节目介绍：本节目从2013年开始出品，每周四期左右的内容，由来自美国纽约和波士顿的两位美女小姐姐进行教学。节目的形式更像是聊天，导入知识讲解，轻松愉快的把知识传授给听众，到目前为止（2020年初），已经出到差不多1300集的内容了。学习的内容涵盖英语发音、美国文化、单词和口语以及英语沟通技巧等方方面面，是一档不可多得的良心节目！！

AEE Episode 1233: How to Hang On When Natives Speak Fast

Announcer: This is an All Ears English podcast Episode 1233: "How to Hang On When Natives Speak Fast"

Announcer: Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 123 million times. We believe in Connection NOT Perfection ™, with your American hosts Lindsay McMahon, the 'English Adventurer', and Michelle Kaplan, the 'New York Radio Girl,' coming to you from Boston and New York City, U.S.A.

Announcer: And to get weekly transcripts delivered to your email inbox, go to AllEarsEnglish.com/subscribe.

Announcer: Why is it so hard to understand native speech when natives speak quickly? In this two-part series we break it down for you and show you the exact reason and how you can strategically build skills to understand better.

Lindsay: Hey (hi) Jessica, what's shaking?

Jessica: I haven't heard you say that in a while.

Lindsay: Ohh, well, it's still in my vocabulary. Don't worry, it hasn't gone away.

Jessica: It's an oldie but a goodie. I love that phrase "an oldie but a goodie." I use that often for, like, songs.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I love that. What would be an example of an oldie but a goodie in terms of songs?

Jessica: Well, to my mind, classic rock is still, like, stuff from the 60s and 70s. But I realize now that stuff from the 80s and 90s is now considered classic, which is depressing.

Lindsay: That's bad.

Jessica: So, if I hear, like, a Perl Jam song from, like, 1994 with James, and I'm, like, "Ohh, it's an oldie, but a goodie."

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), but I don't know. There's so much good music. I mean, Pearl Jam was great. But I don't know if the 90s was the best decade for music. You know, the 80s was great, but I don't know if the 90s...

Jessica: Really?

Lindsay: I don't know.

Jessica: I disagree. I have a different viewpoint here, Lindsay.

Lindsay: I don't know.

Jessica: I absolutely love, like, all of my music from the 90s. Like, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and, like, Sublime and stuff. I still listen to that stuff.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), but I feel like the 90s is known for grunge.

Jessica: Totally.

Lindsay: Whole, like, grunge thing. Right? I mean, maybe that's it. I mean, everyone has their own opinion on music, and that is okay, and we can speak freely about it.

Jessica: For sure.

Lindsay: It's okay.

Jessica: And I respect your opinion.

Lindsay: I love that. I love that. So, today, Jessica, we are getting into a really, really important topic for our listeners. I'm super excited to tackle this today. Because I feel like we get this question in different ways all the time.

Jessica: Ohh, for sure, for sure. Yes, guys, ohh my gosh, I love talking about today's topic. We are going to geek out on some linguistics today, for sure. So, we're talking about pronunciation and why, like, exactly why, guys, like, scientifically, why it is difficult to understand native speakers.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), exactly, because a lot of times, you know, when you ask a native speaker, or even a teacher, what can you do to really understand natives in their natural way, they'll just tell you practice, practice, practice. But there's other things we can do before practicing so we can really understand exactly what natives are doing to make it hard.

Jessica: No, for sure. This is, like, being able to teach this stuff. We can only really do with adults, the wonderfully intelligent adults that listen to our show. Because, like, learning as an adult, we come at it with such analytical mind. Right? And, as teachers to adults, I feel like we have to respect that intelligence by really describing, like, the rules and the how's and the why's. So you can be able to analyze the language and be, like, "Ohh, that's why." And then you'll be able to recognize it and understand.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I love that. I mean, I think the key, right, for adults, knowing that you guys have this analytical mind, is understanding when to use your analytical mind and then when to leave it at this, put it on the side and go into that immersion. Right? So, it's, like, how do we find that balance? Because we've talked before about how kids learn languages, which is not that way. Right? They just go in, and they act like sponges, and they just sop it up. As adults, we can't do that, but we have other things we can do. But we just need to know when to use the different skills.

Jessica: Totally. And, like, on that note, guys, so, we're talking about features of connected speech today. So, like, these pronunciation rules that make it difficult to understand us. And I would say, to reach that balance, that   Connection NOT Perfection, I would say these rules are very important to be able to understand us. Like, I think I view these as listening skills, guys. Because, to be completely honest, I wouldn't put your perfectionist tendencies into, like, trying to use these yourself in pronunciation. Because a native speaker is still going to understand you if you're not using these rules. I don't think, like, that's the Connection NOT Perfection ™ thing. Right? Like, I don't think you guys have to try and use that, but this is very important just to understand when you're in a conversation.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I love that. And guys, at the end we have the perfect resource, which is going to take you to that next level, to practice everything that you're learning today. But we'll mention that when we get to the end. But Jessica, let me open this up just by reading this student's question just so our listeners can put themselves in this listener's place. So, this was an app review. Remember, guys, if you're not using the app, you should be. Because you can create your personal power vocabulary list over there. So, go to AllEarsEnglish.com/bonuses. But this is from, actually, Andrew and Joyce. So, looks like two people wrote this question together.

Jessica: I love it.

Lindsay: So, here's the question. "I have a question, when I learn English, about linking sounds. I've learned English for more than twenty years." A long time.

Jessica: That's a long time.

Lindsay: I know. "I can understand what native speakers are talking about if they speak slowly, not very fast. However, when I watch TV in English, they usually speak very fast and many words are linked together. For me, I will understand it as a new word and then totally cannot follow their conversation. I feel so upset because I just can't grab some keywords to guess their meanings. It's painful. Can you teach us how to solve this problem? Thank you, Andrew and Joyce."

Jessica: Ohh my gosh, this is so cool. Okay, how he's talking about the words are linked together, we do this in different ways. There are four different ways we link our words together. And so, today, we're going to talk about two of these ways. And we'll talk about the other two ways next time. Because it is a lot of information, guys, and we want you to really understand each   rule, because they are very different. And yeah (yes), that's exactly right. Like, everything we say blends together when we're talking. But how it's blended together, there's actually reasons behind that, guys. Like, there are four ways they are blended together.

Lindsay: Yes, I love it, this is great. I feel like this would be really hard to find anywhere else, this exact information. So, let's dive into it, Jessica. So, what is the first one? What are we going to call this thing? I mean, what exactly are natives doing when it's, you know, it seems like they're linking everything together. What is that called?

Jessica: So, it's called connected speech. Like, it's very literal, and that is the linguistic term for it. So, these rules we're talking about are features of connected speech, that's what they're called. So, the first one, which I really like, it's called "assimilation." Like, it sounds so fancy. All that means, guys, is change, that's it. So, sometimes we change the sound of a word into something else, and this is probably the one that causes the most confusion, I would say. Because, like, you know how to spell it, you know how to say it and pronounce it. But then you hear it, and it's not the same, it's totally different. The motivation for this and the other rules is because we're lazy as native speakers, and anybody is in their first language. So, the reason this first one, assimilation, the reason why we change certain sounds is because if you have two sounds next to each other, okay, we'll take, for example, the phrase "ten boys." So, you have an N at the end of the first word, and a B at the beginning of first... Ohh gosh.

Lindsay: No you're right, the second word.

Jessica: Second word, ohh my gosh. So, the N and the B, those are pronounced very far apart in your mouth, and we don't have time for that. We don't have the time to be, like, "teN Boys." So, instead, we change the N to an M, so it becomes "teM Boys."

Lindsay: That is so crazy. Right? And the reason we do that is because it's just more accessible in terms of placement of the tongue, right, in our mouths. It just makes, it's an easier jump to go from M to B than it is to go from N to B. Wow.

Jessica: Exactly, because the M and the B, they're both with the mouth, right? So, that's super easy. So, it's just to make us be able to speak more easily, but   then it's harder to understand. So, the other example of these two sounds, the N and the B, which I really like...

Lindsay: Yeah (yes).

Jessica: So, slowly we would say "handbag," but ohh my gosh, there are so many consonants happening there, and it's difficult. So, it becomes "ham-bag."

Lindsay: Which is so weird, because we don't have bags of ham, we have bags that we hold in our hand. But that's just what we do, guys. That's how we do it. And another example, when we would say the phrase "How ya' doing?" right, think "How ya' doing?" We would say "Ha ya doin?" So, we don't close our mouth completely with that "how." Right?

Jessica: The "you," I think, is the biggest change, the biggest assimilation there. Because I think the W and the "ya," it's, like, "howya," "how ya," but it becomes linked together, for sure. Then, instead of saying to "you," because you, the U sound, your whole mouth has to change, your lips have to really pucker. So, instead of the U, we're just, like, A.

Lindsay: "How ya," yeah (yes), but do you say "Howya doin?" or "Ha ya doin?" Do you hear the difference, you know what I mean? So, "how ya doing" or "ha ya doin", kind of like "ah", you stay open at the end instead of closing up to the "how." That's the way I say it.

Jessica: That's true, that's true. So, this actually shows the second rule we're going to teach as well, elision. This phrase shows both really well. So, assimilation is when something changes. It's still there, but it's different, and the second , elision, is when that sound completely disappears. So, in "How you doing?" so much is happening there. So, the W disappears, and we're just, like, "howya."

Lindsay: "Howya doin?", yeah (yes). So, we'll get into elision a little bit further into the episode, right, Jessica. But let's give him a few more examples of the assimilation.

Jessica: So, one of my favorite assimilation examples involves this sound called the glottal stop. I love being able to use linguistic terms again, this is so fun. So, the glottal stop is most noticeable in British English, actually. Right? Like, Americans don't have it as much. So, instead of saying "bottle," the T for an American becomes a D. So, it changes, right? "Bottle," so, it changes   to a D. But then for some British accents it becomes a glottal stop, which is like "boʔle."

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), and I hate the way this... The word "glottal," I hate it. I hate the way that sounds on my tongue, just saying it, to be honest.

Jessica: It does sound gross. I totally agree.

Lindsay: It's disgusting.

Jessica: I completely agree, that's so funny. That's really weird how that word can have such, like, gross connotations, like, just the sound.

Lindsay: It's weird. It's weird. Another one that students ask me about a lot is when we have the T and the A and the N or a vowel, the T and a vowel and an N at the end of the word.

Jessica: Yeah (yes), totally.

Lindsay: For example, right, so, words like "Manhattan" or "button." Those words are hard to understand and hard to hear.

Jessica: Yes, it becomes like a nasal sound. Right? So, we don't say like "Man-ha- ttan", it's like "Man-ha-ʔn."

Lindsay: Yeah (yes). And even that one is what is pretty uniquely American. Like, I don't hear... I don't know, do you hear British people pronounce that differently?

Jessica: Some British accents. Some British accents it's the same. Like, it becomes that, and more of a nasal sound, and then the other British accents are just making it more of a glottal stop. So, we all change it. Like, regardless of your accent, we all change that T vowel N sound, it just depends on how it's changed.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), and I guess that's the one thing that you guys can count on, is that, you know, what you see in your textbook is not the way, or what you see in your sample pronunciation practice, that's perfect English, right? It's never going to be what you hear out in the wild, in the real world.

Jessica: Out in the wild.

Lindsay: Out in the wild, I love that expression.

Jessica: Us wild speakers, because we like to change it up. Pow-pow.

Lindsay: So, that's why we created this resource that we're going to tell you guys about at the end of the episode today. That's why we created it, one- hundred percent based on native, natural, spontaneous English. Because these native speakers do not have time to rehearse and say it correctly, they only have time to speak. Yeah (yes).

Jessica: Exactly, for sure, for sure. We are really helping you guys in real ways. It's not just, like, little lessons in a textbook and a CD, or whatever. So, the second rule, guys, we've mentioned this, the elision. So, this is when sounds completely disappear. They're not replaced by anything, they're just gone. So, this can happen in the middle of just, like, one word, not even between two words like we normally think of linking. So, the word "sandwich," we don't say all those sounds, that's too many consonants. So, that D just totally disappears, and we just say "sanwich."

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I love that, I love that. "Sanwich," right? "Sanwich." I say that too, that's so good. And what about when we have an "and" in between two words, like "fish and chips"? Right? Instead of saying "fish and chips,", we say "fish 'n chips". I mean, even some restaurants probably, right, there's the N, right, "fish 'n chips."

Jessica: I was going to say, like, that's become something we write because it's so common. Like, nobody ever says the whole "and" between words when we're speaking, it always becomes "n," just this little... Again, it's that nasal, like, "n" sound that pops up. Yeah , totally. And I think people, even when they're texting, instead of just spelling out "and," some people just write the letter N. I've seen that before.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), that makes sense, that makes sense. I love that. Can you think of any other examples of the second rule of elision, of what we do?

Jessica: Well, if we go back to that how you do it, right, so, at the end, we don't say "doing." And this is, like, it's so common. We just think of it as slang, like, it is a word, "doin," but it's actually an example of elision. Because that G completely disappears.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), I love that, I love that. I feel like our listeners, guys, this is probably one of the easier ones to recognize. But you should be looking for it. I mean, you really should be looking for "How ya doin?" instead of... We just don't have time to say "doing."

Jessica: We have so much to do, you know. We're just so busy. We can't say all the sounds. So, guys, like, how can you practice this? So, here's a great idea, guys. With transcripts of real people talking, and add to that actual lessons about these people talking. So, in the Connected Communicator, guys, we actually outline some of these rules. We teach you these words, and then you hear them and find them and listen for them in interviews with real native speakers. And every interview has a transcript. So, guys, this is how you can take it one step further. This is the first step. You have the knowledge, great. Now what do you do with it? You have to, like, use it and cement it somehow. So, the best thing to do is, as you're listening to these native speakers in our course, read the transcript at the same time, and actually circle when you hear this. Right? So, let's say I want to focus on assimilation today. So, I'm going to look and listen for examples of this and highlight it. And if you do want to try and sound like that, why not? If you want to really, like, sound native, right, you can only try and get this. And then you would read that transcript out loud, focusing on these pronunciation rules.

Lindsay: Yes, I love that, I love that. And not to mention that the course takes you on a journey of 12,400 miles, guys, around the United States. So, you really can't find anything like this anywhere else. It's a super unique experience, and we also go into deeper topics. You know, if you're not only worried about your listening skills, but also your vocabulary, we show you how to talk about more interesting topics. You're not just going to be talking about the weather or ordering in a restaurant. It's time to go way beyond that. You guys can do much better than that.

Jessica: Exactly. I was just talking to one of our Connected Communicators students this morning. And she lives in America, and she has studied here. She's been here for, like, five years, and she was saying how amazing this course is for her. Because now she feels like she can dive into these deeper topics. Like, this stuff, like, gun control, and, you know, like, all of the stuff we talk about, immigration, racism. Like, now she feels like she has the ideas, the material, the confidence to have those conversations.

Lindsay: Yes. I love that, I love that. That is what this course can do for you, guys. So, guys, tune in for next week, for the next lesson on these connected speech patterns. But go and check out this course. Go to AllEarsEnglish.com/connection, and get yourself in there to really get started on building these skills, truly building them, not just dipping into the information with a quick podcast, but really getting these skills. Yeah (yes).

Jessica: So amazing. Guys, like, Lindsay and I could not be prouder of this course.

Lindsay: Yeah (yes), yeah (yes). It's awesome; it's our masterpiece, for sure.

Jessica: Totally.

Lindsay: Alright, guys. Alright, Jessica. Thanks for hanging out today, and I'll see you back on the show next week.

Jessica: Alright. Sounds good. Bye, Lindsay.

Lindsay: Alright. Take care. Bye.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to All Ears English. If you are taking IELTS this year, get your estimated band score with our two-minute quiz. Go to AllEarsEnglish.com/MyScore. And if you believe in Connection NOT Perfection ™, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.