Speaking English: You Can Learn English Speaking with Movies! | Speaking English Lesson

Today you're transforming your spoken English by studying a scene from a movie,

The Art of Self-defense, with me. When you study this way, you'll be able to understand American movies

and TV effortlessly without subtitles.

Today, we're really going to study how Americans shape their phrases.

We're going to study what happens with volume, pitch, and vocal quality.

This can really quickly impact how natural you sound speaking English.

A gun to-- So, the vowel almost always reduces here to the schwa.

We're going to be doing this all summer, June through August, stick with me every Tuesday,

they're all great scenes and there's going to be so much to learn

that can transform the way you speak and understand English.

And as always, if you like this video, or you learn something, please like and subscribe with notifications.

You're going to watch the clip, then we're going to do a full pronunciation analysis together.

This is going to help so much with your listening comprehension,

when it comes to watching English movies in TV.

But there's going to be a training section you're going to take what you've just learned,

and practice repeating it, doing a reduction, flapping a T, just like you learned in the analysis.

Okay, here's the scene.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

Oh.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Do you have any children?

No, I don’t. Just a dog.

Good.

And now the analysis.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

It's a pretty long thought group here to begin. What do you feel is the most stressed syllable there?

What has the most volume?

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

Definitely feeling that on the word waiting. There is a waiting period.

So that would just be the first syllable, not the second syllable, just the stressed syllable,

and that does have a flap T in it. Waiting, waiting, because the T comes between two sounds

that are vowels or dipthongs. Waiting. There is a waiting period.

There is a waiting period.

He even does a gesture on that stressed syllable. So why does it matter?

Stressed syllables are what give us our anchors in American English, so

it's really important to have that contrast. We have those stressed, more clear, bigger syllables,

compared with smaller, less important, more quickly said syllables. There is a, there is a, there is a.

There is a,

That has a really different feel than way, there is a way, and that contrast is important.

Let's look for other syllables in this thought group that have a little bit more length, that are stressed.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

There is a legally purchase this gun.

Before you can legally purchase this gun. I feel some more stress there.

Legally purchase this gun.

Legally purchase this gun.

Legally purchase this gun.

Legally purchase this gun.

But the other syllables are said pretty quickly. We've already studied 'there is a' which becomes:

There is a, There is a. See if you can practice that, simplifying your mouth movements as much as possible.

There is a, There is a, There is a.

You should be able to do that without moving your mouth very much.

There is a...

So after our stressed syllable 'wait', we have a bunch of unstressed syllables.

The unstressed syllable of that word: ting, ting, ting, ting period before you can,

ting period before you can, ting period before you can. Again, you have to simplify your mouth movements.

Make them minimal.

Waiting period before you can,

And let's notice that we have a reduction here, the word can, is not said fully pronounced,

it's reduced to the schwa. And the schwa gets absorbed by the N and is called a syllabic consonant.

So you don't even need to try to make a vowel here.

It's just the K sound and the N sound: kn, kn, before you can, before you can, before you can.

Before you can,

And we don't want any breaks between our words here.

Waiting period before you can.

Right from the D sound, I'm not releasing it that would be period, period, but I'm going period,

right from the D into the B, no release, we want that smoothness,

that continuous sound linking in American English.

Period before you can,

legally purchase this gun.

Now let's look at just the last three words, and let's listen to that rhythm.

Legally purchase this gun.

It kind of starts to take on the feeling of a song doesn't, it? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Legally purchase this gun. Legally purchase this gun. Uuuuhhh--

with this up-down shape, when we have a more stressed syllable, and then coming down in energy and

pitch on an unstressed syllable. Legally purchase this gun. You might want to think about English,

American English, as singing, might help you link things together, might help you focus on the melody and

the rhythm of the language, and in ways that is maybe different from your own native language.

Legally purchase this gun.

Legally purchase this gun , legally purchase this gun, legally purchase this gun.

And of course, when we speed it up it, doesn't really sound like a song, it does feel like speech.

Legally purchase this gun.

Legally purchase this gun ,

Notice how quickly I'm saying the word 'this'. It's not 'this', it's: legally purchase this,

purchase this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, saying it quickly with simplified mouth movements.

It's an unstressed word it does not need to have length. It shouldn't have length.

Because then we don't get the contrast that we need.

We have to have short syllables so we have contrast.

Purchase this..

gun.

Oh.

And then he says so quietly, Oh, Oh, oh, oh, little up-down shape, he blinks his eyes twice, he looks nervous.

I love this actor. I think he does vulnerability so well.

Oh.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

So now we have a very long thought group. What is a thought group? It's an utterance between pauses.

For example, this guy could have said: So, a person who’s upset with another person,

can’t come in here and buy a gun, to shoot that person with.

Did you hear how I put all of those breaks in? So, a person who’s upset with another person,

so there I made a break here, making so its own thought group, I made a break after person,

making this line its own thought group,

but he just kept going, he didn't put in any breaks, so it's a long thought group.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

I'm just gonna take the first part of it through here,

let's look at our most stress syllables definitely we have so, so.

So--

a person who is upset with another person---

So a person who is-- I'm actually not gonna write that as a contraction, I do feel it is another syllable.

If it was a contraction, it would be one syllable, who's.

If it's not a contraction, its two syllables, who is, who is, who is, who is, who is.

There's a little difference and I do feel like I hear that as its own syllable, as its own word.

Who is up-

So a person who is upset with another person,

a little bit of stress on other, definitely some stress on per-- our stressed word, person.

So a person who is upset with another person---

So a person who is upset with another person---

So a person who is upset with another person---

Also some stress on upset. Upset. Upset. Second syllable stress on that word.

So a person who is upset with another person-- notice we have a stop T here in upset.

Upset with, upset with, that little pause, that little break is a stop T, we stopped the air in our vocal cords,

upset with, and that to us, gives us the feel of the T even though it's not released.

And the reason why it's a stop T is because the next word begins with a consonant.

Upset with--

And everything really links together, there are no breaks. So a person, here, the word a, the article a,

is just a schwa, it's its usual pronunciation, and it links the words together so a per-- so a per-- no break

so a person who is upset with another person.

So a person who is upset with another person--

So a person who is upset with another person--

So a person who is upset with another person--

See if you can do that with no breaks, slow it down if you have to, really feel uuhhhhh, a slower glide up and down.

We don't want abrupt changes in pitch. It's usually a glide up or a glide down.

So a person who is upset with another person--

So a person who is upset with another person--

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Okay let's look at the second half of this thought group.

Can't come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can't come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can't come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Now, the whole second half here is quieter, isn't it?

The general trend of a phrase in American English is we start louder and higher in pitch in general,

and throughout the sentence, we lose some volume and some vocal energy and the pitch tends to go down.

And so here, it's a long phrase and the whole second half of it is quieter.

Here we have the actual volume of that phrase, and you can see how the first half has more higher peaks

and the second half is in general quite a bit lower, and then really tapers down at the end.

Let's listen to that phrase and pay attention to the volume as you listen.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

And this is a really important part of American English. We want to have that feel of bigger at the beginning,

and then fading a bit at the end. Shaping your phrases like that will help you sound a lot more natural.

A lot of my most advanced students still have to do this.

They still have to figure out how to take out some of the energy and

volume at the end and let the pitch come down,

so that it really falls off a little bit and gives it the more natural shape to phrases.

Let's listen to this one more time and again, watch the volume here at the bottom,

and really pay attention to what you hear and think about how you can shape a phrase like this.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

So now let's go ahead and look at what words do have a little bit more length,

what syllables have a little bit more length in this second half of the thought group.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can't come in here-- little stress on in, can't come in here and buy a gun shoot to that person with.

I think those are our peaks of stress here. Shoot being the most stressed.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Now let's just listen to: can't come in.

Can't come in.

Did you notice the stop T here?

N apostrophe T has a couple different pronunciations, and one of them is with a stop,

a little break, can't, can't, can't come, can't come,

and that's how he pronounced this N apostrophe T contraction.

Can't come in,

here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Can't come in here and-- in here and-- The word 'and' sounds sort of like in, this is common when we reduce it.

We drop the D, we reduced the vowel to the schwa, which sounds to me a lot like the IH vowel

like in the word in, when it's unstressed. Can't come in here and-- can't come in here and buy a--

So maybe if you think of the word and as in,

that might help you reduce it as you say it quickly and link it to the words around it.

Can't come in here and buy a--

Can't come in here and buy a--

Can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Buy a gun. Again just like up here with 'so a person', 'buy a gun', it's just a quick schwa that

we glide through between those two words to link. Buy a gun. Buy a gun.

Buy a gun.

And now let's listen to the reduction of the word 'to'.

A gun to shoot,

It's not to, is it? It's: a gun to, a gun to, so the vowel almost always reduces here to the schwa.

The T can be a true T or a flap T, which can sound like a D, and that's what happens here. Gun to--

gun, your tongue is already at the roof of the mouth for the N, gun to-- and rather than making a T,

we make a D and release it into the schwa. Gun to-- gun to-- buy a gun to--

It's just another way to smooth that word out. You don't have to do it. He could have said: gun to-- gun to-- gun to--

What's really important is that we do do the schwa reduction,

that is something you need to do in order to sound natural.

And you know what, why not try it with that D sound? Buy a gun to-- buy a gun to--

Buy a gun to--

It's also important that it feels shorter, and that it's less stressed. Make that as quick as you can. Da,da, da.

So it shouldn't be DA, it should be the: duh, duh. Gun to-- Gun to shoot. \

Gun to shoot.

Just like with upset the T in shoot is a stop T

because the next word begins with a consonant let's just listen to the last four words of this phrase.

Shoot that person with.

Shoot that person with.

Shoot that person with.

So the stop T is really subtle, but I would definitely say it's not totally dropped. Shoot that, shoot that.

Shoot that.

Shoot that. And another stop T at the end of that. Shoot that. Shoot that person with.

Now, do you notice, what is happening with his voice in these last four words?

Shoot that person with.

Shoot that person with.

Shoot that person with.

They all have a popcorn quality in the voice. Shoot that person with.

Uhhhh. We have that in the voice as he speaks. Now, it's not that way at the beginning:

So a person,

But it is that way at the end.

Shoot that person with,

This is part of that shape of the phrase that I’ve been talking about.

More energy, more volume at the beginning, lower energy, lower volume,

also lower in pitch towards the end, and that does bring in that popcorn quality.

You would never want to speak that way all the time. So a person who's upset with another person.

That is not good or clear English at all. But when it comes into your voice a little bit at the end,

that's a good sign. That's a sign that you're taking the energy out at the end of the phrase,

and shaping the phrase in a very natural way for American English.

Shoot that person with--

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Okay, another pretty long thought group. Let's listen to this phrase three times

and let's think about what we think is the most stressed word.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Instead, a little bit there, instead they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Wait and that are probably the two most stressed words there.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Let's look at: they have to--

They have to--

They have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- Not very clear, right?

It's that simplification of the unstressed words and syllables.

They have to-- they have to-- they have to--

They have to-- they have to-- they have to-- So definitely, the word 'to' is not 'too', it's again more of a D sound

than a schwa. They have to-- they have to-- they have to-- The H, really weak, not even really sure I'm hearing it.

They have to--

They have to-- they have to-- they have to-- I think you can totally get by with dropping that.

It's not uncommon to drop the H and some of these unstressed words like him, or his,

you may have noticed it.

They have to-- So unstressed AA vowel then rather than a V, I would say it's more of an F,

they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to-- they have to--

They have to--

wait a little while before they can do that.

So after those three less clear words we have that stressed word wait with that up-down shape,

more length, wait a little, okay, then we have flap Ts.

Wait a little,

Wait a-- T comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds, the AY diphthong and the schwa.

So a flap will link those two words together really nicely. Wait a-- Wait a-- wait a little-- another flap there.

Now, this one's hard because it comes before a dark L, and I know that's tricky. Little, little, little, little.

Wait a little, wait a little.

Wait a little.

I have a word here, I'm sorry, I have a video here on YouTube specifically how to pronounce the word little.

I'll link to it in the video description, you can spend some time really focused on that word if you need it.

Wait a little--

while before they can do that.

Wait a little while-- There's a little bit of that stressed feeling on while as well.

Wait a little while, wait a little while.

Wait a little while, wait a little while, wait a little while

before they can do that.

Before they can do that. Before they can, before they can, before they can. These three words said quickly,

very simply, not very clear, that's okay, that's what we do to provide contrast with the more clear words.

The word can, again, reduced it's not can, it's can,

can, can. Before they can, before they can, before they can do that.

Before they can do that.

What happened to the T? That, that, it's a stop T. Why? It's not followed by a consonant.

I mean it is, but there's a break here. So the rule is it's a stop T if the next word begins with a consonant

or the next sound is a consonant, or if it's at the end of a thought group.

That,

It's different than a dropped T. A dropped T would be this: you can do that-- you can do that--

The volume, I'm sorry, the pitch would come back down. That, but because we don't have that, that, that, that,

it stops, sort of on the up part of the pitch, it doesn't fall back down. Can do that.

Can do that.

That's what signifies the stop T to us. That's an abrupt stop, and we think: oh, T.

Can do that.

Do you have any children?

Now he asks a question.

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Let's just look at the last word for a second.

Children?

Children? Children? The pitch goes up. Children? And that is normal for yes/no questions,

so this is a yes/no question, he answers it with no. And so that's why the pitch goes up at the end.

So that's different from what I said about statements, which tend to go down in pitch towards the end.

Questions do too, unless they can be answered by yes/no.

If they're a yes/no question, then in general, the pitch will go up.

Children?

Let's look at the whole phrase now.

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children? Have and chil-- have the most stress. Children?

Even though have has stress the H is dropped, I don't hear it.

Do you have-- do you have-- do you have-- do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you-- said very quickly. Do you have, do you, do you, do you have any children?

Any, any, any, also said very quickly.

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Everything's really linked together smoothly. If you find it difficult to speak this quickly, think of your anchors,

think of your stress words, and then just practice the syllables, the words before that,in one stressed word.

So you could break this up.

Do you have, do you have, do you have, and that might help you focus on: short-short, long, short-short, long.

Do you have any children? Do you have any children?

Let those stressed syllables be your anchors.

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

Do you have any children?

No, I don't. Just a dog.

Okay, let's look at the first three words here.

No, I don't.

No, I don't. No-- up-down shape. I don't. I is a little valley there, not stressed.

But we have these two stressed words around it.

No, I don't. No, I don't. And it all links together really smoothly, doesn't it?

Right from the Oh diphthong of No, into the AI diphthong of I.

No, I don't. And with these sounds, when it's the OH diphthong linking into a word that begins with a vowel

or diphthong, it can help to go through the glide consonant W. No, I don't.

That can help you smoothly connect those two sounds if you're having trouble doing that .

No, I don't.

No, I don't. No, I don't. Not really sure if I would write that as a stop T, or is it dropped T?

I think I'll just write it as a stop T. Very subtle. No, I don't. No, I don't.

No, I don't.

Just a dog.

Now we have the same stress pattern again. Just a dog. Three syllables, first and third stressed,

the middle unstressed. Just a--

The article a is the schwa and the T links right into it. Just a, just a, just a, just a dog.

Just a dog.

Now the ending sound in dog is a G. It sounds to me it's sort of like he makes it at K.

K and G go together, they're paired together because they have the same mouth position.

G is voiced and K is unvoiced.

So it's a little unusual for it to sound like a K,

but it's not something I would have noticed as a native speaker if I was watching this movie.

I'm only noticing it because we're sitting here doing an analysis of it,

but in general, you don't want to make the last sound and dog a K. You want to make it a G. Dog, dog.

Dog.

Good.

Good. Good. Definitely stressed. Clear up-down shape.

If I was gonna say that word unstressed, it would be this, good, good, good, good. But that's not what it is, it's:

Good.

A lot to study in just this short exchange. Let's listen to the whole conversation one more time.

There is a waiting period before you can legally purchase this gun.

Oh.

So, a person who’s upset with another person can’t come in here and buy a gun to shoot that person with.

Instead, they have to wait a little while before they can do that.

Do you have any children?

No, I don’t. Just a dog.

Good.

Now for the fun part, you’ll look at the notes we took together and you’ll hear a part of the conversation

on a loop three times. Then there’s a space for you to repeat. For example,

you’ll hear this: Maybe so, sir.

Then you’ll repeat it: maybe so, sir. Try to imitate everything about this exactly so when you see this,

then you’ll repeat it. Maybe so, sir.

That’s from Top Gun: Maverick which was the first movie we studied in this summer series.

You’ll also have the opportunity to listen and repeat in slow motion.

This will be important for you if you’re more of a beginner,

or if you’re having a hard time focusing on linking or the melody.

Maybe you’ll want to do it both ways, but the important thing is here is your opportunity

to take what you learned and put it into your body and your own habit.

That’s what’s going to transform your speaking. You might do well to work with the audio section of this video

every day for a week. Imitating the rhythm and the simplifications will get easier each time you do it.

If you can’t keep up with the native speaker, do the slow-motion imitation.

Okay, here’s our audio training section.

Don't forget to come back and do this audio again tomorrow and the next day.

You want to build habits here so you don't need to think about it so much when you're speaking in conversation.

You can focus on the words and not the expression or pronunciation.

Don't forget this is part of a series all summer long. 13 videos, 13 scenes for movies check out each one,

learn something new each time. I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday

and I'd love to have you back here again, please subscribe with notifications,

and continue your studies right now with this video

and if you love this video, share it with a friend. that's it guys, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.