British Greetings - INTENSE British Pronunciation Practice!

- First of all, I am from London.

My accent is not posh. It's not Cockney.

It's just somewhere in the middle.

It's very standard and boring.

There are millions of accents around the UK.

I suggest you try them.

But if you like a standard, boring London accent,

let's begin.

We say hi in a few different ways

that probably you didn't learn in school.

So, let's learn those.

You all right?

This is just a hello.

It has a question mark, but it's not a question.

It's just a hello.

And here's how we pronounce it in different ways.

You all right?

Notice lots of sounds change here, really weird.

Very commonly, we remove the T.

It becomes glottalized.

If you've see my other videos,

I always talk about this sound

because it's very, very common.

It just changes the 't' sound to a glottal stop.

Basically, your throat closes, stops the air,

stops the sound.

Instead of all right, it sounds like all right.

So it's not all right.

No, no air should come out.

All right.

You can feel your airway closing where the T is.

Also, you probably noticed that the L,

we soften it so it sounds like a 'oh'.

Instead of all right.

No. All, all right.

Say it with me. All right?

Nice.

See, already you sound very, very British.

Also, also, notice that most of the time we just remove

the you.

So it's just, all right.

See, it's fast, friendly, casual.

If someone says, all right to you,

you don't need to say, yeah, I'm good.

You can, but you don't need to.

You can just reply, all right.

Oh, okay. Yeah, intonation.

Yeah, usually the first person says it like a question.

All right?

The reply often comes like an answer.

It's the same word. All right.

Like this.

All right? All right.

Please remember, these are all options.

There is no one perfect way of pronouncing any of this.

I'm just telling you, for me personally,

this is how I most often pronounce these things

Now yes, that sounds fast, relaxed, lazy.

And we don't pronounce half of the letters.

But, that's if we're just being casual, friendly, quick.

If we really want to know how that other person is,

say it slowly, pronounce more of the letters like this.

You all right?

You see, when I pronounce it slower,

then it sounds like I really want to know how you are.

But if you really want to know how someone is,

if they're feeling good, bad, hungry, thirsty, whatever,

we probably won't use this.

We'll probably say this instead.

How's it going? Or, how are you doing?

We're gonna use connected speech.

How's it going? No.

How's it going?

So, you'll connect that sound with the next vowel sound.

How-zit, how's it going? How's it going?

Faster, how's it going?

Say it with me.

How's it going?

I made a whole video about possible replies

to these questions.

You can watch that by clicking this.

But, just again, most of these we just use as hellos.

We're not really asking how you are.

It's just like, hello.

Usually we will drop the G.

Instead of going, it will be going, just because.

How's it going?

And again, we'll globalize that T.

You don't have to. It's just what I do.

And if you want to practice how I speak,

then practice with me.

Slowly first.

How's it going?

How's it going?

How's it going?

How are you doing?

That sounds like a robot.

We want to use connected speech to make it natural.

Most often, we'll remove that verb.

We don't need it. It's useless.

How you doing?

You will sound like 'yeah'.

How you doing?

And again, the '-ing' becomes an '-in', just because.

How you doing? Say it with me.

How you doing?

Nice. You're really good at this.

Okay, next one. How are things?

This one sounds a bit less casual.

With these, you don't expect much of an answer.

With this one, it doesn't really sound serious,

but it's less casual than these.

Just keep that in mind.

Pronunciation, the emphasis is on things.

How are things?

How are things?

Also, notice that R just becomes a schwa.

How are, how are things?

How are things? Say it with me.

How are things?

You are really good at this. Let's keep going.

Next, you want to ask, what are you doing now?

But not in a serious way, just in a casual way.

To make this question sound casual,

we change some words like this.

We changed the word doing for up to.

The meaning is exactly the same.

But, we just say up to instead of doing.

The stress comes here.

What you up to?

So, I will glottalize that.

This will be a schwa.

The U, we have two choices here.

It could be like this. It could be like this.

And I'll show you what the difference is.

So, say it with me.

We'll go slow and then speed up.

What are?

This one sounds like 'yeah'.

You, nice.

Okay, so let's speed up.

What are you?

You say it.

What are you?

If you pronounce it like this, like a 'yeah',

what are you, remove the schwa

and it'll just be like, 'yup', you up to.

What are you up to?

What are you up to?

What are you up to?

Let's go slow and then fast.

What are you up to?

Nice. Really good.

Okay, a bit faster. What are you up to?

Really good.

Let's go faster, natural speed.

What are you up to?

Good. You're amazing.

Okay, if we try it the other way, like a U,

we use a 'wa' to connect those two words.

So, you and up, you up to.

What are you up to? You say it.

Nice. Okay.

Let's go faster.

What are you up to?

Okay, now let's bring that all right at the beginning.

Remember, all right's basically means hi.

I'll show you, and then I want you to repeat it with me.

Practice your pronunciation.

All right? What are you up to?

Don't worry if you didn't get that the first time.

These are all different sounds that maybe you don't have

in your language.

Take your time. Practice them.

You will get there. Don't worry.

Okay, remember we replaced doing with up to.

But now, you want to know not just what are you doing now,

but lately, recently.

What have you been doing?

Let's use grammar to change the meaning of time.

What have you been up to lately, sounds again like a robot.

We want to sound natural.

Because it's present perfect,

you don't really need that word.

We all understand the time reference.

Quite often, we just remove that one, as well.

We will glottalize that, that again, the two options,

it doesn't matter which one you want to pronounce it like.

And been, often we pronounce like 'ben'.

And you remember where the stress is, same place.

So, slowly to quickly, copy with me.

What?

Yeah or you.

Been.

Up to.

Nice. Okay.

A bit faster.

What you? What you?

This and this, we're gonna connect it.

The N in been, we're connecting it to the U in up.

So, what you been up to?

Notice the N really pushes into that word, 'nup'.

All right? What you been up to?

First, slowly.

What you been up to?

Say it with me, been up to.

Nice. The whole thing now.

What you been up to?

Amazing, a bit faster.

What you been up to?

A bit faster.

What you been up to?

Usually you'd say it this way. That's the casual way.

What you been up to, right?

But this one puts the focus on that word, you.

So usually, it's the reply that says it this way.

Well, for example, you all right?

We you been up to?

Nothing. What you been up to?

The first person said 'yeah'. What you been up to?

The second person now puts the focus

on that other person, the you.

That's why he says, "What you been up to?"

See?

So, have fun and I'll see you in the next class.

(upbeat music)