A Secret Way How to Understand and Speak English like an American

GNE 9: "A Secret Way How to Understand and Speak

English like an American" Gabby: Hey, guys!

I'm Gabby Wallace and this is a Go Natural English lesson.

One of my viewers asked a question about American English pronunciation.

And I'm happy to answer.

You know, English, and especially American English, is really interesting.

Because the way that we speak can be different than the way you might think we're going to

speak, based off of how you read the words or how you learn how each sound sounds individually.

But then, when we put sounds together, in words, in phrases, they change a lot.

So, in this video, you're going to understand, finally, how to understand one specific sound

and how to say or how to make one specific sound, which is the "T" sound in English.

Now, my viewer said, "I noticed that when you have words with "T" in the middle, they

change to a "D" sound.

And that makes it really difficult to understand."

Movies, American movies or conversations with fluent English speakers or American English

speakers, it's true.

Whenever you have a "T" in the middle of a word surrounded by two nouns, it changes to

a "D" sound.

Here are some examples: "I'd like a cup of water.", "I'd like a glass of water."

Do you notice that I don't say it "wa-ter"?

I say "wa-der".

Okay?

If you're speaking with someone who is from the UK or perhaps another English speaking

country, they may say "wa-ter".

But Americans or North Americans, will say "wa-der".

"Wa-der".

Can you say it?

(pause).

Sounds good.

Alright.

So, another example is "butter".

"I'd like some butter on my toast."

So, butter has two "Ts" but it doesn't matter.

It's between two vowels.

So, those vowels soften that "T" sound so it becomes "D".

So, again, "butter".

(pause) Alright.

Nice.

Another word, another food word that you may hear at a restaurant or you may want to use

at a restaurant, it's a food I like very much is "tomato".

Okay.

If you're speaking with someone from the UK, they may say "to-mah-to", but Americans will

say "to-may-doh".

Not only is the "A" sound different, but that "T" sound in the middle is different, "to-may-doh",

"to-may-doh".

Do you hear how soft that sound is?

It's not "to-may-to", it's "to-may-doh".

Okay, so if you want to understand Americans, you have to understand that these sounds change.

Finally, another word that is not food related, but you'll hear quite often is "matter", or

"mat-ter".

But that's not how we say it in North America.

We say it "ma-der".

"What's the matter?" is "What's wrong?"

So let me hear you say it, "What's the matter?"

(pause).

Okay.

Or "It doesn't matter", "It doesn't matter to me" means "I don't care", "It's not important".

So let me hear you say it, "It doesn't matter".

(pause).

All right, very nice.

So, these are just four examples of words with "T" in the middle of two vowels.

And the "T" changes into a "D" sound.

So, again, and you can repeat after me if you like: "water" (pause), "butter" (pause),

"tomato" (pause), "matter" (pause).

All right, very nice.

So, I hope that this helps your understanding of American movies, American people, American

conversations or North American, I should say.

I have to include Canadian friends.

So, please remember this as you're listening and you'll be able to understand a lot better

with more confidence and understanding of native fluent English speakers.

Thanks so much for watching.

If you come visit me at gonaturalenglish.com, you can come get a free e-book that will help

you to learn more English.

So, I hope to see you there.

Bye for now.

************************************************************************ Thank you for being a wonderful part of the

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Go Natural English Your Notes: Gabby Wallace, M.Ed TESOL

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