English Intonation: How To Use Stressed Words, Pitch, And Pauses To Make An Impact When You Speak

Hey everyone, it's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Today we are going to watch and analyze a TED talk by America Ferrera.

America is an actor, director, and a social activist.

And in her TED talk, that is very inspirational - and I highly recommend

for you to watch it afterwards - she talks about her journey going from

a young girl, aspiring to become an actor, and how she faced all these

different obstacles and challenges.

Because when she grew up, people like her were not seen

in important roles in Hollywood.

America is an American Latina, and she used to only get offers to play

roles or characters that are very stereotypical, like the poor immigrant

or someone with broken English.

And she did not want that.

She wanted it to portray a real character, like the people that we

are in real life, no matter what our skin color or background is.

And she wanted to do something meaningful and interesting.

So, in her TED talk, she tells her story and how she went from thinking that her

identity is an obstacle and preventing her from reaching her dreams, to this

point where she understands that her identity is in fact, her superpower.

Now, when it comes to English, what we're going to listen to is how she builds her

speech, how she uses operative words.

Operative words are the keywords that drive the meaning forward.

So, we're going to listen and see how she emphasizes those operative

words, how she's using them.

How she's using her voice to make you understand something about the text

and how she feels about the text.

And of course, we're going to talk about intonation, and stress, and rhythm, and

how all of that is played out in a very good speech and an excellent delivery.

Let's listen to the first few seconds of the talk.

On the red tiles in my family's den I would dance and sing to the made-for-TV

movie "Gypsy," starring Bette Midler.

(Singing) "I had a dream.

A wonderful dream, papa."

I would sing it with the urgency and the burning desire of a nine-year-old

who did, in fact, have a dream.

Okay.

So let's just listen a little closer to that last sentence.

And I want you to pay attention to the words that stick out the most.

Right?

I want you to think about what words pop up when you listen to her speak.

I would sing it with the urgency and the burning desire of a nine-year-old

who did, in fact, have a dream.

I'm sure it was pretty clear.

And let's listen to the first part again.

Listen.

I would sing it with the urgency and the burning desire.

'I would sing it with the urgency and burning desire'.

'sing', 'urgency', 'burning', right?

Every time she emphasizes one of those words, she goes higher in pitch:

'I would sing it with the urgency'.

Right?

She goes higher in pitch, but she also adds this emphasis, right?

More volume, more intensity in her voice, especially when she

gets to the word 'burning'.

It feels like the word is almost exploding out of her mouth.

'And burning desire'.

This is how we use consonants to express how we feel and think

about what it is that we're saying.

Right?

It's not just the choice of words that we choose to say.

It's also how we say them and how we use our voice and our pronunciation

to express our attitude and thoughts and feelings about what we're saying.

So let's it together.

'I would sing it with the urgency' - even higher in pitch - 'and

burning desire of a nine-year-old'.

Let's listen to it again.

'I would sing it with the urgency and the burning desire of a nine-year-old

who did, in fact, have a dream'.

Okay.

So that second part: 'who did, in fact, have a dream'.

A lot of words are stressed here: did, fact, have, dream.

Right?

So, first of all, the words that she chooses to stress, they emphasize her

point, or they deliver the point of, you know, yes, that girl had a dream.

But she could have easily said, "who had a dream".

But she chose to say, "who did, in fact, have a dream", right?

So she added the word 'did' to emphasize the action, and she added

the word 'in fact', and stressed it too, to emphasize the action.

Which is a clue to me, as a listener, that this is an important

point and I need to pay attention.

"who did, in fact, have a dream".

It's also like she's using it to slow down her message right before

the main point: 'had a dream'.

Right?

Now why is it important?

First of all, these are clues for us, as listeners, to understand what we need to

pay attention to, to get the best out of the experience of listening to someone.

But also, it's great for us to see it as speakers.

Because we're all speakers, right?

You don't have to give a TED talk to learn how to use language to get

what you want or to influence people.

Right?

So it doesn't matter if you're doing it on a TED stage or in the

doctor's office or when you're speaking to your child's teacher.

If you want to express something that is important to you, these are

important tools for every conversation.

So, emphasizing the action by saying 'did' and 'in fact' is a

great tool to recognize, and then to replicate when you are speaking.

This is why I love analyzing TED talks, because it gives us all these

new tools to improve our communication abilities and speaking skills.

Let's continue.

"My dream was to be an actress."

So, all the part right before that has led to this point: 'my

dream' - rising-rising intonation, pay attention to what I have to say.

Pause.

Right?

And that pause is really important cause again, it draws back my attention and

it tells me, "Pay attention because something important is coming."

Something important IS coming.

"My dream was to be an actress."

'was to be an actress'.

And she goes all the way down in pitch, right?

Which shows me that, first of all, there is a period here - and - full stop.

But also, when you go to the bottom of your pitch at the end, and you're not

rising again with your pitch, it gives you a sense of certainty and conviction.

'was to be an actress', right?

And she's adding a little bit of passion into her voice to emphasize

how important that was for her.

Right?

And again, like, I want you to think of your voice as such a versatile

tool that you can use, not just in one way, but you can actually

explore it in so many different ways.

And again, it's not because she's on a TED stage that she's doing it.

The reason why she's doing it is because she is bringing her words to life.

And this is something that I'm doing right now, as I'm speaking with you,

trying to convince you why it's so important to use your voice and to

have that freedom, and to give yourself this opportunity to express yourself

more than, you know, the bare minimum.

But also again, I think it enhances your experience as a listener when

you pay attention to those nuances and you understand more about the texts.

It's kind of like having an additional reference to the text.

And I think it enhances your experience as a communicator as well.

Let's continue.

"And it's true that I never saw anyone who looked like me in

television or in films, and sure, my family and friends and teachers

all constantly warned me that people like me didn't make it in Hollywood."

So what happens here?

Notice that something happened to her voice.

Notice how she goes up in pitch all of a sudden, her placement changes.

It's kind of like her attitude from being this convicted, you know,

passionate speaker to, "Um, yeah, you know", like you go up in pitch when

something is a little uncertain or maybe it's a little less important.

Or maybe, "Yeah, I didn't pay attention to it."

Right?

So we change the voice in accordance to what we're saying.

So here she's saying something like, "Yeah, I saw the

reality, but I didn't care."

Right?

So let's listen to it again, a little more closely.

"And it's true that I never saw anyone who looked like me in television or in film."

'And it's true that I never saw anyone who looked like me in television or in film'.

Right?

'true', 'never', 'anyone', 'looked like me', 'television', 'film'

- these are the operative words.

So when you're practicing it, pay attention to that, you're kind

of like punching those words.

Now again, we're using that higher placement, that head voice.

And by the way, this is a good example of why English doesn't have a particular

placement, right, if you're trying to go lower in pitch to sound more American.

No, because placement keeps changing based on what it is that you're saying,

whether you're a man or a woman.

And this is exactly what she's doing here, going up in pitch.

'And it's true that I never saw anyone who looked like me in television or in film'.

"Sure, my family and friends and teachers all constantly warned me."

So what happens here?

What is the word that she's emphasizing?

"Sure, my family and friends and teachers all constantly warned me."

'And it's true that my family and my friends and teachers

constantly warned me.' Right?

'constantly' - three syllables.

She's like chewing on every single syllable here.

Because she wants to emphasize the fact that people kept

telling her, "Don't do it.

It's not possible.

It's not going to work for you."

"People like me didn't make it in Hollywood."

So pay attention to the words that people emphasize and pay attention

to the words that you emphasize.

Right?

And how does she do it?

She goes higher in pitch.

Listen again.

"Sure, my family and friends and teachers all constantly warned me that people

like me didn't make it in Hollywood."

'that people like me' - pause - 'didn't make it to Hollywood'.

Right?

And then she goes back to her low pitch, like from that, "Yeah, yeah, yeah,

you know, like this is not possible.

And actually, wait a minute, they didn't make it to Hollywood."

Right?

So here, she's closing again with that rising-falling intonation,

and going all the way down in her pitch on the word 'Hollywood'.

'Didn't make it to Hollywood'.

ta-da-TA-ta ta-TA-da-ta.

Right?

Pay attention to the rhythm, it keeps changing.

It's like drums or, you know, jazz music.

You keep hearing the changing sounds or the changing rhythm.

'Didn't make it to Hollywood'.

"But I was an American."

'But I was an American'.

Listen to what happens to her voice here.

All of a sudden, it becomes this really passionate, you know, enthusiastic

voice with more air, right, what makes this tone of voice sound enthusiastic.

All of a sudden, there is a lot of air, right?

It's a little breathy or raspy even: 'But I was an American'.

Right?

'I', 'American'.

'I, American', right?

That's the key point.

In America everything's possible.

'But I was an American'.

"I had been taught to believe that anyone could achieve anything

regardless of the color of their skin."

Now she's bringing it home.

She's really talking about her aspirations.

And let's pay attention to what she's stressing here.

'I have been taught to believe that anyone could achieve anything', right?

'anyone', 'anything'.

The American dream, right?

Anyone could achieve anything.

And there's like this gradual escalation in her pitch.

'regardless', until she gets to that next operative word.

'regardless', that's even higher in pitch.

'of the color of their skin', right?

'color', 'skin'.

So, we really want to pay attention to what words stick out.

So let's do it again.

'I had been taught to believe that anyone could achieve anything

regardless of the color of their skin'.

"The fact that my parents immigrated from Honduras, the fact that I had no money".

'The fact that my parents immigrated from Honduras'.

Right?

'fact', 'parents', 'immigrated': key words.

'The fact that I had' - pause - 'no money'.

'The fact that I had' - again, notice how parts that are repetitive or

kind of like swallowed and reduced.

'The fact that I had' - pause - 'no money' - stress, stress.

She's emphasizing each word here because she is not trying to downplay it.

She really wants to say that, you know, "I had been taught to

believe that I get a fair chance.

I can succeed, even though I didn't have any money growing up."

"I didn't need my dream to be easy, I just needed it to be possible."

Now, listen to this beautiful sentence.

'I didn't need my dream to be easy'.

And again, she's slowing down here, she's going to this lower placement, right?

More conviction, more certainty.

'I didn't need my dream to be easy'.

Right?

Because again, it doesn't matter how hard you work.

If it's not possible, then what's the point?

This is why she needed it to be possible.

So, again, there was this pause before the main point, before the key point here.

'I didn't need my dream to be easy'.

Pause.

'I needed it to be possible'.

So let's try it again, one more time.

"I didn't need my dream to be easy, I just needed it to be possible."

'I didn't need my dream to be easy, I just needed it to be possible'.

So when you're repeating it, I want you to be close attention to

the rhythm and the stressed words.

Okay?

And that is the thing about intentional practice.

And that is the thing about improving your speaking skills.

Because first, you need to hear the differences or you need to

perceive those nuances in the speech.

Because if you can't hear it, you can't make it.

And then you want to repeat it with intention.

So you're not going back to old habits.

Old habits would keep you safe.

You would probably do the bare minimum, you would probably not

emphasize the words the way they're used to be emphasized in English.

Now, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you're speaking a different language,

then you want to understand what are the elements in that language that make your

speech more impactful and convincing, and persuasive, and passionate, and compelling

- all of these great adjectives.

Right?

So, you want to understand what gets you to feel things or what

gets you to think about things.

And then gradually start using it when you are speaking.

So, one of the things that we've seen here in this small part of the

talk is the use of operative words.

Right?

The key words that drive the meaning forward, or at least, they

indicate the attitude of the speaker about what she's speaking about.

The second thing is pitch and placement, right?

When we're using lower pitch, it shows more conviction and certainty and

like serious talk, maybe direct talk.

And sometimes, when we use our head voice, it's just like we're

telling a story or it's kinda like a part of what we're trying to

say, but it's not the real thing.

We also noticed how pauses are used to help us get to the main point and

create anticipation when we're speaking.

And usually, we use pauses before, you know, getting to the

main operative word or the most important part in the sentence.

And also, we noticed how the rhythm keeps changing, and how that keeps

the conversation interesting and in motion, and not monotone and repetitive.

I have created for you a PDF with the script and intonation notes.

So, I marked the stressed words and the reduced words, and organized

it in a way that would be easy for you to practice it effectively.

So if you want, it's totally free.

You can click the link and download it.

And I also included a part from the end that I think is extremely powerful.

We didn't get to do it today.

So, I recommend for you to download it and even memorize it, and think about

the words that she's saying there.

Cause I think that especially for speakers of English as a second language,

understanding that who you are and your identity is indeed your superpower.

And your story is so important, even if you don't sound like

what power sounds like, right?

Like what people on YouTube or in Hollywood or on TV

or in the news sound like.

It doesn't mean that you're less worthy, it doesn't mean that your

voice doesn't deserve to be heard.

And I want to encourage you to understand that your story is important.

And again, your identity is your superpower.

So, once you download the PDF and practice it a bit, I highly encourage

you to send me a message on Instagram at @hadar.accentsway and share with me what

you think and how that made you feel.

And if you're really courageous, then you can post it to your stories

and tag me, so I can see it and even share it on my stories as well.

Okay, that's it.

You can download the PDF right below this video.

And if you want more resources and practice your intonation even more, go

check out my website at hadarshemesh.com.

It has a ton of resources for you to get started and improve your

communication skills in English.

Have a beautiful day.

And I'll see you next week in the next video.

Bye.