Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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>> Rachel, I have not seen you in weeks.
>> Rach, I haven't seen you in weeks.
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What's the difference between these two phrases?
In this American English pronunciation video,
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you're going to learn a little more about
the character of American English.
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Contractions and reductions go a long way
in making you sound more American. But sometimes,
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I have a hard time convincing my students
of this. They think, "If I pronounce everything
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fully and clearly, it will be better." But
the problem with that is, it can end up sounding
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very formal, sometimes even robotic, not at
all natural. You're going to hear the following
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conversation twice, once with no contractions,
no reductions, and only True T pronunciations.
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It will sound formal and stilted. Then, you'll
hear the conversation as Americans would speak.
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I hope you hear the huge difference that reductions,
contractions, and habits like the Flap T can make.
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01:07
>> Rachel, I have not seen you in weeks.
>> Rach, I haven't seen you in weeks.
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Here, Tom said 'Rach' instead of 'Rachel'.
Just shortening my name, a nickname that people
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sometimes use. 'Have not' becomes 'haven't'.
When we have an N'T contraction, we don't
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release the T. 'Haven't' instead of 'haven'ttt',
haven't, I haven't seen.
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01:30
>> Rachel, I have not seen you in weeks.
>> Rach, I haven't seen you in weeks.
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>> Where have you been?
>> Where've you been?
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'Where have' becomes 'where've', 'where've'.
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>> Where have you been?
>> Where've you been?
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>> Where have you been?
>> Where've you been?
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>> Florida. Did not I tell you that I would
be gone?
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>> Florida. Didn't I tell you that I'd
be gone?
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'Did not' becomes 'didn't', 'didn't I'. Again,
with an N'T contraction, we don't release
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the T. Didn't. That. The vowel is reduced
to the schwa. The final T is a Flap T because
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the next word begins with a diphthong, that
I'd, that I'd. 'I would' contracts to 'I'd'.
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>> Florida. Did not I tell you that I would
be gone?
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>> Florida. Didn't I tell you that'd
be gone?
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>> Florida. Did not I tell you that I would
be gone?
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>> Florida. Didn't I tell you that I'd
be gone?
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>> Yes, but, you have been there all this
time?
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>> Yeah, but you've been there all this time?
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'Yes' becomes 'yeah'. Not really a reduction,
just a more casual word, yeah. 'But' has a
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Stop T. So, when we don't do a full release
of the True T, it's a smoother line. 'You
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have' becomes 'you've'.
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03:01
>> Yes, but, you have been there all this
time?
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>> Yeah, but you've been there all this time?
>> Yes, but, you have been there all this
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time?
>> Yeah, but you've been there all this time?
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>> Well, I have had a bunch of weddings to
go to.
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>> Well, we had a bunch of weddings to go
to.
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Oops! I messed this one up. By saying 'I have
had' in the first dialogue, and 'we had' in
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the second. Can you guess what I would reduce
'I have had' to? You've got it: I've had [2x]
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>> Well, I have had a bunch of weddings to
go to.
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>> Well, we had a bunch of weddings to go
to.
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>> Well, I have had a bunch of weddings to
go to.
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>> Well, we had a bunch of weddings to go
to.
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>> They have all been in Florida?
>> They've all been in Florida?
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'They have' becomes 'they've'.
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>> They have all been in Florida?
>> They've all been in Florida?
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>> They have all been in Florida?
>> They've all been in Florida?
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>> I would swear that we have had this conversation
already.
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>> I'd swear that we've had this conversation
already.
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'I would' becomes 'I'd', I'd swear. The D
is light. That. The vowel changes to the schwa,
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and we end with a Stop T, because the next
word begins with a consonant. That, that,
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that we. 'We have' becomes 'we've'.
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>> I would swear that we have had this conversation
already.
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>> I'd swear that we've had this conversation
already.
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>> I would swear that we have had this conversation
already.
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>> I'd swear that we've had this conversation
already.
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>> I guess it is possible I forgot.
>> I guess it's possible I forgot.
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'It is' becomes 'it's'.
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>> I guess it is possible I forgot.
>> I guess it's possible I forgot.
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>> I guess it is possible I forgot.
>> I guess it's possible I forgot.
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>> Or, I am having déjà vu.
>> Or, I'm having déjà vu.
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'I am' contracts to 'I'm'.
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>> Or, I am having déjà vu.
>> Or, I'm having déjà vu.
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>> Or, I am having déjà vu.
>> Or, I'm having déjà vu.
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>> No, you are right. We have talked about
this.
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>> No, you're right. We've talked about this.
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'You are' becomes 'yer'. Right: we use a Stop
T here, 'you're right', 'you're right'.
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'We have' becomes 'we've'.
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>> No, you are right. We have talked about
this.
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>> No, you're right. We've talked about this.
>> No, you are right. We have talked about
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this.
>> No, you're right. We've talked about this.
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>> Welcome home anyway.
>> Thanks.
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Welcome home anyway. No reductions, contractions,
or T pronunciations.
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>> Welcome home anyway.
>> Thanks.
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So many options for reductions and contractions
in such a short conversation. Now, let's listen
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to the whole conversation once without these
tips, and once with. What is your sense of
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the overall character?
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06:43
>> Rachel, I have not seen you in weeks.
>> Where have you been?
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>> Florida. Did not I tell you that I would
be gone?
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>> Yes, but, you have been there all this
time?
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>> Well, I have had a bunch of weddings to
go to.
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>> They have all been in Florida?
>> I would swear that we have had this conversation
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already.
>> I guess it is possible I forgot.
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>> Or, I am having déjà vu.
>> No, you are right. We have talked about
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this.
>> Welcome home anyway.
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>> Thanks.
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>> Rach, I haven't seen you in weeks.
>> Where've you been?
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>> Florida. Didn't I tell you that I'd
be gone?
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>> Yeah, but you've been there all this time?
>> Well, we had a bunch of weddings to go
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to.
>> They've all been in Florida?
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>> I'd swear that we've had this conversation
already.
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>> I guess it's possible I forgot.
>> Or, I'm having déjà vu.
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>> No, you're right. We've talked about this.
>> Welcome home anyway.
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>> Thanks.
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To keep going with this, go back and listen
to the conversation when it sounded American
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and natural. Turn it into a Ben Franklin exercise
and then practice the conversation with a friend,
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or by yourself. If you're not sure what a
Ben Franklin exercise is, click here or look
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in the description.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's
English.
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