Advanced Listening Exercise (How to Understand Native English Speakers FAST)

How well do you understand native  English speakers outside of the  

classroom in the real world  on TV, movies and YouTube?

Well, let's find out, because in this lesson,  

I'm going to test your listening  skills of fast English.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Here's how this lesson will work.

First, I'm going to say a sentence three times,  and I'm going to say it at a natural pace.

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

After I'll explain what I said and I'll  explain the pronunciation changes and the  

advanced expressions and vocabulary that I  used, let's start your first listening test.

I'll say it three times.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

I said parking downtown is such a pain.

First, let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Let's talk about is such a native speakers.

We often combine our words together, which  makes it sound like we're speaking really fast.

So I have is such a, and I  can combine those together.

Is such a, is such a, is such  a, is such a, is such a pain.

Is such a pain.

Is such a pain?

What does it mean to describe something as a pain?

We have a great expression in English  to be a pain in the neck, in the neck,  

and this simply means that  something is very annoying.

In this expression.

Most native speakers will leave out in the  neck and just describe something as a pain,  

and then you can emphasize that by saying  such a pain, which makes it sound stronger.

So in this sentence I'm saying that  parking downtown is very annoying.

Now, we also use this to be a pain.

We use this frequently to describe people.

To say that someone is very annoying.

Maybe a coworker, maybe a relative.

Maybe a friend, a classmate, a roommate.

So let's listen to these clips and notice how  all of these clips are with someone is a pain.

Some mom is such a pain.

Men are such a pain.

She's such a pain.

She's so sad.

Now you might be thinking that studying English  is such a pain, but hopefully my videos help  

you take the annoyance, the frustration  out of it and make it more enjoyable.

If you think that, then put  pain free in the comments.

Put pain free.

If you think that learning English with me is  not a pain pain free, put that in the comments.

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

We had a blast last night.

We had a blast last night.

We had a blast last night.

Did you get this one?

I said.

We had a blast last night.

Notice how had a, sounds like one word.

Had a, had a, we had a, we had A  and noticed how blast and last.

You don't hear the T in them last  last night, but you hear the T in  

night because at the end of a sentence  I'm going to take a pause naturally.

So I can pronounce that because  it forces me to take a pause,  

but I'm already taking a pause  because there's a period.

But in the sentence, if a word ends on T,  

we often don't pronounce it to  avoid having to take that pause.

So instead of blast last night, I can say blast  

last night and either pronounce  it very softly or just not at all.

What does this mean?

Well, a blast that means you  had an enjoyable, exciting time.

So it's another way of  saying you had a great time.

We had a blast at the party, We  had a great time at the party.

If someone asks you how  was the party or any event,  

you can say it was a blast to be a blast  and you're describing the party as a blast.

It was a blast.

Or you can say we had a blast.

So you can use this as to be  a blast or to have a blast.

Oh, yeah.

Had a blast.

Could have had a blast on the Riviera.

You really had a good time, huh?

Yeah, we had a blast.

Let's try another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Thanks for the invite.

Thanks for the invite.

Thanks for the invite.

I said thanks for the invite.

For pronunciation.

Notice that four is an unstressed.

Fur.

Fur, thanks.

Fur.

Thanks.

Fur.

Thanks for the invite, thanks for the invite  and notice how invite the stress is on in.

That's the stress syllable Dada.

Invite, invite thanks for the  invite and that's because in  

this case invite is a noun and that's  why the stress is on the 1st syllable.

Invite is short form for invitation.

Of course you know the noun invitation.

Native speakers, we commonly  reduce this to invite,  

but of course the verb form  to invite already exists.

But notice for the verb, the stressed syllable  is the second syllable da, da, invite, invite.

That's the verb invite invite.

That's the noun.

This isn't an official noun.

It's simply the short form of the word invitation.

But native speakers love using it.

Let's compare these two sentences, one  with the verb and one with the noun.

Thanks for inviting me.

Thanks for the invite.

Both are commonly used by native speakers.

Oh, thanks for inviting me,  but thank you for the invite.

Thanks for the invite, by the way.

Let's try one more listening test.

I'll say it three times.

You got all worked up for nothing.

You got all worked up for nothing.

You got all worked up for nothing.

Did you get this one?

I said you got all worked up for nothing.

Notice how got all the T is between 2 vowels.

So I'll pronounce this as a very soft D,  

but I have to combine them together so  you're going to hear the D on both sounds.

God all God all God all got all work done.

The past simple pronunciation is worked.

Notice that T worked, but when I  combine it with work top worked up.

I'm going to link these together and you're going  

to hear that T in front of up  work top, work top 4, nothing.

We already talked about  four fur and unstressed fur.

Fur.

And notice how I dropped that G sound at  the end of nothing and I said nothing.

For nothing.

For nothing.

This isn't a requirement.

I could say for nothing, and I commonly do.

I use both equally for nothing, for nothing.

Now let's talk about what this  means to get or be worked up.

This is when you're either very upset  or very excited about something.

So it could be for a negative  emotion or a positive emotion,  

but it's important that it's a strong  negative or positive emotion and for nothing.

This means for no reason.

So you became very upset or you became  very excited for no reason for nothing.

Let's talk about the more negative emotion.

Let's say you heard a rumor at your  company that they were going to fire  

everyone because the company was going bankrupt.

And you get all worked up, you get really angry  and upset and you have this strong emotion.

But I tell you that you shouldn't listen  to a rumor, that it's probably nothing.

And then you find out that in fact the  company is not in financial trouble.

So then I could say, see, I told you,  you got all worked up for nothing.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so  you can practice these pronunciation  

changes and you can practice  speaking at a faster pace.

I'm going to say each sentence again  three times, and I want you to repeat  

each sentence out loud and imitate my  pronunciation as closely as possible.

Let's start this now.

Here's the first sentence.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

Parking downtown is such a pain.

We had a blast last night.

We had a blast last night.

We had a blast last night.

Thanks for the invite.

Thanks for the invite.

Thanks for the invite.

You got all worked up for nothing.

You got all worked up for nothing.

You got all worked up for nothing.

So did you enjoy this lesson?

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

If you do, then put had a blast.

Had a blast in the comments, so I know you had  a blast, which means you had an enjoyable time.

You had an exciting time.

Put had a blast in the comments.

And of course, make sure you like this video,  

Share it with your friends and subscribe so  you're notified every time I post a new 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 keep improving your  listening skills with this video right now?