Hi this is Greg from OLA English with Greg. And welcome back to another lesson with
me. I hear students all the time saying that they need to improve their
listening skills, that they can understand their teacher but they can't
understand native speakers when they're speaking together. Well, in this video
we're going to be looking at a technique called connected speech. Connected speech
is a broad topic, really, but we're going to be looking at two specific techniques
that we always use in British English and they're really gonna help you
understand native English speakers better. So, if you want to understand
British English speakers more easily than you, my friend, are gonna love this video!
OK, two things before I start. First of all, thank you to Alvaro who actually
requested that I do a video on this topic. It's a topic I absolutely love so
thank you, Alvaro. It's a really great request and it's a really useful topic
for everybody. Also, I recommend you watch that video after this video because
that's another really great and popular video that I did to help you understand
British English speakers more easily. Alright, that video deals with the words
that we use, very specific words, slang words words that we shorten, that
you're not gonna learn in a textbook but that we use all the time. And in this lesson
we're talking about sounds, not words but sounds. Connected speech is something
that helps native speakers speak more fluently. We use it naturally, OK, for us
it's... it's completely normal and I'm sure in your language you have ways of
connecting speech as well. It basically helps us link one word to the
next and to do this we have many techniques. In this video I'm gonna talk
about two techniques and they both deal with the R. We have the linking... the
linking R and the intrusive R. Intrusive, OK, which I like to call
imaginary R and you'll find out why later. So first we're going to be looking
at the linking R sound. OK, first of all, to help me explain the linking R
sound let me explain to you that if a student asks me how they can sound more
like a British English speaker, OK, how they can have a British English
pronunciation, I always tell them that the number one thing they need to do is
to stop pronouncing the letter R everywhere because we don't do it.
This is what I mean. If you have a vowel and then an R, the R is silent in British
English. Alright. Not in American English, in American English you have -R sound,
which I can't do, but in British English it's completely silent. It is! Believe me!
Look at these examples: father, hare, there, for, her,
clear, tower. They're all silent! Again, listen: father, hare, there, for, her,
clear, tower. I didn't pronounce the R in any of these words and that's a great
technique if you want to sound more like a British English speaker. Now there's
one big exception to this rule and that exception is the linking R and this
means that if those words, if the vowel+R is followed by another vowel then we do
pronounce the R, OK? It helps us link one word to the next, so look at these
examples and listen to me pronouncing the R: Father-in-law. Father-in-law. OK,
not father-in-law, father-in-law, no, that sounds a bit more - - - father-in-law -
too robotic, OK? We want to sound natural, we want to sound fluent, so we say
father-in-law and by pronouncing the R it helps link father to the word in.
Father... father-in-law. Next example: I'm sure you've heard of the story of
the hare and the tortoise, the hare and the tortoise, OK? Not hare and the
tortoise, hare and the tortoise, yeah the hare and the tortoise. The hare is the
very fast rabbit, OK, and the tortoise. Next example: I'm
gonna use three of the words that I.. that I pronounced earlier. That's the
sentence. If I don't use the linking R I would
sound like this: there are four owls in her old barn.
There are four owls in her old barn. Yeah I'm a bit robotic when I speak like that.
That's not what we want! We want to sound natural so we use the linking R.
There are four owls in her old barn. There are, there are, there are four owls, owls,
there are four owls in her old, her old, her old barn.
There are four owls in her old barn. Perfect! Clear as water, clear as water.
And the famous sight to see in London is the Tower of London, the Tower of London,
Tower of London. OK, so in each of these cases we pronounce the R where we
usually don't but we do pronounce it to help us speak more naturally. Now the
second technique that I want to talk to you about is the intrusive R, the
imaginary R, and this is very similar to the linking R in that it helps us
speak more fluently, it helps us link one word to another,
word but there's one big difference. Let's look at some examples and you will
see what this big difference is. America is a big country, America is a big
country, America is, America is, I'm sounding... I'm having difficulty saying
that. It's not natural, so what we do is we put an imaginary R between the two
words. Honestly, it's crazy! So, instead of saying
America is, we say America is, America is, America is a big country. Donna and her
mother... OK? Donna ends in a vowel sound. And the first sound of the next word is
also a vowel: is. So instead of saying Donna is, we say
Donna is, Donna is. So we use this imaginary intrusive R between two
words when one word finishes with a vowel sound and the next word begins
with a vowel sound. More examples: a banana, a banana is a yellow fruit, a
banana is yellow fruit, banana finishes in a vowel sound, is begins with a vowel
sound, a banana is, a banana is a fruit. Pamela Anderson! Pamela Anderson, Pamela
Anderson. It's much easier to say Pamela Anderson than Pamela Anderson, Pamela
Anderson. And finally, I want to visit China and Vietnam, I want to visit China
and Vietnam, China and Vietnam, China and Vietnam. I want to visit China and
Vietnam. OK, I hope that hasn't blown your mind but it's a really, really important
technique for you to learn if you want to really understand what native
speakers are speaking. Of course, it's fantastic if you can use this yourself
when you're speaking English but I think the most important thing is that you
know that we do it and that you know to listen for these sounds and if
you do it's gonna help you improve your listening skills in English. OK for more
ways to improve your listening and speaking communication skills, check out
OnlineLanguageAcademy.com - that's my website, we teach conversation classes
via Skype with native English teachers and it's a fantastic way for you to feel
confident and start speaking more naturally and understanding more
naturally. Right, I'm Greg from OLA English with Greg, thank you so much for
being here, I hope this video has been useful for you. If it has please like,
please subscribe, and please share it with your friends. I'll see you in the
next video! Thanks again for being here and bye for now!
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