Best English Pronunciation Lesson: Speak Fluent English

Hi. I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. How can you improve your pronunciation so

that you sound like a native speaker? Let's talk about it.

Today's pronunciation lesson is sponsored by my course, the Fearless Fluency Club. Can

I sponsor my own video? Why not? I wanted to bring you this technique because this is

the same technique that I use every month in my monthly pronunciation lessons for members

of the Fearless Fluency Club. Today you get a sneak preview in this special pronunciation

lesson. I hope it will be useful to you. Are you ready to get started? Warm up those muscles.

You might be wondering what this is. Don't worry. We'll talk about it in just a second.

First we need to talk about this special pronunciation technique, and it is shadowing, or imitation.

This means that you're copying, you're repeating directly after me. You're repeating exactly

what I'm saying or what another native speaker is saying.

There are two kinds of imitation or shadowing. The first one is imitating words or phrases.

This means that you're focusing on emphasis, you're focusing on making sure that your intonation

for the sentence is correct. The second kind of imitation or shadowing is shadowing specific

sounds. This means that you focus on linking, on reducing, on vowel sounds. You're focusing

on more specific parts of the word. Today I have good news. We're going to practice

both of these techniques. I'm going to tell you a quick story in three

sentences about what happened to my wrist. I want you to listen carefully. I'm going

to be speaking quickly as if I were speaking to a friend. Are you ready? Let's listen.

"A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad. It turns out that

I have this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much. He told me that I should

wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then it'll get better."

Whew. That was a little bit fast, wasn't it? Let's go back and I want to help you, sentence

by sentence, pronounce exactly the same way that I do. Are you ready? Let's start with

the first sentence. What we're going to do is we're going to listen to that first sentence

a couple of times. "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really

bad." "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad." "A few

weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad." I'm going to repeat

this sentence a couple of times. We're going to talk about the words that are emphasized,

the words that were de-emphasized, or the words that were not stressed, and we're also

going to talk about an important linking that often happens in English and that you saw

in this sentence. I said, "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor",

"I went to the doctor", "I went to the doctor". Which word in this part is emphasized? What's

the important word here? It's probably not "to". It's probably not "the". It is "doctor".

"I went to the doctor". "I went to the doctor". What about in the second part of this sentence?

What is the emphasized word? "because my wrist hurt really bad", "because my wrist hurt really

bad", "because my wrist hurt really bad". Can you emphasize those words with me? Try

to repeat with me. "Because my wrist hurt really bad". Those three words are important

and they're emphasized. Now that you know which words are stressed,

let's talk about which words are not stressed, the opposite of stressed, un-emphasized, de-stressed.

You can probably guess in that middle section of the sentence. "I went to the ... to the

... to the ..." "I went to the doctor". Phew. How can you say that? How can you say that

middle part the same way that I am? Well, take a look at the screen and you're going

to see that "to" becomes "t", "t". The "o" is completely gone. We often link together

"to" plus the next word, especially when we're speaking quickly, so you can say "t the",

"t the", "t the", "t the" "t the". Can you say that? "t the doctor", "t the doctor".

Make sure that your mouth is not making an "o" sound. "to the doctor". It's only "t",

"t", "t". "t the", "t the", "t the doctor". All right. Let's go back to say this full

sentence all together. I think you can do it. Make sure that you emphasize the right

words. Make sure that you link the right words. Make sure that you de-stress the right words.

You can take a look at the screen here and follow along. I want you to speak out loud

if you are ready. I think you're ready. Let's do it. "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor

because my wrist hurt really bad." "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my

wrist hurt really bad." I'm going to pause and I want you to say this

yourself. Ready? Go ahead. Great work. Let's listen to the original sentence a couple of

times. "A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad." "A few

weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad." "A few weeks ago I

went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad."

In the second sentence, we're going to also be talking about emphasized words, de-stressed

words and linking together phrases. Let's listen to that second sentence a couple of

times. "It turns out that I have this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too

much." "It turns out that I have this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too

much." "It turns out that I have this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too

much." As we listen to this sentence, I want you to be thinking about a wave. Here there

are parts that are emphasized and then not emphasized. Emphasized and not emphasized.

Let's say the sentence altogether a little bit slowly. I want you to read on the screen

and I want you to try to follow those emphasized words. Are you ready? "It turns out that I

have a kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much." Did you follow that wave?

Let's talk about which words you're going to link together. The middle part of the sentence,

you might have heard I spoke pretty quickly. I said, "that I have a kind of", "that I have

a kind of", "that I have a kind of". How can we say this linking in the same way? Let's

break it down into individual sounds. This is shadowing sounds. I want you to repeat

exactly what I say. Are you ready? "thet I", "thet I". Am I saying "that I"? No. I'm using

an "e" sound here instead of an "a". "thet I", "the ... e ... e", "thet I", "thet I have

a", "thet I have a". Can you say that with me? "thet I have a kind of", "thet I have

a kind of", "thet I have a kind of", "thet I have a kind of". Can you say that quickly

with me? Ready? I want you to follow exactly what I'm saying and repeat with me. "thet

I have a kind of", "thet I have a kind of". All right. Let's try to say this full second

sentence, emphasizing those important words and linking that middle part together. "It

turns out that I have a kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much." Can you

say that yourself? I'm going to pause and I want you to use those speaking muscles.

Don't get tendonitis in your muscles. You can do it. Ready? Go ahead. Great work.

Let's listen to the original second sentence a couple of times. "It turns out that I have

this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much." "It turns out that I have

this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much." "It turns out that I have

this kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much."

Let's move on to the final sentence, the third sentence. Let's listen to it a couple of times.

"He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then it'll get better."

"He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then it'll get better."

"He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then it'll get better."

Okay. I want you to repeat this sentence with me following on the screen, and again thinking

about that wave, the wave of emphasized words and de-emphasized words. Ready? Let's read

it together. "He told me that I should wear this brace for a few weeks and then it'll

get better." "He told me that I should wear this brace for a few weeks and then it'll

get better." Did you emphasize those bold words?

Now let's talk about how you can link together that de-emphasized part. The middle section

of this sentence has two un-emphasized parts. Let's talk about the first one. "that I should",

"that I should", "that I should". Do you hear a similar sound that we just talked about?

"That I should". Is it "that"? If you were listening before, you'll know, no, it is "the

... e ... e", "thet", kind of like an "e" sound. That's when we're speaking quickly

and linking words together in a natural way. "Thet I should", "thet I should", "thet I

should". Can you say that? Say it with me. Repeat with me, imitate, shadow my pronunciation.

Ready? Let's say it together. "Thet I should", "thet I should".

The end of this middle section also has another linked together phrase. It is "for a few weeks",

"for a few weeks", "for a few weeks". Am I saying "for" with an "o" sound? "For" like

the number four? No. Here, "fer" sounds, again, like an "e" sound. "Fer ... er ... er". "Fer

a few weeks". This is really common when native speakers are talking quickly. We're going

to change vowel sounds like we already saw with "that", like we already saw with "to".

Here you're going to see "for" being reduced and changed to "fer". "Fer a few weeks", "fer

a few weeks." Can you say this with me? Make sure that you

emphasize these words in the correct way and that you're using the vowels accurately. Ready?

Speak with me. "Fer a few weeks", "fer a few weeks", "fer a few weeks", "fer a few weeks",

"fer a few weeks". In the final part of this sentence, I said,

"and then it'll get better", "and then it'll get better". What is happening here with this

contraction? "It'll", "it'll". Why is there a "d" sound when really it's "it"? Well, this

is pretty common in American English. The "t"s will change to close to "d" sounds. You're

going to say, "idul". It sounds like "idul". "Idul", "idul". We need to say it quickly.

If you're going to use this type of pronunciation, you need to say it quickly and link together.

Are you ready? "And then idul get better", "and then idul get better", "and then idul

get better". Can you say it with me? Repeat with me. "And then idul get better", "and

then idul get better". Let's go back and say this full third sentence

together and then I'm going to pause and you can say it yourself. "He told me that I should

wear this brace for a few weeks and then it'll get better." Okay. I'm going to pause and

I want you to say the sentence all by yourself. Remember those bold, emphasized words. Remember

linking together. Remember the vowels that change. Take a deep breath. Ready? Go ahead.

Wonderful work. Let's listen to this sentence a couple of

times. "He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then it'll

get better." "He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and then

it'll get better." "He told me that I should wear this brace for a couple of weeks and

then it'll get better." To conclude this pronunciation shadow imitation

lesson, we're going to go back and read all three sentences together. I want you to remember

the emphasized bold parts, the un-stressed de-emphasized parts, the linked together phrases,

the vowels that change. Take a deep breath. You can do it. We're going to start with the

first sentence. I'm going to speak not too fast, not too slow, and I want you to repeat

exactly with my voice. Are you ready? Get those muscles going. Let's start.

"A few weeks ago I went to the doctor because my wrist hurt really bad. It turns out that

I have a kind of tendonitis from picking up my baby too much. He told me that I should

wear this brace for a few weeks and then it'll get better." How did you do? Did your pronunciation

improve in this lesson? Do you see that there are a lot of specific pronunciation tips that

you can learn just from normal sentences like this? This is something that you learn every

month in the Fearless Fluency Club. You'll have the chance to imitate sentences from

me and also from another native English speaker, because I think it's important to learn different

accents, different intonation, different styles of speaking.

If you'd like to get pronunciation lessons like this every month, you can join the Fearless

Fluency Club for only $5 for the first month with the coupon code "NEW". I would love to

help you improve your pronunciation to be beautiful, natural and easy to understand.

Thanks so much for learning with me. Keep up the good work with your pronunciation,

and I'll see you the next time. Bye. Are you ready to speak English confidently

and fluently? Click the link to join the Fearless Fluency Club for only $5 for your first month.

Learn with real, fast English and speak with friends from around the world. Thanks so much

for learning English with me. Bye.