English Conversation Exercise | Making Plans | Ben Franklin Exercise

In this American English pronunciation video, you’re going to come with me to my home

state of Florida and we’re going to do a Ben Franklin exercise where we study conversation.

Today’s topic: discussing plans.

>> Not till two. >> Right, but we’re…

>> And maybe somewhat after that. >> But we said we’d be there at 1:30.

>> Right. I think they want to just chat, and, you know…

>> Yeah. >> Stuff before.

>> Sure. >> Will it take, like 15 minutes to get there, or?

>> Oh no. It’ll take… >> Ten?

>> Five. >> Five.

>> Not till two.

I notice my dad makes a Stop T here, not till, not till, instead of not till. That makes

the transition between these two words less obvious, it makes it a smoother link. Not

till two.

>> Not till two. [3x] >> Right, but we’re…

>> And maybe somewhat after that.

Another Stop T here at the end of ‘that’ because it’s the end of a thought, the end

of a sentence. Often we make those T’s Stop T’s in American English.

>> …somewhat after that. [3x] >> But we said we’d be there at 1:30.

But we. I actually dropped the T altogether here to make this even more connected and

smooth. But we, but we. ‘But’ is a function word, not too important, so it’s okay to

reduce it.

>> But we said we’d [3x] be there at 1:30.

Did you notice how I pronounced ‘thirty’? I took this second T and made it a Flap T

so it sounded like a D. Thirty, thirty, 1:30.

>> But we said we’d be there at 1:30 [3x].

This was another Stop T. And, it was very quick, so it was hard to tell, but I think

this was a schwa, at, at. At 1:30 [2x].

>> Be there at 1:30. [3x]

When you’re talking about the time of something, try pronouncing ‘at’ this way, very quickly.

>> Right. I think they want to just…

Another Stop T here. It’s the end of a sentence. Right.

>> Right. [3x] I think they want to just …

Did you notice how my Dad did not make a TH sound here, but rather just an H sound? And

he connected it to ‘I’. I think, I think, I think.

>> I think they want to just [3x]

I’ve noticed some native speakers do this with the TH in ‘think’. We use this phrase

a lot. I think this, I think that. And it’s not uncommon to hear the H sound instead of

the TH. It’s a funny little reduction that we do of a content word. I think they.

>> I think they want to just [3x] chat, and… >> Yeah.

You probably noticed the ‘wanna’ reduction here.

>> I think they want to [3x]

Very common in American English.

>> I think they want to just chat, and… >> Yeah.

Also, the word ‘just’. We often reduce this so it sounds like there’s basically

no vowel. Just [3x], want to just [2x].

>> I think they want to just [3x] chat, and… >> Yeah.

Chat. Another Stop T at the end of this thought.

>> I think they want to just chat, and…

The word ‘and’ was very reduced, to just the schwa-N sound, nn, nn.

>> Chat and [3x]. >> Yeah.

>> You know, stuff.

You know. Did you notice that this was the schwa and not the OO as in BOO vowel? You,

you, you know. We pronounce these two words together this way all the time. You know [3x].

>> Chat and. >> Yeah.

>> You know, stuff [3x] before. >> Sure.

>> Will it take, like, fifteen minutes to get there, or?

Let’s talk about the word fifteen for a second. Some people have a hard time hearing

the difference between 15 and 50. The sounds are a little different, but also, the stress

is different. Fifteen. Stress is on the second syllable there, -teen, -teen, fifteen. So

it’s short-long. For the word fifty, it’s the opposite. It’s long-short. Fifty, fifty.

Fifteen, fifteen.

>> Will it take, like fifteen minutes [3x] to get there, or?

I reduced the vowel in ‘to’ to the schwa, like we almost always do. I did keep this

as a True T though. The sound before was unvoiced, ts, ts, ts. Minutes to.

>> Fifteen minutes to get there, or? [3x]

Did you notice this T? Stop T because the next sound was a consonant, the voiced TH.

Get there, get there.

>> Fifteen minutes to get there, or? [3x]

How was this word pronounced? Or, or. Just the schwa-R sound, very quick. This is another

function word, so I’ve reduced it.

>> To get there, or? [3x] >> Oh no. It’ll take…

Did you hear Dad? He reduced ‘it will’ to the contraction ‘it’ll’. It’ll [3x].

>> Oh no. It’ll take [3x] >> Ten?

>> Five. >> Five.

What’s different about the pitch, the intonation of these two phrases?

>> Ten? >> Five. >> Five.

This one goes up in pitch, this one goes down. That’s because I’m asking the question

here. I don’t know how long it will take. The statement, where my dad was sure, goes

down in pitch. If you’re not sure, your phrase goes up. If you’re sure, your phrase

goes down.

>> Ten? >> Five. >> Five. [3x]

>> Not till two. >> Right, but we’re…

>> And maybe somewhat after that. >> But we said we’d be there at 1:30.

>> Right. I think they want to just chat, and, you know…

>> Yeah. >> Stuff before.

>> Sure. >> Will it take, like 15 minutes to get there?

Or? >> Oh no. It’ll take…

>> Ten? >> Five.

>> Five. Okay. So we can leave at, like, 1:25. >> Yeah.

>> We might as well head back anyway. >> Yeah.

>> That way we can still… >> Yeah.

>> Stop and look at the alligators if we want. >> Right. We probably won’t see much more.

I was hoping to see… >> No.

>> … sandhill cranes, but. >> Right. We would definitely see, we would

definitely see more alligators, but we probably wouldn’t see anymore of anything different.

>> Well, we’ve seen enough of those I think.

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