Question about Speaking Slowly vs. Quickly -- American English Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video, I’m going to respond to a question from

在本段「美語發音」影片中

我要答覆一位「Rachel 英文社群」會員的提問

a member of the Rachel’s English community about speaking quickly vs. slowing down.

英語到底要「講得快」？還是「放慢講」？

Fabio recently said that when he was in America trying to sound American: speaking quickly,

Fabio 最近提到：他在美國時，

盡量貼近美國口音：講得快、連音、念閃音 T

linking sounds, making Flap T’s, people had a hard time understanding him. When he

別人卻難以聽懂

started speaking clearer and more slowly, he was understood perfectly. He says, do you

當他開始把話說清楚些，並放慢一點時

別人就完全聽懂

他問到：

really think it’s necessary to speak fast and linking everything?

妳真的認為有必要「講得快」及「字字連音」嗎？

Great question. This brings up two things that I want to talk about. The first, and

問的好

這帶出 2 件我想談論的事

第一件，或許也是最重要的事

maybe most important thing, is that I don’t teach that you should be speaking really fast

就是：我不會教你們把「講話飛快」當作通則

as a general rule. I’m sure Fabio isn’t the only one confused by this. When I talk

我相信 Fabio 不是唯一被此事搞混的人

about saying words that reduce really quickly, like “because of the”, the point isn’t

當我談到把「省音字」很快念過，如：因為這

重點不在「講得快」

to speak fast. The point is to create a contrast. You must have clearly pronounced stressed

而是在「產生對比」

你當時必定清楚地念出「重音節」

syllables. You cannot speed through those and be easy to understand. But, when you have

但無法既要很快念過「重音節」，又要人容易聽懂

但當你清楚念出「重音節」

clearly pronounced stressed syllables and quick, maybe reduced unstressed syllables,

並快速念過也許省音的「輕音節」時

你就念出了音節長短的「對比」

you have contrast in syllable length. And this is what’s important in American English.

這才是美語重點所在，絕對不是「講得快」

Not speaking fast. If every syllable is fast, you’re going to be very hard to understand.

如果每個音節都很快，你將難以聽懂

So it’s as just important to make your stressed syllables clear as it is to reduce and simplify

所以，把「重音節念清楚」的重要性

完全等同於省音、簡化及加快念過「輕音節」

and speed up your unstressed syllables.

So, speaking with stressed and unstressed, fully pronounced and reduced, clear and fast

所以說話時，把音節「重讀、輕讀」、

「完整發音、省音」、「清楚、快速」等方式

syllables is one of the defining characteristics of American English. It’s a stress-timed

是美語一種典型特徵

美語是一種「重音計時」的語言

language, and I’ve made a video about that. I’ll link to it at the end and in the description

我之前已製作過相關影片

我會將該片連結，放在片尾及下方的影片說明中

below. Don’t rush everything, just create contrast.

說話不要急，只要「產生對比」即可

要是發音很標準，但每個音節都一樣長時，會怎麼樣？

What if you have perfect sounds, but every syllable is the same length? Let’s see.

讓我們看一下

你好，我是 Rachel，我住在費城

Hello my name is Rachel and I live in Philadelphia.

I think probably everyone could understand that. But it didn’t sound very natural,

我認為大家都能聽懂這句話吧！

但聽起來非常不自然吧？

did it? Also, that was with every sound being perfect. If some of your sounds aren’t perfect,

這還是發音很標準的情況下

如果你有一些發音，不是那麼標準

and you try to fully pronounce everything with you have no rhythmic contrast, suddenly

卻刻意字字念出全音，沒有「快慢節奏、強弱對比」

you have multiple factors that might get in the way of being understood.

突然間，你讓別人不易聽懂的情況雪上加霜

So to answer Fabio’s question, I do think it’s necessary to reduce words that reduce

好了，現在答覆 Fabio 的提問

我的確認為在美語中，有必要將單字能省音就省音

in American English, and to link words together in a thought group, like we generally do in

以及把字相連成一個「字組」

就像我們在美語中常做的一樣

American English, in order to maximize your changes of being understood.

是為了盡最大可能讓別人聽懂

字音只是美語的一部分

以下的事很重要：

依美國人作法，學習「建立對比」及「連音字組」方式

以便能貼近美國口音

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and asking that very important question.

非常感謝你的經驗分享

並提出這個非常重要的問題

I’m going to put an on-screen link now to a video on English as a Stress-Timed Language,

我會在螢幕上，提供以下影片連結

英語為「重音計時」的語言

以及一系列「省音字」影片

and a collection of videos on words that reduce. Those links will also be in the description

這些連結也放在影片說明中

of the video. In the final section of this video, there’s also a link to a playlist

在本片末段，也有以下撥放清單的連結：

「實用生活美語」及「Ben Franklin 練習」

on American English in Real Life and Ben Franklin exercises. Both of those sets of videos have

那兩組影片都有很多範例，教你「實用生活省音字」

lots of examples of real life words that reduce and rhythmic contrast.

及「快慢節奏、強弱對比」

So, in conclusion, you don’t want to just speak fast all the time. You want contrast

最後，你不會想講話一直這麼快吧

你要的是重、輕音節形成的「對比」

of stressed and unstressed syllables. The stressed syllables will be longer. But those

重音節要念長一點

unstressed words will be very fast.

而那些輕讀字，則要很快帶過

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

就這樣，非常感謝使用 Rachel 的英文

如果你喜歡這段影片，一定要訂閱我的頻道

這裡或影片說明中都可點擊（訂閱）

但光是那樣還沒完

還要持續跟著我的「實用生活美語」清單、

「Ben Franklin」清單、

「每周一字」系列學習

點擊我的圖像，查看一下我的頻道

裡面有好幾百部很棒的影片

也別忘了造訪我的網站

了解一下付費會員資格及線上課程