Speaking Skills | This is why people don't understand your English

hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from  Englishfulltime.com in this video we are going to  

talk about some of the reasons why people might  not understand you when you speak English so you  

can improve your clarity and so people understand  you the first time and they don't say hey what  

do you mean by that what did you say I don't  understand you can you repeat yourself please  

now you might think that the reason people don't  understand you is because of your pronunciation  

and yes sometimes it is because of that that is  the most obvious culprit so we are going to start  

there but there are other reasons why people  might not understand you that awore just as  

important as pronunciation and sometimes even more  important so let's jump into it the first reason  

why people might not understand you is because you  are mispronouncing words in English however there  

are many ways to mispronounce words you might  use incorrect sounds you might add a syllable  

that shouldn't be there you might drop a syllable  that should be there or you might stress the word  

incorrectly so let me give you some examples the  word chocolate chocolate notice that this word  

has two syllables chocolate chocolate however  I have heard lots of English Learners pronounce  

this word with three syllables chocolate chocolate  chocolate Okay the word vegetable vegetable has  

three syllables vegetable however I have heard  lots of English Learners pronounce this word  

with four syllables vegetable vegetable now let's  use both of these words in a sentence chocolate is  

not a vegetable chocolate is not a vegetable now  let's add in those extra syllables from before  

chocolate is not a vegetable chocolate is not  a vegetable do we still understand it yes we do  

however every time you change the pattern right  change the pattern in English the pronunciation  

or adding something that shouldn't be  there removing something that should be  

there it could be confusing to your listener or  at any rate it gives them more to think about  

their brain has to filter through more things  and go okay she said this but she meant that he  

said this but he meant that once in a while it's  okay because we can still understand what you're  

saying from context clues but sometimes sometimes  when you do this whatever you're saying will be  

completely incoherent to your listener they  won't understand it at all let me give you an  

example one time I was in our Argentina talking to  a guy in Spanish I used to live in Argentina for a  

while and he found out that I was from California  and he goes oh wow California have you ever been  

to Shosemite and I was like Shosemite like what  is that and he's like oh come on like Shosemite  

and I'm like I don't I I've never heard of this  place before so no I don't think I've ever been  

there and he goes oh that's interesting it's like  a super famous National Park and I was like Oh you  

mean Yosemite and he he's like looking at me like  what and then we figured out that when he said  

Shosemite he was talking about Yosemite National  Park and I'm like yes I've been there I used to  

go camping there when I was a kid with my family  so what he did here was he pronounced the word in  

Spanish with Spanish sounds Spanish pronunciation  and he changed the stress of the word he said  

Shosemite instead of Yosemite okay so he changed  the stress of the word he did not use English  

sounds to pronounce the word and he pronounced  it in Spanish specifically Argentinian Spanish  

now something else I noticed when I was living in  Argentina is that people do this as well with the  

names of actors or famous people they pronounce  them using the phonology of their native language  

so for example the actor Johnny Depp that's how  I say his name Johnny Depp but in Argentina they  

say "Shonny Deep" Shonny Deep and when I first  heard that I was like woah that's not how we say  

his name but then of course I realized hey that's  how they say it over there using the phonology of  

their language English has a different phonology  so words are pronounced differently now you have  

to be aware of this when it comes to proper nouns  names of places and people you might say these  

names one way in your native language using the  phonology that you have in your native language  

but English uses a different phonology and when  you're communicating with English speakers if  

you jump into your native language to say  a word in English like Shonny Deep okay or  

Shosemite people might not understand you so what  I recommend here is really mastering pronunciation  

in English there's no other way around it really  Master the sounds of the English language work  

on word stress all of those things and I actually  have a lot of resources that can help you master  

your pronunciation in English but I will wait  until the end of the video to tell you about them  

okay so now with all of that said I actually have  some bad news news because you could use totally  

correct pronunciation but if you use correct  pronunciation with incorrect rhythm in English  

you will still sound unnatural and unclear and  to help you really understand this I'm going to  

give you a few examples now I have some example  sentences and I'm going to pronounce every single  

word in the sentence perfectly but I'm going  to use incorrect rhythm and hopefully you'll  

see what I mean okay so the first sentence is I  am at home right now but later I will go out for  

dinner again I am at home right now but later I  will go out for dinner so here I am assigning the  

same length of time to each syllable within the  sentence and we actually don't do this in English  

this is unnatural so here's how I would say this  sentence in English to make it sound natural I'm  

at home right now but later I'll go out for dinner  I'm at home right now but later I'll go out for  

dinner notice I'm joining words I didn't say I  am I said I'm I'm at home home I stretched that  

word a little bit I'm at home right now but later  I'll go out for dinner but later I'll go out all I  

said all not I will I contracted it here's another  example it is going to be a long day it is going  

to be a long day here I'm pronouncing everything  perfectly fine like the pronunciation the actual  

sounds I'm using is fine okay but the rhythm is  off it doesn't sound natural at all so that's not  

actually how I would say it first I would contract  going to and I would say gonna it's gonna be a  

long day it's gonna be a long day notice I'm  stretching long long day it's gonna be a long  

day okay let's do this with one more example I  would not have asked if I already knew the answer  

I would not have asked if I already knew the  answer okay that doesn't sound natural I would say  

I wouldn't have asked if I already knew the answer  I wouldn't have asked if I already knew the answer  

now look at the contraction that's happening in  the first part of that sentence instead of saying  

I would not have I say I would have I wouldn't  have I wouldn't have asked I wouldn't have asked  

if I already knew the answer if I already knew the  answer so the lesson here is the more natural your  

rhythm is the more natural you will sound in  English and rhythm is not necessarily the same  

thing as pronunciation it's tied to pronunciation  it's part of pronunciation but when people think  

of pronunciation they're generally thinking  of the actual sounds that are coming out of  

their mouth they're not thinking of the timing of  those sounds and the timing is related to rhythm  

okay another thing that can make you unclear when  you're communicating in English is the overuse of  

pronouns pronouns are the small little words like  he she him it they them now these little words  

are great because they can help you get your  message across in a more concise way and avoid  

being repetitive like overusing someone's name  or something like that however when people rely  

too heavily on these words in their communication  they can easily become unclear let's look at this  

sentence he said he would call him when he got  home he said he would call him when he got home  

so when you have a sentence like this hopefully we  already know who is being talked about but he said  

he who would call him who when he who got home  okay so do you see how without using people's  

names here it can get very confusing who's going  to do the calling who's going to receive the call  

so some tips to avoid this use name names okay  use names provide context and be specific in your  

communication if you're going to use a pronoun a  pronoun is there to replace a noun make sure that  

you've already mentioned the noun explicitly that  you've been very clear about what that noun is so  

you can provide an anchor for yourself when you're  communicating you discuss something you give it  

a name you say what it is and later you refer  back to it with a pronoun okay in a clear direct  

manner so people understand oh when he says  it he's referring to this when he says them  

he's referring to that okay and you have to set up  these anchors for yourself in your communication  

to be clear and it's better to over-communicate  than to under-communicate that way you guarantee  

the clarity of your message and I know it takes  more effort it takes more time and sometimes  

it feels like I just don't want to communicate  at this level right now but I guarantee you're  

setting yourself up for success if you do that  and if you get lazy in your communication and  

you start overusing pronouns people are going to  get confused very fast you're going to have to  

repeat yourself and it's going to be a frustrating  experience for everyone for yourself and for your  

listener or whoever you're communicating with  now a quote here from my husband he said this  

once and I thought it was so profound I wrote  it down he said our minds are lazy and they  

move fast so sometimes we actually have to slow  down our own minds okay and think deeply as we  

communicate so we communicate well and so people  understand us okay so the next reason people might  

not understand you in English is actually simple  and relatively easy to fix you might be speaking  

with a quiet unsupported voice so what do I mean  by this a quiet voice is just a voice that is not  

very loud it's difficult to hear but you also  don't want to yell to be heard right you want  

to speak like you're trying to be heard but you  don't want to yell and the way to do this is by  

supporting your voice with your diaphragm so you  can project okay so you have to really engage  

first of all you have to have good posture right  shoulders back and you have to engage the muscles  

here in your chest in your back and in your belly  and what you do is you feel you expand this area  

you fill your lungs with air and then you're kind  of like pushing the air down as you're pushing it  

up right to create this compression and that helps  push your voice across the room now obviously  

there will be times where you don't want to have  a big booming voice okay but when you support your  

voice so many things will happen first of all your  voice will not be quiet it won't be difficult for  

people to hear you you will be able to project  right when you're talking to other people they  

will be able to hear you clearly even if you have  to speak over noise and your voice will not get  

as tired when you use it because when you're not  supporting your voice well you can get a scratchy  

feeling in your throat you won't feel as good  when you you talk and you won't be able to talk  

for long periods of time or lecture and I don't  know if you even talk for long periods of time  

but it's definitely helpful to support your voice  plus you actually just sound more confident much  

more confident when you support your voice when  you speak okay and the last thing I want to talk  

about in this video is intonation sometimes  people might not understand you when you're  

speaking English because you're using intonation  incorrectly we have certain patterns in English  

intonation patterns that communicate specific  ideas thoughts beliefs Etc and if you use the  

incorrect pattern people might think you're joking  when you're not actually joking they might think  

you're being sarcastic when you're being serious  right so it can be very frustrating when you say  

something and you're like I pronounced the words  correctly I use the correct rhythm the words I'm  

using are clear and people still don't understand  me like what is going on then it might be a  

problem with your intonation people might even  think you're being rude when you're not being rude  

intonation is so important in English probably in  every language but let me give you some examples  

if I say I speak English I speak English English  see how it goes down at the end that is showing  

certainty I am simply stating a fact if I say I  speak English I speak English I sound sarcastic  

it's like why are you saying it like that why  are you saying it like you don't actually speak  

English and there's another variation I want to  show you listen I speak English I speak English  

okay did you hear how it went up in the very  beginning I speak English I speak English here  

I'm like no no no no I speak English maybe  somebody was doubting me and so I clarified  

so you can see how the intonation I'm saying  the same sentence with the same words the same  

pronunciation the same rhythm I'm just changing  the intonation and the message is changing let me  

give you another example and this is an example of  how you can potentially come across rude without  

even meaning to come across rude let's look at  this sentence you got a raise you got a raise when  

I say it like that you got a raise I'm raising the  intonation at the end and I'm excited I'm showing  

genuine curiosity there's no judgment in my voice  or anything like that right you got a raise like  

wow that's great that's wonderful how cool but if  I say it like you got to raise you got to raise  

now it sounds like I don't believe you're even  deserving of a raise why did you get a raise  

you got a raise okay so the difference here is you  got a raise and you got to raise so it's so subtle  

right how the intonation changes but you really  want to work on your intonation so that when  

you're serious people know that you're serious  when you're joking people know that you're joking  

and people don't think you're being sarcastic when  you're not being sarcastic or or you're being rude  

when you're simply trying to show friendliness or  genuine curiosity about something okay so that is  

it for this video however I have a few things  that I want to share with you if you enjoyed  

studying pronunciation intonation rhythm all of  that here with me you're definitely going to want  

to hear this so the first thing is I have a free  course a free pronunciation course that has over  

7 hours of in-depth pronunciation training with me  if you have not taken this course already I highly  

recommend it make time for it study the material  there's so much in this course we also talk about  

confidence communication so many different things  it's called The Fluent Pronunciation Challenge you  

can sign up today it's 100% free the second thing  if you are struggling with the sounds of English  

you're really struggling to master the different  sounds cuz that's pretty foundational work in  

order to communicate clearly the rhythm intonation  connected speech all of that is more advanced  

stuff if you're struggling with the basics the  sounds then I have a course that could help you  

with that it's called The Amazing American Accent  Sound Bank and all I do in this course is teach  

you the sounds of English based on the way that I  speak so if you like how I speak and if you want  

to imitate my sounds in your own English then  this is a great course for you to learn all the  

different sounds I will link it below okay and the  final thing I want to share with you is that in a  

few days we are opening enrollment to my Accent  Freedom program this is a 12 week comprehensive  

A to Z course that teaches you everything you need  to know about American English the pronunciation  

the rhythm the intonation connected speech all  of it in-depth every single thing you need to  

know but it goes even further because it helps  you find your voice in English so that you can  

speak clearly and confidently without simply  trying to be a copy of somebody else but to  

really find your own sound and identity in this  language while being clear and just getting your  

Accent Freedom basically that's what it's called  because we want you to have freedom in English  

to feel free and shape your accent so that you  can sound how you want to sound so the version  

of you that exists in real life matches the  version of you in your head that you really  

want to become so that's it I will leave all the  links in the description I really hope this video  

was helpful I hope you learned something and I  can't wait to see you soon in another video bye