How to Speak American English…FAST!

This small scene shows you everything you need to  

know about American English pronunciation and  how to understand fast English. I’m Rachel,  

and I’ve been teaching the American accent and  improving your listening skills for over 15  

years. Check out RachelsEnglish.com to learn  more and to sign up for my free course.

To understand fast English, you have to know  about reductions and simplifying certain words,  

what a stressed syllable should sound  like, linking, and so on. We’ll study  

all of this in a short scene from the TV  show “Little America” from Apple Plus,  

a series about the immigrant  experience in America.

First, we’ll watch the scene, then we’ll  do an in-depth analysis. Here’s the scene.  

There’s going to be no closed captioning for it  this first time through. How much of it do you  

understand? All of it? Most of it? some of it? or  a little of it? Let me know in the comments.

Now, let’s go word by word, phrase by phrase, to  figure out how to understand fast English.

That's your mom 's signature?

So this is a yes no question and the  intonation is going up at the end.  

Signature. So we have two stressed syllables  in this phrase we have mom's and our stressed  

syllables always have a pitch change so it's  going mom’s, down and up and we can really  

hear that change of pitch. Let's listen  to Just the word mom’s in slow motion.

Mom's--

Then we have a second stress syllable in  signature. So again a little bit down and  

then up for our stressed syllable in a yes  no question. That's your mom's signature?

That's your mom's signature?

That's and your both said really  quickly, those are unstressed words.

that's your--

So see if you can do that really simplifying  your mouth movements. Your would be written  

in IPA with the Y consonant schwa R and the  schwa R ending really just becomes an R ending,  

R takes over the schwa, so it's almost just  like a word with no vowel. Your, your, your.

We’ve just gotten our first reduction,  your becomes yer. So fast. You’re going to  

hear this a lot in this conversation. Now  that you know it and you’re studying it,  

your ear is going to pick up  on it more in conversation,  

and your listening comprehension, your ability  to understand fast English, is going to improve.

One thing that will get the American  accent even more into your ear and  

body is repetitious training with audio. I  can offer you that in my free mini-course,  

Top 3 Ways to Master the American Accent.

Visit Rachel’senglish.com/free  to start your course today.

And the word that's is that's that's  that's that's that's. So fast,  

the tongue tip doesn't need to come through the  teeth. It just touches the backs of the teeth,  

tha, tha, tha, tha, that's that's that's that's.

that's--

your mom's--

To make it really fast and simple. That's your,  

that's your, that's your mom's. So the  one word moms is longer than the two  

words that's your. That's your mom's. It's  almost twice as long as those two words.

Mom's--

Signature.

Looking at the word signature, it's interesting  because the word sign is in it and the word sign  

has a silent G. But in the word signature  we do have a G and then an N signature,  

and the letter T there makes the CH  sound. Signature, ture, ture, signature?

Signature?

Mm.

So instead of saying yes, one thing that  we can say is Mmhm but she's shortening  

that to just Mm, mm. This is not usual it's not  very respectful because it's not really a full  

answer. Mm, Mm. But to say hmm, hmm, that would  be fine that wouldn't be considered rude. Yes  

is probably even better but hmm is a fine way  to say yes but Mm is just a little bit rude,  

this girl is not really interested in what  this woman is trying to get her to do.

Mm.

That looks a lot like your handwriting.

Okay so just like up here when we had that's  your and they were both unstressed and short  

now we have that looks and they're  both unstressed and pretty short.

That looks--

I would say the t is dropped  even and again with this th,  

when the th is unvoiced, sorry is voiced but  it's in an unstressed word like that or the,  

it's really common to make that actually  all the time we would make that without  

the tongue tip actually coming through because  that takes too long when the word is unstressed,  

we want to say it as quickly as possible. So  rather than that full th sound, it's thththth,  

the tongue just touches the backs of the  teeth which are very slightly parted tha,  

tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, that look, that  looks, that looks, that looks, that looks.

That looks--

In order to get those words out quickly.  Now while that is unclear on its own  

in the context of the full sentence  with that contrast, it's very clear.

That looks--

a lot like your handwriting.

So what are the stress longer  words or syllables in this phrase?

That’s looks a lot like your handwriting.

That looks a lot. So lot is our most stress word,  that has the most pitch change. That looks a lot  

like your handwriting and then another  up down shape of stress on the word hand,  

it's less stressed, it's closer to the end  of the sentence and often those stressed  

syllables will feel less stressed,  it looks a lot like your handwriting.

That looks a lot like your handwriting.

Remember the phrase a lot. Always write  that with a space and the first sound is  

the schwa. So it's not a lot but it's uh uh,  a lot, a lot, a lot. And it will always link  

in which is why some people write it with  no space because it feels like one word.  

Because of how we link and connect but it is  two words. A lot, a lot. And this is going to  

be a stop t because the next word begins with  a consonant. Looks a lot, looks a lot, a lot.

A lot. One of the most common misspellings in  English, because the two words go together. We  

don’t put breaks between words in spoken American  English most of the time; there's no way to know  

by listening if it’s one word or two, because all  of your words should smoothly link together.

It really helps to break things up into  these little mini phrases to help you  

practice that smoothness looks a lot to help  you really focus on your stressed syllable,  

looks a lot and also to help you simplify  your mouth movements. Looks a lot.

Looks a lot--

looks a lot like your handwriting.

Like your handwriting. Like your  handwriting. So all of this,  

if we listen to just the first half of the  phrase, the pitch is higher in general.  

The second half of the phrase the pitch is  lower and this is normal. In spoken English,  

generally the pitch and the energy of the  voice is higher towards the beginning and  

it tends to fall towards the end with  some of these up down shapes for stress.

I like your handwriting.

Like your handwriting, like your handwriting.  Notice the your reduction again not your or  

your but your, your, your, your handwriting,  your handwriting. The D is dropped here fairly  

common to drop a d after an n. Handwriting.  And of course wr is just one single sound,  

the r consonant and the T in writing, writing,  writing, writing is a flap T because it comes  

between two vowels so it's not writing but  it's writing, [flap], writing, writing.

like your handwriting.

Yeah, because we're related.

Okay, she's making me laugh here a little  bit with her um, the way she says related.

It's like she knows it's a lie she knows it's  not very convincing and she's not saying the  

word very quickly even though it's the stress word  here. Yeah, because we're related. And they both  

both yeah and related have that more extreme  pitch change, yeah, because we're related.

Yeah, because we're related.

And that's again just what we do on stressed  syllables. Her pitch is higher now and our  

pitch is higher and changes more  when we're wanting to add stress  

or emotion or excitement so here I think  because she knows she's lying she's just  

trying to cover with like sort of a happy  attitude. Yeah, because we're related.

Yeah, because we're related.

Because we're related, because were related. She  

sort of cuts off her stressed syllable.  It's not even relay that I hear but it's  

more like relu, relu. It's almost  like the word just stops abruptly.

Yeah, because we're related.

I still hear a flap T here though.  Because we're related [flap].

So you’re learning about T pronunciations  now. We have something called a flap T like  

in related, [flap], and sometimes  we drop T like in 'I don’t know.’,  

don’t know. We also have a Stop T and a True  T, so there are four different pronunciations  

of this sound. I’ll link to a playlist on T  pronunciations in the video description.

More clearly pronounced it would be related with  schwa in the first syllable and the ed ending,  

that's always an i as in sit D or you can think  of it as schwa d because it's unstressed but  

it's always pronounced that way after a t  or a d. Related or in this case, related.

Because were related.

Because we are. We see the  contraction we are becomes  

were and how are these two words pronounced?

Because were--

Super unclear flat low in pitch, low in  energy, the word because is reduced to  

k schwa z. The word were, wer, wer, wer,  I would write w schwa r, wer, wer, wer.

Because were--

So they're flat, we don't have the pitch change  that we have in a stress word. They're either  

flat or going up or coming down but unstressed  words never have a pitch change and they're  

said so quickly more quietly, less energy and  volume. Because were, because were, because were.

Because we are - cuzwr. When I tell my  students, pronounce that ‘cuzwr’. They’re like,  

hold on though! That’s totally unclear, no one  will be able to understand me. Which is actually  

true. If we only ever said unstressed words,  no one would understand us. But we don’t do  

that. The unstressed and the stressed together,  that is what makes clear English. Watch this,  

I took a few unstressed words together, and played  just that for native speakers. They had no idea  

what was being said. But when I played them the  whole sentence, right away they understood it.  

it seems crazy to change words like this, to use  reductions, but it’s the contrast of clear and  

unclear that makes clear English. Watch this  clip: it has my friend, my husband, and my  

parents in it. I played them a few unstressed  words in a row, and they had no idea.

So here we are at my parent’s house out on the  back deck. I am playing part of a sentence a  

couple of unclear unstressed words in a row.  Let's see if my friends and family can guess  

what I'm playing. This is the clip they're  going to hear do you know what's being said?

Put your guess in the comments right now what is  

being said. Let's see if my parents  and my friends could figure it out.

This first one I think is a little  bit easier but I'm not sure.

Okay. Okay here it is.

Do it again?

No.

Okay great this is what I was hoping would happen.

It sounds like.

Can you guys tell what it is? Should I turn it up?

Yeah.

Okay here's I'm going to  turn the volume all the way.

Jonathan.

You think it's Jonathan? What do you think?

Hit me.

Don’t know. Oh anything.

You think don’t know, you think anything,  you think Jonathan. One more time.

Okay, here's the last time.

Jonathan.

Not a thing.

Their guesses: anything, Jonathan, not a thing,  don’t know. None of those are right. Really,  

they have no idea what this native  speaker is saying and I played it for  

them several times now I'm going  to play them the whole sentence.

You don't have to face the  horrible pressures of this holiday.

You don't have to.

You don't have to face.

Wow.

Do you totally understand it without  hesitation when you hear in a sentence?

You don't have to face the horrible pressures of  this holiday.

Because it puts it in a context.

In order to do that again you're  going to need to simplify your  

mouth movements. Because we’re,  because we’re because we're related.

Because we’re--

Related.

Look I don't know how long we're going to play  

this game or what it's going to take  to make you care about your future.

Okay, so now we have a really long thought  group lots of words in a row with no break  

and at the end she says future. So the  scoop down and up we said earlier that  

that's the intonation we do for yes no  questions but we also do it sometimes for  

a few other cases in this case to show  that we're going to keep going. She's  

not done with her thought, she has more to  say so the voice going up cues that future,  

future. And just like in signature the letter  t here with u makes the CH sound future.

Future.

So this whole long thought group,  

no breaks. let's look at our stress  words that are a little bit longer.

Look, I don't know how long we're going to play this game or what it's going to take  to make you care about your future.

Look, look, look. Little bit of up down and  actually I would say this one is just ever so  

slightly separated look and then we have I don't  know how long we're going to play this game.

Look, I don't know how long  we're going to play this game.

Oh, wow so connected. We have stress  on I don't know how long we're going  

to. Then that whole rest of the phrase  is just coming down in pitch. Then we  

have play another up down shape play this  game. So we have two stress words there:  

I and play and everything else is just coming  down from or leading up to those stressed words.

I don't know how long we're going to--

So don't know how long we're going to  becomes don't know how long we're going to.

I don't know how long we're going to--

So, don't know how long don't know how long don't,  

don't. So definitely no T sound there the T gets  dropped don't don't don't don't know don't know.

I don't know how long we're going to--

So the word don't just becomes d schwa.  Connected to the word no don't know,  

don't know, don't know, don't know, don't know.

How long we’re. how long we’re  how long we’re how long we’re.

I can actually do that without moving my lips and  

also not moving my jaw it's just  the tongue doing some work there.

How long we’re, how long we’re, how  long we’re. Very unclear on its own  

right? Totally but it’s part of the whole thing,  

it makes sense. And I'm sure you know going to  so common to pronounce that. Gonna, gonna, gonna.

I don't know how long we’re going to--

Gonna, gonna, gonna.

Really unclear,  I would probably even write both of those syllables with the schwa.

Go-na.

Gonna--

I don't know how long we're going to--

If everything we said was that  fast and that low in volume,  

it'd be incredibly hard to understand but  by bringing in these shapes of stress,  

the longer clearer stressed words that contrast  is actually what makes spoken English clear.

I don't know how long we're going to--

play this game.

We're going to, we're going to, going  to. That's starting to go up a little bit  

towards the peak of stress on play. Going  to play this game or, play this game or,

play this game or

Again this is a voiced th, in an unstressed  word this this this this this this. You don't  

need to bring your tongue tip through this  game this game this game. Definitely not this  

game. That would be stressed, sometimes  the word game will be stressed but not  

here. Play this game, play this game. She's  really stressing the verb. Play this game.

Play this game.

or what it's going to take.

Or what it's going to take. Couple more up down  shapes of stress there or what it's going to take  

to make you care about your future. We've already  said future has that down up shape of stress.

Or what it's going to take

Or what it's going to take, Or what it's  going to take. So, or what it's going to,  

all linking together so smoothly, the or  is reduced. It's just or what or what or  

what it's or what it's or what it's. That's  a flap T which I sometimes write with the d  

symbol linking those two words together. What  it's or what it's or what it's or what it's.

Or what it's going to take

Again going to reduces to gonna,  take, now we have a stress word  

that begins with a true T. Take, take,  now what about this t? Let's listen.

Or what’s it going to make--

Tt, tt, tt, really quick true  T schwa. Take to, true t schwa.  

So it's not to but it's to,  to. So fast take to take to.

Take to make--

You care about your future.

Make you care about your future.  Make you, make you, make you. Again,  

so fast a little bit of that up down  shape a little bit more length on care,  

so care if you look it up in the dictionary  you'll see the e as in bed vowel, schwa R but  

schwa R does change this vowel it's not a pure e  but it's a little bit more closed than that care,  

care about. And the r links right into  the schwa of about uh, uh, uh. Care about,  

care about, care about. Everything  linked together smoothly. Care about.

care about--

care about your future.

Care about your future. Care about, no T  sounds there it's a stop t, care about,  

about, about, about. That little abrupt stop is  

the stop T and again the reduction of  your, your. Your, so fast your future.

Your future.

Oh my God this talk again?

Oh my God. Oh my God. Up down shape of stress on O.

Oh my God. And the rest is a little bit mumbled  

a little unstressed and you can see she really  doesn't move her lips much at all. Oh my god.

Oh my god let's talk again?

So it's a great example to be able to  see when things are less clear like our  

unstressed words there's much less lip  movement, there's much more simplicity  

than on our stress words where you'll see more  jaw drop more lip rounding this kind of thing.

Oh my God this talk again?

Oh my God this talk again? The, scoop  up change of pitch, stress on this this,  

talk again? Again, little bit of  up down on again. So the reason  

why we're going up is this is a  yes no question. This talk again?

This talk again?

Talk with a true T and you probably know  the L is silent there. This talk again?  

The word again, that first sound is always  the schwa, it's not a but uh again? Again?

Talk again?

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Up down shape of stress  quite a bit of pitch change. Yeah.

Yeah.

There are colleges that--

There are colleges that. She gets cut off  because the girl is laughing she doesn't like  

that but in these four words, what do you feel  is stressed is longer? has a change in pitch?

There are colleges that--

There are colleges that. Coll,  our most up down shape of stress,  

our longest syllable. They're a little  bit. There are, there are, there are,  

but really those are more unstressed feeling  leading up to our stress syllable. There are  

colleges that. There are colleges that. And  then the word that also it's just coming  

down from that peak of stress stop t at the  end, not released. There are colleges that.

There are colleges that.

And everything links together quite smoothly  

doesn't it? We have a lot of  linking in American English.

There are colleges that.

Don't laugh.

Don't laugh. Those are both stressed. Don't  

laugh. What do you think about the  n apostrophe T pronunciation there?

Don't laugh.

Don't laugh. Don't, it's not totally  connected so I would say I feel a stop  

T there we have several different ways an  apostrophe T can be pronounced. Don't laugh  

and this is with a little tiny lift  to signify the stop t. Don't laugh.

N’T contractions. How Americans pronounce these  is really interesting. I have a video on that,  

which I’ll link to in the video description.

The word laugh begins with a light l, in  IPA it would be written with the a vowel  

and an F at the end. Laugh. Don't laugh.  For this vowel, you do need jaw drop.

Don't laugh.

There's maybe a half inch  between the teeth there. La,  

ah, ah, so we do need jaw drop  to get that vowel out, laugh.

Don't laugh.

There are scholarships you can apply for.

There are scholarships you can apply  for. If you slow it down I think you  

really start to feel the connection and  the melody more. There are scholarships  

you can apply for. So second syllable of  apply, first syllable of scholarships,  

and everything else unstressed. No change of  pitch just part of the line. More simple mouth  

movements probably less volume and faster.  There are scholarships you can apply for.

There are becomes there’re, there’re,  there’re. The r reduction just schwa  

R. Now the word before there ends in  schwa R so it's sort of just like a  

little re-emphasis of the r consonant there  are, there are, there are scholarships.

There are scholarships--

So we have schol and then two unstressed  syllables or ships in stressed words there  

are still unstressed syllables  if it's a multi- syllable word.  

Schol-archips , arships you can, arships  you can. So all of these are unstressed  

syllables. Even though some of those unstressed  syllables are part of stressed words. And we  

have a reduction in here. Can becomes  cun, you can you can you can you can.

Scholarships you can--

Apply for.

Apply for. The word for falling down in pitch  here, it's not reduced, now really often we  

will reduce the word for to, for but we don't  do that at the end of a sentence. At the end  

of a sentence it's not going to be reduced into  something like for but it is still unstressed,  

for, just coming down from the peak  of stress. For, you can apply for.

You can apply for.

What?

What? What? What? Not very clear but  we do still feel an up down shape of  

stress. Stop t at the end she sort of has  that vocal fry uh quality in her voice,  

she's not putting a lot of energy into it. What?

What?

You're going to let me your  Social Security number?

You're going to lend me your. So we have some  up down shape of stress here on our verb. You're  

going to lend me your. Now, we're going up at the  end because this is a yes no question. Social,  

social security number? So both of all three  of these words that are going up towards the  

end have a little dip down and then then up  for our stress syllable rather than scoop up  

and fall down. So this is the more normal  stress because most sentences in English  

tend to go down towards the end. But if they're  going up then towards the end you'll have down  

up down up instead of up down. Now we have  some reductions here let's check them out.

You're going to let me your  Social Security number?

You are going to. You're going to, you're  going to, you're going to. I don't need to  

really move my mouth at all for that. Your  reduction going to becomes gonna, gonna,  

gonna, gonna. You can write that with the  uh as in butter or the schwa if the first  

syllable also feels really unstressed. You're  going to, you're going to, you're going to.

You're going to lend me your--

Lend me your. No d right? Do you notice that?  Lend me your? Remember I said sometimes we drop  

the D after n? That is happening here. Lend me  your, lend me your, lend me your. Another your  

reduction. So we see here the example that you  are the contraction, and your, to show possession,  

two different words, same reduction. Your,  your, your. You're going to lend me your.

You're going to lend me your--

Social Security number?

Social Security number? All  moving towards going up. Social,  

c-I-a-l. There we've got Sial, the sh  sound, schwa L. Social, social.

Security, flap T because it comes between  

two vowel sounds here. Security  number? All going up and pitch.

Social security number?

You have to get this signed by your mom.

Okay, statement. Going down in pitch, the word  have is stressed. Have to get this. Signed by  

your mom. The peaks of stress are a little bit  lower across the sentence as we're moving down.

You have to get this sign by your mom.

Let's look at our reductions. We have you  have, but not pronounced that clearly are they?

You have to get this sign by your mom.

You have, you have. So the H is actually  dropped. You have, you have, you have. So  

we have scwha, y schwa, y, y, y linking right  into the a vowel of have. You have, you have.

You have--

The V I don't really hear. I do know have to  when we link these two words together that  

we make that V and F. Have to, have to. But  the f is pretty weak too. But I would still  

think of it as an F. You have to, you have to.  There's not a lot of volume or energy to that F.

You have to--

And the word to, again with that schwa,  

you have to, you have to, you  have to. Not super clear is it?

You have--

You have to get this sign by your mom.

Get this signed. Okay, so get this, a little  teeny tiny lift separation there shows us  

it's a stop t. T is a stop T when the next  sound is a consonant. Get this, get this,  

get this, get this, get this signed. Did you  notice that it connects with one S sound. This  

signed. When one word ends in the same  sound that the next word begins with,  

that's just a simple little link with one  sound. This signed, this signed, this signed.

Get the signed--

by your mom.

Signed by your mom. Okay, we have an ed  ending here. We already talked about the  

ed ending when it comes after a t or d sound.  Here it comes after a voiced consonant n so  

the E ending makes a D sound. So we have  the S consonant the I diphthong. Signed.

Signed by your mom.

Now, we've already studied a couple  places where when we have nd,  

the d gets dropped and guess what?  It happens here. So actually the Ed  

ending we don't even hear it. It's like  it's not there. Signed by, signed by.

ED endings, another crazy topic in  American English. I have a 3-video series on that,  

and I will link to those videos  in the video description.

Signed by your mom.

It's pretty crazy and confusing right? But this  is just one of the ways that the Ed ending is  

pronounced it is sometimes dropped. Then it  sounds like present tense of course we know  

what it means from the context of the sentence but  we do not actually hear the Ed ending. Signed by.

Signed by--

your mom.

Your mom. Of course we have another your  reduction. Your, your, your, your mom.

Your mom--

or I'll just suspend you.

Or I’ll have to suspend you. So  again stress on have and again,  

the H is dropped. So sometimes even a stressed  word will have a dropped sound. Suspend,  

and then a little bit of stress on our second  syllable there. Or I will. How is that pronounced?

Or I’ll suspend you.

Or I’ll, or I’ll, or I’ll. Schwa R.  And then the word I’ll sounds sort of  

like the word all when it's reduced and said  quickly. Or I’ll, or I’ll, or I’ll, or I’ll.

Or I’ll--

Or I’ll suspend you.

Or I’ll have. Now again we have have  to remember that becomes have to,  

the V gets changed into an F in  have when the next word is to,  

and that's a pretty common word combination.  Have to, have to, have to, have to.

or I'll have to,

Or I’ll have to suspend you.

To, to. So the word to said so quickly with  that schwa. To suspend you. To suspend you.

To suspend you.

Now here we have n and d, we know that  we can sometimes drop the D after an N  

because we've already seen it twice  here, suspend you. I do think I hear  

a super light release of that D so I'm  not going to cross it out, suspend you.

Suspend you.

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

That's your mom's signature?

Mm.

That looks a lot like your handwriting.

Yeah, because we’re related.

Look, I don't know how long we're going to play  

this game or what it's going to take  to make you care about your future.

Oh my God, this talk again?

Yeah. There are colleges that, don't laugh.

There are scholarships you can apply for.

What? You’re going to lend me  your Social Security number?

You have to get this signed by your  mom or I'll just suspend you.

The students in my Academy find that, when they  do these lessons and work with the audio for  

each lesson, their listening comprehension of  fast English really improves. Join my students  

today at RachelsEnglishAcademy, I’d love to  have you as a student. 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.