BEST WAY To Understand Native English Speakers (especially when they speak REALLY FAST)

Welcome back to JForrest English.

I'm Jennifer.

And today you're going to improve  your listening skills of fast English.

And we're going to do this  as a listening exercise.

So you're going to test your ability to  understand fastpaced native English speakers,  

and then improve your pronunciation and  expand your vocabulary at the same time.

Let's get started.

Here are your instructions for the entire video.

First, 1st, I'm going to say  a sentence three times and  

you need to write down exactly  what you hear in the comments.

Next, you can review what I said and you  can learn the pronunciation changes that  

take place in a fast speech, and you  can learn the expressions that I used.

Are you ready?

Let's get started with your  first listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

I can't believe she sprung that on me.

I can't believe she sprung that on me.

I can't believe she sprung that on me, I said.

I can't believe she sprung that  on me for this listening exercise.

I don't think the pronunciation  is difficult to understand,  

but you have to know this expression and  understand what this expression means.

So the expression I used is to  spring something on someone.

I can't believe she sprung.

Sprung is the past simple of  the verb spring to spring.

Sprung, she sprung that  that is the something on me.

When you spring something on someone,  

you suddenly ask or tell someone  something that they weren't expecting.

So let's say there is a presentation taking  place one hour from right now, and my coworker  

was supposed to do this presentation, but  just now, one hour before the presentation,  

my boss says, oh, by the way, Jennifer, I  want you to do the presentation in one hour.

And I'm not prepared for this at all.

I wasn't expecting it.

Then I can say I can't  believe she sprung that on me.

And that represents that I have to give the  presentation in one hour our next listening test.

I'll say it three times.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

I said it's supposed to rain on and off today.

First, let's talk about pronunciation  here we have a contraction.

It's it's it's supposed to.

It's as a contraction.

Represents it is.

It's.

It's supposed to.

Now, notice here, supposed to  suppose it's spelled with an Ed.

It's an Ed verb, but you don't hear it at all.

It's supposed to, supposed to, supposed to,  

but it's always spelled with an Ed verb  when the expression is to be, supposed to.

Now many students forget the  verb to be in this expression.

Don't forget the verb to be.

It's grammatically incorrect.

It's It is supposed to.

I was supposed to.

She is supposed to.

We are supposed to.

Don't forget that verb to be  and conjugate your verb to be.

It's supposed to rain on and off, on and off.

Notice here the and you don't hear it at all.

It sounds just like a on, off, on, off, on, off.

And then you combine that  together on and off, on and off.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

When something happens on and off, it means it  only happens some of the time of a total time.

So in our expression, the total time is today.

But if I say it's supposed  to rain on and off today,  

I know that it is not going to rain the total  time, but it is going to rain some of the time.

And I don't know when it's going to rain.

So it might rain for one hour, stop  for three hours, rain for two hours,  

stop for one hour, rain for  two hours and then stop again.

That would be on and off.

We commonly use this expression with rain  because rain frequently happens on and off.

It doesn't happen for the  total time of a timeline,  

but we can also use this expression  for other activities as well.

For example, I worked as a waitress on and off  when I was a student, so I have the total time.

I was a student for years  and I worked as a waitress.

But if I say on and off, it means that I did  

not work as a waitress the  entire time I was a student.

So four years perhaps.

I worked for four months during  the summer and then I didn't work.

I focused on school and then maybe I  worked for two months and then I stopped.

I worked again for six months, and then I stopped.

I worked as a waitress on and  off our next listening test.

I'll say it three times.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I said I got the gist of it here.

Let's talk about how gist of it the sounds  are combined, the sounds are linked together  

and this sounds like gist of it.

So I take the last sound on a  word and I transfer it to the  

next sound to help me combine the sounds together.

Gist of it, Gist of it, Gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

What does this mean?

Well, the gist of something  is the main idea of something.

So if you say I got the gist of it here.

The verb get means understand.

I understand, or in the past I  understood the main idea of it.

But when you say I get the gist of it or  I got the gist of it, you're letting the  

person know that you understand the  main idea, but you don't necessarily  

understand all the smaller details or all the  details, you just understand the main idea.

For example, her lecture was  complicated, but I got the gist of it,  

so perhaps you're learning something  new and for you it's complicated.

For me, something complicated would  be to do with math or science.

So if I went to a physics lecture or  a quantum mechanics lecture, maybe I  

understand the overall idea of the lecture, but  I don't really understand all the small details.

I just have an overall  understanding of the main idea.

I got the gist of it.

Are you ready for your next listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

I said just a heads up that I'm  running late for pronunciation.

Let's talk about heads up, how it combines  and links together, heads up, heads up.

So notice that as on heads, when I  combine it with my vowel sound in up,  

I use A to combine that together and it  sounds like one word heads up, heads up,  

heads up, just a heads up that I'm running late.

When you give someone a heads up,  so the expression just a heads up,  

This is used to give someone  advanced warning of something.

So I'm letting the person know in advance that  I'm going to be late, and you use the expression  

heads up to identify that you're giving  a warning and the expression to run late.

This is what native speakers use when we're late.

So to be late, we're going to be late.

You can use run late, and we commonly  use this in the present continuous.

I'm running late.

Right now I'm running late, which means I  am late and therefore I'm going to be late  

for my next appointment, which is likely with  you and that's why I'm giving you a heads up.

A native speaker would commonly  send a quick text message to a  

coworker or their boss and say heads  up running late, stuck in traffic.

So I say, heads up letting  you know it's advance warning.

Running late.

This is just the essential information.

Running late and then stuck in traffic.

That's the reason why I'm running late.

And now you know I'm not going to be at our  scheduled meeting because I'm running late.

Are you ready for your last listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

I said, Here's my quick take on it.

Let's talk about how this sounds  combined for the three words.

Take on it and it sounds like one word.

Take on it.

Take on it.

But you have to combine those sounds together.

Take on it.

Take on it.

So that's how we transfer sounds.

We link the sounds together so three  individual words can sound like one word.

Take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Now, one's take on something.

My take on it this is simply one's  opinion or idea on something specific.

This is commonly used to ask someone's opinion  when you're discussing something specific.

For example, what's your take on the company's  decision to pay for language classes?

So let's say your company decided  to pay for your language classes.

That's amazing, right?

So that's the IT.

What's your take on it?

the IT is the company's decision  to pay for language classes.

What's your take on it?

I'm asking you what's your  opinion on this initiative?

To answer, you can simply state your opinion.

I think it's an amazing idea.

So now I want you to practice,  practice, practice pronunciation.

So you can really get comfortable with moving your  mouth and producing these sounds at a faster pace.

So let's do an imitation exercise.

I am going to say each sentence  again three times, and I want you  

to repeat it out loud and try to get your  pronunciation as close to mine as possible.

I can't believe she's sprung him out on me.

I can't believe she's sprung him out on me.

I can't believe she's sprung him out on me.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

It's supposed to rain on and off today.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

I got the gist of it.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Just a heads up that I'm running late.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Here's my quick take on it.

Amazing job.

Keep practicing and you're going to  improve your listening skills of fast  

English and start sounding like  a native English speaker as well.

Did you enjoy this lesson?

Do you want me to make more  lessons just like this one?

If so, put Yes, yes, Yes in the comments So I  know you enjoyed this lesson and you can get  

this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips on  how to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And why don't you get started  with your next lesson right now?