One HACK to Understand FAST English

- How can you understand native speakers

when they speak so fast in everyday conversations and films?

Let's find out with this one simple hack.

(bright upbeat music)

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and this YouTube channel, English Speaking Success.

Here to help you develop your English speaking skills

so you can become a confident speaker of English.

Now, you know, many students

struggle to understand native speakers of English.

Just gimme a call anytime to FaceTime (indistinct)

we'll sort into a text, alright?

And I feel for them

because they've taken time to learn English,

to build their knowledge of English,

and they've done lots of reading

and built up their vocabulary.

But when it comes to understanding native speakers,

they still find it difficult.

Maybe this is you.

One of the reasons you may still find it difficult

is possibly because you think native speakers

pronounce words one by one.

Or that they pronounce them the way that they're written.

However, some advanced students

who fully understand native speakers,

they know that this is not true.

There is one simple hack

that they understand and practice,

and now you can, too. (laughs)

The hack is understanding

that advanced or native speakers of English contract words.

And if you can master recognizing

the most common contractions,

this will take your listening skills

up to a whole new level.

So, in this video, I will test your listening skills

and I'll show you

how some of the most common contractions work,

so that you can recognize them

and improve your listening skills.

Oh, and at the end of the video,

I'll also give you some tips

about how you can actually implement this

in your everyday listening skills.

Okay, sound good? Let's do it.

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Oh, and just to let you know,

there is a PDF of all of this information

that you can download for free.

Just click on the link in the description below, okay.

Sound good? Let's do it.

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Okay, so to contract.

Contract as a verb, right?

Not contract, which is a noun, like a work contract.

To contract means to make smaller.

So, in spoken English, this is where two words become one.

Smaller, right?

And as we're talking about listening skills,

more importantly, the two words become one sound.

One sound.

And it's really important

to learn how to hear these sounds

and to know what they mean when you hear them.

So, let's go through four or five of the most common ones.

What we'll do is I will say the sound,

and I want you to write down

or imagine in your head what are the two words.

If you have pen and paper, you can write it down.

Pen and paper, what century do you live in, Keith?

(Keith laughs)

Okay, are you ready?

The first one, aren't.

Aren't.

Okay.

And this is the contraction of are not.

Are not, aren't.

A lot of my Spanish friends here,

even though they know the contraction,

they say aren't, aren't, with that re, aren't.

But look at the phonetics,

it's ant, ant.

It's a bit like arm, arm.

But change the M for a nuh.

Arn.

Arn.

Aren't.

And you can put the T on the end.

Aren't.

What's interesting is most of the time

actually that T disappears, we drop the T sound.

So it's arn, arn, okay.

Are not, for example, they aren't coming.

Actually, we say they aren't coming.

They aren't coming, aren't coming.

The T becomes a glottal stop.

Aren't coming.

But when you hear that, they aren't coming.

Aren't (chuckles) with a nuh.

They aren't coming.

You know, that it's are not.

Okay? They aren't coming.

The T will be pronounced

particularly if the next word begins with a vowel

or a vowel sound.

For example, I'm late aren't I?

Aren't I?

Interesting, the I am in the question tag is aren't I.

I'm late, aren't I?

You can hear that linking there.

Okay, that's the first one.

Number two.

She's.

She's.

Okay, this is, she is.

Or she has.

Both of them are she's.

Actually, it can also be she's.

It can be a E or a ee.

You can see in the phonetics it can be shiz or she's.

Both of them are used.

Probably shiz is more common, I think,

'cause it's more commonly not stressed.

So, this can be she is, or she has.

For example, she's angry.

Can you hear the she's?

She's, she's angry.

She's angry.

Bit like shazam.

She's angry.

As has, she's got blue eyes.

She's got blue eyes.

She's, she's, she's got blue eyes.

You can hear that shiz, shiz sound, right?

That's the sound you want to be looking for.

Forget about, she has, forget it.

She's.

She's got blue eyes. Okay?

Now, interestingly, it's the same with he is or he has.

He's.

He's.

He's angry.

He's got blue eyes.

Even more interesting is with he,

we actually often drop the huh.

The H sound.

So, it's not even his,

it's iz, iz, he's angry.

He's got blue eyes.

He's angry.

He's angry. He's got blue eyes.

Can you hear the iz sound?

And when you start changing your mindset

about he is to iz, iz,

then you're gonna start improving your listening skills.

Great, next one. Ready?

I'll.

I'll.

So this is, I will.

I'll.

Sometimes it's made even shorter.

I'll.

I'll.

So, instead of I will help you.

You may hear, I'll help you.

I'll, I'll help you.

Can you hear? I'll help you.

I'll help you.

Okay, great.

Notice I will not,

also has a contraction.

I won't.

Won't.

I won't.

And again, that T sound we often drop

unless it's followed by a vowel.

So, I won't help you.

I won't help you.

Can you hear?

Won't, won't, won't.

I won't help you.

I won't help you.

Or it sometimes links if it's followed by a vowel.

So you may get, he won't arrive on time.

He won't arrive on time.

He won't arrive on time.

Great, start listening to these sounds,

and you're on the way.

Let's do number four.

Didn't.

Didn't.

Didn't.

Didn't.

It's like ASMR.

Didn't.

And this is, did not.

Didn't.

The sound, right, is didn't.

Didn't, it did...

It's like the D, D, D, D.

Sometimes you hear the D like dig or dip, D, D.

And then the second sound is dun.

Sometimes the magicians go, dun, dun, dun.

Dun.

D, dun.

You've got the D and the dun, dun, dun, dun.

Didn't. Didn't.

Hear, didn't.

Right? That's it.

He didn't come.

He didn't come. He didn't come.

You can hear the didn't.

So, instead of listening for he did not come,

mm, he didn't come.

Oh, they didn't, didn't.

Din, dun, dun.

Didn't. Didn't.

That's it.

He didn't come.

Again, that T sound is dropped unless there's a vowel sound.

So, you may get the link

if you get, he didn't open my letter.

He didn't open my letter.

There you've got the didn't open.

He didn't open my letter.

Right.

Great. Now, in a similar way,

you've got, couldn't.

Could not, couldn't.

Should not is shouldn't.

Would not, wouldn't.

Right.

I shouldn't go.

I couldn't go.

I wouldn't go if I were you.

So start listening for that sound.

The didn't, couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

Remember the magician?

That's it, great.

So there you have a bunch of the most common contractions.

Start listening for those sounds,

and you're well on the way

to leveling up your listening skills.

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Okay, and some tips here

just to help you implement or practice this, right?

The first thing is about subtitles.

So, if you're watching films or series on Netflix,

and you want to develop your listening skills,

take away the subtitles, turn them off, don't watch them.

'Cause if you have subtitles, you will read.

Now that can be good for vocabulary

and picking up new words,

but if you want to develop listening skills, take them away.

Not even in your own language.

'Cause that will develop your translation skills.

Nothing.

Now, if you're a beginner,

sometimes you may want subtitles to help you.

It's a support.

But make sure sometimes you're watching without subtitles.

Right?

That's really the only way

you'll develop your listening skills.

And I know if you're watching like drama and action films,

sometimes they speak very loud and sometimes

(faintly speaks) the voice drops and you're like,

"Oh, what did he say? Turn on the subtitles."

I get that, sometimes.

The other interesting thing

is we've looked at contractions today

and these are the small words.

But I also know that you're listening sometimes

is difficult 'cause of your vocabulary.

You lack vocabulary.

The big words, right?

So, all the time you want to be building up your vocabulary

over time on a wide range of topics.

So, don't always watch the same action movies

if you like that.

Make sure you're watching other things,

documentaries, history, geography, politics, the news,

to build up your vocabulary.

'Cause that is key to get those big words.

(Keith laughing)

Big words.

As opposed to the little words,

which are the contractions, right?

The aren't, wouldn't, didn't.

Things like that. Great.

Those are my tips.

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So, I hope now after this video,

you will be able to start noticing these sounds,

these contractions,

when you're listening to English.

Remember, if you want to download the PDF

that has a summary of this lesson,

you can, just click on the link down below.

And remember, the secret is in the practice.

Listen, notice, listen, notice, as much as you can.

And if you're ready

to take your learning even a step further,

then you may be interested in my gold course.

IELTS Speaking Gold.

It's a course to help students prepare for IELTS

but develop their speaking skills overall.

So you can become a more confident speaker of English.

There's a link down below with a very nice discount

for the YouTube fans.

Listen, thank you so much for watching me today

and for learning with me.

I hope you've learned something new.

If you like the video, give me a like,

subscribe, turn on notifications

and I'll see you maybe in the course,

maybe in the next video.

Take care, my friend.

Bye-bye.

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