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Meet My Parents!

By: Rachel's English

Learn a little bit about me by meeting my parents. After all, they are the people who taught me English.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpXhHP85hVU

Video Transcript:

In this American English pronunciation video , you’re going to meet my parents. Now, I’ve been spending a lot of time teaching you English, and I thought it would be fun to show you who taught me English. These are my parents Rita and Stan. Rita.
 
Notice we have a Flap T there, because the T is coming between two vowel sounds. -ta, -ta, Rita. Stan. Now here we have the AA as in BAT vowel followed by the N consonant. When this vowel is followed by the N or the M consonant, we get an extra sound. Aa-uu, uu, an uh-like sound before the nasal consonant. Stan, Stan, Stan. These are my parents Rita and Stan.
 
>> Hello.
>> So guys, do you remember what my first word was?
>> I remember your brother’s first word.
>> Ok. So, I’m the youngest of two. Clearly I’m not a memorable child because the first one is the more interesting one.
>> His first word was ‘hi’.
>> Hi.
>> And, I don’t remember Rachel’s first word, but once she started speaking, she never stopped.
>> That’s true.
>> So you don’t remember my first word either?
>> It was probably ‘mama’.
>> But you don’t actually know.
>> I don’t actually know.
>> Ok.
 
The pronunciation of this word is four syllables, and with the CH consonant sound. Actually. But I notice both my Mom and I here pronounced it actually. We’re reducing the word by substituting the CH with a SH sound, that has no stop; we’re making it a little bit smoother. And we’re dropping the schwa syllable altogether. Actually. Actually.
 
>> But you don’t actually know.
>> I don’t actually know.
>> Ok.
>> They’re trying to think of something cute that I might have said to tell you guys. But my Mom said:
>> I can think of something cute your brother said.
>> Yeah. See? It’s terrible.
>> Well, I remember doing lots of things with you.
>> Right. No, it’s fine.
>> I remember riding you to school on the handlebars of my bike.
>> Yeah. That hurt. I always wished that he would buy an actual seat to put on the bike.
>> One thing I remember is sending off a card three days before she left for summer camp so she would receive a card on the first day of summer camp.
>> Yeah. That was nice. I used to go away for two weeks, and Mom was very good about sending cards and also treats.
>> Well, thanks Mom and Dad so much for being willing to meet my Rachel’s English audience. One last thing I want to say about them is tomorrow is their 45th wedding anniversary. So, happy anniversary, guys!
>> Thank you!
 
>> Are you ok?
>> Yeah.
>> This is my favorite uncle John. This is my dad’s older brother. Isn’t he cute? John, this is Rachel’s English.
>> Hi Rachel’s English. How are you? Rachel comes from a very talkative family.
>> Yeah. We, we all talk a lot.
>> Yeah.
>> It makes sense that I’m doing what I’m doing.
>> Right. I’m the quietest one I think.
>> Yeah, probably. And he’s not that quiet.

Video:

Tagged in: AA + Nasals, Flap T, Real Life English

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