words that need to be reduced
146
554820
4440
09:19
should be super soft, almost like you're mumbling them.
147
559260
4640
09:23
'What did you...'
148
563900
960
09:24
'What did you...' 'What did you do today?' 'What did you do today?'
149
564860
4240
09:29
Like I just got out of the dentist, and my mouth is a little numb.
150
569300
4900
09:34
And I'm I don't have the energy to invest in it or like I just had a glass of wine.
151
574260
5860
09:40
'What did you...' 'What did you do today?'
152
580120
2400
09:42
In English, there are so many sounds, so many consonants in one phrase or sentence
153
582520
5460
09:47
we cannot try and pronounce everything perfectly because then as I said, it's not going to feel natural.
154
587980
6360
09:54
Invest less energy, especially, especially in words that are less important.
155
594340
6720
10:01
Number five: Use your pitch, not your volume.
156
601200
3940
10:05
A lot of speakers in order for them to stress words or parts of speech, they will just go a little louder.
157
605140
7140
10:12
'So I TOLD HER that THIS is what she needs TO DO'
158
612280
3380
10:15
In English when you stress words, you go higher in pitch.
159
615660
3220
10:18
'So I told her this is what you need to do'
160
618880
2360
10:21
So a lot of English learners know that, so they go higher in pitch, but they still keep their habits
161
621240
5581
10:26
from their native tongue and also say those words a little stronger.
162
626821
5379
10:32
So all of a sudden they're both going higher in pitch and pronouncing the word a lot louder.
163
632200
5740
10:37
'So I TOLD HER THIS is what she needs TO DO'
164
637940
3860
10:41
'So I TOLD HER THIS is what she needs TO DO'
165
641920
3320
10:45
Instead of
166
645240
980
10:46
'So I told her this is what she needs to do'
167
646220
2700
10:48
I'm almost whispering the stressed words. I'm not saying them louder
168
648980
5620
10:54
I'm just saying them higher in pitch and that's enough to stress a word.
169
654600
3400
10:58
You don't need to go both louder and higher in pitch, you do go a little louder and that's okay.
170
658000
6500
11:04
But if your tendency is to go louder anyway for stress words, don't focus on that, focus only on
171
664500
6460
11:10
raising your pitch and in fact, I want you to focus on reducing your volume rather than saying it a little louder.
172
670960
7480
11:18
Okay, that's it! Thank you so much for watching
173
678440
2240
11:20
If you liked this video, consider sharing it with your friends and let me know in the comments below
174
680680
5640
11:26
what are the things that you find yourself doing, when speaking English, that prevent you
175
686320
3960
11:30
from sounding natural and effortless in English.
176
690280
3420
11:33
Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video.
177
693700
3900
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7