Better Speaking Podcast 🗨️🗣️ How to sound more fluent

I used to play, like, when I was, I don't know, like 10 or 11,

I used to play against the wall, and I was  

playing against her. You know, I don't have anything to lose.

I just have to try to play loose and see  

what happen out there.

Former Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, using English to talk about  

childhood dreams of becoming a tennis champion.

And also in the program, Richard Hallows will be 

with me again, to look at what makes Conchita

such an effective user of English as an international language.

Richard will also be giving us some  more advice on becoming better speakers.

Conchita Martinez is from Spain, but when she became an international 

tennis star, she needed to speak English.

In this clip, she remembers how, as a young girl, she practised tennis by hitting a ball  

up against the wall, and she imagined she was playing against famous tennis stars.  

Players like Martina Navratilova. In 1994, her dream came true, and she faced her childhood heroine  

Martina Navratilova, at Wimbledon, in the women's final. Conchita spoke to the international press  

before the match.

I used to play, like, when I was, I don't know, like 10 or 11, I used to play against  

the wall and I was playing against her, you know, I don't have anything to lose,

I just have to try to play loose and see what happen out there.

Conchita speaks English very well, but what's  

she doing that makes her such a good communicator in English?

What's her secret to better speaking?  

And with me again in the studio is teacher and teacher trainer Richard Hallows. 

Hello Richard.

Hello Callum.

Before we hear some advice from Richard, let's listen again to  

Conchita Martinez.

I used to play, like, when I was, I don't know, like 10 or 11, I used to play  

against the wall, and I was playing against her. You know, I don't have anything to lose,

I just have to try to play loose and see what happen out there.

So not a very clear recording, er, there, Richard, I apologise for that,

but is she a clear speaker?

I think Conchita, I think she obviously she speaks quite well,

but I think she sounds better because she has certain kind of tricks that she uses.

Tricks. What  do you mean by that?

She uses lots of fillers and hesitation devices. Well, for example, when  

she's speaking she says 'like' quite a lot, and um , 'er' quite a lot, and 'you know'.

Now these words don't have any meaning in themselves,

but they're very useful to make yourself sound more fluent,

um, and confident.

So, um, if you're speaking and, um, you want to, um, give the, um, impression that  

you're fluent, do you use these things like 'er' and 'um 'and that kind?

Obviously, you're exaggerating,

you're making that you're using this  quite a lot. If you use these fillers,

hesitation devices, too much, it can actually sound quite irritating.

Right, so they are good things to  

use to make you sound natural, but don't overdo it.

Not too much.

I used to play, like, when I was, I don't know,

like 10 or 11, I used to play against the wall and I was playing against her.

Um, I think there are some particular places we might think about where you could incorporate  

where you could use this this 'er' sound and think about the the extra sound that it makes.  

Let me, let me give you an example. Maybe that's not very clear. If I'm giving my opinion, for example,

I might use, um, the expression 'I think'. Now, to give myself some time to think about my opinion.

I could say 'I think, er', and there's a very strong 'ker' sound there. Make yourself sound very natural.

Right, so, so you're sort of

linking the words and the ideas together, and that sounds natural unless it's  

giving yourself thinking time.

If I were giving you some advice, maybe I could say 'If I were you, I'd, er,'

and we have that 'der' sound. Very very natural, very confident sounding.

And this sound itself, 'uh'  

is, is, is common in, in many parts of English isn't it?

It's common in many languages, in fact, but not all languages,

but yes, in English, and we use it a lot, um, so Conchita's talking about 'I had to practise,  

you know', 'It was difficult, you know' and this 'you know', it doesn't mean anything, but it just makes her

sound, again, more confident, more fluent.

And again, that 'uh' sound.

What are other examples of where we use this 'uh' sound?

Okay, the 'uh' sound is, um, not the 'er', but the 'uh' is the most common  

sound in English, uh, we use it all the time. If there's one, one sound which, um, people should learn when  

they're speaking English it's this, it's this 'uh' sound. For example, she says 'and I was, like, playing her',  

so instead of saying 'and', she says  'un'. Instead of saying 'was' she says 'wuz',  

and instead of saying 'her' she says 'huh'.

No, is that that lazy speech? Some people might say that's  

not speaking properly.

Er, no, not at all, it's the correct way to speak. If you don't use the 'uh' sound,

you're going to find your speech much slower. It's going to be more difficult because you have  

to pronounce every word very correctly using your mouth, moving your mouth a lot. It's how we speak in English.

So it's a very weak sound which helps you be more, more, more fluent when you're speaking.

Mm. It helps often if you think about when you learn some, a grammar, um, structure, for example, think about when you  

compare two things and we say 'taller than', but when we're speaking very quickly we say 'taller thun', so  

I, I think for example, Callum, I'm, I'm one meter 70, and how tall are you?

Um, I've no idea in the metric,  

I know I'm five foot, five foot eight and a half.

Ok, so I think you're about one seven five or something.

Oh I see, so, so, um, you're taller than I am.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm taller than you.

Okay 'taller thun. taller thun'.

It's, it's, uh, it's not 'taller than', it's 'taller  thun'

Yeah, look how difficult it is to say 'taller than',

when compared to 'taller thun' and it's what people really say: that's the important point.

So apart from this weak sound, this 'uh' sound, any other particular pronunciation points you, er, you would like  

to draw our attention to?   

Yeah, Conchita loses the 't' on the end of some of her words, uh, which again is, is

the correct thing to do in, in certain situations, uh, she says um, 'see what happens out there', not  

'see what happens out there', which is much more difficult to say, so again, by losing certain sounds,

she makes her speech more fluent.

You know I don't have anything to lose, I just have to try to play  

loose and see what happen out there.

So, thank you very much once again Richard Hallows.

Thanks Callum.

Sometimes we use noises, rather than words, to hesitate. Such hesitation  

varies from one language to another. This is what they do in Somali.

'In, in' or 'an, an'.

It's what our people use, so even if they speak in, in different languages, so 'in' or 'an', it's the  

best word for us to feel the hesitations.

As we said, in English, we use the sound 'hmm', or  

'er', but as Richard warned me, if we overuse these sounds we can sound the very opposite of fluent.

So, what else can we say to give ourselves time to think when we're speaking?

Listen to this conversation. A man is asked a question about Shakespeare and his plays. He needs  

a bit of time to think of the answer. What phrases does he use to give himself that time to think?

Are you interested in Shakespeare?

Uh, yeah. Um, yes, I suppose I'm sort of interested.

Um, yup, you know, he's a great playwright, um, yeah, yeah, I suppose I, no, I, I am, I, I am interested.  

That man sounded like he needed time to think, and he used certain phrases to  

give himself time. He certainly uses  'uh'. He also used the phrase 'you know'. 

Another very common spoken English  expression used by that man was 'sort of'. Listen again.

Are you interested in Shakespeare?

Uh, yeah. Um, yes, I suppose I'm sort of interested.

Um, yup, you know, he's a great playwright, um, yeah, yeah, I suppose I, no, I, I am, I, I am interested.  

Now here's another useful tip for giving yourself time when speaking English. If you're asked a  

question, then you can just repeat it before you answer it. This man does something similar. 

He's asked a rather tricky question about men's clothes. What does it mean when a man wears a suit?  

Listen to how he answers this.

And ultimately what do you think the suit represents?

Oh dear.

In your terms, how do you think it defines a person?

Um, I think that the suit can, um, take away,

um, it's a very good question. What  does a suit define? I don't know.

That's another very good way to answer a difficult question, or to give yourself time to think. The man  

said, 'Hmm, that's a very good question', and then he repeated the question. Let's hear it again.  

And ultimately what do you think the suit represents?

Oh dear.

In your terms, how do you think it defines a person?

Um, I think that the suit can, um, take away, um, it's a very good question. What does a suit define? I don't know.

Now before we go today, if you didn't quite catch all of

Richard's better speaking tips, don't  worry: here's a chance to hear them again.

You'll sound more natural and fluent when speaking English, if you use hesitation devices and phrases which

give you time to think: noises like 'mm', phrases like 'you know' and 'sort of'.

When she's speaking, she  

says 'like' quite a lot, and, um, 'er' quite a lot and 'you know'. Now these words don't have any meaning  

in themselves, but they're very useful to make yourself sound more fluent, um, and confident.

Use the hesitation noise 'er' with set  phrases like 'If I were you, I'd um'

If you're asked a question, you can give yourself time to think, by repeating the question or saying  

'That's a good question'.

In your terms, how do you think it defines a person?   

Um, I think that the suit can, um, take away, um, it's a very good question. What does a suit define? I don't know.