5 Secrets of American English Pronunciation: Advanced Pronunciation Lesson

Vanessa: Have you ever been watching an  

American movie or TV show and you heard someone  say, "Your guess is as good as mine." And you  

thought, "Oh my goodness, they were speaking so  fast." Maybe you understand the general idea,  

but how are they saying it so quickly? Are  there some secrets that I don't know? Well,  

I have some good news. In today's lesson, you are  going to learn five secrets to American English  

pronunciation, and you're going to level up your  vocabulary at the same time. And like always,  

I've created a free PDF worksheet with all of  today's American English pronunciation tips,  

idioms, and concepts that you're going to  learn in this lesson. You can download this  

free PDF worksheet, my gift to you, with  the link in the description. Click on that  

link and instantly in your email inbox, you  will have this free worksheet. All right,  

are you ready to get started with the first  secret of American English pronunciation? 

Let's start. Have you heard this phrase before?  The early bird catches the worm. This means that  

if you wake up early or you get started now,  well, you will succeed. Only the birds that wake  

up early in the morning get the best worms. If you  wait, if you procrastinate, well, too bad for you,  

you won't be able to succeed. But this wonderful  phrase uses an important American English  

pronunciation point. There are three words,  early, bird, and worm that use a colored 'R'.  

So in American English, this 'R' is a strong hard  sound. Early. Bird. Word. Do you see how that's  

almost like an angry dog? Worm. Bird. Early.  Make sure that when you're using American English  

pronunciation, this colored 'R' sound is hard. Phrase number two that uses key American English  

pronunciation is this one. Have you ever  heard someone say, "Your guess is as good as  

mine. Your guess is as good as mine." This  means that the other person has no clue.  

Maybe you could say, "I don't know how to get to  the beach. Your guess is as good as mine." But  

there is something important happening with the  pronunciation of this phrase. At the end of the  

word guess and at the end of the word is, there  is an 'S'. But in American English pronunciation,  

we often link the 'S' with the vowel next to make  a 'Z' sound. So listen carefully when I say this  

phrase, "Your guess is as good as mine." It sounds  a lot like [inaudible 00:02:45], and that's what's  

happening here. We are linking together the  'S' plus a vowel from the next word. Try to  

say it with me. Your guess is as good as mine.  I have no clue, your guess is as good as mine. 

Key phrase number three that uses American  English pronunciation is this fun one,  

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Have you  ever been trying to help someone and then they  

complain about how you're helping them? You  can use this phrase and say, "Hey, don't bite  

the hand that feeds you. I'm just trying to  help you." Well, it's the same idea. If you  

argue with your boss, if you yell at your boss,  ugh, he's the one that gives you your paycheck,  

so don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there  is important American English pronunciation here  

that happens three times. Don't, bite, and  then a little later in the sentence is the  

word 'that'. What is similar between all  three of these words? It's the letter 'T'. 

Listen when I say this contraction, don't.  Don't. Do you hear don't with that puff of  

air coming out? Nope. In American English,  oftentimes a 'T' at the end of words will be  

cut off. We call this a stopped 'T' because your  mouth is making that shape. Don't. My tongue is  

at the top of my mouth trying to make that 'T'  shape, but there's no puff of air that comes  

out. Listen carefully as I say this and I want you  to hear that stopped 'T'. Don't bite the hand that  

feeds you. You think you can say that with me?  You can do it. Let's say this phrase together,  

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you."  All right, let's go to our next phrase. 

Has this ever happened to you before? You invite  a lot of people over to your house and you think  

it's going to be a fun party, it's great, and  then it just becomes so many people in your house,  

so much chaos, and you have to say this, "Oh  no, I think it's going to get out of hand."  

This doesn't mean that anything is really in your  hand and it's getting out of your hand. Instead,  

this means it's getting out of control. But  this phrase, get out of hand, uses an important  

American English pronunciation tip, which is that  the 'T' at the end of words, another 'T' tip,  

that has a vowel next often changes to a 'D'  sound. So listen when I say this, "The party  

will get out of hand." The word get is surrounded  by vowels, there's a vow on either side. G-E-T,  

and then the next word starts with an 'O'. So  that 'T' is surrounded by vows, and that means  

that it's going to change to a 'D' sound. Get out,  and then it's going to happen with out and of.  

Out of. In fact, the word 'of' changes to just a.  Get outta hand. Can you say it with me? The party  

will get outta hand. The party will get outta  hand if you invite 50 people over to your house. 

All right, let's go to our last American English  pronunciation tip. Has it ever happened to you  

that you travel abroad and then you realize that  you're just meeting people from your own home  

country? It's like you're magnetic towards  each other. Well, we could use this phrase,  

"Birds of a feather flock together." And this  means that common things are attracted to each  

other, for better or for worse. So there is a key  American English pronunciation point we can talk  

about with this phrase. We already talked about  the word bird and how it uses that colored 'R',  

that hard 'R' sound. Bird. And there is another  'R' tip in this phrase as well. Look at the end  

of the word feather, and together. Here is an E-R,  and it's going to be a strong 'R' sound. Feather.  

Together. Again, pretend that you are an angry  dog and try to make that hard 'R' sound. Feather.  

Together. Can you say this wonderful idiom with  me? Birds of a feather flock together. Wonderful. 

So if you can use all five of these American  English pronunciation points, you will sound more  

American and it will also help you to understand  American English speakers when they're talking,  

which is wonderful when you're watching a movie  or TV show. So I guarantee the next time you  

hear these wonderful idioms, you will think,  "Oh, I learned that in Vanessa's lesson. Yes.  

Now I understand it and I know how they're  pronouncing it and I can do it too." Don't  

forget to download the free PDF worksheet for  today's American English pronunciation lesson.  

I've included all the pronunciation points, the  idioms, the ideas, to help you be able to speak  

American English the way that you'd like. And now I have a question for you. That first  

phrase that we talked about, the early  bird catches the worm. I want to know,  

are you an early bird who catches the worm?  This doesn't mean that you wake up early,  

it just means that you don't procrastinate.  Are you someone who procrastinates and waits  

too long? Or are you someone who has a task and  you do it? Well, even if you don't, there's never  

a time like the present to get started. 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. 

But wait, do you want more? I recommend  watching this video next. There are almost  

four million people who have watched  this video, including Nikki, who said,  

"I love how she smiles while talking.  She's sm-alking." Smile plus talking. Well,  

if you want to see some sm-alking, I recommend  watching this video and I'll see you there.