American Accent Secret [shhhhh!] | Learn It From My REAL Conversation

This video takes a short clip of real English conversation and uses it to break down the secrets of the American accent. You’ll be able to both hear and see what I mean! Mastering the American accent is impossible without using conversation as a tool.

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Video Text:

Let’s analyze real conversation to find out what makes American English sound American and how you can improve your listening comprehension.

Today, I’m sitting down with my friend Liz while I talk about all the sports I don’t like to do on vacation. At the end, I’ll even put in an imitation training section so you can work on mastering the American accent. First, here’s the whole conversation we’ll analyze.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things. I don’t like water skiing anymore, I don’t like tennis, I don’t like volleyball, I don’t golf.

How about running?

I like to run.

Okay.

So that’s, I still have to like put in the effort to get exercise.

Now, let’s do the analysis.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things. I don’t like water skiing anymore,

So I do a little break here. So let’s just look at this first thought group. There’s one word that is more stressed than any of the others. One syllable. Listen to it three times in a row. See if you can find that syllable.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things.

If you said yeah, I would say that’s the second one I think. Yeah, but I don’t like do doing any of those things. So I think do, our verb is the most stressed. Doing any of those things. So, any and things both have a little bit of an up down shape. So does I, so does yeah, but the main one is our verb here doing.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things.

What do you think? Are you with me here? What sports do you love and which ones do you want to have nothing to do with? Let me know in the comments, I love reading them.

And everything links together quite smoothly here, we don’t have any jumps or skips in the melody. Let’s look at the linking, word by word.

Yeah, but—

Yeah but, yeah but. So, right from the ending sound of yeah, which I would write that in IPA, this is actually a challenge for me, I will say. I’ve never thought about this word before. How would I write it? Yeah. Three vowels in a row, I think I would write that.

Yeah–

And it links right into the B, as if the B ended the word.

Yeah,

Yeah, bu-

I’m Rachel and I’ve been teaching the American accent on YouTube for over 15 years. Go to Rachels english.com/free to get my free course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent.

Yeah, but—

But, but. So the word ‘but’, very fast and that is a stop T, but, but, but, but I almost don’t even feel a vowel in there, it’s almost like but, the B and then a stop of air with the tongue lifting into position. But, but, but, but. Yeah, but. Lots of contrast, there, between our long syllable and our short.

Yeah but,

I don’t like doing—

But I don’t like do, I don’t. We’ve already said that I has some of that up down shape of stress, it has some length, I don’t, I don’t. And that I diphthong goes right into the D, no break there, I don’t, I don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. There are a bunch of different ways that you might hear an apostrophe T pronounced. Don’t like, don’t like, this one, I’m hearing as a little stop, a little lift. Don’t like, don’t like, don’t like, and that signifies the T there. Don’t like. Let’s listen to “I don’t like” three different times on a loop, listen to how fast the word ‘don’t’ is. ‘I’ definitely has more length.

I don’t like—

Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. Very fast. Now, I said we were going to look at all of the linking in this sentence. So we have a K, that’s a stop consonant. It’s followed by D, a consonant, and I’m not releasing this K, like doing, like. You don’t hear that escape of air.

I don’t like doing it.

So, the K is made with the back of the tongue, touching the soft palate. Once that happens I go right into the D without the release. Like d, like d, like doing. Like, like, like.

So this also feels a little bit like a stop. It is a stop, it’s not like the stop T, it’s different. The tongue is in a different position but it’s a stop, like doing, like doing, like doing.

like doing—

any of those things.

So, we’ve had a couple stops here. The stop and but, the stop in don’t, the stop in like, and now we have none. For the rest of this sentence, it is so smooth. Doing any. So, the NG ending links right into the E vowel of E.

Then, the E vowel of any links right into the schwa of ‘of’. No break, so smooth.

like doing any of those things.

Doing any of those things. Doing any of those. I do think that I am making the V sound here for of but it’s subtle and it’s fast, and there’s no break, there’s no release before the voiced TH, those, those, those, those. I would write that with the O diphthong and a Z, but there’s not much time spent. Those, it’s not stressed, it’s those, those, those, those, those, those, those things, those things, those things, those things. The ending Z links right into the unvoiced TH, and because of that, I think you could probably think of this as an S to make that link easier, those things, those things, those things. Things, if you look it up an IPA, you’ll see the IH as in sit, the NG consonant, there’s going to be a Z, but the NG consonant does change this vowel, it’s a little bit more like E, thing. Sort of halfway between E and IH.

doing any of those things.

So smooth. Let’s just listen from doing to things several times, listen to that smoothness, listen to how fast the fast syllables are. I think if you were going to try to imitate this which I hope you will, you’re going to have to really think about simplifying your mouth position. For example, for this TH, this voiced TH, you do not need to bring your tongue tip through. Tt, tt, tt, tt. It can touch the backs of the teeth. Those, those, those, those, those. Almost no jaw, drop almost no lip rounding. So fast, a little bit mumbled, those, those, those, those things, those things.

those things.

I should say in this conversation, we’re talking about this vacation I go on every year to a family camp with my extended family, all of my aunts and uncles my cousins, their children. And, there’s a lot of athletic events happening, there are a lot of athletic events happening, but I don’t really like doing any of them anymore. So, I think I have I’ve been talking here with a friend about how you know, you go on vacation there’s all this food around, I’m hardly being physical and I just sort of feel blah, on vacation.

those things.

I don’t like water skiing anymore, I don’t like tennis, I don’t like volleyball,

So she’s just said but aren’t there so many sports. I’m listing all the sports that happen at this camp that I don’t want to do.

So we get to hear a lot of N apostrophe T contraction, let’s keep going. Let’s hear if it’s always made with a stop or if sometimes I drop it.

I don’t like water skiing anymore,

I don’t like water skiing anymore. Because I’m listing things, my intonation is going up. I don’t like water skiing. So it’s these dips down and up. Any more. Those are our stressed, usually it’s up and then down, but in a list we tend to go up at the end and so rather than being low with these peaks, I don’t like doing any of those things. I’m a little bit higher going down. I don’t like water skiing anymore, uh, uh.

I don’t like water skiing anymore,

I don’t like, I don’t like. I’m hearing that T dropped, aren’t you?

I don’t like. There’s no break there. the N right into the L.

I don’t like—

water skiing—

And then my pitch is sort of flat. I don’t like water skiing. It’s a little bit higher and a little bit flatter for water, water, water, and that is with a flap T.

Water, water, water. That is definitely higher than just normal conversational English. If someone showed me that word on a flash card and they said “Rachel, say this word.” I would say, water. I wouldn’t say water, water, but my pitch was higher here, I’m fired up, I’m listing all the things I don’t like. I don’t like water, water, water, water. So pay attention to the pitch as you’re imitating.

water skiing,

Water sers, linking right from that schwa R ending into the S, no break at all, no skip, so smooth. Skiing. So this is a little bit tricky, we have S-K and then the E vowel, the -ing ending is IH as in sit NG, but I just said up here that the NG consonant changes the I vowel a little bit. Well that’s what we have here. And it does, it makes it a little bit more like E which is the vowel we are already saying. So there’s a little bit of a re-emphasis here, skiing, skiing, ying. It’s almost like you put a little Y sound in between skiing, only not that strong. Skiing, skiing, skiing. It’s different than skiing which would just have a feeling of one syllable, no re-emphasis but here we do have a bit of a re-emphasis, skiing, skiing, skiing.

Skiing —

skiing anymore,

Skiing anymore. Very smooth, NG consonant right into the E of any. My friend is clapping here and laughing because I’m kind of complaining about all the things I don’t want to do.

Skiing anymore,

I don’t like tennis.

I go right from the R of anymore into the I diphthong so I don’t really put a break here even though there’s a period. I blow right through that and connect my words.

Anymore, I don’t like tennis.

I don’t, I don’t. So don’t is stressed and it’s got a down up scoop, I don’t like tennis. So don’t and ten are my stressed syllables here. Let’s look at our N apostrophe T ending.

I don’t like tennis.

Don’t like, don’t like, don’t like. I feel a little bit of a lift there, so I don’t like water skiing, don’t like, don’t like. Or I don’t like tennis, I don’t, little teeny lift there. That is the stop, that is the break of the stop T. I don’t like tennis. The T in tennis, tennis is a light little true T, little escape of air.

I don’t like tennis.

I don’t like volleyball.

I don’t like volleyball, I don’t. Again, stressing don’t, with a scoop up. I don’t like. What about our N apostrophe T here?

I don’t like—

I don’t like, I don’t like. Super, super subtle little lift. I don’t like, don’t like.

I don’t like,

I don’t like volleyball.

Don’t like volleyball. Stress on the first syllable there, scooping up, I’m still listing in things I don’t like. Now ,I want to talk about the K in like here, don’t like, don’t like volleyball. In both of these cases it’s a quick little stop without k, that escape of air, just going right into the next consonant. Volleyball.

Volleyball.

Volleyball. I really want you to think about in this dark L not lifting your tongue tip. Vol, so this is a dark L but it also comes before vowel. I found that the dark L we do lift our tongue tip after making the dark sound, vol-uhl, uhl, uhl, ley, but then I lift my tongue tip before the E vowel to make a new syllable. Volleyball. After the word ‘ball’ there is no next sound. It’s the end of my thought group, don’t lift your tongue to for that. Volleyball.

I don’t golf.

Okay, I’ve got one more thing I don’t do. I don’t golf. Let’s look at that N apostrophe T ending.

I don’t golf.

I don’t golf. I also would put this is a subtle N apostrophe T ending. I don’t, with a stop t, I don’t golf. Golf this is a tricky word, if you look it up an IPA, you’ll see the AH vowel like law. The L does make it a little bit more dark, a little bit more closed. Go-o-o, la, ah, a little more open but with the l, gol, ol, ol, a little more closed. Golf.

Now this is another dark L. An L is a dark L if it comes after the vowel or diphthong in a syllable, and it comes after the vowel, and it’s not followed by a vowel so don’t lift your tongue tip.

Golf.

You make that dark sound with the back of your tongue and then you go into the F. Golf.

I don’t golf.

How about running?

Okay, so my friend’s really going to help me think of something that I like to do that’s physical. How about, how about. So, she goes scoop down, scoop down and then up. How about ru-, then a little scoop down but that’s just so she can go back up. How about running? And it goes down.

How about running?

When we have a question, our question word is usually going to be stressed, and that is true here. How, that pitch change, that’s how we know stressed. The change in direction. How about

Running? So, two stress syllables there. How and run, and that verb has the UH as in butter vowel. Ru-.

How about running?

How about. So she’s dropping the schwa here. How about, right from the a diphthong into the B. So that is one way that you will hear this word reduced and that’s by dropping the first syllable. And it’s so common with how. How about becomes how about, how about, how about, how about. And this is a stop T, no true T release. How about, how about, how about running?

How about running?

I like to run.

Oh good, she found something. I like to run. So I have two stress syllables there. I like to run. Again that has the UH vowel on it, let’s look at our K here. What happens? Does it release? I like to run.

I like to run.

I like to. I like to. No, we do not release the K. I like to. So, my tongue goes up into position for the K. That cuts off the sound, but then rather than releasing the air, I release it into the true T here. Like to, like to. And this is a pretty common phrase. I like to I like to run, I like to bake, I like to do this and that, and that’s always almost always going to be pronounced like to, like to. So, I hope you notice, I’m putting a schwa there, like to, I like to, I like to, I like to, I like to, I like to.

I like to—

I like to run.

And then what do I like to do? The verb run. I like to run. Smoothly linked together. Run, the end of my sentence coming down in pitch, coming down in energy and volume.

I like to run.

Okay.

Fast but with an up down shape of stress. Okay.

Okay.

So that’s,

So that’s. Not quite sure what I’m going to say, so I put a break there, but the word so does link into that, so that’s and that’s is stressed. So that’s, so that’s.

The O diphthong, the word ‘so’ is a filler word. We use it a lot when it doesn’t necessarily have meaning, and when we do that, rather than ‘so’, rather than the O diphthong, it becomes a little bit of schwa. So that’s, so, so, so that’s. If I was going to use the word ‘so’ in a stressed setting like ‘I like that so much.’ then I would absolutely do the full diphthong. But as a filler word, as a throw way word, it’s often so with the schwa. So that’s, so that’s.

So that’s,

That’s, with the voiced TH, A as in bat vowel and an ending TS cluster. So that’s.

So that’s,

I still have to like—

I still have to like. So we’ve got one major peak there. I still have to like, and it’s have, the voice is peeking up there, I still have to like. Have to, this is interesting. The word ‘have’ ends in V, but when it’s followed by ‘to’ which it often is, these two words go together pretty frequently. This changes to an F, so it becomes have to, have to. So, I would write that with the H consonant, the A vowel and then the F which links right into the T.

Have to–

I still have to.

I still have to like—

I still have to like. Like, like. Okay, I talked about how so is a filler word. So is like, this word doesn’t have meaning here. Sometimes ‘like’ does have meaning. We use it for a lot of different things but here it is a filler word it has no meaning. I still have to put in the effort is the meaning of the sentence. ‘Like’ adds nothing, doesn’t add anything grammatically and I say it very fast. I don’t say like. I say like, like, like.

Like—

Like, like, I don’t releasee the K. Like, like, it’s just cutting off the I vowel with that K tongue position. Like, like, like, like, like.

Like-

put in the effort.

Put in. So, put in a phrasal verb and the stress is on in. Put in the effort to get, to get exercise, ah. So, we have three stressed syllables here. In, effort, exercise. Everything else, less important, either going up or coming down in pitch but doesn’t have a pitch change and linking together beautifully. Let’s look at this: Put in. Put in. Those two words are linked with a flap T. The vowel in put, is the vowel in push, is the vowel in cook, is the vowel in sugar, uh, put in.

put in the effort—

Put in, put in, put in, put in the effort. Okay, the, that word is being pronounced with an E vowel not the schwa, the, the effort, the effort. The for the reason why that is, is because the next word begins with a vowel and the rule is if the next word begins with a vowel then this is e, the, the effects, the effort. If it begins with a consonant, then it’s a schwa, the best. However, I have noticed Americans are not the best at following this pronunciation rule, we don’t think about it. Here I happen to be doing it. The e, the e, the effort.

put in the effort—

to get exercise.

The effort to get, effort. Okay, so this ends in schwa RT. Effort to. And then look, the next word to begins with a T. So you can think of those as just linking with one T, effort to, effort to, effort to. And just that real quick schwa at the end, effort to, effort to, effort to, is going to be the whole word to.

Effort to—

Effort to get exercise.

To get e-, two e vowels, get and exercise and there’s a flap T in between linking them. Get e, get e, get e, get exercise.

to get exercise.

Let’s just write out all of that IPA. We have E as in bed, KS for the Ex. Exer then schwa R don’t really need to make a vowel there. Exercise. S, I diphthong and in IPA, we would write it with the Z but it’s a very weak Z. Weak, weak, weak. You can think of it almost as being a super weak S but do not make it a strong S. Exercise. And the voice is just coming down because it’s the first syllable that’s stressed. Everything else comes down in pitch, comes down in energy, comes down in volume. Shaping your phrases like this will sound so, so natural. Exercise.

to get exercise.

Let’s listen to the whole conversation one more time.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things. I don’t like water skiing anymore. I don’t like tennis. I don’t like volleyball. I don’t golf.

How about running?

I like to run.

Okay.

So that’s, I still have to like put in the effort to get exercise.

In this training section, you’ll hear each sentence fragment twice in slow motion then three times at regular pace. Each time, there will be a pause for you to speak out loud. Imitate exactly what you hear. Do this training twice a day every day this week and see how the conversation flows at the end of the week.

Yeah, but I don’t like doing any of those things.

I don’t like water skiing anymore.

I don’t like tennis.

I don’t like volleyball.

I don’t golf.

How about running?

I like to run.

Okay.

So that’s,

I still have to like

put in the effort to get exercise.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this video. I absolutely love teaching about the stress and music of spoken American English. Keep your learning going now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on. I absolutely love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.