How To Sound Like an American on Vacation | English Pronunciation & Phrases

Right now, I’m at Lake Michigan on vacation.

Well, not right now, my right now but your right now as you see this.

In fact, I’m so busy relaxing that I couldn’t make a video this week but I thought ahead

and I created a mashup 2 videos from past vacations where I teach English to you with

my friends and family in beautiful Michigan on vacation.

So won’t you please come on vacation with me and study English pronunciation, conversation

and vocabulary.

This is my uncle Frank!

>> Hey!

Uncle Frank brings his boat every year so that we can try skiing.

Did you notice the reductions of the word “that” and “can”?

These two function words will often reduce.

“That” becomes thut, with either a flap or a stop T, depending on the next sound.

And “can”, when not the main verb in the sentence, becomes kn, kn.

So that we can.

So that we can.

So that we can try skiing.

“Try” and “skiing”, the two content words in this sentence, are clearly much longer

than “so that we can”.

These four function words are low in pitch and very fast.

Listen again.

So that we can try skiing.

Sure appreciate that uncle Frank.

>> Well, I’m glad to bring it.

Glad to bring it.

Here, Frank reduced the word ‘to’ to the flap T and the schwa sound: de, de, de, glad

de, Glad to bring it.

Listen again.

>> Well, I’m glad to bring it.

This boat is 17 years old, and I was beginning to wonder earlier in the week if I was going

to bring it back again.

Here Frank reduced the phrase “going to” to “gonna”.

A very common reduction in American English.

If I was going to bring it back, gonna, gonna.

If I was going to bring it back.

Listen again.

>> I was beginning to wonder earlier in the week

if I was going to bring it back again,

but it seems like people are still kind of interested in skiing, so.

>> We love it.

Love it.

Did you hear how I connected the V sound to the word it?

One of the easiest ways to link in American English pronunciation, is the case when one

word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong.

You can practice the connection between words by putting the ending consonant on the next

word: vit, vit, vit, love it, love it, love it.

This will help to eliminate gaps between words.

In American English, we want to link all the words in one thought group.

Listen again.

>> We love it.

>> We’ll see if it’ll go a couple more years.

>> Yep.

I hope it does.

>> So Jace, you going to go skiing today?

Another ‘gonna’.

>> You going to go skiing today?

>> Yeah, I am.

>> Have you been before?

>> No.

>> This is the first year.

>> Yup.

>> Are you nervous?

>> Mmm, a little.

Yeah.

>> It might take a couple tries, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen right

away.

Right away.

Did you notice how I linked the ending T of ‘right’ to the beginning vowel sound of

‘away’.

This means that the T comes between two vowels, so it becomes a flap T, or, a D sound.

So, ‘right away’ sounds just like ‘ride away’.

Listen again.

>> If it doesn’t happen right away.

>> Ok, ok, ok.

Ok.

>> Meg, are you going to try skiing?

Another ‘gonna’.

Also notice, I’ve reduced the word ‘are’ to er, er, er.

Listen again.

>> Meg, are you going to try skiing?

>> I don’t think so.

I tried it when I was ten, and I was traumatized because I fell, and it hurt.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> So, I think I’m just going to stick to a bystander.

>> Haley, have you skied before?

>> I’ve done sit skiing before, when I was, like, six.

>> Wait, yeah, what is that?

What is.

Just like with “right away”, we’re connecting the ending T in “what” to the beginning

vowel of the word “is”.

So the T turns into a flap T, or D sound.

What is, what is.

Listen again.

>> What is that?

>> It’s got the skis

>> Yeah?

>> And there’s a chair in the middle and you just sit.

>> Really?

>> Yeah.

>> I’ve never even heard of that.

Heard of.

Another linking consonant to vowel heard of, heard of.

Notice that I am reducing the word “of” to the schwa-V sound: uv, uv, duv, duv, heard of.

>> I’ve never even heard of that.

>> I haven’t either.

>> I’ve done it.

Done it.

Another great example of linking ending consonant to beginning vowel.

Done it, done it.

>> I’ve done it.

So, I’m nervous to do this.

>> I think you’ll be just fine.

>> I think so too.

I’m ready.

Here, Haley reduced the contraction “I’m”, to simply the M consonant.

I’m ready.

Of course, with that reduction, she linked it to the next word, mmready.

Listen again.

>> I’m ready.

This is my cousin Brooke.

>> Brooke, how are you enjoying your vacation?

>> I’m having a great time on my vacation.

It’s a lot of fun.

>> What’s the highlight of your vacation so far?

>> I think the highlight of vacation so far is spending time with you, Rachel.

>> Oh.

That’s so sweet.

>> Ani, did you make that necklace?

>> Yeah.

>> Can you hold it up for me?

Another reduction of ‘can’: kn, can you, can you.

>> Can you hold it up for me?

>> This?

>> Yeah.

It’s really pretty.

It’s really pretty.

A reduction of ‘it’s’ to the TS sound.

It’s really, it’s really.

>> It’s really pretty.

>> Where’d you make that?

>> At the craft shop.

>> The craft shop?

Let me see?

Have you ever heard someone say “lemme”?

I’ve dropped the T in ‘let’, and connected it to ‘me’.

Let me, let me, let me see that.

>> Let me see?

>> What’s it say?

>> Giggle.

Giggle.

>> Giggle?

Oh, it does say giggle.

That’s a hard word.

It has those gg sounds, and a dark L. Giggle.

>> Hey Brad.

>> What are you doing?

Doing some advertising?

>> We’re doing a little advertising, yeah.

>> Hey, Rach, I love that shirt.

Where did you get that?

>> Well, I made it.

Made it.

Linking ending consonant to beginning vowel.

Made it.

>> Well, I made it.

>> Oh, now, what is this?

>> It says ‘I love English’ in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

>> Oh my gosh, that’s so great.

Where can I get one?

>> Actually, you can get one right here.

>> RachelsEnglish.com!

>> Yeah, do you want to be on my website, Brad?

Wanna.

Here, I use the “wanna” reduction for “want to”.

Do you wanna.

>> Yeah, do you want to be on my website, Brad?

>> Kinda.

Kinda.

Here, Brad reduced “kind of” to kinda.

So the word “of” is pronounced with just the schwa, no consonant sound.

Kinda.

>> Kinda.

>> Ok!

This is my cousin Brad.

>> Hi!

>> Brad, B-R-A-D, it has the aa as in bat vowel.

And remember, cousin: spelled with an S, pronounced, zz, like a Z.

Now, it’s game time.

Here, we’ll all tell the score keeper if we made our bet or not.

Made it.

Listen for how we all link those two words together, made it, no gap.

>> K, who made it?

>> I made it.

>> Roberta.

>> I made it.

>> Rachel.

>> I made it.

(>> You can cut me out)

>> Made it.

>> Made it.

>> Yes, I also made it.

>> Uncle Dale, did you make that fire?

>> I helped with it, yeah.

>> It’s a nice-looking fire.

>> Well thanks.

>> Hey everybody, this is my uncle Dale.

He lives in Texas.

>> Houston, Texas.

I hope that even with just these few snippets of conversation, you’ve learned a bit about

linking consonant to vowel and reductions.

They’re an important part to the smoothness and the rhythm of American English.

And as you can see, they’re used all the time in conversation.

Special thanks to my family for letting me video tape our vacation, and if you didn’t

get enough, don’t worry.

We’re all getting together again at Christmas.

Every year, my extended family gets together for a week to play, swim, and have fun together.

First, let’s head to the beach.

– Hey Ri!

You enjoying the beach?

– Yeah.

– Except for you got a face full of water?

– Yeah!

Except for you got.

Let’s talk about the phrase ‘except for’, it’s pretty common.

The T comes between two consonant sounds, and in that case, natives often drop the T

sound.

I did.

Except for– Just the P then the F, excep’for.

Also, notice that I reduced the word ‘for’.

Fer, fer.

Except for– Except for you got.

Listen again.

Except for you got--

– a face full of water?

– Yeah!

– What happened?

Tell me about it.

– It got bigger.

– Well, it got my no [nose!], that I, I start

choking.

Oh no!

She started choking!

So glad she’s alright.

Well this is the perfect day for him.

Overcast and warm.

How did my mom pronounce the word “and”?

She reduced it to ‘n’.

Just the N sound.

Listen again.

Well this is the perfect day for him.

Overcast and warm.

This is how it’s normally pronounced, unless you want to stress the word ‘and’.

Here, my cousin stresses it:

What about standing up like Gigi?

Check this out: she can pull hair and stand up at the same time.

She can pull hair and stand up at the same time.

“And”, fully pronounced.

Pull hair and stand up–

Most of the time, you’ll want to reduce this, nn, just like my mom.

Overcast and–

Can you wave, Gina?

Hi!

Can you wave?

We reduce ‘can’ when it’s a helping verb, that is, not the main verb in the sentence.

WAVE is the main verb.

Most of the time, ‘can’ is a helping verb: kn, kn.

Can you wave?

Listen again.

Can you wave, Gina?

Hi!

On this day, it happened to be Gina’s first birthday.

We sang happy birthday to her.

Do you know this song?

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Gina!

Happy birthday to you!

And now onto meal time.

-How’s the meal?

-The lasagna’s pretty good.

Not quite as good as Marlise’s, but not bad.

Pretty good.

We use this phrase a lot.

It means okay, but not great.

How are you?

Pretty good.

How was the movie?

Pretty good.

What do you notice about the pronunciation?

The lasagna’s pretty good.

Pretty, pretty.

That’s a Flap T. Not a True T, pretty, but a Flap T, pretty.

This is the American English pronunciation.

I write it with a D, but depending on your native language, it may sound like an R to

you.

Just flap the tongue against the roof of the mouth without stopping the air.

Pretty.

The lasagna’s pretty good.

Pretty good, with the UH as in PUSH vowel.

My uncle makes it very clear.

See if you can imitate him.

Pretty good.

You wanna go watch the tennis game?

Wanna.

“Want to” shifting to “wanna” in conversation.

You wanna go watch?

Listen again.

You want to go watch the tennis game?

My family loves to play tennis on vacation.

Very few of us are any good at it.

These are the fans out for the big match.

These are the fans.

Did you notice how my dad reduced the word “are”?

These are, these are.

This is how we pronounce ARE, it just sounds like an extra syllable at the end of the word

before.

These are.

These are the fans.

Listen again.

These are the fans--

out for the big match.

Don’t go easy on him, Ernie.

Easy on him.

What do you notice about the word “him”?

No H. We pronounce “him” this way a lot.

Just like “are”, when it’s reduced, think of adding an extra syllable to the end

of the word before it.

On him, on him.

Easy on him.

Listen again.

Don’t go easy on him, Ernie.

Let me go check on him.

Here’s another HIM reduction: Check on him.

On him, on him, on him.

Listen again.

Check on him.

Um, wait, when did you meet Gigi in Colorado?

When did you meet?

Did you, did you.

Did you, would you, could you, should you: all common two-word phrases.

We often make the Y sound a J sound when it comes after a D. Diijew, jj, jj, jj.

Did you.

Listen again.

When did you meet Gigi--

…in Colorado.

When was that?

– Uh, we were out there to ski in March.

– Okay

Anybody want to hit a few with my partner?

Anybody wanna hit a few?

Did you hear that in the background?

Wanna.

Listen again.

Anybody want to hit a few

with my partner?

– Yeah, I will!

– Warm him up?

I’ll warm him up.

Again, dropping the H in ‘him’.

Warm him, warm him.

I’ll warm him up.

Can you grab it?

Nice!

– Oh!

– Oh!

That’s what she thinks of your hat.

Thinks uh’ your hat.

You’ll notice that we sometimes drop the V sound in ‘of’; we just use the schwa.

Uh.

Thinks of, thinks of your hat.

Listen again.

She thinks of your hat.

– Hello!

– Stoney, who’s this?

– This is Stoney!

– Your cousin!

– Oh, don’t whack her in the head.

– Don’t let him put his mouth on that, Dad.

It’s probably gross.

Don’t whack her in the head.

Whack her in the hear.

Did you notice the dropped H in ‘her’?

Just like with “him”.

Wacker, wacker.

Listen again.

Don’t whack her in the head.

You can’t chew that.

Man, it’s such a nice evening.

Perfect temperature, slight breeze, beautiful sun.

That it is.

Listen to how I talk about the weather:

Man, it’s such a nice evening.

Perfect temperature, slight breeze, beautiful sun.

That it is.

Perfect temperature.

Notice I only make one T. Perfect temperature.

So you can think of dropping the T in “perfect”, because you have one beginning the next word.

Perfect temperature.

Also, I make “temperature” just three syllables: TEM-per-chur.

This is an easier pronunciation.

Temperature, perfect temperature.

Perfect temperature

Slight breeze

I made the T in ‘slight’ a stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.

Slight breeze, slight breeze.

Slight breeze--

Beautiful sun.

The T in ‘beautiful’ is a Flap T because it comes between two vowels.

Beautiful

Beautiful sun--

Man, it’s such a nice evening.

Perfect temperature, slight breeze, beautiful sun.

That it is.

Going out might be sort of fun.

Except for that I don’t want to have to go forever.

Except for.

Did you hear that phrase again?

Sep-fer-thut.

I reduced “except” to just “sep”, without releasing the p.

I also reduced “for” and “that” – “that” had the schwa and a Stop T. Sep-fer-thut.

Except for that.

Listen again.

Except for that

I don’t want to have to go forever.

Wanna.

Another ‘wanna’.

I don’t want to have

to go forever.

– I don’t want to have to drive very far.

– No.

Do you want to color?

Wanna.

Wanna color.

Do you want to color?

Is he messing up your coloring, Lydia?

Is he messing you up?

Should we move him?

Move him.

Dropped H in “him” .Move him, move’um.

Should we move him?

– Yeah.

– Yeah.

No.

No.

Tell them no.

Tell them no.

My aunt is dropping the TH in them, tell um, tell um.

This sounds just like ‘him’ when the H is dropped, um, um.

Move um, tell um.

They sound the same when they’re reduced.

That’s okay.

Tell them no.

It’s alright.

No, it’s alright.

We also went skiing.

When I get tired, this is how I end.

David is a little less graceful.

Haha!

He’s down!

What I fun week I had with my family playing games, swimming.

They’re special people, and I can’t wait

to see them again!

I hope you liked this video.

Please visit RachelsEnglish.com/newsletter to sign up for my mailing list to get free

weekly English lessons sent to your inbox.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

(Laughing)

Thank you so much for vacationing with me.

I love sharing my life with you.

Keep you learning going now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications,

also check out Rachel’s English Academy for all my online courses.

That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.