The MOST Impossible English Sounds and Words

Today we're going to go over some words and  sounds in American English that non-native  

speakers find especially difficult.  We'll be looking at videos from people  

of 20 different language backgrounds. Through  this we're going to find tweaks that can help  

make you clearer when you're speaking English. I'm Rachel and I've been teaching the American  

accent here on YouTube for over 15 years, check  out rachelsenglish.com/free to get my free course,  

The Top Three Ways to Master the American accent. We're going to go alphabetically through the  

languages so you can use the table of contents  in the video to jump ahead to the native language  

that you're interested in. I really want  to thank everybody who submitted a video  

this really helps me become a better English  teacher when I can hear so many people doing  

the same thing so I put a video out last year  asking for people to record a dialogue for me, 

Hurry up, we're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

And this is everybody that turned that in. Hurry up we're going to be late. 

The first thing I noticed, hurry up, ha,  you're going to hear me saying this a lot.  

That vowel is ɜ. It's very tricky, most  native languages do not have ɜ in it,  

so it's hard for those speakers to come into  English to get that vowel, I call it the r vowel.  

Rrr. There's not really a vowel sound between the  H and the R, it's just the R held out. Hur, hurry. 

Sorry I just have— Sorry, that's another word  

I'm going to be picky about, the vowel there is  a, a, sorry. So it's not quite a pure a because  

of the r, saw, but we do want some jaw drop.  Sor, to keep it separate from the r. Sorry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Bathroom, that's an A vowel, ba. Alright, I'm going to in the car. 

Great. I would use a little bit  more length in wait, our verb,  

I'm going to wait in the, wait in the. That  will make it a little clearer. Great job. 

Hurry up, we're going to be late. Sorry. 

Okay, I love the r in hurry, I love the uh in up.  Now, the thing I notice is in the word ‘sorry’.  

We have a flap R there, sorry [flap]. American  English never has that R. It's always urr, sorry. 

I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up. Hurry Hur. I would rather hear hur, hur,  

hurry up. Hurry up, we're going to be late I love  the contrast. We're going to be late, going to be,  

going to be. So fast. Late, longer. I  love that contrast in syllable length. 

Sorry, I just have to go to  bathroom and that'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in your car. Nice job! I like your scene changes. 

Hurry up! We are going to be late. One thing I noticed, we are going  

to be late. So, in the dialogue that I  gave, I said, we're going to be late. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom,  

and then I'll be ready. Alright,  I'm going to wait in the car. 

I've noticed a couple different people did not do  the contraction, we want the contraction. That's  

part of very natural spoken English. We don't  want we are we want we’re, we’re, we're. So fast,  

we're going to be, we're going to be late. Sorry, I just have go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

I also noticed ‘bathroom’. There wasn't really  an ending M there, perhaps in Chinese we don't  

have words that end in m. In English we  have a bunch. Bathroom. Mm, mm. So I want  

to see your lips come together and make  that M. Bathroom, mm, mm, mm. Nice job. 

Hurry up! Hurry up! Very good vowels there. 

Hurry up! We are going to be late. We are, I want we’re,  

we’re, we’re. Just the W sound, the R sound,  the contraction we’re, we're, we're going to. 

Sorry, I have just to go to the  bathroom and then I'll will be ready. 

Bathroom. I heard that ending in an N, I want that  ending in an M. Bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. I'm going to wait in the car. We don't  

really separate things like that when we  don't have to in American English. I'm  

going to wait in the car instead of wait in the  car. Wait in the car, wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up! You're going to be late. Sorry I just have to go to the bathroom— 

I love your volume, very easy to hear you. Now, I  like your rhythmic contrast but I noticed you're  

not doing the two reduction. Go to, go to, go  to. I would love to hear go to, go to ,go to,  

go to the, go to the bathroom. I have to, not have  to but have to, have to, I have to, I have to go  

to the, I have to go to the bathroom. Nice job. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright I'm going to wait in the car. Really nice job. I would say your unstressed  

syllables could be even shorter that would make  the sound even just a little bit more natural. 

Sorry just have to go to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom. Go to the, go to  

the. What if you made it half is short? Go to  the, go to the. And a little bit lower. Go to  

the. Go to the bathroom. That kind of contrast  adds a lot of clarity to our speech it's less  

clear but it's against more clear syllables.  They're longer, these are shorter. I'm often  

working with students on making their  short syllables even shorter. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. I love that ER vowel, hurry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Awesome. I don't have much to say here,  

I do wonder what it would be like if  the whole pitch was a little bit lower. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom, Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom,  

sorry I just have to go to the bathroom.  Try it like this: Sorry, I just have to  

go to the bathroom. Lower in pitch. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

The word be, I want an e vowel there, it sounded  like be late. Be, be, bebebebe, be late, be late.  

I want that clearer sound. Be be, be late. Sorry, I'll just have go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

There was another place, be ready, be, be, be  ready. E, e, be e ready, e e e. So, a little bit  

more brightness in that e vowel. Nice job. Hurry up! 

Hurry. Hur, ur, hurry. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  and then I'll be ready. Alright,  

I'm going to wait in the car. Really nice, you're ending e and  

ready sounds a little tense and a little bit  flat to me. Ready, e e e e. See if you can  

do it with relaxing your tongue a little  bit more, e, e, ready, ready. Well done. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Nice job with your UR vowel I did hear a T that is  

not an American T. Late. That kind of soft release  is not in American English. We would probably do a  

stop T there. Late no release at all. Sorry, 

Sorry, I want so, sorry. A little bit more jaw  drop little bit more open in that vowel. Sorry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to  the bathroom then be ready. 

I heard another kind of T. Go to, to, to. Go  to. This would be a flap T and Schwa. Go to,  

go to the, go to the bathroom. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

That sounded a little bit like a G, g, g,  g. We want a crisp k sound. Car. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. I like the rhythmic contrast here. We're  

going to be late. We're going to be late. So, nice  job making your fast fast and your long longer. 

Sorry I just have to go to the bathroom  and then I'll be ready. Bathroom. I did  

not hear the th there. Bathroom. Tongue tip  lightly through the front teeth, bathroom. 

Alright I'm going to wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to. 

Nice job. Sorry. Just a little bit could be  more saw, a with a more open vowel there, sorry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  and then I'll be ready. Alright,  

I'm going to wait in the car. Wait in the car. Wait in the.  

I liked your flap T there connecting wait  and in. Wait in, wait in, wait in the car. 

Hurry up! We are going to be late. Hurry up! The only thing I would say  

here is a little bit faster speed, hurry up, hurry  up, to match a more American pacing. Hurry up! 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Bathroom. The th sounded a little bit like an S  to me, bathroom, bath, make sure that tongue tip  

is coming through. Bathroom. I put this word in  on purpose because I know that th is so tricky. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the  car. I'm going to wait in the car. 

That's just another place where your  pacing could be a little bit faster,  

I'm going a wait in the car. Everything  just a little bit faster. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the  

bathroom and I'll be ready. Bathroom. Didn't really  

hear a th there, bathroom, bathroom. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Also, the th in the car, the, the car. I'm going  to wait in the car. I didn't really hear that. I  

heard sort of more of a d or, I'm going to wait  in, maybe a z? So, we want to try to work on  

finding that th sound, the the the, the car. I'm going to wait in the car. 

I have a video that goes over some up close slow  motion of the mouth with the th, I'll link to  

that in the video description. Hurry up! We're going to late. 

Late, late, lay. That's a  dipthong, two sounds, a, lay, late. 

Sorry, I just. Sorry, sorry,  

saw, a, a, a little bit more jaw drop. Sorry. Sorry, I just have to go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, what I'm going to wait in a car. 

Going to wait. Not wrong, but I  believe in the dialogue I said,  

going to wait, going to, going to. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Do try to use gonna, wanna, gotta in spoken  English, they just add a very nice casual  

conversational tone. Very natural in  spoken American English. Well done. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright I'm going wait in the car. 

Really nice job, I do want to have you work a  little bit on making your short syllables together  

even shorter. For example, in this phrase: Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  

and then I'll be— And then I'll be,  

and then I'll be, and then I'll be, and then  I'll be, and then I'll be ready. Nice job. 

Hurry up! Hurry, hurry. Let's  

try hur, ur, hurry, hurry, hurry up. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright I'm going to wait in the car. Great job with going to and the to reduction. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. We're going to be. With the we are contraction,  

I mostly want to hear just the W and the r. Wer,  wer, we’re. Not we, we, we. We're going to be,  

we're going to be. Sorry, 

Sorry, nice jaw drop, I  liked that open vowel. Sorry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom— Also, I really saw your tongue tip come through  

for that th and it was very clear, bathroom. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom and  

then I'll be ready. Alright,  I'm going to wait in the car. 

Wow, you even did the munna reduction.  I'm going to wait in the car. Love that. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Lay, lay, lay, late. With the stop T. I need  

a little bit more of that a diphthong, late. Sorry, I just had to go to the bathroom  

and then I'll be ready. Had to go to the, had to go to  

the. A little bit of the consonants aren't very  clear. Have to, have to, have to go to the, have  

to go to the. So the most common way to pronounce  have to is have to, have to, have to, have to go. 

Alright I'm going to win in the car. Nice job. I would just say I didn't hear  

an m in I'm. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to,  I'm going to, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Here's another place where I want more  

UR vowel. Hur, hurry, hurry up. Sorry I just have— 

Sorry. Sa, try a little bit  more jaw drop, sorry, sorry. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Sorry I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright I'm going to wait in the car. Alright I'm going to wait in the car. 

Alright. I liked your second. Alright, a little  bit more. I thought there was a little bit more  

space this way which I liked. Alright, nice job. Hurry up we're got to be late. 

Sorry, Pretty good, saw,  

that's one place where I need more jaw drop so  that that vowel can be clearer sar, sorry, sorry. 

Sorry I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Hurry up. Nice job connecting them, nice UR vowel. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready.  

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. So this is a place where your syllables  

feel like they're the same length. Sorry, and a  little bit more better would be sorry, like one  

up down shape with the e at the very end. Sorry.  Sorry, instead of that. Sorry, sorry. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We’re going to be late. I did feel like the E and B was a  

little bit more like e, be, be late. B b  b b be late. So the tongue is a little bit  

closer to the roof of the mouth. Sorry I just have to go the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Well done. Hurry up! We're going to be late! 

Nice job. I do think that the L is a little  heavy and late. We don't need that much  

contact between the tongue and the roof of the  mouth. It's a little bit of a lighter sound,  

Lalalala, late, late, late. Sorry, I just have to go to  

the bathroom and then I'll be ready.  Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

A little bit more r at the end of car. Nice job. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  and then I'll be ready. Alright,  

I'm going to wait in the car. Nice. I loved your rhythm,  

I thought it was all very, very smooth. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just had to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. A couple times, I was hearing a T late,  

alright. We either want a true T, which is crisper  or no T at all like a stop T, alright. So I don't  

want that softer release of the T. Well done. Hurry up! 

Hurry, hurry, hur. I want more  R vowel there, hur, hurry up. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, 

Sorry, saw. More jaw drop, more  relaxation there, saw sorry, sorry. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry I just have to go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Going to wait in the car would be a little bit  more natural conversationally but very nice job  

like your low pitch and placement. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I do have to go to the bathroom— The word just can be hard for Spanish speakers  

so we're going to drop the T here, just, just,  just, just, and we're going to make a j sound j  

j j and a quick vowel s just just, just, just. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom— 

Jo, jo. That's more what I heard instead of  just, just, I just, I just have, I just have to. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. I’ll be ready. I heard I be ready. We  

want that dark l sound all, all, all.  It can sound like the word a-l-l, all,  

all, all, I’ll be ready. Well done. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

We're going to be late. Late. Pitch going  up at the end makes it feel like a question,  

so I'd love to hear we're going to  be late, late. Pitch going down. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up we're going to be late. I noticed the vowel and up, app,  

app is pretty high, ah. I want something more like  uh, uh, it vibrates less here and more here. Uh,  

uh, up. Hurry up! Sorry, 

Sorry, sorry. A little bit more jaw  drop there, sa, sorry, sorry. Sorry,  

I just have to go to the bathroom and then I'll  be ready. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Very good overall I like those ending phrases. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just got to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. So I think I heard I just got to go to  

the bathroom instead of what I said in  the dialogue which is I just have to go  

to the bathroom, and that's actually fine.  Both phrases are grammatically correct. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Nice. Now, one thing that I think could  

be a little bit more natural is if some  of your syllables are less long. Car, car,  

car. If you shorten up your long syllables  a little bit, I think that will be a little  

bit more natural sounding. Nice job. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Hurry, this is another place where I want a  little bit more of that UR vowel. Hurry. Hurry up! 

Sorry, I just have to go out to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

I had to listen to this a few times to  figure out what I wanted to say and it's  

the O diphthong on go. I heard g, go, go, go,  go, go to the, go to the, go to the bathroom. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Nice job. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Sorry, 

Sorry. Little bit more jaw drop, saw, sorry. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom and— 

Bathroom. I heard a little bit of of like  maybe a z sound in your R, bath, bathroom. 

I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Car. I want more length on that because it  

is a stress word. Car. Well done. We're going to be late. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom then I'll be ready. 

Nice job with your rhythm here but on the word  to, I want to hear that reduced so it's not the  

u vowel but the schwa. I just have to, to,  to, I just have to, go to the, go to the,  

the, not go to, go to, go to, go to the. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Nice job. Hurry up! We’re going to be late. 

Here, I also think I'm hearing we are  we are. Very fast. I want we're, we’re,  

we're, we're going to, we're going to. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  

and then I'll be ready. Alright  I'm going to wait in the car. 

Nice job with your rhythm  and your other reductions. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. I think I see your arm moving and I  

love that. It makes your stress even clearer when  you practice it that way. Hurry up! Mmm. Moving  

your arm with your stress syllable I think  can help your body tune into the difference  

in length and the difference in melody in  a stressed versus an unstressed syllable. 

Sorry, I just have to go to the  bathroom and then I'll be ready. 

And then I'll be ready, and then I'll be. I  think I'm hearing an extra syllable in there,  

and then I'll be ready. So you might  want to slow it down and focus in on  

those syllables because I think I'm hearing  an extra one maybe between I’ll and be. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Well done. 

Hurry up! we're going to be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the  

bathroom and then I'll be ready. I'm hearing an extra stable here  

too. I just have to, I just have to, have to. So  it might be that linking the words is a little  

bit tricky for you so you want to put in an  extra vowel but let's try have to, have to,  

have to go have to go to the bathroom. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Well done. A little bit more length on  wait I'm going to wait and maybe more  

lip rounding for that W that one word was  a little unclear. Wait, wait in the car. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Hurry. Hurr. Try that R vowel with not  

much jaw drop at all. Hur, hurry up. Hurry up! We're going to be late. 

Be instead of be, be late, b, b, b, b, be late. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom  

and then I'll be ready. Nice job. I do think your short  

syllables could be shorter in the phrase ‘go to  the bathroom’. Go to the, go to the, go to the.  

It can help to just take those unstressed words  in a row and practice them and simplify your mouth  

as much as you can to make it go quickly.  Go to the, go to the, go to the bathroom. 

Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. Well done. 

Hurry up! We're going to be late. Hurry up! I like your smoothness  

and connection and I do like your UR vowel. Sorry, sorry, saw. Let's get a little bit more  

jaw drop there. Sorry, sorry. Sorry, I just go to the  

bathroom and then I'll ready. I just go to the bathroom. We're missing some  

words, I just have to go to the bathroom. I just  have to go to the bathroom. I just have to go to  

the bathroom. I just have to go to the bathroom. Alright, I'm going to wait in the car. 

Nice job. Hurry up! We’re going to be late. 

Hurry up! Your A vowel, your UR vowel, perfect. Sorry, I just have to go to the bathroom and  

then I'll be ready. Alright,  I'm going to away in the car. 

Car. I do want the pitch to just go  down at the end. Car, car. Nice job. 

Thank you so much to all my students out there  who took the time to make a video and send it  

in. I just love seeing your faces and hearing your  voices. I will say when I was going through and  

listening to these the first time, I thought  man, these people have really good rhythm,  

really good smoothness and overall very good  placement. I'm so proud of you you've really  

been watching the videos. You all sound fabulous. Keep your learning going now with this video and  

don't forget to subscribe with notifications  on, I love being your English teacher. 

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