NATALIE MORALES -- Interview a Broadcaster! -- American English Pronunciation

Hey guys. Welcome to the new Rachel's English mini series, Interview a Broadcaster!

Hi guys. I'm here with Natalie Morales.

Natalie, could you tell me a little bit about what you do?

>> Sure. I'm a news anchor on the TODAY show, which is the morning show here in the United,

>> Yeah. >> well, throughout the world actually. >> Uh-huh. >> You see us everywhere.

>> That's right. Well, I don't know if you know,

but the standard American accent is also called Broadcaster English.

>> I did not know that. >> Yeah! So people all over are looking at people like you,

people who deliver the news in America, as a standard, as an example

for an American accent. I'm wondering, where did you grow up, and

did you have to change anything about your accent as you started to go into this field?

>> I actually grew up all over the world as well.

>> Okay. >> I'm an Air Force brat. I was born in Taiwan, I lived in Panama, Brazil, Spain...

>> Wow. >> Um, Delaware. My mother >> Okay. >> is Brazilian, my father Puerto Rican,

so I grew up >> Okay. >> speaking a lot of languages, actually. >> Wow! That is great.

>> So, broadcaster English. I suppose it comes just with training, but um, in my case,

being a broadcaster, but, um, I think really, I'm, I was fortunate.

I didn't really have an accent because I did grow up in so many different places. >> Right.

right. That's awesome. >> Yeah. >> Well, I have a lot of Brazilian fans,

so I'm excited to hear that. >> Oh yeah? Bom dia! Tudo bem? Oi Brasil!

>> They will love that. >> Good.

>> So, now, how do you prepare a transcript to read on camera. Do you have any tips or

tricks, or, how long do you spend working on something to prepare it?

>> Well, I mean, I think it depends on the story. If I'm working on a story,

and you know it involves, a lot of producing, then that could take me a couple days even.

You know, it involves doing interviews, and other research that I may need.

Uh, but for the most part, in the morning, preparing for the newscast, I mean, >> Uh-huh.

obviously, I gotta be ready by the time the show goes on at >> Right.

7 in the morning, so. >> Right.

Gotta, I gotta be ready. Did you hear that reduction? She reduced "I have got to" to

"I gotta". It's common, when we reduce this phrase, to contract 'got to' to 'gotta'.

But also to drop 'have' altogether. Listen again.

I gotta be ready [3x] by the time the show goes on at >> Right.

7 in the morning, so. >> Right.

>> Um, you know, I review all the news casts, I make all the changes.

So, you know, I spend a good part of my morning making sure. >> Okay.

And, and, do you read the stuff out loud as you're practicing?

Or is it more fact checking? >> It's more fact checking >> Okay. >> for me, yeah.

>> So for you, you're just, you hit the ground running. >> I wing it.

>> Wow! >> Yeah, I hit the ground running.

Two idioms here. Hit the ground running, and wing it. Hit the ground running. This means

to start something and proceed quickly, without too much planning or preparation.

The syllables 'hit' and 'run' will be the most stressed. DA-da-da-DA-da.

Hit the ground running. The T at the end of 'hit' is a Stop T because the next word

begins with a consonant. Hit the, hit the.

To 'wing it' means to improvise. No planning at all. This should feel like one idea,

and not two separate words. It can feel like the ending consonant NG begins the word 'it',

wing it. In this case, that ending T was at the end of a sentence, so it was a Stop T.

Wing it, wing it.

>> you're just, you hit the ground running. >> I wing it.

>> Wow! >> Yeah, I hit the ground running. >> That's great. >> I read a lot cold. Yeah.

>> Okay. So what happens when you come across a word that you're not sure how to pronounce?

>> Oh, this happens every day. >> Yeah. What do you do?

>> You say it quickly.

>> That's a good tip. >> And you roll your R if it's a Spanish word, or. No, actually,

I feel that because of my, my other languages, it does help me in that >> Yeah. >> regard.

I mean... >> Definitely. >> You know, when you have a romance language background,

I think you can sort of figure out pronunciations a lot more easily. >> Mm-hmm.

Awesome. >> Yeah. >> Well, do you have a favorite word in American English that's

especially fun to pronounce, or has a special meaning for you,

or that you find you use a lot when you're speaking?

>> Um, that's a tough one. I mean, I don't know that I necessarily have a favorite word.

I would say, a word that is universal, that in any language you can pretty much

understand is 'hello'. And I think it's a warm and happy word.

And, usually with a smile on your face, it's >> Great. >> the best way to approach people.

>> That's a great word. Now, do you have any words that, even for you, as a native speaker,

you know that you have a tendency to trip over as you say them?

>> Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,

which I never come across in a news script, so that's a good thing.

>> And you just did a great job with it! So, perfect!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. What is that word?

It's a nonsense word from the musical Mary Poppins. Check it out here.

>> Well, Natalie, >> I wouldn't know how to spell it! So,

>> Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> I really appreciate it

>> Nice to meet you. >> I know my audience really appreciates it too.

Follow Ms. Morales on Twitter and check out her segments on TV

or online for a great example of American English pronunciation.

>> Great tips on American English here.

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

Check out all the videos in the Interview a Broadcaster series by clicking here,

or on the link in the video description below.