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Connected Speech

What is connected speech?

Simply put, connected speech is when a speaker puts words or sounds together in a sentence such as “gonna” (going to) or “wanna” (want to). Usually, this is not understood at all by the English learner!!

Have you ever heard something like “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?” What does this mean??
When the native English speaker says things like this ^, it is usually just to make their speech easier and more efficient. In fact, the main goal of a native speaker is usually not to be correct, but to be efficient. So, when you are trying to speak perfectly, remember that even native speakers don’t always sound perfect! Elemental English discusses this topic here. 

So, let me explain the sentence “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?”

Correctly written, it is “I am going to the store, do you want to come?”

“Going to” changes to “gonna,” “to the” changes to “ta tha,” “you” changes to “ya,” and “want to” changes to wanna.” Of course, this is not correct English and should never be in writing… However, if you want to better understand native speakers, I would recommend practicing listening for these connected words.

Below is a great example of connected speech in a scene from the classic movie “Remember the Titans.” Watch the video and see if you can understand what they’re saying. If it is difficult, try reading the text below and notice the connected speech. Does it make sense this time? Great!

Bertier: Aight man. Listen, I’m Gerry, you’re Julius. Let’s just get some particulars and get this over with, alright?

Big Ju: Particulars? Man, no matter what I tell you, you ain’t never gonna know nothin about me.

Bertier: Hey- Listen, I ain’t running any more of these three-a- days, okay?

Big Ju: Well, what I’ve got to say, you really don’t wanna hear ‘cuz honesty ain’t too high upon your people’s priorities list, right?

Bertier: Honesty? You want honesty? Alright, honestly, I think you’re nothing. Nothing but a pure waste of God-given talent. You don’t listen to nobody, man! Not even Doc or Boone! Shiver push on the line everytime and you blow right past ‘em! Push ‘em, pull ‘em, do something! You run over everybody in this league, and everytime you do you leave one of your teammates hanging out to dry, me in particular!

Big Ju: Why should I give a hoot about you, huh? Or anybody else out there? You wanna talk about the ways you’re the captain?

Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: Captains supposed to be the leader, right? Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: You got a job?

Bertier: I have a job.

Big Ju: You been doing your job?

Bertier: I’ve been doing my job.

Big Ju: Then why don’t you tell your white buddies to block for Rev better? ‘Cause they have not blocked for him worth a blood nickel, and you know it! Nobody plays. Yourself included. I’m supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? No, no, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna look out for myself and I’m gonn get mine.

Bertier: See man, that’s the worst attitude I ever heard. Big Ju: Attitude reflects leadership, captain.

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Word of the Day

Do you use a site that gives you a’ word of the day’? It is a great way to increase your vocabulary! You can subscribe and get a new word emailed to you daily from Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary. The popular ESL site, Many Things also offers a slang word of the day > http://www.manythings.org/daily/

 

Here are some tips from

Woodward English for learning the ‘word of the day’…

7-tips-learn-english-every-day

 

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But… synonyms and antonyms…

When I was young my father banned me from saying ‘yeah but…’ when he was trying to reason with me and say no. Although this was a very frustrating situation it did teach me to find other ways to say ‘but’…
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However / although / on the other hand / yet / alternatively / except / nevertheless.…
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So, I would suggest that if you want a fun way to amplify your vocabulary, ban yourself from using a word for a while and see if you can find other ways to say what you want to say. It is best perhaps an exercise used to try to replace those words that you use often.
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You can also use it to look at opposites, plus all those new alternative words will themselves have their own synonyms and antonyms.
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Give it go! It might be fun!
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Extra tip: Never start a sentence with ‘but’! It’s bad grammar.
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Intonation and Speed of Speaking

Intonation
Many people from different countries have improper intonation because their teacher had improper intonation. In many situations, being monotone is better than having bad intonation. The worst is when someone goes up and down too much on every word. Another thing you should avoid is to end high at the end of a sentence.

To correct improper intonation, you need to remember to start high and end low. You cannot do it any other way. I recommend going to the interview section and listening to one of the audio files provided by a native speaker. You will hear proper intonation. After listening to the audio, record yourself and listen to it. Does it sound the same? If not, then find the areas that are dissimilar and make the necessary corrections.

This advice is very trivial, but intonation is relatively easy to correct. You can fix your intonation with only a little effort. If you have a friend who is a native English speaker, you can usually fix intonation in a couple of lessons. Recording yourself and listening to yourself might be tedious, but having correct intonation can go a long way.

I have had many students who fixed their intonation after 2 small sessions. The advice I gave them was the same as the one above. This will work, and if you want to speak with proper intonation, please follow this advice.

Speed of speaking
A common mistake of people who obtain English fluency with improper pronunciation and intonation is the speed in which they speak. Because they do not have perfect pronunciation and intonation, it is difficult to understand people who speak too fast. This is the biggest problem I have seen from people who gain confidence in speaking.

In order to improve your communication, and to hear “excuse me” less often, it is important to have the correct speed of speaking. For people with confidence, my advice is to slow down and to speak clearly. Don’t blend words together too much and make sure to separate words with a small pause for words that are difficult to pronounce.

This and more helpful articles from http://www.talkenglish.com/

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the article ‘the’

The article the can be confusing at times as when or when not to omit.

It is the same for all genders in singular and in plural; the cat, the dog, the computers.

 

First, determine if the is being used indefinitely or definitely. Life is great. (indefinite) I’ve read the book about the life of Bill Clinton.  (definite)

 

Names of countries in the singular; summits of mountains; continents; towns;

Germany, France, Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley, Africa, Europe, Cairo, New York

 

Names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges; regions;

the United States of America, the Netherlands, the Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Middle East.

 

Single island; Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

Groups of islands; the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

 

Parks; lakes; streets;

Central Park, Hyde Park, Lake Michigan, Loch Ness, 42nd Street, Oxford Street

 

Name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers;

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of Wight,

the Atlantic (Ocean), the Mediterranean (Sea), the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

 

Months, days of the week (indefinite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

July and August are the most popular months for holidays.

 

Months, days of the week (definite)

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.

The August of 2001 was hot and dry.

 

Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) can be used with or without the definite article;

In summer or in the summer

* The American English word for autumn >fall< is always used with the definite article.

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DON’T GIVE UP

Learning another language is not something that can be done overnight. There are many things that you can do to speed up the process though. These things I can teach you. Remember, if you start any course: DON’T GIVE UPNÃO DESISTANO TE RINDASNE PAS ABANDONNERΜΗΝGIVE UPNE ADJA FEL, NÁ THABHAIRT SUASNON RINUNCIAREあきらめてはいけない, NOLITE, IKKE GI OPPНе сдавайтесьGE INTE UPPPEIDIWCH Â RHOI UP

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It’s only English, how many accents could there be!?

While English has become the most widely used language in the world, the definition of “Standard English” is not always so clear.

This video is one of my favorites for helping English students see the variations between accents and dialects in spoken English. Surprisingly, English accents vary greatly; and if a student has learned American English in school, for example, he/she could have a very hard time understanding someone speaking Australian English.

Because listening to various English accents is “easier said than done,” I recommend learning the fun way- with movies! Here is a great website that can help you learn all kinds of English accents by watching movie trailers and clips. Watch and re-watch until you can understand, and don’t hesitate to ask questions or look up some of the phrases being said. Also, I would advise taking on one accent at a time until you can better understand it, then moving on to the next one. Good luck, and don’t give up!

http://kelseysensei.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/its-only-english-how-many-accents-could-there-be/ 

 

 

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More on Remembering New Vocabulary

One of the biggest problems many language learners  have is remembering and retaining new vocabulary. Students often talk to me about keeping notebooks and lists of new vocabulary they come across and yet  finding it very difficult to remember or to use these new words or expressions. If this is a problem you’re having then this link may be very helpful for you. As always, with language acquisition, the more you can personalise it, make it relevant to you, the more you can relate things to your life and your interests the easier it will be to remember and to use them.  http://www.strategiesinlanguagelearning.com/improve-your-language-learning/

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Surround Yourself with English

I have been teaching online since 2010 and I have probably said ‘surround yourself with English’ over 1,000 times!  I guess it is my catchphrase

You MUST surround yourself with everyday English as much as possible.  The first time that you hear or read a word/idiom/phrase that you don’t know, write it down and look it up or better yet, ask someone (sometimes the dictionary can confuse you with idioms or phrasal verbs).  When you take the time to do a little research, the word/idiom/phrase is more likely to stick in your mind.  Then the next time you come across it, it will become reinforced and more of a part of your active vocabulary.   The more you hear or see something the more likely you are to remember it, right?  And that, my friends,  is why you need to listen and read English whenever you can!

The next step is to be able to actively use the word/idiom/phrase in your daily interactions.  This is where difficulties can arise.  Anyone can LEARN a word/idiom/phrase by using a book or the internet, but it is much more difficult to get that word/idiom/phrase into your active vocabulary and be able to easily use it yourself.  This is where PRACTICE comes in.  PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! (another catchphrase of mine).  Once you learn the word, you need to use it!

Speaking with a native speaker is an excellent way to practice, but that may not be possible for everyone.  I am always posting on facebook, twitter, pinterest and tumblr to help students surround themselves with English as much as possible.  I hope that you will take advantage of it and spend a little time everyday to improve your English.

#EngVocab

catchphrase (noun) a word or expression that is used repeatedly and conveniently to represent or characterize a person, group, idea, or point of view

come across (phrasal verb) to find or encounter, especially by chance

 

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Much and Many

Much” and “many” are used so many times in English! It takes much effort to learn the difference between them. Students should spend a lot of time studying if they want to speak fluent English.

There are many great websites that help with this subject. Here are some resources that you can use to learn more:

http://englishlanguagehelp.info/esl/much-vs-many/

http://stickyball.net/esl-grammar.html?id=394

And here is a quiz for practice.

Do you feel confident with using “much” and “many?” Try to describe the following words using either “much” or “many” for practice:

_______ cars
_______ books
_______ rain
_______ snow
_______ love
_______ coffee
_______ people
_______ groups
_______ time
_______ English!

How did you do? If you are still having trouble, try the websites to learn more. I wish you much luck and many good answers!