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The Real Reason You Can't Understand Native Speakers — Transcript

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0:00You have studied English for a while.
0:03You studied using books. You went to
0:05school. You went to classes.
0:08You learned from different teachers. You
0:11watched YouTube videos, and you
0:13understand everything.
0:15But, the moment you go and watch a movie
0:18or a TV series or you listen to native
0:21speakers talk,
0:23you don't understand and you can't
0:25follow them.
0:26Why does this happen? Is there something
0:29wrong with the way you learn English?
0:31No. I know that it's difficult to
0:34understand native speakers. It's
0:37difficult to watch movies without
0:39subtitles. But, why is that? Because
0:42they speak fast? Well, that's one of the
0:45reasons why it is hard to understand
0:48native speakers. They speak fast, but
0:50that is not the main problem. It's true
0:52that they speak fast, but it's not
0:55difficult understanding fast English.
0:58There is another reason why you cannot
1:00understand movies, TV series, or native
1:04speakers. In this video, we're going to
1:06talk about this, and I'm going to show
1:09you why it is difficult to understand
1:11them, and how to train your ear so you
1:15can watch movies and TV series without
1:17subtitles. So, you can listen to native
1:19speakers and understand them. My name is
1:22Maddie, and welcome to my slow English
1:25podcast. Before we start, if you want to
1:27experience learning English with me for
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2:02scan this QR code, or click on the link
2:05about this video, and register for free.
2:08Okay? Let's go to the lesson. There are
2:10two types of English if you really think
2:12about it.
2:13There is a learning English and there is
2:15a real English.
2:18When you are learning English, you use
2:20books, learning material
2:22designed for students, or you watch
2:25videos on YouTube
2:26from teachers teaching you.
2:30Or you go to classes, or you listen to
2:32educational podcasts like BBC 6-Minute
2:36English or VOA Learning English.
2:39All of these materials are designed to
2:43teach you English.
2:45>> [snorts]
2:45>> So, the pronunciation,
2:47the accent, and the way they sound are
2:51deliberately designed for you to
2:54understand them.
2:56Let me ask you a question. When I am
2:58talking to you right now, do you
2:59understand what I say?
3:02Yes, because I'm a teacher and I've been
3:04trained to speak in a way to make sure
3:07my students understand me, regardless of
3:10their levels. So, if you are
3:12intermediate, lower intermediate,
3:14beginner, you can still understand me
3:17because I'm enunciating, I'm pronouncing
3:20everything very clearly, and this is
3:22called learning English.
3:25You understand this, and then you turn
3:27on the TV and you say, "Hey, let's watch
3:29Avengers: Endgame, or let's watch
3:31Thunderbolts, or let's watch a movie."
3:34You play the movie and you're like,
3:36"What's going on? I don't understand
3:37anything." Because that is real-world
3:40English.
3:42And there is a difference between the
3:43two.
3:44Learning English is clean.
3:47The words are separated,
3:50but real-life English is not as clean.
3:54Everything is linked. They are blended.
3:56And there is a gap between real English
3:59and learning English. And that gap is
4:02why you struggle. That gap is why when
4:06you watch a movie, you need subtitles.
4:09That gap is why when you listen to
4:11native speakers, you cannot follow. You
4:14think it's because they speak fast.
4:16That's not the main reason. If it was
4:18only speed, you could get used to the
4:21speed by practicing and by listening
4:23enough.
4:24But, that's not the only point. There
4:26are other things going on, and I am
4:28going to show you. Let me first show you
4:30a very basic sentence. Look at this.
4:33Don't you want to come out with us? A
4:37teacher would say, "Hey, don't you want
4:39to come out with us?" It's easy to
4:42understand, right?
4:43But, what would a native speaker say?
4:45"Hey Jack, don't you want to come out
4:47with us?"
4:48Don't you want to come out with us? It
4:50sounds fast, but it's not the speed.
4:54If you look at it carefully, let me
4:56paint you the picture.
4:57There are three things going on.
5:00The first one is this.
5:02Look at the word come out. Do you hear
5:05come out or come out? Come out. Mout.
5:10You hear the word mout. It's like as if
5:13these two are linked. And that's exactly
5:15what's going on. This is called linked
5:18speech.
5:19Words, when they reach each other, are
5:22often linked when native speakers are
5:24talking.
5:25Come out. Come out. The next thing
5:28that's going on. Wants to
5:31becomes wanna.
5:33Wants to? Wanna. This is called
5:35reduction. So, the word wants to becomes
5:38wanna.
5:39And there is a third thing going on. If
5:41you look at the first part of the
5:43sentence, don't you becomes don't you.
5:47Don't you.
5:49This is called assimilation. There is a
5:51third sound coming in.
5:53Don't you? Don't chew. Ch ch ch ch ch.
5:57You hear the sound ch.
5:59So, three things going on in the
6:00sentence. Linked speech, reduction,
6:04assimilation.
6:06I'm going to explain these three to you
6:08right now, one by one. Let's start with
6:12linked speech. This is probably the
6:15number one reason why it becomes hard to
6:17understand native speakers. Because when
6:20you link words, that is when the speech
6:23becomes faster. So, the reason why
6:25native speakers or why movies and TV
6:27series sound fast is not because they
6:31are fast, it's because they are linked.
6:34Let's see why and when linking happens.
6:37There are three main rules. The first
6:40rule is
6:41when one consonant sound reaches a vowel
6:45sound, they become linked. Let me give
6:48you a couple of examples. It's a very
6:50simple one.
6:52An apple.
6:54You will never hear someone say, "I want
6:57an apple." An apple becomes
7:01an apple. An apple. Napple. Napple. You
7:04hear the word napple. An apple.
7:08Why? Because n is a consonant, a is a
7:12vowel, link them. An apple. Or here's
7:15another one.
7:16Turn it off.
7:19There are two links here. Turn it. N and
7:24I link. Turn it. Nit. Nit. Turn it.
7:29It off. T and O.
7:32That becomes ta.
7:34Turn it off. So, instead of turn it off,
7:37you hear turn it off. Turn it off. Hey,
7:40turn it off. Turn it off. Now, turn it
7:43off. Can you turn it off? Can you turn
7:45it off? You see how well it flows, how
7:47fast it flows? So, that's rule number
7:49one of linking. Consonant reaches vowel,
7:53they are linked. Now, here's another
7:56one. When two consonants reach each
7:59other, if they have the same sound,
8:02sound, not the letter, sound. If they
8:05have the same sound, you only pronounce
8:07them once. What do I mean? Look at this.
8:10Black
8:11coffee.
8:13Black ends with sound,
8:16the sound, not the letter. Forget K.
8:18What is the sound? K.
8:20Coffee starts with the sound. So, one
8:24word ends with
8:26The other word begins with
8:28pronounce it only once. So, black coffee
8:31becomes black coffee. Black coffee.
8:34What do you want, sir? Black coffee,
8:36please. Black coffee. You pronounce it
8:40once. Or, another example. This
8:44Saturday.
8:45S This S Saturday. Pronounce it once.
8:50This Saturday, I'm going out with my
8:52friends. This Saturday, I'm not saying
8:55this Saturday. This Saturday, I'm going
8:58out with my friends. Or, here's another
9:00one. Big game. G G Both of them G.
9:05Big game tomorrow. Oh, do you want to
9:07watch the game tomorrow? It's a big
9:09game. Big game. Big game. Or, another
9:13one. Bus stop.
9:16Both of them S.
9:18Bus stop. Bus stop. Excuse me, where's
9:22the bus stop? Where's the nearest bus
9:24stop? You don't say, where's the nearest
9:26bus a stop? Bus stop. Now, this one's
9:28interesting. Rule number three. When two
9:31vowel sounds reach each other,
9:33you will hear an extra sound appearing
9:37magically out of nowhere. That extra
9:40sound is either w
9:42or y. What do I mean? Look at this.
9:46Go
9:47on.
9:49The last sound of the first word is go,
9:52o, o.
9:54The second word begins with
9:56on, on. So, o, on. A w is added in
10:00between when you are linking them. Why?
10:03Nobody knows. Look, it's easier to
10:04pronounce it this way. So, go on becomes
10:08go one.
10:11Go on.
10:12Come on, go on. Go one. I'm not saying
10:16go on. Go on. Go on. Or here's another
10:20one. Um
10:21I
10:23am a teacher. I
10:26am. Link them together.
10:29I am.
10:31A y sound appears there. I am. I am a
10:34teacher. I'm a teacher. I am. I am. I
10:36am. I'm tired of this. I am. Y. Oh,
10:40here's another one. She
10:42asked.
10:44She asked. Two vowel sounds, sounds, not
10:48letters, sounds. She, e, e, the e sound
10:52reaches ask, ask, asked, a sound. So, it
10:56becomes she y asked. A y sound appears.
11:01She asked. She asked.
11:04She asked the question. She asked the
11:06question becomes she asked the question.
11:09So, that's linking.
11:11And I talked only about the three main
11:13rules of linking. These are the three
11:15rules you need to be aware of so that
11:17the next time you hear a sentence which
11:19is difficult, write it down and try to
11:22find the examples of linked speech.
11:26Little by little, your ears will get
11:28used to linking. Now, look at this one
11:31example. I ran out of it in an hour.
11:37I ran out of it in an hour. If you want
11:41to do the linking, every word here links
11:45to the next word. So, it becomes instead
11:47of I ran out of it in an hour, it
11:50becomes I ran out of it in an hour. I
11:54ran out of it in an hour. Hey, what
11:55happened? Ran out of it in an hour. Ran
11:58out of it in an hour.
12:00Ran out of it in an hour. Try to say it.
12:02Ran out of it in an hour.
12:04See? It's not faster. I mean, it's
12:07faster because everything is linked. So,
12:09if you try to understand linked speech,
12:12fast speech becomes easy to understand.
12:15Linked speech is the reason why it's
12:17difficult to follow native speakers.
12:20Okay, enough with linking. Let's go to
12:22the second reason why it's difficult to
12:25understand native speakers, and that's
12:26reductions. Reductions are when two
12:29words are reduced into a smaller word.
12:31For example,
12:33going to becomes
12:35gonna. I'm going to travel. I'm going to
12:38travel.
12:40Want to becomes wanna.
12:43I want to travel. I want to travel. Next
12:46one is when one verb has me after that,
12:49like give me.
12:52Give me.
12:53Give me your cell phone.
12:55Let me. Let me.
12:58Let me go. The next one is of. Kind of.
13:02Kinda.
13:04It's kinda sad.
13:06Sort of. Sorta.
13:09Uh, it's sorta of interesting. Or with
13:11have.
13:12Modal verbs and have. Should have
13:15becomes shoulda.
13:16I shoulda known.
13:18Could have becomes coulda.
13:21Uh, I coulda done it. Would have becomes
13:23woulda. I woulda bought a house. See, I
13:25woulda have a house
13:27instead of I would have bought a house.
13:30I would have bought woulda woulda woulda
13:31woulda. Now, look at this sentence.
13:33I could have done it.
13:36I just didn't want to.
13:39Could have becomes coulda.
13:42And want to becomes wanna. Read it
13:45again.
13:46I coulda done it. I just didn't wanna. I
13:49coulda done it. I just didn't wanna.
13:51I coulda done it. I just didn't wanna.
13:53See, that's why it becomes fast
13:55reductions. Second reason. And the third
13:57one is assimilation.
14:00If you are still watching this video,
14:02bravo. Congratulations. Go to the
14:05comment section and say, "I'm still
14:07here." So that I know you're still
14:10watching the video. Okay, let's go to
14:11assimilation. Assimilation is when one
14:14sound changes into another sound.
14:18This is called assimilation. What do I
14:19mean? Let me give you an example. When t
14:22reaches y, they turn into another sound.
14:25They produce another sound called ch.
14:28What do I mean? Look. Got you. T and y
14:33are together. So, you they produce the
14:35sound ch. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.
14:39Or the short form would be gotcha. Can't
14:42you?
14:44Can't you? Won't you? Won't you? So, t
14:48and y produce the sound of ch. Don't
14:52you? Won't you? Can't you? Got you?
14:57Another assimilation is when d reaches
15:00y. They produce the sound j.
15:02Did you becomes
15:05didju. Would you? Would you? Would you
15:09mind? Had you?
15:11Had you? See, d y j. Or another a bit
15:16more advanced assimilation. The sound n
15:20from n
15:21before the sounds p or b
15:25turn into m.
15:27Let me give you one example. In bed.
15:31Where are you? I'm in bed. Im bed.
15:35In bed becomes im bed because n is
15:38before b. Im bed. Or green paper. N
15:43before p. Grim green paper. Green paper.
15:47Green paper. Pass me the green paper. Or
15:5010 past. You want to tell the time you
15:53say it's 10 past 5. 10 past becomes 10
15:56past when you say it naturally. 10 past
15:595. It's 10 past 5. 10 past 5. That's
16:03another assimilation. So, look at this
16:05sentence.
16:06What you doing?
16:09Did you eat?
16:11What you doing? T y. Watch. What you
16:15doing? What you doing?
16:17Did you eat? Did you Did you eat? Did
16:21you eat? What you doing? Did you eat?
16:24What you doing? Did you eat? A native
16:25speaker would probably not say did you
16:28eat.
16:29But more naturally just say, "Did you
16:31eat?"
16:32What you doing? Did you eat? Okay, we've
16:34talked about all three main ones.
16:36Let's go back to the first sentence that
16:39we started the video with, which was
16:41this.
16:42Don't you want to come out with us?
16:46Now you would understand this because
16:48first don't you t y produce the sound
16:52ch. Don't you? Don't you? Want to
16:57reduction want to. Don't you want to?
16:59Don't you want to? Come out.
17:03Consonant reaches vowel, link them. Come
17:06out.
17:07Don't you want to come out with us?
17:09Don't you want to come out with us?
17:11Yo Jack, don't you want to come out with
17:13us? In this video I only talked about
17:15three things. There are more when it
17:18comes to pronunciation. We have weak
17:20forms, dropped sounds, uh stress, which
17:23is very important, intonation, which is
17:26a full lesson, and for me to make a
17:28video about those things, too, I must
17:30make sure that you are also interested.
17:33So, if you want to see other
17:35pronunciation videos covering other
17:37topics, let me know in the comments. And
17:40don't forget to give this video a thumbs
17:41up, click subscribe, and send the video
17:44to one of your friends.
17:46One of your friends who's learning
17:47English.
17:48Do it. Again, if you want to join the
17:50mini course, don't forget it's for free.
17:53You can scan the QR code or click on the
17:55link above this video. You can join me
17:57for free and experience learning English
18:00with me.
18:01I hope you've enjoyed this one. See you
18:03soon. Bye.

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