ENGLISH CONVERSATION – INTERVIEWING MY FRIEND

You guys love Ben Franklin videos.

They're one of the best ways for you to improve listening comprehension and learn tricks to

sound more natural when speaking English, like using specific reductions.

This January, you're getting five all new Ben Franklin videos where we do a full analysis

of real American English conversations.

Today's topic: interview with my friend Chris.

Let's get started with this analysis.

First, the whole conversation.

- Yeah we have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah. Big ones.

Big dogs. Okay, Daisy and let me see if I can remember.

Oh, I can't.

- Banjo. - Banjo! That's right.

And they made the move with you guys from Texas.

Mmm hmm. They did.

How long have you guys had them?

Daisy, about five years.

Banjo, four.

Now, the analysis.

- Yeah we have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah we have two dogs.

Yeah we have two dogs.

What are the most stressed words you hear there?

I hear 'two' and 'dogs' as being the two content words here, the most stressed words, longer.

Yeah also. Yeah.

'We have', these are both said really quickly.

And we have two- and we have two- we have two-

And actually the word 'have' reduces.

He drops the H sound.

It's common to do this in function words that begin with an H like: have, had, his, her, him.

We have- we have- So the EE vowel goes right into the AH vowel, smoothly connected:

we have- we have- we have- we have-

This allows him to say these two words more quickly and we want to do that

because we want contrast with the longer words.

So we want our less important function words to be said really really as quickly as possible.

We have- we have- we have two dogs-

we have two- we have two-

- We have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

I respond. I'm pretty sure I knew that.

It's like just a way of saying I'm listening to what you're saying.

- We have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. You'll hear this word in conversation a lot.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's a stressed word.

It will generally have an up-down shape of stress and be a little bit longer. Yeah.

Yeah.

Rather than: yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Which is how it would be pronounced if it was unstressed. Yeah.

Big ones.

- We have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah.

- We have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah.

- We have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah. Big ones.

Big ones.

Big ones.

So these are both stressed words. Big ones.

They're both longer than a function word like we have up here. Big ones.

'Big' is more stressed than 'ones'.

The pitch is a little bit higher.

Big ones.

The pitch for 'ones' falls away from the stressed 'big', from the peak of 'big'.

Big ones.

Big ones.

Big ones.

Big ones.

Big ones.

Big dogs.

Big dogs.

So again, two stressed words and I'm sort of stretching them out even more.

Big dogs.

I'm doing this for emphasis.

Big dogs.

Big dogs.

- Big dogs. Okay. - Mmm hmm.

He says mm-hmm.

And you can see his mouth doesn't open at all.

This is an affirmation, a way of saying yes or yeah.

We say it a lot in conversation.

Mmm hmm. Mmm hmm.

- Okay. - Mmm hmm.

- Okay. - Mmm hmm.

Okay Daisy and--

Okay Daisy and--

So in this thought group, 'dai' is definitely the most stressed.

It's a proper noun and it's the name of the dog so the stressed syllable of this word

will be very clear: Daisy.

Okay, Daisy-

Okay, Daisy-

Okay, Daisy-

Okay, Daisy and-

And- So this is unusual, this is a function word.

We usually reduce it which means we drop or change some of the sounds.

I say the whole word clearly. The AH as in bat vowel transitioning into the N consonant

and the D sound.

We almost always drop the D but I'm thinking here, I can't remember the name of his other dog.

And....

So by drawing out the word like that, I'm taking more time showing that I'm uncertain

trying to remember that dog's name.

And-- and-- and let me see if I can remember.

Let me see if I can remember.

Let me see if I can remember.

See and the stressed syllable of remember are the most stressed words there.

The rest are said very quickly.

And we do have some reductions: 'let me' becomes lemme.

We drop the T completely.

You might have seen people write it this way before: lemme.

I don't recommend writing reductions but we use them in spoken English all the time.

Let me see- Let me see-

let me see if-- let me see if-- let me see if I can remember--

If I can-- If I can-- If I can remember.

So 'if I can' and actually even the first syllable of 'remember' because it's unstressed.

If I can re-- are all said really quickly, lower in pitch, a little flatter in pitch:

If I can re-- all of them linked together smoothly.

If i can re-- If i can re--

Notice the word 'can'. I'm not pronouncing it fully pronounced which would have the AH vowel

but I'm reducing it: can- can- can- K schwa N. Can- can- can-

This is because 'can' is a helping verb here.

That means it's not the main verb.

'Remember' is the main verb.

'Remem--' and it does have stress

but 'can' when it's not the main word,

which is most of the time, when it's not the main verb, is reduced.

So instead of 'can' it becomes: can, can, can, said very quickly.

Practice that with me now.

Can- can- if I can- if I can- if I can- if I can- if I can remember.

if I can- if I can- if I can remember.

So there's a big difference between the unstressed words: if I can- and the stressed word 'remember'

which has that clear up-down shape, full pronunciation, long stressed syllable.

If I can remember.

If I can remember. If I can remember. If I can remember.

Oh...I can't.

I say: Oh, I can't.

I can't.

I can't.

A stop here at the end where we stop the air: can't-- nt-- nt-- nt--

An abrupt stop. The air stops in my nose because N is a nasal constant.

I can't-- I can't--

I can't--

I can't--

- I can't-- - Ba- Banjo.

And I say this at the same time that he is taking me out of my misery

and giving me the right answer: Ban- Banjo.

Banjo.

Again, it's a proper noun so it's going to be stressed.

The first syllable is the stressed syllable: Ban-- jo.

Banjo.

Banjo.

Banjo.

Banjo.

Banjo. That's right.

Banjo. That's right.

So I'm being dramatic here spending more time on the name.

Of course, I remember as soon as he said it.

I've seen Banjo on Instagram many times.

Banjo.

Banjo.

Banjo.

Banjo. That's right.

That's right. That's right. That's right.

These two words a little bit mumbled.

Not as clear I definitely drop the TH in 'that's'.

at's right. at's right. at's right.

That's pretty common.

In fact, I could have even dropped the vowel and just put the TS sound in front of the R consonant.

T's right. T's right.

We do that quite a bit with that, it's, let's, and what's.

Reducing those words to just the TS sound.

But here I don't do that. I keep the AH vowel but I do drop the beginning consonant. That's right.

That's right.

This is pretty normal.

You'll hear this quite a bit in normal conversation, casual conversation.

That's right. That's right.

That's right. And they made the move with you guys.

And they made the move with you guys.

So notice I definitely dropped the D here and that is a more normal pronunciation of the word 'and'.

And they made the move.

I keep the full AH vowel.

Could have reduced it to the schwa:

And they made the move--

And they made the move--

And they made the move--

And they made the move with you guys from Texas.

And they made the move with your guys--

A little stressed there.

From Texas-- So the stressed words more clear, more time, up-down shape of stress.

The unstressed words flatter in pitch, said more quickly, less important.

And they made the move with you guys from Texas.

The word 'from' reduced.

It's not: from but: from- from- from Texas-

So the vowel changes to the schwa.

So we can see that word really quickly: from- from Texas-

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm they...

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm they...

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm they did.

Mmm hmm. Again, an affirmation.

Like saying: Yes, they did.

They did.

'Did' more stressef than 'they'.

They did.

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm. They did.

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm. They did.

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm. They did.

- From Texas. - Mmm hmm. They did.

How long have you guys had them?

How long have you guys had them?

That is definitely the longest word in the sentence, the most stressed.

The other words a little less clear.

In fact, I reduced the word 'have' by dropping the H consonant.

How long have you guys-

Have-- have-- have--

I also changed the vowel from AH to the schwa.

So it's just schwa V. Long have- long have- long have-

And whenever we do reductions, we want to make sure that we link them in.

So this is just linked right on to the next word, to the word before, and the next word:

how long have- long have- Practice that with me now.

Long have- long have- long have you- long have you- How long have you guys had them?

How long have you-- How long have you-- How long have you guys had them?

'Had' also has a little bit of stress.

Had them- had them- 'Them' is another word that often reduces by dropping the TH.

I did not do that here.

How long have you guys had them?

Even though I didn't do it, it's still not stressed. It's lower in pitch.

The intonation doesn't have the up-down shape of stress, that curve in the voice.

How long have you guys had them?

Them? Them? Them?

Had them? Had them? Had them?

Daisy, about five years. Banjo, four.

Daisy, about five years.

Dai-, five, and Banjo, about four.

So again, our two proper nouns Daisy and Banjo stressed.

Here, we're talking about, we've already established that that's who were talking about.

And now we're asking about something different.

We're asking about how long Chris has had these dogs.

So I think the word 'five' is even more stressed than Daisy.

Daisy, about five years.

Because this is the new information.

This is the information I'm asking about.

Daisy, about five years.

Daisy, about five years.

Daisy, about five years.

Five years.

Five years.

'About' with a stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.

About five years.

About five years.

About five years.

About five years.

Five years.

The intonation for the word 'years' is a little high and he holds it out a little bit.

That says to me that it's an estimate.

It's like not exactly five years.

Five years.

Five years.

Five years.

Five years.

And he's also thinking: How, how would I say that? Is that true?

Maybe he's also thinking about Banjo.

He's about to tell me Banjos age.

Maybe he's not quite sure how long they've had Banjo.

Five years. Banjo, four.

Four.

Four.

So we have a bit of this quality...

which is called popcorn we have a bit of a popcorn sound in the voice.

And that's pretty normal for final words in a thought group.

The general trend of phrases in American English is that they go down in pitch

and they lose energy towards the end.

That's why it's very common for there to be that popcorn quality at the end of a sentence.

Four.

Four.

Instead of: four, four.

Four.

Four.

Four.

If you notice this, pay attention to this.

You don't want to have this popcorn quality in your voice all the time.

But if you do bring it in at the ends of phrases, it can definitely help you sound more natural

when speaking English.

Let's listen to the whole conversation one more time.

- Yeah we have two dogs. - Yeah.

Yeah. Big ones.

Big dogs.

Okay, Daisy and let me see if I can remember.

- Oh, I can't. - Ban-banjo.

Banjo! That's right. And they made the move with you guys from Texas.

Mmm hmm. They did.

How long have you guys had them?

Daisy, about five years. Banjo, four.

That analysis is really fun and helpful, right?

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