Tips for Speaking English Fast

HI I'm Jennifer, certified English teacher and communication's expert. In today's video,

I'm going to share 3 tips on how to speak English fast. At the end of the video, I'll

share with you a bonus tip, that will help you sound very natural. Alright, let's get

started.

Tip 1 Don't speak English fast

Ok, so, I don't want your goal to be speaking English fast. The reason is, a lot of students

mistake fast and natural. Students think English speakers speak fast, because to them it is

fast. Because they don't understand the language as well. So when they watch a movie it sounds

so fast. But honestly, for English speakers, it isn't fast. It's a natural pace. Your goal

is to speak English naturally. Because speaking English fast is actually not a good quality,

from a communications perspective. The reason why it sounds fast is because English speakers

don't put pauses between our words. Pausing makes you sound unnatural, and it also slows

you down. So right now I want that to be your goal. Eliminate your pauses, speak at a natural

pace.

Tip 2 Understand Linking

I just told you about reducing pauses to increase the speed. Another thing that English speakers

always do, which might be a more difficult concept for you to understand, is linking.

We link our sounds together. And often through linking we change pronunciation. And we change

it so we're able to say the sentence smoother. And because of that it comes out faster. So

a student is often taking longer to say the same sentence because their sentence is this

long when you include the pauses and the fact they're not using reductions and linking.

Whereas an English speaker, although they're saying the exact same words, it's this long.

Because of taking away the pauses and reducing sounds and linking. So really, it's not that

we're speaking faster. We're actually saying words. And we're saying less words because

we combine them. So let me give you an example. Here's a sentence I'm going to say very slowly,

unnaturally. Thank you, but I bought a black car. So with this sentence, I paused between

every word and I didn't link my sounds. So every word was said individually. Now, listen

to me say this naturally. Thank you but I bought a black car. Let's look at what happens.

So for linking, we have, thank you. But what I do is I transfer that sound to the next

word and I'm actually saying than kew. Than kew. Than kew. K repeat. Than kew. Good. Now,

the reason I do that is because it allows me to eliminate the pause. Because the k is

a hard sound and it forces me to take a breath of air. So to change that, I transfer the

sound to the next word and I say than kew. Because now I'm able to say it as one word.

Than kew. Than kew but I. Hum, but I. So here, I'm not saying But I. Bu dye. Bu dye. So I'm

transferring this t sound onto the next word. Now you'll notice I'm saying it as a soft

d because that's American pronunciation. Bu dye. Bu dye. Ok, good. Bought a. Here, I

just make this one sound. Boughta. Boughta. Ok, so now we have than kew bu dye boughta

black car. So here we have a sound that ends in a k, but the next word starts in a k. So

because of this I just eliminiate one of the K sounds, and I use it to link these two words

together. So I take bla car. Bla. So actually I'm not saying black. I'm changing this to

bla. Bla. Which isn't a word. But I ssay it quickly and I combine it with car so you hear

the K on car, you hear it for both. Bla car. Bla car. Bla car. Now it only works if you

say it as one word. If I say bla car with a pause, it doesn't work. Ok, so all together,

than kew bu dye boughta blacar.

Tip 3 Practice Slow and Increase Speed Naturally

So let's take the sentence we were using before. When you're practicing this, start slow. So

the way I said it, thank you but I bought a. But I bought a. That's probably too fast

right now. And that's ok. You can practice with a but I bought a. Practice slow. But

I bought a. But I bought a. Now say that maybe 5 times. Maybe 10 times. Say it as much as

you need to feel comfortable with the sound. And once you're comfortable, speed it up just

a little bit. But I bought a. But I bought a. Now say that 5 or 10 times until you're

comfortable with it. And then speed it up. But I bought a. But I bought a. And your goal

is to gradually increase the speed until it sounds natural. But remember, your goal is

not to say it quickly. The second you say it too fast and you lose clarity, so the person

can't understand you, then you need to slow it down. But I bought a. That's too fast.

I would not be able to understand that. So your goal isn't fast, your goal is natural.

Bonus Tip Use Contractions

This is an area I find even my advanced students don't do this. They don't use contractions.

But again, let's take the sentence I will see you later. Ok. So all of a sudden you

have I will. But I as an English speaker would not say I will. I would say I'll see you.

I'll. I'll. Notice how I'm actually saying I'll, which is the unstressed pronunciation.

The stressed pronunciation would be I'll. But naturally I just say I'll. I'll. I'll

see you later. So because of this I am able to say the sentence faster because you're

saying I will and I'm saying I'll. So I'm saying it a second faster because I'm only

saying one sound and you're saying two sounds. So contractions are a great way to reduce

your sounds and sound extremely natural in English. So there you go. Don't speak English

fast. Speak it naturally but clearly. Use linking to reduce your sounds. And practice

slow and increase your speed naturally and of course use contractions to make those sounds

even smaller.

Let me know in the comments, what do you find most difficult about speaking English fast.

I'd love to hear it.

Thank you so much for watching. If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button,

share it with your friends, and of course subscribe. And until next time, happy studying.