sound more like a native. Now, I know many of you don't have much time to study.. so

these are the 7 secrets of sounding more native, almost instantly. I know that

like me you are very busy and don't have that much time to study hours on end so

these are some very basic and some more advanced tips to help you improve your

fluency, to help you sound more native and to help you understand us when we

talk. Now, some of these you can take on board instantly and hopefully some you

are already using. Shall we begin? Don't forget we are on social media, you

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videos. We'd love to see you there.

Okay starting with number one. Hopefully a very simple thing for you to

do and I'm really hoping you already do it. Contractions, when we speak in a

informal conversational context we always use contractions, I'VE been to the shops.

she'S been out I'M doing my homework I'LL see you later.

Whether you're contracting the auxilary verb with the pronoun or even in past

modal's or third conditional. You need to use contractions they make the flow of

speech much easier, much smoother and it's how we speak guys1 We really do use

contractions so regularly. So, if you aren't sure try writing some sentences

down adding the contractions that where needed.(and saying them) They can also be with 'not' of

course, I wasn't she wasn't we weren't. So, let's do a little bit of practice just

to make sure you're using them. I haven't been out today I haven't been out today

I'm going to see you tomorrow I'm going to see you tomorrow I'll call her later

I'll call her later I haven't been working hard I haven't been working hard

can you see all those different tenses and how they all need to use

contractions now similar to contractions we have reductions again squeezing those

words together to improve the flow of speech to stop us slowing down and

saying every single word so some examples are reductions gonna wanna

gotta hafta dunno if you want to learn how to use reductions better that wait

till the end of this lesson for another that I recently did all about reductions

so quick practice I'm gonna go to the shops I'm going to go to the shops I

want to have some cake I want to have some cake I've gotta do my homework I've

gotta do my homework I have to do my homework I have to do my homework

there we go so so far contractions reductions I'm sure you use some of

these already okay and number three now I think this sounds easy but it can be

quite tricky depending what is your first language this might be something

that you're not so familiar with intonation so what is intonation

intonation is the pattern of sound in our voice when we speak it gives a real

idea of how you're feeling and it also means you're not too boring so this is

what it would be like if I spoke without intonation hello and welcome to love

English today I'm going to teach you a very exciting lesson all about how to

sound like a native yes that's right it's very exciting

Wow how boring would I be as a teacher it's so important that our intonation is

really engaging and clear because I don't want my students to fall asleep

so remember intonation with things like questions how are you today how are you

today what did you do last night what did you do last night are you tired

are you tired remember intonation it can be used with

even just one single word for example if you give me a present and I want to say

thank you sometimes the intonation doesn't hide how you really feel let's

imagine you've given me chocolate as a present

thank you thank you what about a pair of socks thank you a diamond ring thank you

information can express happiness sadness confusion so many different

things now if you're not sure how to improve your intonation instantly

sometimes your posture and your facial expressions will help you if you're

happy and you're smiling your information is automatically going to be

higher and happier if you're sad or stressed your intonation is

automatically going to come down a bit lower

and we'll show how worried you could be but facial expressions and body language

will help you express this if you're not sure okay number four this involves

knowing something about the schwa sound the schwa is the most common sound in

the English language we use it all the time even my name contains a schwa lela

lela the schwa is a weak sound very weak very lazy and that's why we often use it

with auxiliary verbs or even prepositions

for example the preposition two is often pronounced tup tup but we particularly

use it with auxiliary verbs for example have have there is the strong sound have

but when we use it in a sentence have you done your homework have you done

your homework it can be much weaker not just because of the contraction but

because we don't often pronounce auxiliary verbs in a strong way half

becomes hearth has becomes hers hers she has done her homework she has done her

homework was I was I was driving I was driving I was driving she was driving

it's not was but worse then of course we've got the verb being which actually

it's not to do with a schwa but it's still a week for beam that becomes bin

bin have you been in this case it's actually a main a verb but it still

becomes weak have you been to the shops have you been to the shops so make sure

that you learn which verbs are used in the weak forms okay number five a

fantastic and really easy way to help you sound more native sentence stress in

English when we're trying to emphasize something when we're trying to say how

important something is we stress the word or words in the sentence let's take

a really simple sentence I love using this as an example

I love chocolate I love chocolate now ordinarily you could say I love

chocolate you don't have to really stress any of the works but if I say

I love chocolate I love chocolate I mean me not you I love it more than you if I

say I love chocolate I love chocolate then I don't mean that I just like it

that it's okay but I enjoy it I mean I really love chocolate I like to eat it

all the time that's probably the word that I would stress in this sentence if

I say I love chocolate I love chocolate that it means it's chocolate I don't

want fruit I don't want vegetables I don't want

pasta or pizza I want chocolate I love chocolate so can you see how important

sentence stress can be and how simple it is to use I'm using it with you all the

time number six we are looking at intrusive sounds now in English in order

to connect words together when we speak we often add a sound particularly

between vowels this helps the flow of speech it helps you sound much more

fluent and it's quite bizarre when you break it down and listen very carefully

but you may find that you already do this a little bit the main intrusive

sounds we have in English are our yeah and what so let me give you some

examples go out the back way go out the back way go out go out so there between

the two vowel sounds we've added a whoop whoop go out go out you can't hear it

and it doesn't sound so strange when you speak fast but when we slow it down go

well it does sound a little bit strange you are you are you are 21 you are 21

you are again we wouldn't usually say you are or go out it doesn't sound very

natural and it certainly slows down the flow of speech so there's an example of

the intrusive W then we have the intrusive are for example my other

umbrella my other umbrella my other rum Brella we're actually saying rum Brella

or car engine car and we're connecting the sounds together

with an R a very good example would be Law & Order Law & Order

we don't actually say and order law and order we say law and order so there's

the intrusive are finally the intrusive yeah yeah so an example I always go out

I always go out I am slowing down a little bit here to really emphasize the

intrusive sound but when I speak naturally I always go out I always go

out I always ie always so there we have an i and a vow following it I ate the

last chocolate I ate the last chocolate slowing it down I ate the last chocolate

and intrusive yep there okay guys so the last tip it's kind of two in one it's

called Alishan and assimilation elision and assimilation what this means is that

we can have a sound that disappears or almost takes on another sound sounds a

bit complicated yes again I did say it was more advanced so if we look at the

word can't can't now that's British pronunciation in

American it's can't can't the our and the sound so in American

English the can can't the a remains the same in British English can can't can

can't it changes so let's listen carefully to this sentence I can't do

that I can't do that I can't do that I can't do that

did I pronounce that he knew I didn't very often when the tea goes between two

consonant sounds can't con with that sound and do very often in this case we

would have a disappearing tea so I can't do that

I can't do that so a disappearing tea this is not just for Kant but it could

be must I must do that I must do that in this case we'd probably just extend the

s I must do that I must do that the he I must do that becomes much weaker or

disappears completely so that is a lesion a disappearing T let me have a

simulation don't worry too much about the technical words so when we have a T

followed by a P the T often is assimilated so it becomes a piece ound

for example white paper when we speak clearly

slowly white paper but when we have a T followed by a P white paper white paper

white paper it disappears again this is about flow it means that we can speed up

when we talk otherwise we are saying every word exactly like this a note

English person really speaks like this now another example the only one I was

thinking of at the moment was fat pig okay so he was you don't call anybody a

fat pig is it let's imagine we've got a real fat pig yeah so fat pig fat pig

what I'm actually saying is fat fat fat pig I don't say fat pig so when we have

a tea followed by a pea the tea often is assimilated so it becomes a piece ound

fat pig fat pig there we go okay so let's just run through those

seven secrets to sounding like a native very quickly

contractions use them I've been you've been she's been got it reductions gonna

wanna shoulda coulda have to got up then I'm using your intonation to sound more

natural how are you today what have you done

remembering that there are weak forms of verbs I was working I was working have

you been out have you been out sentence stress I love learning English I love

learning English I love learning English I love learning English intrusive sounds

yes you are yes you are yes you are my other umbrella my other umbrella car

engine car engine intrusive sounds disappearing sounds I can't do that I

can't do that assimilation of tea what a fat cake

those were my seven secrets to sounding ornate

if now instantly have a go and see if you can improve your fluency and sound

like a real native speaker they forget to subscribe and share this lesson if

you thought it was useful thank you for watching