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爬取每日英语听力上面的资源
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A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker if you weren't born in the US.

They want to know how long it will take. That, of course, depends entirely upon the individual.

Really focused pronunciation practice can yield great results.

In this video, I'm gonna go over two different ways to study English to perfect your pronunciation.

All you need is the audio or video of a native speaker speaking.

. . . . . .

First, we're going to do a Ben Franklin exercise.

This is when you write down everything you can about what you hear: whether or not you hear words being linked, or if you hear something being reduced, for example.

Now, we'll do this together to help you get an idea of how to listen to and analyze what you hear.

" A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker-- A lot of people ask me."

So the first thing I notice is that this T is a flap T, it sounds like a D, " a lot of, " that's because it's coming between two vowel sounds.

I also notice that I hear these three words as one unit: " a lot of, a lot of, " with the stress happening on the middle word.

" A lot of, a lot of people ask me--" I also notice that this word ends in a consonant, this word begins with a vowel, there's no punctuation in-between, " a lot of people ask, " and I do hear that L as really linking to the beginning vowel sound: " people ask."

Another thing you'll want to note as you listen is any sounds that you know are difficult for you.

For example, many of my students have problems integrating the AA sound into their speech.

They know how to do it, but they just don't use it in speech.

So I would definitely, if was one of them, mark this AA vowel, so that I'll be sure to note it, and then will hopefully begin to integrate AA into my speech when I see this word 'ask. ' " A lot of people ask me."

Let's keep going.

" A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker-- if it's possible to sound, if it's possible to sound--"

So, I notice the stress here: possible, first syllable is stressed, " to sound, " I notice that has stress too. " --if it's possible to sound--"

The word 'to' is definitely reduced to the schwa, so I may mark that so I don't forget to reduce it. " Possible to sound."

" If it's, if it's." Here's another case where one word ends in a consonant sound, the next word begins with a vowel sound, " if it's, if it's, " and I do definitely hear those connecting together. " If it's possible to sound."

" A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker-- like a native speaker--"

I notice my voice goes up at the end here, " speaker." That's because the sentence isn't over, the next word is " if."

I also notice the stress is big, small, big, small, big, small. " Like a native speaker." DA da DA da DA da. " Like a native speaker."

Also, again here we have ending consonant sound/beginning vowel sound: like a, like a. I hear the K linking to the schwa. " Like a. Like a native speaker."

" Native --" I hear this T as a D because again, it's a T coming between two vowel sounds: will be a flap T, sounds like a D. " Like a native speaker."

In the entire sentence, I don't hear any gaps or pauses between words.

So in some cases, there's a very obvious link, like when one word ends with a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel.

But even when there's not a very obvious linking sound, there's never a gap between the words.

" A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker--"

We've been working for several minutes, and here we are only half way through one sentence.

This is just an example of how you might take notes from the audio or video clip of your choice.

After you've listened several times and taken thorough notes, you then put the audio or video away and, from your notes, try to speak the way the native speaker was speaking.

If you can, record yourself, and then compare this to the native speaker.

This is how you can figure out where you still need to work.

And now we'll do an imitation exercise.

In this video, you don't look at the text. You're not concerned with the actual words because you do already have ideas about how words should be pronounced.

So in this exercise you're just listening.

And I loop things three times in an imitation exercise so that you begin to think about the pitch changes and the musicality of the speech, rather than the individual words themselves.

Repeat it back exactly as you hear it, even if you're not sure of the individual words. It's ok, that's not what we're going for in this particular exercise.

" A lot of people ask me" [x3]

. . . . . .

" A lot of people ask me if it's possible to sound like a native speaker" [x3]

. . . . . .

" if it's possible to sound like a native speaker"

" if you weren't born in the US." [x3]

. . . . . .

Because of the internet, there really is an endless supply of audio and video where English is being spoken by native speakers.

I know looping something over and over, as in the imitation exercise, can be more of a hassle on your own.

That's why, on my website, I do have both Ben Franklin and imitation exercises ready for you.

So I encourage you to take a look at these, or any other audio or video clip that interests you, and turn it into a pronunciation exercise: study it this way.

It will really take you far in your practice.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to study American English by looking at a short text. Topic: what I ate for breakfast.

. . . . . .

I call this a Ben Franklin exercise.

This is when you take very good notes, very detailed notes, on what you're hearing. And then go back and try to record yourself based on what you've written down, the notes.

Did you write down a flap T, or the way two words link together?

After you've recorded yourself, compare it to the original. Did you do everything that you wanted to do?

In this video, we're going to take notes together.

This morning for breakfast, I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk. This is my favorite breakfast. But sometimes, I do have eggs.

So let's take a look at what's happening here.

" This morning for breakfast." One of the first things I notice is how much this S and M were connected.

" This morning, this morning." It's almost like the S went on the next word: " smorning, smorning. This morning. This morning for breakfast."

Did you notice how I pronounced the word " for" ?

That was reduced to " fer" , " fer" , " fer" . Very quick, with the schwa/R sound. " For, for, for breakfast."

" This morning for breakfast." Also I notice the rhythm here. " Morn-" and " break-" are the two stressed syllables.

" This morning for breakfast." They have that swooping up and then down shape of the voice that makes up a stressed syllable.

Let's listen in slow motion.

" This morning for breakfast." [x2]

" This morning for breakfast, I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk."

What do you hear as being the stressed syllables? I hear " Barbara's" , " Shredded" , and " milk" .

What else do you notice?

" I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk." I notice that " Barbara's" is only two syllables, even though it looks like it might be three. We sort of leave this middle sound out here.

" Barb-ra's, -ra's." Also note this apostrophe S is the Z sound. That's because the sound before is voiced, so the apostrophe S is also voiced. " Zzz, zz, -ra's, -ra's. Barbara's."

I also notice that the ED ending here is pronounced as the IH as in 'sit' vowel, D sound.

That's because the sound before was a D. ED endings are among the few cases in American English that follow regular rules.

" I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk."

I notice that the word 'with' is not reduced, but it's very flat in pitch because it is unstressed. " With, with, with." It's also quite fast. " With milk, with, with, with, with milk."

" I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk."

Let's listen in slow motion.

" I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk." [x2]

" I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk. This is my favorite breakfast." What was stressed in that sentence? I heard " fav-" and " break-" .

Also, these three words, " this is my" , those were incredibly fast. Listen again.

" This is my favorite breakfast."

So this string of three unstressed words, " this is my" [x4]: very fast, and very connected.

I also notice that the word " favorite" was only pronounced with two syllables, as if this letter was dropped. " Fav-rit, favorite, favorite."

" This is my favorite breakfast."

I'm also noticing this T pronunciation. The final T in " favorite" was pronounced as a stop.

" Favorite, favorite, favorite breakfast." So, there was no release, tt, of the T sound. " Favorite breakfast."

Let's listen in slow motion.

" This is my favorite breakfast." [x2]

" This is my favorite breakfast. But sometimes, I do have eggs."

Did you notice the lift here, where the comma is?

" But sometimes, I do have eggs." There was just a little pause there for the punctuation.

I also noticed how I stressed the word " do" .

" I do, I do have eggs."

" But sometimes, I do have eggs."

The word " eggs" , even though it's a content word, a noun, which is usually stressed, doesn't have that much stress, I notice, because it's at the end of a sentence. " I do have eggs."

" Eggs, eggs, " with just a little curve up, and then down in the voice. " I do have eggs."

Also, the plural ending here, S, is pronounced as a Z. That's because the sound before, the G sound, is a voiced consonant. " Eggs, eggs."

Let's listen in slow motion.

" But sometimes, I do have eggs." [x2]

" But sometimes, I do have eggs."

So, just three little sentences. But we really were able to study a lot about American English pronunciation.

Let's listen once in slow motion.

This morning for breakfast, I had Barbara's Shredded Oats with milk. This is my favorite breakfast. But sometimes, I do have eggs.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to take notes and study the speech of native speakers.

Do this on your own. Take video and audio clips that interest you, or that have topics that are important to your field of work.

After you take good notes, record the text yourself, and compare to the original recording. What do you still need to work on, or what did you do well?

This is a great way to improve your pronunciation.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to study American English by looking at a short text. Topic: free time.

. . . . . .

I call this a Ben Franklin exercise.

This is when you take very good notes, very detailed notes, on what you're hearing. And then go back and try to record yourself based on what you've written down, the notes.

Did you write down a Flap T, or the way two words link together?

After you've recorded yourself, compare it to the original. Did you do everything that you wanted to do?

In this video, we're going to take notes together.

. . . . . .

One of my favorite things to do with a free day is to ride my bike. Sometimes I'll ride along the Hudson River or in Central Park, and sometimes I'll go visit friends in Brooklyn.

" One of my favorite things to do."

" One of my favorite." I definitely hear " one" and " fav-" as being stressed.

" Of my" is very quick, very different than " one" and " fav" . " Of my, of my, of my, of my, of my." So I'm using the schwa here, and I am giving the V sound: " of my, of my, of my, of my, of my" , but it's very flat and quick.

" One of my favorite." [x3]

I notice that I'm dropping the middle, unstressed syllable in " favorite" . So it's not " FA-vo-rit" , but simply, " FA-vrit. Favorite. Favorite things."

And I notice that I am making that a Stop T, I'm not releasing it. I'm going straight into the TH. " One of my favorite things."

" One of my favorite things to do with a free day." [x3]

" One of my favorite things to do with a free day." So I notice both the words " free" and " day" have a lot more length than the others.

" Things" is a content word, it is a noun, but it's more generic than " free" and " day" , I think that's why I didn't give it as much time. " One of my favorite things to do with a free day."

" One of my favorite things to do with a free day." [x3]

I notice, with the word " to" , I am reducing that to the schwa sound. It's not " to do" , it's " t'do, ttt, t'do" .

" To do [x3] with a free day."

Also the article " a" , of course, is a schwa. Now I pronounced the ending TH unvoiced, " with a, with a" .

Sometimes when people link the ending TH that is unvoiced into a voiced sound, like the vowel schwa, they will voice it and say " with a, with a" . But I left that unvoiced: " with a, with a, with a free day."

" With a free day." [x3]

" Is to ride my bike. Ride, bike." Those were the two longest words in that sentence fragment.

" Is to ride my bike." I notice again, I reduced this to the schwa sound. It's not " to" , it's " to, to, is to, is to, is to, is to ride, is to ride, is to ride my bike" .

" Is to ride my bike." [x3]

" Sometimes I'll ride along Hudson River."

What did you hear as the most stressed syllables there? I'm hearing " some-, ride, Hud-, Riv-" .

As you practice your own speech, listen to it and make sure that you can pick out stressed syllables in a sentence.

If you can't, then they all sound too much the same. And we're lacking good rhythmic contrast.

So, it's always good to study other speech, and to note what do you hear as being the longest syllables.

Usually it will go along with adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and verbs.

" Sometimes I'll ride along the Hudson River." [x3]

What else do you notice?

I notice the ending S here is pronounced as a Z. " Sometimes I'll ride."

Also, did you notice how I pronounced that contraction? I didn't say " I'll, I'll." I said " I'll, I'll."

So it sounded a lot like this word. In fact, it sounded just like this word. " I'll, I'll."

I used the " aw" as in " law" vowel. " Sometimes I'll, sometimes I'll ride." So, I reduced the contraction, which is already a reduction of " I will" , to " I'll, I'll, I'll. Sometimes I'll ride."

" Sometimes I'll ride [x3] along the Hudson River."

" The Hudson River." The word " the" pronounced with the schwa.

Sometimes it's pronounced with an EE vowel. That would be when the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong.

Here it begins with a consonant, the H sound, " Hudson, Hudson" , so it was a schwa. " The Hudson, the Hudson River."

" The Hudson River." [x3]

Did you notice how the second and unstressed syllable of " Hudson" was pronounced? It's written with the letter O, but there's the schwa vowel in there.

As an unstressed syllable, it's very fast, " -son, -son, -son" .

And when the schwa is followed by the N sound, you don't need to worry about making a separate schwa sound. It gets absorbed by the N. " -Son, -son, -son, -son, Hudson. The Hudson."

" The Hudson River [x3] or in Central Park."

I notice I did not reduce the word " or" , that can be reduced to " er, er. Hudson River or Central Park." But in this case I didn't. I said " or" .

Wait, I just realized I missed the word " in" .

" Or in Central Park, or in Central Park." Do you hear how fast the word " in" is?

" Or in, or in, or in, or in Central Park. Central." Stressed syllable of " Central" is the first one. " Cen-, Cen-." The second syllable has the schwa: " -tral, -tral, -tral."

" In Central." [x3]

Did you notice? I'm making more of a CH sound here instead of a T sound for the T in " Central" .

" Cen-tral, -tral, -tral." This can happen when the T is followed by an R.

" In Central [x3] Park, and sometimes I'll go visit friends in Brooklyn."

" And sometimes." I definitely dropped the D in that word, " and sometimes, and sometimes" , reducing the word " and" .

" And sometimes." [x3]

Let's talk about stress in that last part of the sentence.

" And sometimes I'll go visit friends in Brooklyn."

What did you hear as being the most stressed syllables? " Some-" , sort of, but even stronger, " vis-, friends, Brook-" . Verb, noun, noun. The content words.

And did you notice the contraction " I'll" ? Again, pronounced with the " aw" as in " law" vowel, reduced to " I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll" .

. . . . . .

" And sometimes I'll [x3] go visit friends in Brooklyn."

Also, all of these words, as always in a thought group, were very connected.

I had a Stop T here in " visit" , so I didn't bother to release it, which would have made a little gap in my line. " Visit friends, visit friends."

" visit friends [x3] in Brooklyn."

Also, the ending Z sound of " friends" linked into the beginning vowel of the next word, " friends in, friends in, friends in, friends in Brooklyn."

" visit friends in Brooklyn." [x3]

One of my favorite things to do with a free day is to ride my bike. Sometimes I'll ride along the Hudson River or in Central Park, and sometimes I'll go visit friends in Brooklyn.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to take notes and study the speech of native speakers.

Do this on your own. Take video and audio clips that interest you or that have topics that are important to your field of work.

After you take good notes, record the text yourself and compare to the original recording. What do you still need to work on, or what did you do well?

This is a great way to improve your pronunciation.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

So this is what I like to do with a free day. What do you like to do with a free day?

Record yourself talking about it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can't wait to hear about it.

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