Speak English Like Me: English Pronunciation Practice

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  

Do you want to practice speaking  English like me? Let's talk about it.  

What is the perfect accent? Is it possible to  speak English exactly like an American without  

any accent from your own native language? A lot  of students ask me, "Vanessa, I want to speak  

English like you, like an American. How long  will it take? Is it possible?" Possibly, but  

probably not. What is more important is that you  can speak clearly and understandably. You can  

express yourself in English. You can form  relationships in English or be professional,  

or just be yourself in English. Today, I will help  you do this. Over the next 15 minutes, I will help  

your speaking to become more clear and you will  become excited about English. Hurray! Let's do it. 

I get a lot of comments below my videos that  say something like this. "I like the way you  

pronounce the English language." "Vanessa, my  sweetheart. I like your pronunciation." This is  

very tender and kind, but why do students, maybe  you like my pronunciation? This is the answer.  

Your English is so clear, thanks a lot. And clear  speaking is the key. You to, can speak clearly.  

Before we talk about three tips that can  help you to speak more clearly in English.  

I want to ask you how clear is your English right  now? Can other people understand you? Let's take a  

quick test with my student Vincenzo. Vincenzo: 

Lot of. Vanessa: 

So what did it say? Vincenzo: 

He says 65 and he signs something  in red, something in orange. 

Vanessa: Let's click on it and see what it  

says. There's probably some details. Vincenzo: 

Yes. That's very tricky for Italian people. Vanessa: 

You're not alone. Vincenzo: 

Okay. Lot of. Okay. Okay. Vanessa: 

So it was asking for the final sound, the of. Vincenzo: 

The, the, the, because I said, "Lot of." Vanessa: 

Sure, having that vibration. Thank  you to the awesome pronunciation app,  

ELSA Speak for sponsoring today's video  and also giving you a huge discount,  

which I'll tell you about a little bit later. All  right, let's go to our first tip to help you speak  

clearly and understandably in English. Tip number  one, shadow English speakers whose voice you like.  

This expression to shadow means that you listen  to a sentence or a phrase from an English speaker  

and you repeat directly after that phrase.  You try to imitate their way of speaking.  

This idea of shadowing or imitating is one of  the most proven techniques for improving your  

pronunciation and speaking clearly. You could  shadow a sentence from the TV show Friends,  

you could shadow a sentence from the  famous movie Forrest Gump, or we could  

practice shadowing with one of my lessons. Let's do it. You're going to see a short clip from  

this lesson that I made a couple months ago  and we're going to be listening to that clip  

two times. There's just one sentence you'll listen  to it two times. Then I'll help you to break down  

some challenging pronunciation points. Then we  will listen to the clip two more times and it will  

be your chance to speak out loud and to shadow,  to practice this technique. Of course, you can use  

this with any video, any TV show or a movie. We're  just practicing it here with one of my lessons.  

All right, let's watch that short clip and listen  for the sentence. Take it with a grain of salt,  

I'm just an amateur gardener. Listen for that  sentence. But take it with a grain of salt,  

I'm just an amateur gardener. But take it with  a grain of salt, I'm just an amateur gardener. 

Okay, let's break down the sentence and talk about  some of the challenging or important pronunciation  

points. The first thing is in the first half of  this sentence, take it with, with a grain of salt.  

Do you notice there's a lovely TH at the end  of that word? With. This is a common mistake  

that a lot of English learners make. They often  focus on TH at the beginning of words, like thank  

you or Thursday, but TH's at the end of words  can be pretty tricky. Sometimes we just forget  

it or drop it. So let's make sure that you're  saying that correctly. Can you say it with me?  

Take it with, take it with. All right, the next  thing we're going to talk about is some linking  

that happens in the second half of this  sentence. I said, I'm just an amateur gardener.  

Just an, just an. There is a men's  name in English named Justin. That's  

not what we're saying, but it's a similar sound. So I want you to link together these two words.  

I'm just an, just an. Can you say this with  me? I'm just an, just an. Then let's look at  

the next word. Amateur. Teur. There's a strong  CH sound in the middle of this word. Amateur.  

I also want you to be able to have a strong  R sound at the end. When you have a strong R  

sound like is typical in American English, it  will help your pronunciation to be much more  

clear and understandable because those sounds  are important for understanding the full meaning  

of your sentence, or even just each word. So  let's try to say that word together. Amateur,  

amateur. And that same sound is going to happen in  the last word. Gardener. Make sure that R at the  

end is clear. Can you say it with me? Gardener,  gardener. All right. Take a deep breath. You  

have been practicing this one sentence. Now we're going to listen to the original  

clip two times, that quick sentence twice,  and then I'll pause so that you can say it  

all by yourself. Are you ready? Yes, you can do  it. Let's watch. But take it with a grain of salt,  

I'm just an amateur gardener. But take it with  a grain of salt, I'm just an amateur gardener.  

Excellent work. Shadowing and speaking clearly,  let's go on to tip number two to help you speak  

clearly in English. Tip number two is to test  yourself by speaking with someone for five minutes  

and seeing if they can generally understand what  you're saying. The best way to do this is to tell  

someone a short story. It can be five minutes, it  could be two minutes, a short story of something  

that happened to you, maybe over the weekend or  on your last vacation, or when you were a kid,  

tell them this story, tell them some  details, tell them whatever you would like  

and then when you're finished, ask them  to repeat back to you what you said. 

It doesn't need to be word for word, but if they  understood the general concepts and some of the  

important details, this is a great thing because  they are understanding you clearly and your voice  

is understandable. Have you ever spoken in English  and the other person just nodded and smiled and  

you thought, "Did they really understand me?  Were they listening? Did they know what I said?"  

Well, this method is a great way to test to  see if the other person could understand you.  

Of course, please tell the other person this in  advance so that they know that they should be  

listening very carefully to everything that you  have to say. Let me show you how this can work. 

We're going to watch a one minute clip where  I tell you about my most embarrassing moment.  

So embarrassing. And I want you to listen for the  general concepts and for some details. If I speak  

clearly, you should be able to understand the  general concepts and the details and you can do  

the same thing with someone else, whether that  is another English learner, an English teacher,  

you can use this method. All right, let's watch  this clip and see if you can understand and see  

if I'm speaking clearly. In fact, it was during  theater practice, I was one of the lead roles  

in our high school play. Dan: 

Of course you were. Vanessa: 

And the problem was that during rehearsals, during  that time period, those weeks I broke my wrist,  

so I had a lot of doctor's appointments and  I missed a lot of rehearsals. So one day I  

went to the rehearsal and I was on the stage,  there was no audience, it was just the other  

classmates who were in the play and my teacher was  in the audience. And I didn't know it, but we were  

supposed to memorize all of our lines on that day. Dan: 

Uh-oh. Vanessa: 

But I didn't know it because I had missed so  many rehearsals. And so, I got on the stage with  

my playbook and I was reading my lines because I  didn't know we were supposed to memorize them and  

she yelled at me so much. She was screaming  at me. This is not a good teacher situation  

in the first place, but she was yelling at me,  "Vanessa! Why didn't you remember your lines?"  

And I stood there and the only thing I could  do was just cry. And I just cried in front of  

everyone on the stage. Dan: 

Oh my God. Vanessa: 

I was so ashamed and embarrassed and I was  embarrassed that I was crying. It was just  

a really bad situation all around. Dan: 

I hope that teacher felt bad. Vanessa: 

I don't know. How did you do? Could you understand  my clear speaking? You can do the same thing. Like  

I mentioned, you could do this with an English  learner, an English teacher. Usually I say that  

you can even speak English with your pets,  your dog, or your cat, but in this situation,  

maybe it's not the best idea. And  that was my most embarrassing moment.  

Did you understand me Pippin? Did you  understand how clear I was speaking?  

Tip number three for speaking English  clearly and understandably is to figure out  

the specific sounds that are difficult for  you and focus on them. You don't need to  

waste your time practicing sounds and phrases  that are already easy for you. When you focus  

on sounds that are difficult for you, you are  using your time wisely and after you practice,  

other people are going to say, "Whoa, how did  you learn to speak so clearly? That's great." 

Maybe you already know that TH is difficult for  you, that's great. But what about some tough  

sounds that are hard for you personally,  or for speakers of your native language?  

Can you accurately say desk/disc? Hm. The short  I sound is tough for a lot of Spanish speakers,  

or can you say speak/peek? This S sound is tough  for a lot of Vietnamese speakers or what about  

eight/hate? This H sound is tough for French  and Italian speakers, or rice/lice? This our RL  

problem is a common difficulty for Chinese,  Japanese and Korean speakers and some others. 

So what about for you? Which sounds are  the most tricky? How can you find out?  

I have some good news. The awesome app ELSA Speak  can help you to figure out which sounds are not  

clear. When you speak in English, you will get  a pronunciation score for each sound and you  

will get exact advice about how you can speak  more clearly. Let's take a look at what over 13  

million users are excited about. Let's try  the second one. Did you drop out of college?  

Personal topics. Vincenzo: 

What year did you graduate from UCLA. I knew. Can  I hear the correct pronunciation from the app? 

Vanessa: Yes, let's listen to it first and then  

you can try to repeat it, especially for words  like that, that maybe you're not familiar with. 

Speaker 4: What year did you graduate from UCLA? 

Vincenzo: Oh, okay. UCLA, UCLA. 

Vanessa: Yes. Okay. 

Vincenzo: I read UCLA. 

Vanessa: I was trying to think too,  

what is UCLA? Ah, okay, UCLA. Vincenzo: 

What is UCLA? It's a university or college? Vanessa: 

It's the University of California Los Angeles. Vincenzo: 

Ah, okay. I'll never forget it. Vanessa: 

Got it. All right. So if you want to listen to  her part and then listen to your part that you  

should say, and then you can just repeat  what the app told you, you should say,  

so like that shadowing. Vincenzo: 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Speaker 4: 

What year did you graduate from UCLA? Vincenzo: 

What year did you graduate from UCLA? Hm, 88. Speaker 4: 

2011, you? Vincenzo: 

I dropped out of college in 2006. 79. Vanessa: 

Which parts did it say ... Speaker 4: 

I dropped out of college in 2006. Vincenzo: 

He says that I made a mistake at the end of  out, because probably I said out, instead of  

saying out. Vanessa: 

Ah, out. I dropped out of with that D. Vincenzo: 

And of, of. Vanessa: 

Uh-huh (affirmative). Vincenzo: 

I dropped out of college in 2006. 82. Speaker 4: 

Why did you drop out? Vincenzo: 

I wanted to help my friend with his startup. I  wanted to help my friend with his startup. 66. 

Vanessa: Mm-hmm (affirmative). What's it say? 

Vincenzo: He says wanted to help, it's  

so and so. There are a lot of red over there. Speaker 4: 

I wanted to help my friend with his startup. Vincenzo: 

Okay. I wanted to help my  friend with his startup. 83. 

Vanessa: That's great. It sounded  

much better to me too. Vincenzo: 

I'm still there. Vanessa: 

Good TH, that sounded amazing. Vincenzo: 

I said there, there, there  several times and now I got it. 

Vanessa: Yes, that R too, nice and strong. Beautiful. Thank  

you so much, Vincenzo, you rock. Just like you saw  with Vincenzo, you can practice with over 1,600  

lessons over 40 different topics, all in the  comfort of your own home. For English learners,  

ELSA Speak is absolutely the best pronunciation  app. Just look at this. Pretty good, right?  

The ELSA Speak team is offering you, my  students, a 30% discount on the yearly membership  

and an 80% discount on the lifetime membership.  Click on the link in the description to get this  

special discount just for you my lovely students.  Before we go, let's practice one challenge  

sentence together so that you can practice  your pronunciation, improve your clarity, speak  

clearly and understandably and like yourself. All right, let's say this sentence together. I  

will speak clearly and confidently in English.  Again. I will speak clearly and confidently in  

English. Ah, thank you so much for saying this  with me. Can you write that in the comments below  

this video? I will speak clearly and confidently  in English. Well, thank you so much for learning  

English with me and I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.  

Bye. Did you enjoy this free lesson? The next  step is to subscribe to my YouTube channel.  

Don't forget to click the ELSA Speak link in  the description to practice speaking clearly  

and confidently and get a special discount.  Thanks for learning English with me. Bye.