Learn English With The Pursuit of Happyness | Rachel’s English

You told me you want to study English with movies.  And a lot of you suggested a Will Smith movie,  

“The Pursuit of Happyness”. By the way,  the title of this film is intentionally  

misspelled. If you’re going to write this  word, you definitely want to use an I. 

We’ll do a full pronunciation  study of his job interview.  

So if you’re going to have a job interview in  English anytime soon, this could be great for you.  

We’ll study reductions, linking, stress.  All the things that make up the character  

of spoken American English. You’ll  be surprised what you’ll learn. 

As always, if you like this  video or you learn something new,  

please give it a thumbs up and subscribe and  don’t forget to click that notification bell.

Let’s watch the clips we’ll study together.

Chris, what would you say if a guy walked  in for an interview without a shirt on? 

And I hired him. What would you say?

He must've on some really nice pants.

(laughing)

Chris

You really pulled it off in there. Thank you very much Mr. Twistle. 

Hey, now you can call me Jay. Will talk to you soon.

And now the analysis.

Chris, 

Chris, He’s saying his name and that’s got a big  up-down shape of stress. So that’s the shape of a  

stressed syllable in American English. Chris 

We don’t have flat pitches for  our stressed syllables. They  

have change in direction. Usually, it goes up  and then down every once in a while it goes  

down and comes back up. But what’s important,  it’s not flat. Chris, Chris, Chris. Chris.

Chris

And the CH letters there are making a K  sound. CH in American English can be the  

SH sounds like in chef or Chicago,  it can be K sounds like Chris  

or choir and of course it  can be a CH sound like in choose

Chris

What would you say

What would you say. Then he puts a little break.  So, when we have little breaks, that means the  

words aren’t linking together, there’s a little  pause but aside from that break everything does  

link together and we call that a thought group. So  he puts a break after Chris. He puts a break after  

say. So these four words linked together smoothly  and we don’t want a feeling of choppiness.  

Words within a thought group should be very  smooth and the melody should be smooth as well,  

no jumps or skips in the melody. So let’s  listen to the melody of this phrase.

What would you say--

What would you say. What would you say. So would  unstressed but what, some of that length and  

the up-down shape, you also has some of the  up-down shape and then I think say actually  

goes the opposite way, starts going back up. So  when we make the melody of our voice go up at  

the end of a phrase that means that we’re going to  continue. It’s a signal that we have more to say.  

What, what would. What would. The T here is  a stop T unreleased, it’s not T, what would,  

what would but what would, what would.  It’s also not dropped. It’s not wha would,  

wha would. We have that little  skip that little lift. What would.

What would--

The D sound in you also not released.  It’s not would you but would you.  

Right from that vibration  of the vocal cords of the D  

into the Y consonant. Now the letter L  in would isn’t pronounced. What would.

What would

What would you say,

What would you say. Smoothly connected, no skips  and if you’re practicing just those first two  

words what and would, make sure you’re feeling  a difference there. What is stressed, would is  

unstressed, it shouldn’t feel the same. It’s  not what, would but it’s what would, what would.

What would

What would you say if a guy walked in  for an interview without a shirt on.

And now he finishes his thought group.

if a guy walked in for an  interview without a shirt on.

Really this is a question isn’t it? He’s saying  what, what would you say. His intonation does  

go down at the end. So sometimes people think  for questions, intonation always goes up. But  

that’s now actually true. Definitely for yes no  questions it’s true but questions that cannot be  

answered by yes or no usually the pitch goes  down at the end which is what happens here.

if a guy walked in for an  interview without a shirt on.

So let’s just look at this thought group  again. We have a lot of words but no breaks.  

It’s not if a guy walked in. But it’s if a  guy walked in. Ahhuauh. Smooth connection.

if a guy walked in

Let’s listen to it, see if you can identify. What  are our longer syllables with a change in pitch?

if a guy walked in

If a guy walked in. if a guy walked, a little  bit on guy but really the peak of stress there  

is walked. If and a, they’re just sort  of part of the melody going up. If a,  

if a, if a, if a. It’s not if a but they’re said  quickly, they’re unstressed. If a guy walked in.

if a guy walked in

Walked. This is another word with a silent L just like  would. Now the ED ending in the word walked is  

pronounced as a T. And we have three different  pronunciations for the ED ending. I do have a  

playlist on those ED endings so you can click  here or see the link in the video description.

Walked in

Walked in, walked in.  

The T is just now released by itself.  It’s released into the next word in.  

Walked in, walked in. So it’s not quite as strong,  it’s subtle but this kind of linking is important.  

Because within thought groups we  want to sounds to flow continuously.

Walked in

For an interview without a shirt on.

Walked in for an interview, an interview,  more stress there without a shirt on.  

So walked in and stress, I’m sorry, and shirt are  our most stressed syllables there. After walked,  

we have some unstressed syllables in, for, an  and they’re not fully pronounced like that,  

are they? In for an, in for an, in  for an, in for an, in for an. Can you  

understand that I’m saying those three words? In for an. And they’re all linked together,  

the word for reduces. For, for. You can almost  think of it as not having any vowel at all. It’s  

the schwa R sound. And the R links right into  the schwa for our article an. For an for an,  

for an. In for an, in for an, in for an.  Really unclear. And that’s what we want in  

our unstressed syllables. We have walked and  interview. But in for an becomes in for an.  

in for an. in for an. We need that contrast of  clear and less clear. Now you may have noticed  

in the word interview he dropped the T sound.  That’s really common. T after N especially in the  

word part inter. Interview, internet,  international. Really really common to drop the T.

Walked in for an interview without a shirt on

A little bit of stress on out. Without,  without, without a, without (flap).  

What’s happening to that T? That becomes a flap T.  I write that with the letter D. Because it sounds  

like the D between vowels in American English.  But it’s coming between two vowel diphthong  

sounds. We have the OU diphthong in the  word out. And we have the schwa and so a T  

between those two sounds is just (flap) going to  flap against the tongue. Without a, without a.

Without a --

And there’s no break between interview  and without either. Interview with, view  

with. Keep that sound going  continuously, no choppiness.

Interview without a

Interview without a shirt on.

Without a shirt on. Now what’s happening with this  T? Shirt on. (flap). It’s another flap T, why? It  

doesn’t come between two vowel of diphthong sounds  because this is an R. Well the rules for flap T  

include after an R before a vowel or diphthong.  So like in the word party, that’s a flap T,  

it comes after an R before a vowel or diphthong. In the phrase shirt on. Shirt (flap) on.Flap T.

without a shirt on.

Let’s listen just to without a shirt on in slow  motion so you can really focus in on those flaps,  

You’re not hearing ttt, that true T.

without a shirt on.

And I hired him.

Okay and he has one more thought group  here. Everything links together. And I  

hired him. Everything is going up towards  the peak of stress on our verb. And I,  

and I is just on the way to that peak of stress.  And I hired him. One line, smoothly connected.

And I hired him.

We have a couple reductions. We have and,  

D is dropped. And I, and I. And that N consonant  links right into the I diphthong. And I hired him.

And I hired him.

Hired him. Hired him. Can you tell that  there’s no H there. He’s not saying hired him.  

He’s saying hired him. Dropping the H, it’s  pretty common to drop the H in the word him,  

her, his, he. Definitely something  that we do. And then we just link it  

on the word before. So here the ED ending  makes a D sound. Hired him. Hired him.

Hired him.

What would you say? 

We have a four word thought group here. One word  is the most stressed. Let’s listen to it three  

times. You tell me where your body wants to move,  where do you feel the most stress is. If you were  

going to move your head once or move your hand  once on the stress. Where would your body do that?

What would you say?

What would you say? Ahuhauh. I definitely  hear that you is our one stress word,  

what and would lead up to it  and then say falls away from it.

What would you say?

What. Stop T again not released. I should say  with the Wh words, there is a pronunciation that  

has an escape of air before what, what,  white, why. Have you ever noticed that?  

It’s not very common anymore and he doesn’t do  that escape of air. It’s just a clean W sound.

What would---

What would, What would. Now we have a word  ending in D, the next word is you, something  

interesting happening with the pronunciation.  Listen three times and see if you can hear it.

What would you--

What would you, dyou, dyou, do you hear that?  It’s a really clear J sound. Ju, ju. When a word  

ends in a D and the next word is you or your,  it’s not uncommon to hear it turn it into a J,  

I think it sorts of helps smoothly link the  two words together. We’d love smoothness in  

American English. What would you say? And then the  voice falls down in pitch, everything connected.

What would you--

What would you say?

He must’ve had on some really nice pants.

He must’ve had on some. So in this thought  group we have a first word stressed.  

He must’ve had on some. And then we have  a bunch of words that are less stressed,  

flatter in pitch than our last three  words stressed, longer. Really nice pants.

He must’ve had on some really nice pants.

Make sure everything is connected and  smooth but also make sure you have rhythmic  

contrast. Speed up these words, make them less  clear, we need that. He must’ve had on some.  

Do you notice must’ve. What’s happening there?  The word have is being reduced all the way down  

to a single sound. The schwa, must’ve. Must’ve  had on some. The D flaps as it links had and on.  

Must’ve had on some

He must’ve had on some--

And the word some. Not really fully pronounced.  I would write that with a schwa instead of  

the UH as in butter sound. Some, some. He  must’ve had on some. He must’ve had on some.

He must’ve had on some---

And then our last three words clearer,  longer, up-down shape of stress.

Really nice pants.

Really nice pants. The word pants. The vowel  there is a little tricky, it’s the AH vowel  

as in bat but when it’s followed by N like it is  here, we make a sound in between. It’s like the UH  

as in butter vowel, back of the tongue relaxes.  So it’s not ah, pa, pants. But it’s pae, [aeʌ] 

things relaxed and it changes the sound.  Pae, pants. Pants, pants not pants.

Pants.

(laughing)

Chris..

Chris. Chris. Again, just like in the  beginning we have a name a proper noun,  

stressed word, a single syllable so it  has that up-down shape. Chris. Chris.

Chris.

You really pulled it off in there.

You really pulled it off in there. So we have  a little bit of stress on really. You really  

pulled it. But most of on off in there. Most  of it on off. Pull off. This is a phrasal verb.

You really pulled it off in there.

And it has a couple of different meanings. In  this case it means to succeed at something,  

to achieve something. He had an interview  

and they loved him. He succeeded at  that interview, he really pulled it off.

You really pulled it off in there.

The ed ending in pulled is just the D sound  and that links right into the e vowel,  

for smoothness. Pulled it, pulled it.  You really pulled it off. Now we have a T  

between vowels. Let’s listen for that.

It off--

It off, it off (flap). Yup, definitely a flap.  

You know we don’t have many rules in American  English pronunciation that people follow but flap  

T, we follow that pretty well. Between two vowels  or diphthong sounds or after an R before a vowel  

or diphthong sound we flap it. Pulled it off.  It off, it off, it off. Pulled it off in there.

Pulled it off in there.

If it helps you to link more smoothly, think  of the ending consonant as beginning the next  

word. So rather than thinking off in, you can  think off-in. Off in, off in, off in there.

off in there.

Thank you very much Mr. Twistle.

So he stresses the word much and thank you,  not very clear as in thank you very much Mr.  

Twistle. And then of course, stress on the name as  well. But this is a nice way to show the contrast  

between the stress word much and the unstressed  word thank you. So if all he had said was thank  

you, it probably would have been more clear. Thank  you, thank you. But instead he wanted to stress  

much. So thank you became less clear. Thank  you, thank you, thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much--

It’s important that we don’t have that stress  feel for every word. Thank you very much.  

Thank you very much. That stop sounding natural  

in American English. We have to have that  contrast of the more clear and the less clear.

Thank you very much--

Thank you very much Mr. Twistle.

So we have a peak of stress on much.  Much Mr. then Mr. becomes a little valley  

Mr. Twistle before our next peak of stress.

Much Mr. Twistle.

Hey, now you can call me Jay.

He says hey, hey. Just a little  utterance. Not very clear, not very loud.  

Hey. Now you can call me Jay. And we have the  stress on the first word and the last word there.  

The words in between, less clear, part  of that valley. Hey, now you can call me.  

And we even have a reduction. How do you think  this word is pronounced? You might think oh, I  

know that word. It’s can. But actually most of the  time it’s not pronounced that way. Let’s listen.

Now you can call me Jay.

You can call me. You call me. I’m going to  give a little bit of up down on call but can,  

what is happening to it? We reduced that and  we have just the schwa instead of the ah vowel.  

Now schwa mixes with an, we kind of loose it  all together. So it’s really just can, can, can  

like there’s no vowel at all. Now you  can, now you can. And he even doesn’t  

make those consonant sounds very clear does  he? That word is so fast. It almost gets lost.

You can call me--

Jay.

You can call me Jay. So a lot of rhythmic contrast  there. You can so short. Call, a little longer.  

Jay, even longer. Me, also short. We  love that contrast in American English.

You can call me Jay.

Alright.

Alright. Alright. Not very clear, he nods  his head. Alright. I would still write  

that with an up-down shape of stress but  it’s not very clear, it’s sort of mumbled

Alright.

Stop T at the end and probably no L  sound. Just a,a,a. Alright, alright.

Alright.

We’ll talk to you soon.

We’ll talk to you soon. Two peaks of stress there.  We’ll talk to you soon. And the other words less  

clear. We will, will becomes we’ll, we’ll. I  would write that W schwa L. Not very clear. We’ll,  

we’ll, we’ll. We’ll talk. We’ll talk. Talk,  another word with the silent L. We’ll talk.

We’ll talk--

We’ll talk to you soon.

We’ll talk to you. To and you, lower in pitch.  Part of that valley and they’re not pronounced  

to you so fully pronounced we have to but  reduced it becomes to with the schwa. To.  

You, fully pronounced has the U vowel as well  but can reduce the schwa like it does here.  

So to you becomes to you, to you, to you.  You can relax your mouth a lot more to say  

it that quickly. Try it. To you. To you. Talk  to you. Talk to you soon. Important reductions.

We’ll talk to you soon. Talk to you soon is way that you can end a  

phone conversation or a meeting with somebody and  in this case, they will talk soon because they’re  

going to follow up on the job interview. But  you can even say it when you’re not necessarily  

going to talk to that person soon. For example,  yesterday I was talking to my aunt on the phone.  

We only talk like once a year maybe but  when we hung up I said “Talk to you soon.”

We’ll talk to you soon.

Let’s listen to this scene one more time.

I love studying English  movies like this. Don’t you? 

Put your suggestion for the  next movie or even the next  

scene in the comments. Until then, keep  your learning going now with this video  

and don’t forget to subscribe. I make new  videos on the English language every Tuesday  

and I love to see you back here. That’s it  and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.