Day 12 - Reducing IS, OF - Understanding Fast Speech in English

Hi. It's Day 12.

チャレンジ12日目です

You know what's one of the harder things to hear?

リスニングがとても難しいものに 短縮形があります

It's a word that's part of a contraction.

Like the verb IS.

たとえば「is」

We'll talk about IS and OF in this lesson.

今回のレッスンは 「is」と「of」についてです

IS, as you know, often contracts to a single letter: 'S.

「is」はよく 「's」に短縮されますよね

You heard a few examples earlier.

私がすでに言ったのは what's / it's / that's

what's / it's / that's

It's quick and it's quiet.

速くて弱い音ですが

But you need to hear it in order to understand what someone's saying.

相手の話を理解するには 聞き取りが必要です

OR...what someone is saying.

「someone's」は 聞き取れましたか？

As you heard, these contractions with IS are not always written.

短縮された「is」の 聞き取りは簡単ではありません

Look at these sentences.

例文を見てください

Does each apostrophe + S stand for "is"?

すべての「's」が 「is」の短縮形でしょうか？

No.

違いますね

Take a look.

確認しましょう

"Nick's dad" ...that's a possessive form. His dad.

「Nick's dad」は his dad を表す所有格で

"It has been"...is the present perfect.

「it's been」は現在完了です

But in fast speech I'll use apostrophe + S

しかし速い会話では すべて「's」の形で話されます

in each of these sentences. Listen.

聞いてください

So your ear needs to recognize

「's」が何の短縮形か分かるよう 耳を慣らしてください

what that 'S stands for.

OF is also quick and hard to catch.

「of」も聞き取りにくい音です

We can reduce the vowel sound to a schwa,

母音をシュワ/ə/で短くして /f/ を落とすことさえあります

but we might even drop the F altogether.

So instead of "one of the harder things,"

「one of the harder things」は

you may hear "one uh the harder things."

「one uh the harder things」 になります

Listen closely.

これから私が言うフレーズを 聞き取ってみてください

I'll say a sentence or phrase.

You try to understand.

動画の冒頭にもどって 聞き取れるか確認してみましょう

That's all for now.

ご視聴ありがとうございました

Thanks for watching and happy studies.